Wake Up

This is a fun song I wrote to a trap beat I found on BeatStars, and from the outset I knew I wanted Cap on it given the production style on the most popular songs he's produced, and the reputation he's built for himself in Nairobi's shrap/alt-rap scene; I also knew I wanted to bring in a rapper who could match my light-hearted lyrics and the trap flows I set out to bring. I initially considered Nigel 187 since he had done similar tracks in the past, but later I went with Lilmaina instead because I felt he would do a better job of what I was going for (and also, to be frank, because the guy had been popping off with hit after hit, regardless of how much more expensive bringing him in would be).

I reached out to both Cap and Lilmaina in September 2021, and both showed interest. Cap sent me some beats which I went through, before settling on one that I wanted him to modify because I didn't think it fully matched the vibe I wanted. That process took months, to the point where Lilmaina wondered whether I'd just abandoned the song (which would be strange because I had paid him already), but eventually Cap came through when I asked him to sample "Nimesota" from my debut EP. In the studio, I worked with AndyBolo to flesh out the beat with sounds similar to those from "Nimesota", and after some experimentation he landed on the final product with different instruments (like that beautiful French horn).

Lilmaina came to the studio having written some of his lines but wanted time to finish his sections in the first verse (aside from his first section, which I wrote for him), lay them down, then repeat for the second verse. Andy and I just used our phones while the beat looped and he did his thing, and we were really pleased with what he brought in the end. I'd already also written the outro for him but told him to do it in a way that felt natural to him, so that part was really easy.