Nothing led more to the Thanksgiving hype this year than the viral #UNameItChallenge featuring a cleverly chopped up Shirley Caesar sample and all sorts of trap goodness.
Taking off like crazy all over social media, creator DJ Suede A.K.A. RemixGodSuede broke down exactly how the track was created.
“I actually didn’t come up with it,” DJ Suede explained to HipHopDX over the phone. “A homie of mine gave me the clip and he was like ‘You gotta do something with it because Thanksgiving is coming up. I was like I gotta jump on this fast and I just made it dope. I threw some hi-hats, drums and vocals on there and it came out pretty dope. I posted it November 12. I made the beat in an hour. I don’t think it was that long man.”
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Reaching 300,000 streams on SoundCloud alone, there wasn’t a corner of the internet that didn’t reference the #UNameItChallenge. Everyone from Ace Hood and Beatking to Chris Brown took part in the viral sensation.
“It’s an honor to have these guys play around with the record man,” he said. “I saw it on WWE and ESPN. That’s a blessing man. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”
Sampling a sermon from a gospel legend such as Caesar came with scrutiny from her over more of the sexually explicit dancing. But speaking recently with Wendy Williams, she did appreciate the royalties from streams and more mainstream recognition.
Suede totally understands her perspective.
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“I can respect the fact that she doesn’t want twerking and gyrating going on,” he said. “At the end of the day, they’re going to do whatever they want to the record. It’s one of those records that make you want to dance anyway.”
Though DJ Suede has admitted to getting more calls, emails and DMs following the success of the track, it’s been a long time coming for someone who has been producing beats since he was 12 years old and currently serves as a resident DJ for popular Atlanta club Cloud IX.
The #UNameItChallenge isn’t even his first crack at viral success. A quick trip to his SoundCloud page reveals one of his first remixes, released a few years back, blended Apple’s iPhone default ringtone with Young Dro’s “FDB.” To date, the track has well over a million SoundCloud streams.
“It went viral and some people have that as their default ringtone today,” he added. “It started as one thing and it evolved quickly. It never stopped after that. If I can put my sound to it, I’ll do it.”
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Between then and now, he’s dropped remixes to popular jingles including Law & Order, Sonic The Hedgehog, fast food joint Red Robin and even The Everest College commercial among others. According to DJ Suede, expect more in the future.
“The only way to go is up now bro,” he said. “On a humble note, it’s all a blessing. I prayed for this. It definitely didn’t come overnight. As far as right now, it’s just a grind. I have to grind harder than ever before.”
