Beat on Mac Miller’s ‘Swimming’ Originated From Kendrick ‘Damn’ Session
Written by SOURCE on July 13, 2022
Steve Lacy has collaborated with a variety of artists across genres, and in a new interview the multi-hyphenate revealed his work on Mac Miller’s “Jet Fuel” was originally meant to be on Kendrick Lamar’s Damn.
During an interview with Vulture about the release of his sophomore album Gemini Rights, Lacy revealed that the Swimming cut was begun during a Damn session with DJ Dahi.
“That beat actually came from a Kendrick Lamar session,” Lacy explains. “Dahi and I, when we were working on Damn., the first day I came through to work on that record, we just made beats. He’s so organized. He has all these different drum loops. He had that loop, and I did that groove, but Dot didn’t use it. Dahi just collects stuff. I guess Malcolm was working on his record and he liked the beat that became ‘Jet Fuel.’”
Lacy went on to dive into his relationship with Mac and how the rapper believed in him early in his career.
“Mac was one of the first big people to fuck with me,” he said. “He was just a rad spirit bro. We spent a lot of time together. He wanted to make music, and he liked some of my first ideas. I was, like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy!’ I was still going to school and shit at that time.”
Lacy continued, “He was huge to a lot of my peers, but I didn’t say anything. There’s a song on The Lo-Fis called ‘Daze.’ I have a version with him on it. He loved my production, and he’d always send me drums and we’d work together.”
Revisit Mac Miller’s “Jet Fuel”—and Steve Lacy’s always-impressive production skills—below.
