No I.D. reflects on 4:44 and how “Bam” almost went to Beyoncé
It's been a year since Jay Z released his thirteenth studio album, the critically acclaimed 4:44. In honor of its anniversary, producer No I.D., who picked up a producer of the year Grammy nomination for his work on the album, reflected on how it all came together and which beat on the album almost went to Beyoncé.
“Family Feud” (Featuring Beyoncé)
Scientifically to me, certain vibrational tones create a reaction, a feeling, an emotion, tension, joy or suspense. So that’s what I look for in music. Whether it’s musicians, sampling — whatever. And the The Clark Sisters just had this emotion already going. Just like joyous and pain and spiritual and I know part of Bey’s joy in music stems from that type of emotion.
And when I first did the music, of course I wanted her to be a part of the album and when she first heard the track, she was like, “Oh, no, no! I’m GETTING on that!” So she really kind of jumped in and did her part. And that song came in at the very end. Maybe about a week before the album came out. I didn’t really have to incorporate her. She’s a producer in her own right. She came in and wove herself right into it. Did an amazing job at completing the song to be honest.
“Bam” (Featuring Damian Marley)
This is the best beat! And I’ll tell you why I think so. As many times as has been used, I wasn’t supposed to be able to get a good version out of that. That’s a challenge to take something people have used for years and years and create a new expression for it.
Not only did it take a lot of skill, it was actually a lay-up after it was done. That beat was sitting around and I’m telling Jay, “Hey, man you have to use this one.” And I think this was also one that he didn’t have to dig deep and go different places to make it work.
And it was probably the most difficult song in my opinion. We could not nail it down for the longest time. Because it was just so blatantly there, it didn’t really … I don’t know what it was. And I credit Bey for helping us keep that because one day she came in — and she said a lot of things that day — but she was like, “Man, just give me that beat. You messing around.” And I saw the smoke coming out Jay’s nostrils and the next morning he had the raps.
When it came to adding Damian Marley, it was so obvious at first, we were like, “Nah, we don’t wanna do that. That’s simple.” And then one day, I was like, “Why are we running away from the obvious when it’s just so obviously a good idea?” And once he got on there, it was just easy.
“Family Feud” (Featuring Beyoncé)
Scientifically to me, certain vibrational tones create a reaction, a feeling, an emotion, tension, joy or suspense. So that’s what I look for in music. Whether it’s musicians, sampling — whatever. And the The Clark Sisters just had this emotion already going. Just like joyous and pain and spiritual and I know part of Bey’s joy in music stems from that type of emotion.
And when I first did the music, of course I wanted her to be a part of the album and when she first heard the track, she was like, “Oh, no, no! I’m GETTING on that!” So she really kind of jumped in and did her part. And that song came in at the very end. Maybe about a week before the album came out. I didn’t really have to incorporate her. She’s a producer in her own right. She came in and wove herself right into it. Did an amazing job at completing the song to be honest.
“Bam” (Featuring Damian Marley)
This is the best beat! And I’ll tell you why I think so. As many times as has been used, I wasn’t supposed to be able to get a good version out of that. That’s a challenge to take something people have used for years and years and create a new expression for it.
Not only did it take a lot of skill, it was actually a lay-up after it was done. That beat was sitting around and I’m telling Jay, “Hey, man you have to use this one.” And I think this was also one that he didn’t have to dig deep and go different places to make it work.
And it was probably the most difficult song in my opinion. We could not nail it down for the longest time. Because it was just so blatantly there, it didn’t really … I don’t know what it was. And I credit Bey for helping us keep that because one day she came in — and she said a lot of things that day — but she was like, “Man, just give me that beat. You messing around.” And I saw the smoke coming out Jay’s nostrils and the next morning he had the raps.
When it came to adding Damian Marley, it was so obvious at first, we were like, “Nah, we don’t wanna do that. That’s simple.” And then one day, I was like, “Why are we running away from the obvious when it’s just so obviously a good idea?” And once he got on there, it was just easy.
