On the heels of his latest release, “Go,” British producer Alex Da Kid sat down with Julie Adenuga for a Beats 1 Radio interview released Wednesday (May 23) to give listeners the inside scoop on working with Eminem, Dr. Dre and Rihanna.
Known for producing tracks like Dr. Dre’s “I Need a Doctor” and Nicki Minaj’s “Massive Attack,” Alex opened up about how his production on B.o.B’s “Airplanes” remix started his relationship with Eminem.
“I was also sending him beats through his A&R, because he was going to make an album that wasn’t like Dre-centric for the first time, so he was looking for a new sound,” Alex says. “I was sending him really strange beats, because I know he liked them and then he did the remix, and he got on it, he didn’t really realize it was the same producer and then he realized and he’s like, ‘send me some more stuff,’ so I sent him ‘Love The Way You Lie,’ and he loved it and he did it.”
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Though Em loved the track, Alex and him did get into a small dispute about mixing it.
“He was like, ‘OK, I want to put it out,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, who’s mixing it?’ And he was like, ‘I’m mixing it,’ and I was like, ‘Well, I need to be there.’ And he was like, ‘You can’t come to Detroit. I’m mixing it by myself or you can’t have the song.’ We argued for a little bit, and he said eventually I could come to Detroit and mix it, ‘Fine. Do it.’ So I came there and we just hit it off straight away.”
Alex also explained how Rihanna’s feature on “Love The Way You Lie” came to be and the success of the single, which is certified diamond by the RIAA and currently has 1.5 billion views on YouTube.
“Rihanna wasn’t even on it at the time. Skylar Grey, who wrote the hook, was on it still. The song was mastered and done and we were trying to get her to record it. She loved it but she was on tour and she couldn’t find a studio. But then she eventually got on it. I don’t think people really thought it was going to be a single. People loved it but people weren’t sure. Then it came out and Rihanna did a show at Staples Center and Eminem came out. And all the press and everybody were there and nobody expected it and it went crazy that point on. ”
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Take a listen to the full interview below.
