Meet D-Flow: A ‘mad scientist’ behind the sound of Social Club’s album ‘US’

Social Club’s recently released album US utilized two executive producers, one of which Marty claimed is an evil genius.

“Working with D-Flow is like working with a mad scientist,” Marty said. “We are arguing, laughing, yelling, dreaming all in the same sentence. It’s weird.”

A simple tweet sparked the relationship that helped develop what many know as the Social Club sound. Around the time Social Club was in the process of releasing its free album Misfits in 2012, South Florida-based, Nigerian-born producer D-Flow reached out to Marty on Twitter, saying that he had a track for him. The instrumental became the song “Roller Coaster” featuring Butta P and Roslyn, track No. 9 of the project, and, from then on, D-Flow and Social Club developed a relationship.

“Everything came out of an organic place,” D-Flow said.

The relationship held between both executive producers D-Flow and Rey King with Social Club eased the stress when creating US.

“We actually do have a relationship outside of music,” D-Flow said. “Because of that, it makes working easier.”

The group has natural conversations about life, and, as a result, songs such as “Heavy Hand” spur out.

While in production for US, D-Flow and Social Club met every Wednesday for about three months.

“We would sit down and just knock records out,” D-Flow said. “It was a more cohesive project in my opinion than anything we’ve ever done prior to this.”

He describes the overall production feel from US as dark, and he said listeners should expect to hear sincerity and a more serious Social Club. Thinking about the details meticulously when producing US, D-Flow intentionally kept his decorative studio lights on the red color setting.

“I remember making the intro and thinking, ‘When people hear this, I want them to think, red LED lights,'” he said.

Although D-Flow is known for producing hip-hop-style beats, he gets inspiration for his sound by listening to music outside of hip hop. He fills his brain with a wide variety of genres ranging from French music, to disco, to Nigerian afro-beats.

“I draw inspiration from different places, and that’s how I cultivated my sound,” he said. “I see the world around me and interpret it in my own artistical language.”

Coming to America in his adolescent years as a business major, D-Flow never imagined that he would be able to produce music for a living. In 2014, he signed with former NBA player Keyon Dooling’s label KD55 Entertainment Group, to which fellow Christian artist Cheno Lyfe introduced him.

Considering that D-Flow used to admittedly be a novice with self-educated production skills, he has improved significantly over the years. He honed his craft by — rather than just making an endless supply of beats in a stash on his hard drive — choosing to be intentional with his production process, putting time and energy to create instrumentals that will ultimately go towards a project.

“I stopped making beats, and I started producing,” D-Flow said.

Buy US on iTunes or Amazon.

RELATED ARTICLES

Most Popular