Clipping is a trio made up of producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes, and rapper Daveed Diggs. You might be familiar with Daveed’s voice from his roles as Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette in the hit Broadway musical Hamilton. But in Clipping, the whole band takes on different roles, playing with different tropes and genres within hip-hop, but setting up these strict overarching rules for how they make their music. In this episode, the three of them break down how they made their song “Work Work,” featuring guest vocals from rapper Cocc Pistol Cree.

“Work Work” is available on iTunes.

Watch the music video for the song:

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Cocc Pistol Cree ft. DJ Mustard – Lady Killa
Jay Z – 99 Problems
Digital Underground – Freaks of the Industry

A post shared by Song Exploder (@songexploder) on May 31, 2018 at 3:40pm PDT

Kelela is a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. In 2015, she released Hallucinogen, and landed on critics’ lists in the New York Times, Washington Post, Pitchfork, and more. In this episode, Kelela takes apart her song “Rewind.” To make the track, she worked with five different producers, picking and choosing each for what they could best contribute to her overall vision for the song. This interview was recorded live in San Francisco at Fusion’s Real Future Fair.

You can buy “Rewind,” from Kelela’s EP Hallucinogen, on iTunes.

Watch the music video for the song:

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Kelela was looking for a Miami Bass sound along the lines of “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJs.

The collaborators on “Rewind” were:
Obey City
Nugget
Girl Unit
Kingdom
Ariel Rechtshaid