'It was the final one we expected her to pick,' song's producers reveal.By Steven Roberts
Beyonc Photo: Jeff Kravitz/ FilmMagic
If you've listened to Beyonc's "Why Don't You Know Me" and inexplicably felt like you were a spy in the heart of an international conspiracy, then don't look like you're weird. When producers the Bama Boyz, created the song, that's just how they felt.
The Grammy-nominated production trio of Eddie Smith, Jesse J. Rankins and Jonathan Wells are signed to Mathew Knowles' (a.k.a. Beyonc's father) Music World Entertainment, and have worked with B for some time. In fact, the song's inspiration came from the clock they spent in London at the end of her B-Day Tour.
"After the turn left, we stayed over in the UK, because we drop in bed with it. It was a big thing for us, being out there, and we see a lot of movies, so we all felt like Jason Bourne, to be quite good with you," Rankins said. "We felt like James Bond or something. We were running about on like - this is sort of embarrassing - pretend missions in our brain and we felt like we required a theme song for it."
He said they started running on the call that would go "Why Don't You Know Me" in London, and realized it once they were back Stateside. They said that the song's structure was unusual, but fortunately it ended up in the proper person's hands.
"What chance was [B's sister] Solange called us and was like, 'Hey, I'm going to compose a pair of records for my sister. Send me some tracks!' We had a lot of bangers that felt more like Beyonc, but we actually put that one end on the CD because we figured 'This is not Beyonc,' but we knew Solange would wish it," Rankins said. "So we stuck that one there - but we battled with even putting it on there, because it was the live one we expected her to pick. So Solange sent it back with a song written to it, and it was the 'Why Don't You Know Me' lyrics. The song was hot!"
The Bama Boyz met in junior high and high school and linked back up in college at Alabama A&M University, where they threw parties as DJs. They eventually landed internships at Sony Music before hooking up with Mathew Knowles.
Despite their name, the group's sound doesn't necessarily scream Alabama. Their EP, Socially Awkward, is filled with medicine that can't readily be classified as electro, R&B or hip-hop.
"We really like the fact that our list is the Bamaz - people say, 'Ah, they're leaving to go like this.' But then we you see [us], you're like 'What? Are they really from Alabama?' It's just like a gumbo of much of different genres and styles." Related Artists
- Beyonc
- Bama Boyz
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