He’s been cranking out hits for decades and The-Dream remains top tier when it comes to producing chart-toppers. The mega-producer has teamed up with several of our favorite artists to help craft unforgettable classics, and his latest much-talked-about collaboration comes from Beyoncé. The superstar singer has been taking over the charts with her “Break My Soul” single, and she’s expected to be all the industry talks about once she drops her Renaissance album this Friday.
Dream recently celebrated working on “Break My Soul,” but it’s well known that this isn’t the first time he’s worked with Bey. They’ve made magic on “Single Ladies,” “Flawless,” “Run the World,” “1+1,” and more. Another artist he has repeat credits with is Kanye West, and during his appearance on Deep Hidden Meaning Radio with Nile Rodgers on Apple Music 1, The-Dream revisited when Ye fell asleep on him.
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While working on “All of the Lights,” West’s star-studded hit from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Ye nodded off.
“’All of The Lights,’ oh man, wow, ‘All of the Lights.’ I was doing 4 in New York for [Beyoncé]. We were working on 4 and Kanye happened to come by the studio,” said Dream. “And Ye didn’t know I was there and he is like, ‘Oh, happy you’re here. I got something I want you to listen to and see if you can put a hook on this thing.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, cool. Let me hear it.’ And this track came on. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ I knew instantly exactly what I wanted to do, instantly.”
“So, we got the booth working, brought the engineer down, recorded. And after the first take, which ended up being the song that you hear now, he said, ‘Nah, nah, nah, nah, try another one,'” Dream recalled. “Like, ‘Okay. All right.’ Got another one. ‘Oh, try another one, Dream.’ It’s like, ‘Okay.’ I got to like number eight of the song I did. I look out, Kanye West is sleep. And I’m like, I’m looking through the glass like, ‘Yo, is he asleep?’ B’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s kind of knocked out.’ I’m like, ‘What?'”
“She’s like, ‘Actually, Dream, the first hook, that was the one.’ I was like, ‘I knew it. I knew that was the one,’ and so, that ended up being the one that Rihanna sings to this day. But that was so hilarious. I’m on idea number eight. He’s been asleep since idea number three.”
Revisit “All of the Lights” and check out The-Dream‘s interview with Nile Rogers below.
