Beyoncé‘s seventh solo album “Renaissance” serves as a celebratory tribute to the Black and queer roots of dance and house music; a compilation of new and old sounds, complete with samples from the genre’s most influential. It’s an intensely purposeful formula, and to get it just right, Beyoncé elected a board of “superheroes,” as Leven Kali — one of the many young contributors on the project — describes them to PvNew.
Indeed, the credits for “Renaissance” are impressive, with producers the Neptunes, Mike Dean, The-Dream, Skrillex, A. G. Cook and Raphael Saadiq, among many others; features coming from Grace Jones, Tems, and Beam; and songwriters Nile Rodgers, Jay-Z and Drake. It’s a staggering amount of talent for 16 tracks and yet, the set manages to weave together established artists and sounds with fresh talents like Kali and contributors Daniel Memmi and Sol Was.
The trio met through their Crossroads High School music program and eventually joined forces to become a full-blown production team focused on building Kali’s catalog, which today, boasts songs with fellow “Renaissance” collaborator, Syd from the Internet, Playboi Carti, Ty Dolla Sign and more.
“Virgo’s Groove,” a six-minute disco-funk tune positioned at the heart of the album — and the longest song on the track list — sees Was and Memmi as composers and lyricists and Kali credited with the same roles in addition to background vocals and producer. Kali also played a variety of roles in “Alien Superstar,” “Plastic Off The Sofa” and “Summer Renaissance,” which also attributes Was as a producer.
After having collaborated on a project like “Renaissance,” the group is pretty much “locked in.” Their next ventures consist of prepping Kali’s upcoming project and tour, in addition to the development of their own production company. “We like to think of it as like a Motown type of situation,” Kali says. “Because we’ve been working together at home for so long. It just feels right and it’s more than rewarding to work with the people that we know and love.”
Although tight-lipped, the trio is eager to discuss their influence on the disco-oriented album — including the elements of West Coast funk on “Virgo’s Groove” and the fusion of house, funk, R&B and jazz that’s at the core of their artistry.
So you all went to the same arts and science high school in Santa Monica — how did that eventually turn into where you’re standing today?
Daniel Memmi: We knew about each other because the community there is very tight-knit and familial, but we were all working on our own projects. Sol and I had our own projects and then Leven was doing SoundCloud stuff. We admired him and randomly were able to reconnect with him after high school.
Sol Was: We were discovering our own musical stuff, getting our feet wet, so to speak, and then we knew Leven was doing his thing too.
Leven Kali: That was the first time that we really linked up and made music together and right around that same time, I was working with a songwriter who had a meeting at Interscope. We were working in the studio together and it was like the second session we did together but he asked if I could drive him to this meeting. So I go with him and the A&R looks at me and goes “So you just drive him around? Like, what do you do?” I was like “No no no, we make music together!” A light bulb went off in the A&R’s head and he set up a meeting with the label the following day.
So we went into it just playing into the vision completely and I knew that [Daniel and Sol] played instruments and we had high school history so — I was like, “Yeah, we got a band and we jam together all the time in my mom’s crib in the garage. And it’s just like super organic,” and Joie [Manda, former executive vice president at Interscope Geffen A&M] asked to come to see us in our space. I immediately call Sol and was like, “Hey dude, I know we haven’t really locked it in yet, but — there’s this crazy opportunity and basically we’re a band now.”
Then Joie came over to watch us play and he was like, “Dude, I love it,” but asked us to play a showcase for the label in two weeks. So we had to figure it out as we went and we did the showcase and ever since then we’ve just kind of stayed extremely focused on making music together.
How did the opportunity to work on “Renaissance” come your way?
Leven Kali: Divine timing. It was honestly just alignment and the right place at the right time kind of thing. I feel like everybody on [the Beyoncé] side was thinking about a certain type of energy, a certain sound and we were also thinking in that direction so it was super organic. We were all thinking like: North Star, funk, positivity, love, dance, and groovy music. We were lucky to get a shot off the project manager, Ricky Lawson, and also the other A&R, Mariel Gomerez.
Sol Was: They drive a great ship [at Parkwood Entertainment].
Leven Kali: And they take on so much as two, like relatively young people in the industry. They have a huge responsibility over there and they find a lot of the coolest talent to bring in, to work on these projects and we’re lucky to be part of that squad.
Daniel Memmi: It was also just like our relationships — Ricky was searching high and low for funky groovy music and he got pointed in our direction.
Leven Kali: To be honest with you, we also need to respect [Beyoncé] because I think she has a plan for how she wants to reveal her process and I don’t wanna give away too much about the specifics of how the record was made exactly…
Ahhh I see, so — hypothetically speaking — we’ll eventually get to see how the record was made?
Laughter, followed by collective shrugs.
Sol Was: We wouldn’t know. We don’t even know how it happened, honestly. We blacked out!
What was it like when you found out you’d all be involved?
Daniel Memmi: It was a long process, to be honest.
Leven Kali: It was like a two- to three-year process. The number one lesson I think we all learned is how to shut up and let God do his thing. Because it’s not like we made a song and sent it in and she recorded it and it was done. It was an incredibly collaborative process and it took a long time to really make it work in the context of the project as a whole. So like at any moment, [Beyoncé] can decide to do whatever she wants. So you have to know that’s a possibility and we had to really just trust. At the end of the day, you need to make music or art because it makes you happy. No matter the outcome. Whether we were working with her or away from her — you don’t know what’s gonna happen until the last second. It hasn’t even hit me yet. I’m just soaking in the love and pride of our whole community right now.
Where in “Virgo’s Groove,” would you say, can we hear some of your recognizable elements as a team?
Leven Kali: Definitely in the bass line. I feel like a lot of my music — aligns with that big characteristic of funk, it’s all in the bass lines. When we all work together, we kind of come in with this fantasy of house, funk, R&B and jazz being fused together. The background vocals and the bassline is something that for me is like a signature. With “Virgo’s Groove,” you can hear us in the harmonies and in the bassline.
Daniel Memmi: Someone described it as West Coast funk, which is just a result of us being raised in Santa Monica.
Sol Was: If you listen to a song like [“Virgo’s Groove”], and then you listen to some of Leven’s/our older music you’ll see that they have the same aura and it all feels spiritually connected for sure.
You’re also all credited as co-writers on “Virgo’s Groove,” what was the inspiration behind your work on that track and what was the collaboration with the other writers like?
Leven Kali: The process over there is very specific. B does a really crazy job of just making sure everyone is focused on the right things. There are mood boards everywhere but really — the whole experience is a mood board. It’s almost like method acting when you go in there. It’s immediately clear what the goal is — even the way people are dressed and what colors are being used. It’s also in the conversations you hear, whether it’s about videos or wardrobe or anything. You immediately know the vibe is futuristic, it’s groovy house music, very sexy.
The-Dream is also all over this album, what was it like to work with him?
Leven Kali: He’s incredible and he’s everything that you would expect him to be. He sounds exactly the same in his records and in real life, he bounces around a lot from room to room. His touch is on the whole album — like if you listen to his “Love/Hate” record, you can hear the transitions and recognize what he did on this project. It’s just really fucking cool to have learned from a legend like that.
The collaborative aspect of this project is a key part of its entire makeup but how did you find the experience?
Leven Kali: A collaboration of this magnitude is very intentional and definitely weaved into the story of it all.
Sol Was: It really takes what it takes to do something like this. And I think if you listen to this project, it doesn’t feel like not that many people worked on it. It was like pushing a big boulder up a hill. You needed more hands to hold the weight of how fire this whole thing was. It was really just reaching out your creative arms as far as possible and making sure you don’t leave any crumbs of creative genius floating behind.
Leven Kali: When Diane Warren tweeted that shit about 24 writers on one song — like every single one of those people that wrote [“Alien Superstar”] are 100% both producer and songwriter. Every one of those people could have made a whole song by themselves and have already done that in the past. It’s not like we need this many people to be able to make one song — we needed like 24 superheroes. You had the-Dream, Mike Dean and Jay-Z — like a lot of people that are obviously huge stars but a lot of newer artists as well. Like us and Dixson, [Atia “Ink” Boggs], Nova Wav, Dave Hemlen and a lot of other super talented people. This is a huge accomplishment for all of us and we’ll look back in 10, maybe 15 years and think of how powerful that moment in time was. [Beyoncé] really found a special group of up-and-coming people with a fresh sound, fresh ideas, fresh energy. And I think that all these people are gonna be in the mix and in the conversation for a long time.
Sol Was: Think about it this way: When the Avengers save the world, they don’t look at the credits and the splits. We’re used to mainly working amongst ourselves as we’ve done for years, but honestly, the collaboration process was definitely one of our very favorite parts because they’re all so insanely talented.
And now we have a Rolodex of amazing people and friends and connections moving forward. And given how long the process was — I feel like these people are like family now and it’s almost like going through war together.
Leven Kali: It’s also like the process of waiting together. To share that feeling of like “We have something we can’t talk about.”
So when the waiting game was over, what was your reaction to the complete album?
Leven Kali: Just blown away. We threw a party at the crib and we played [“Renaissance”] like five times in a row and everybody was dancing the whole time. I mean, it’s just a perfect record. All you have to do is press play and you don’t have to do anything for the next hour and a couple of minutes. The transitions are perfect, you’d think there’s a DJ going crazy in the corner. We threw crazy parties and that really for me was the moment where I was like, “Damn, this is the only type of music I wanna make, honestly!” Because like the parties are just too much fun. I think that moment of seeing everybody — we were standing on the balcony — the whole community. It feels like our whole village was a part of it. Even outside of the people that worked on the project. We have such a special community — from Crossroads to the West side and the industry — we’ve kind of created our own corner.
