David: There’s definitely a lot of mystery
surrounding it for us in terms of like how
to approach the session.
The “Panini” beat was the second beat
that we played.
Denzel: But for the first like hour and a
half of the session we didn’t make any music
or even talk about music.
We were just talking about life and the fact
that he was nineteen about to turn twenty
and we were like twenty-six.
Like a little bit older than him but we had
like different references and watched different
cartoons.
And he’s like, “Oh you’ve never seen
'Chowder'?”
We’re like, “What’s 'Chowder'?”
And he’s like, “You know.
Panini.”
Panini: Hello again Chowder.
Chowder: Um hello Panini.
Denzel: And then he’s like, “Huh.
Panini.”
And we were like, “Alright.
Like 
this kid’s weird.”
Denzel: Our lawyer, David Jacobs, who became
Nas's lawyer, and this is before “Old Town
Road” really started going.
He was like, “Oh, there's this new kid,
Lil Nas X.
He has this like country rap song about horses.
Do you want to work with him?”
We were like, “Yeah, why not?”
So, he connected us on text.
David: And then finally James our A&R was
like, “Hey, like you guys are in LA like
the same time that Lil Nas X is coming to
LA.
You want to like do his first session ever?”
It was April 7th that we hopped in with him.
Denzel: He had just left Atlanta for the first
time like a few days before.
So he was just like new to everything.
David: Didn't even want In-N-Out.
He just wanted Chick-fil-A.
Denzel: The first thing that we played him
was actually the intro guitar to “Rodeo”.
But then he was like, “Let me see what else
you have.
Like that's cool, put it aside.”
We played him a few more.
And then he was like, “So, what's like the
weirdest thing you have?”
So, then we immediately thought of the stuff
we did with Dot.
Dot Da Genius: So I linked up with Take A
Daytrip, Denz and David late 2018.
It’s just been natural vibes, cookups.
Whenever they’re in LA or whenever I’m
in New York.
David would jump on the keys and Denz would
jump on the bass.
And I’m programming drums on a laptop.
It was a real natural way of creating.
Denzel: Instantly he was like, “All right.
Move this part here.
Like, this intro has to be shorter.”
He literally wrote the entire song in his
head and then the first time he stepped in
the booth, he just did the opening verse like,
“Hey Panini-
Lil Nas X: “- don't you be a meanie thought
you wanted me to go up why you tryna keep
me teeny?
Huh huh”
Denzel: Like after he finished recording me
and David were just like-
David: Yeah we were like, “Oh shit.”
Knew that we wanted to make some stuff.
Didn’t really have any direction or anything
like that.
We were just like, “Let’s kind of just
vibe out and you know see where things go.”
Yeah so the first instrument on this was on
the Prophet ’08, which is the main lead line.
Denzel: So that’s kind of like the vibe
of everything besides the more rap drums is
kind of like an 80’s retro nostalgic vibe
which we kind of like default to a lot.
To push that aesthetic further a litte bit...Just
put a little slap delay on it.
Denzel: This is without it.
So kind of almost acting as a reverb, but
its a little tighter.
And then you already know this one on everything.
David: I mean obviously we have all these
analog keyboards.
We definitely like like a vintage sound to
everything that we’re doing.
And the retro color just you know helps add
a lot of that tone.
Denzel: So next one is the...Nord.
David: And just taking literally just a single
note and just having it land on pretty much
every beat.
David: So the next sound we did on the Matrix.
Which at first when we first got it like we
did not fuck with it at all.
Like we literally called the keyboard the
Shit-house.
Denzel: It’s labeled here.
Still it’s the Shit-House.
David: Over time we’ve found some places
to use it.
David: Last sound in this series of keyboards
that we have over here is actually the same
sound that we used in “Mo Bamba”, just
affected a little bit differently.
David: I played it a little bit higher, and
then we half-timed it to give it kind of a
lower effect.
Denzel: We’re kind of just throwing every
idea we can think of into logic and just going
bouncing around every keyboard.
David: Like one of the things that’s so
great about working together is that when
we create like we try to eliminate egos completely.
So if I’m putting something down like we
both know it could be something that could
be replaced.
Denzel: So this next one is the Sub Phatty
but instead of using it as a bass we used
it as a lead.
So in context.
So that’s kind of where the Nirvana interpolation
comes in.
David: Seeing Kurt Cobain on the credits along
with us ’cause Justice is one of our biggest
inspirations Nirvana is also one of our biggest
inspirations and something that brought us
like so close together and just you know when
we were first getting to know each other and
first trying to create together.
Denzel: Alright so the next thing was the
bass guitar.
Denzel: For the chorus literally the same
patch as “Mo Bamba”.
Its a sub-bass that we put under that bass
guitar just to give it a little bit more bottom.
Denzel: With the other bass.
Live bass is a little bit more audible.
Like listening out of a phone or out of a
computer.
And a sub-bass is like you know if you’re
in the car you’re playing in the club or
something that’s like the bottom of that.
So when were working with Dot for the most
part he has his own sound rig and his set
of sounds and he’ll just feed it into our
computer almost as like a separate synth.
So this is some of the drums that he put down.
Denzel: Yeah so Dot’s like the king of like
break beats.
And half the time he’s doing it through
an iPad too which is even crazier.
So yeah he’s playing his hi-hat and we’re
just kind of chopping it up to make it feel
a little bit faster.
Then after that started laying some more drums
on top of his.
First a clap.
Next one was a snare.
David: The layering of how we did the clap
and the snare there...For the first half of
the verse its standing on the clap so its
not hitting as hard.
But when the second half of the verse comes
in the snare is making a little bit more of
an impact.
Denzel: Next thing is the 808.
David: A lot of times we follow our Kicks
based on where the 808 lands.
Just to give it a little extra knock.
Denzel: So the last bass that we put in is
actually really similar to the “Mo Bamba”
bass.
Denzel: After we did the verse and then he
cut the chorus.
At that point if the artist is comfortable
and we’re comfortable we start suggesting
things.
So for the chorus we suggested to do an Octave
up just you know kind of spatial reasons.
Denzel: And at first he’s definitely not
used to singing in that register.
So he was like, “You sure?
You sure?”
And we’re just like, “It’ll sound fire.”
So when he did it and then heard it back then
he was like alright maybe you guys know what
you’re doing.
So then from that point then you know the
trust between us got even stronger.
I think that’s one of the biggest things
as a producer...Trusting the artist and having
the artist trust you.
David: That's when we were able to do more
things like the whistle for instance was something
that like he was just whistling in the booth.
I remember me, Denz and then everyone else
that was in the room as well were like, “Actually,
like that didn’t sound that bad.”
Denzel: So I think Nas chose this one because
he was just coming off “Old Town Road”
and he didn’t want to be known as, you know,
kid from Atlanta who sings country songs.
David: The reason for us picking it was just
kind of just throw a little curve ball and
a little challenge out there to see like what
we could you know come up with and the end
product was “Panini”.
David: The way that we created this one like
really did feel like we were in a band.
Denzel: Yeah.
David: I mean honestly this is one of my favorite
beats we’ve ever made.
Denzel: So he recorded the verse and the beginning
part of the chorus.
And then he was like “All right, play it
back.”
And I had done like a rough mix on it, because
I was recording on my laptop.
And he just takes out his phone and is like,
holding it up, and then I got a notification
like, “Lil Nas posted a video.”
And its, he like basically leaked this song
before we even finished it.
But then it, people instantly hit us up like
“Oh my god.
Congrats.
Like this song sounds crazy.”
Within minutes.
And then we just sat there just watching the
numbers go up and -
David Biral: Yeah, that song pretty much went
viral before we even finished the second verse.
David: Obviously been in New York for nine
years but you know, being like, two kids from
like, pretty small like farm towns.
Its definitely pretty amazing to see and definitely
just the love and feedback just from like
our own you know, kids and people that we
grew up with.
To like, really have them reach back out and
like support like that, that feeling is incredible.
David: Yeah so the day that we linked up with
Nas ... We're having a meeting with our PR.
Literally we're eating beef pasta.
And then big Nas was in a booth like next
to us.
Denzel: OG and I was like the whole time we
were eating.
We were like, “Oh my God, has that been
Nas this entire time?”
David: Right after that went to this session
with Lil Nas X and then the “Panini” beat.
So we name all our beats after food.
We just call it the Daytrip recipes, and its
just easier for us to remember.
And like that beat happened to be called “Beef
Pasta”.
So, we're eating beef pasta in Jon & Vinnie's
with OG Nas next to us.
Go to the studio with Lil Nas X and then he
picks a beat called “Beef Pasta”.
And then "Panini."
Denzel: Yeah.
