Stories from “rare.“

The crazy thing about “Rapid Fire” is that Genio didn’t make the beat for me; it was for Tomi Thomas. I just came inside, heard

the beat, and was like, “Guy!…” The thing about these sorts of songs is that they’re really easy for me to make. I’ve probably

made like nine of those types of songs, but this one was sweet to make… there was something about it. I just did one verse and the

hook and was just playing it. I didn’t necessarily have much plans for the song, I just knew the song was made. My friend, Tomi

Agape, was on the song, but we cut her part short and then Phi (manager at the time) was like, “Let’s put Shane, this rapper from

South Africa and this girl from Ghana, her name is Amaarae.” I was like, “Yeah, I know her, cool.” When it all came together, it

was like, “Oh shit.” Shane’s verse was even cut short because he rapped on the whole thing. Amaa killed the song, too. The thing

with “Rapid Fire” is that it was made with a purity that was intentional. The way the songs were made, the way we shot the video,

the way we called all the guys, the way we all stayed there till the video was done–it was a pure era. People were just watching

us live our lives, but we didn’t even know. We’d just record music and go about. It was just me, Ashley (Okoli), Odunsi (The

Engine), and everybody. That’s how “Rapid Fire” came about. With the video, I’m very inspired by crime and Nollywood, so that’s

where that came from.

It’s a special record produced by Odunsi (The Engine). It’s inspired by a lot of HAIM (rock band). Again, it’s just pop music. I

used to listen to a lot of HAIM when I was younger. I don’t think they sing that much again. Also, I would say early Post Malone.

There’s a way Post Malone used to sing in his early days that resonated with me and I feel like I picked up a lot of things about

feeling comfortable enough to sing like a popstar on crazy beats. So, the feeling of the beat just made me feel like this is

freedom for me. The thing about me is that when I make a song, I love bringing people on and seeing how they approach it. So, I

put Tay (Iwar) then I sent it to Amaa(rae) to hop on it, and she did.

It’s inspired by Europop. There’s this song named “Steal My Sunshine” by Len, it’s a very old song. Basically, the foundation of

Mandy comes from a very pure time in my life because I didn’t know anything about the music business. The project just came from a

sense of wanting people to connect to this sound that has been missing but still resonates with you. When I made “Raining

Outside,” it was around 2017, and I wanted to make a song about being there no matter what. I’m not saying I’m the perfect friend

or the best man in the world, but I’m just saying I’m always going to be there. I feel like that resonates with the heart of

people because there’s no greater feeling than when somebody knows that you have their back– it makes you feel good. Also, all my

projects are centred around women because I grew up around my mum and her sisters. All my life, I’ve lived with my sister and my

friends and her friends. So, “Raining Outside” is kind of an ode to all the girls in my life, too, just to let them know that I

have their backs and they never need to bother when they have a friend like me; I also put a little sexiness in the song. The

funny thing about the song is that when I originally recorded it, I did a whole different thing. I came the next day, and I heard

it, and I was like, “Bro, what’s this rubbish?” and I deleted it. I then started singing line by line and sang the whole thing

again. I made “Raining Outside” in Magodo (Lagos) in GMK’s house in 2017. All the songs on Mandy & The Jungle were made two or

three years before they dropped.

I feel like I am a rapper, so if I don’t rap, my project isn’t complete. “Diamonds” just has one thing that makes it a personal

song of mine. I just needed to have it so that niggas know. Also, “Diamonds” is with “Where You Been,” it’s two in one. I was in

Lagos at my aunt’s house, and I just walked down the road and smoked and came back. The “Diamonds” beat was just playing, and I

just sang. There’s a thing I do when I record where I try to catch the beat. So, I might be gaming, but I’ll hear the beat, then

I’ll run. It’s just a stupid thing, I don’t know why I do it. It’s just like what’s going to come out of your head at that spot.

So, as I did that, the lyrics just came out. I just sang that part and kept it. I didn’t hear it again until two days later, and I

was just like, “This p is mad o,” and I did “Diamonds.” “Where You Been” was with Seki, who’s my good friend. He’s from The

Philippines. He did the first part of “Where You Been” and then, I just sang on it. He didn’t know what to do with the song, and I

said that I was going to make it the second half of “Diamonds.” He did his part in Dubai, and I did my part in Lagos in 2018.

DRAM found my music and told Tunde in Love Renaissance (LVRN) about me. He was texting me that my shit is fire and I was sending

him my music. I sent him the whole Mandy project, and he liked it. In January 2019, there were a bunch of guys recording in my

house, and Genio (the producer) played a beat, and I just freestyled to it. It was hard, and I asked DRAM if he could go on this,

and he said yes. He sent it back the next day.

“Turn Down Mami” is crazy because it's one of the first beats I made when I started making beats. I would just make the skeleton

and send it to Genio. Or Genio will make something, and I’ll send it to Doz (credited producer) to fully flesh because I used to

like his drums. I recorded it in Dubai. It’s actually about my ex who I was with in Dubai for about five years. That was her name

because she didn’t like going out so they used to call her Turn Down Mami, and I just named the song after her. She’s my soldier,

she loved it. She still calls herself Turn Down Mami.

That happened in GMK’s house (in Magodo, Lagos). I feel like that song holds a special place in my heart because there are two

ways I record. There’s one where I just freestyle, but it always makes sense–like I just sing from my heart. “Monte Claire” was

kind of special because there’s a time when I’m singing where it feels like I’ve already written it, but it just keeps going on.

The first part of the song just came out of nowhere and I was like, “Oh shit.” Then I sat on it for a few months till I did the

second verse. “Monte Claire” is just like a hip-hop-Mande core song that just feels good. There’s really no lore behind it, but

it’s just a special song because when I recorded the hook, there was a part where it just comes out of my brain like on “FINAL

CHAMPION” where I said, “Werey touch me.”

Dubai-core. That one is just a very fun song. You know, there are just some songs you make where it’s just a Santi song. I made

the beat with GMK and he was laughing like, “What kind of fucking song is this.” It was just fun and nice, but it helped to build

the sound of Mandy. Songs like “Dime In The Winter,” “Morocco,” and “Turn Down Mami” are very much instrumental to getting into

the lore of our sound. Also, I don’t always write about myself. I could just make a story. In the story, I’m a guy with a girl,

and we’ve smoked the dealer’s stuff, and he’s going to come and kill us, so we are thinking of what to do. That’s how dancehall

guys used to sing about crazy shit and that’s what I did–and then, there are anime references, of course.

I made “Maria” around the same time (I made Morocco), but I did not finish it. “Maria” wasn’t going to be on Mandy. It was Odunsi

(The Engine) who was like, “Bro, how are you not going to put this song?” That was when GoldLink was trying to get me to come and

shoot his video. So, I sent him “Maria” and told him to hop on the song. He sent it back that night and I submitted it the next

day. It was the last addition to the project.

I feel like “Sparky” is a special record because it was produced by Odunsi (The Engine), who has produced a lot of gems for me.

When he first made the beat, I didn’t know what to do with it; I was singing so many things on it. When I first heard the beat, it

reminded me of an old song, and I was singing something like that at the beginning and from there, I just went into my own realm

and “Sparky” just came out. I made “Sparky” in 2017 at GMK’s house. We all make our songs at GMK’s house, including Odunsi and

even (Lady) Donli. I did half of my project at GMK’s house and then did the rest in Dubai.

This one is a special record. Higo came to my house, he also made “Raining Outside.” I still have the video of him producing “Raw

Dinner”–he was just playing around. We were just in the house together in one room when he was making the beat. Then he played

that opening section… I did a voice note, and then he left. Before you know it, he sent me the beat because I didn’t do it there.

I recorded the hook, and I had it for a while. Kida became my guy and I just sent it to Kida. Then Kida sent it back, and I was

just like, “Bruh .”

That song is an ode to my childhood because there was this cartoon called Mike, Lu, & Og. I started the song with the melody from

the cartoon’s theme song. Some people heard it and asked me if I saw the cartoon, and I'm like, “Yeah, I did see Mike, Lu, & Og.”

I found Krisirie on SoundCloud, she’s insane. I asked her to jump on the song; she did, and the rest was history. She did an

insane verse. This is probably one of my best-written nostalgic songs. It just has a feel to it, and it’s largely how I feel about

Mandy. It just came from a time of purity.

It’s crazy “DSM” was the first song I recorded after Suzie’s Funeral, which was my first SoundCloud project. I wasn’t really

recording. When I released Suzie’s, I just dropped it on the internet and went back to school. I was schoolin,g and things were

kinda hard. It was just me in school, I didn’t know what to do. I just had little funds from the little work I was doing. I also

had to study so I prayed to God and turned off my phone for two weeks. I just prayed to God for a sign that it was all going to

work out. Two weeks later, I turned on my phone, and I was checking my messages, and I saw one from a verified account. I go to

his page and I see that he’s the president of Drake’s label (Oliver El-Khatib). I was like, “Wow,” and I texted him back. I turned

off my phone again because I had to get back to studying, and then, one night, I was gaming because my girl was with me then.

People started reaching out, saying that they are playing my stuff on OVO Radio. They played “Jungle Fever” and “Gangster Fear,”

and that just gave me some insane motivation to start recording again. The first song I recorded properly, coming back in 2017,

was “DSM.” We dropped “Jungle Fever” around late 2016 or early 2017, and I went back to uni. I was like, “Fuck, we’re back here.”

“Freaky” was made in 2016. People like Naeto C, Killz, and D’Prince are the key to the future of music. People don’t understand

the core of swag rap, and it’s because we didn’t have as much coverage as we have now. That shit was what we were grooving and

eating. When D’Prince dropped “Jonzing World” and Jesse Jagz dropped “Wetin Dey,” those songs were… If you just take the drums and

make them new and mix some of this shit, it will blow up everywhere. “Shobeedoo” is one of my best Killz songs. It’s a crazy song,

and it’s just different, and that beat was incredible. There’s a part in the song where nothing plays, and I just told Genio to

let us sample it. Genio is really good at R&B. He’s like the god of R&B when it comes to producing, and I recorded it. We did this

in Adeniyi Jones (Lagos) my guy’s house. Luciano, a rapper, was on the song before, but everything changed when I met Phi (manager

at the time). She said we should put Nonso Amadi on it, and the rest is history. Shoutout Nonso too.

You know how my music has so many pockets. I can rap, I can do patois, and any style. So, this is a pocket that GMK (credited

producer) entered. Producers have seasons. There is a time when GMK can make a certain type of beat that he’ll never make again

because that’s the season he’s in. So, why “Morocco” and “Maria” are special is because he made both of them in one week, and he

never made beats like that again. Once he made “Morocco,” I just knew that this was my p. It was in his house. I turned on the mic

and just sang about “Morocco” in Magodo (Lagos).

That one was in Dubai. I was just chilling in the house. I wanted to make a very mainstream pop song because I’m very deeply

rooted in pop music. Like, I love pop music, but the weird type of pop. The type of pop where they just come out and sing about

their life. “Murvlana” is very much in that realm, and then I mixed it a little because Santigold taught me how to sing like that.

It’s a mixture of R&B and indie but at the same time, the whole of Mandy came from a very pure place. Every song I was making then

came from my heart. (At that time) Tay and I hadn’t made a song in three years, so I knew that I needed to tap in. When I made

“Murvlana,” I was just like, “This is Tay” because every song Tay and I have made is incredible. I sent it to Tay, he sent it

back, and history.

This story is very, very crazy. So, when Kai Cenat came to Nigeria, he was on a livestream in my car and Omah’s music was playing.

I had a mix of songs queued up in my car and then, it was Omah Lay’s song playing. Obviously, that night was a huge stream. So the

next day, Omah tweeted, “I’ve always thought Davido hated me”. I was like, why will I hate you, you haven't done anything to me.

Or are you talking behind my back haha. I was just whining him in the DM. He said, no, no. So thinking about it, if I didn’t do

that stream with Kai, he probably wouldn't have tweeted that and we probably wouldn't have linked. Funny enough, you would think

that Davido and Omah Lay wouldn't connect like crazy. Because, obviously, he's very chill and I'm very out there. But the first

time we spoke on the phone, we spoke for like 40 minutes. What was meant to be a quick call. And when he came to Paris Fashion

Week last year, we connected on a major level. So, yeah, as we were talking (after his tweet), I was like, yo, bro, I think we

need to do something. We kept speaking about it and he said he’s getting it and he wanted to send me the perfect song. So after

like two weeks went by, I was like “Ah, Omah!”. He was like “I will send it. I will send something tonight”. He sent it that night

and when I first played it, it captivated immediately. I actually had another verse on it but my guys were like you need to go

crazy on it. We need to bring out the craze in people. So I called one of my Igbo writers haha. Some of the verses were done but I

called Yung Alpha (credited writer), amazing artist, amazing producer and then we finished the song in September last year (2024).

Funny enough, this one was recorded a year before the Timeless album (2022). It originally just with me and Tayc. But they both

ended up doing an album together. It’s crazy, they went on tour together. So I was like wow, since you guys are working together,

Dadju, oya join this song. This was one of the songs that took long to actually arrange because Francophone artists are very very

specific about how they sound and that made it take long. It was very dope to have two of them on the record.

Crazy enough, I recorded Funds a little bit after the Timeless album. ODUMODU actually sent me the song when Timeless had just

came out. We were meant to do Timeless deluxe. But I ended up not recording it for a long time. One day, I was like, why haven’t I

recorded this song? Then I recorded it last year August (2024). And then, I don’t know where I was, but it just hit me and said

I’m gonna put Chike on this song. Obviously, I love Chike’s music, he performed at my wedding. He’s Igbo, my wife is Igbo, you

know I’m really in touch with that culture. That’s how it came together.

Titanium, we recorded this in Malibu. I and Chris Brown, it’s not even about music, he just comes to hang out, we talk about

everything. Like we sleep off on the couch together, smoking, chilling. As he came, obviously we had the studio set up and he

listened to the album. He picked the Victoria Monét song, he was like “yo, that gotta be there”. He loved 10 Kilo, he likes

Anything, then he liked Titanium so we got him on Titanium. I went to his house, obviously he has a studio there. That’s where he

recorded his part, in LA.

Victony, obviously we’re under the same (management). Musa Keys, that’s my man. We have one of my biggest songs together,

Unavailable. You know I’ve been tapping in with South Africa since time, before Amapiano became huge. So Victony and Musa already

had the record so I came as their older brother haha. I was like I love this record. You know me, when it comes to finishing

music, I know how to take it and turn it up a notch. I did my verse, we recorded it in Lagos around May last year (2024).

I recorded this one in Malibu (2024). I got the song sent from Ubi Franklin. He sent me the idea, he has producers. He was doing a

recording camp at the time. I was like come, just fly to Cali. I got his ticket so he came with some material. I hadn’t met the

producer before, but I have an amazing engineering team around me that makes me feel like the producer is there. We penned Awuke,

it was written by Moonlight Afriqa. I wasn’t gonna record the song. We were chilling in the parlor, me Chris Brown and his friend

when the song caught me. I was like, this is vibey o. Chris Brown’s friend, he’s Nigerian. He was like “you better record that”.

At this time, I and YG Marley were trying to figure out a record, so I just sent it to him. He nailed it. He came to Nigeria for

the video shoot. It was an amazing process.

I love the Caribbean. I’m always there, I perform there a lot. My family, we go to the Caribbean every December. Two Decembers

ago, we went to St. Kitts, the last one we went to the Bahamas. I have big Caribbean songs… Risky with Popcaan. I’ve always wanted

to work with Shenseea. I love their culture. We’ve actually recorded like five songs in total, but they just didn’t dropped. R&B

was recorded in Malibu. I sent it to Shenseea, she killed it. When I was in Jamaica during my wife’s birthday last year (2024),

there was this guy, I heard his songs and the girls were going crazy, his name is 450. I tapped in early with him, linked up with

him. He sent in his verse.

I recorded this during the Timeless album time. It was meant for Timeless. I recorded it the same time I recorded FEEL (another

Davido song). At the time, I was working with Blaise (producer). Amazing song, it’s one of my best songs on the album. You know, I

like when you drop an album, and people run to the clear hits. I feel like Don’t Know is gonna be a creeper. It’s like how Away

from my Timeless album came, then 8 months later, everyone rushed to Away. It’s gonna be that type of song.

Shout out to Victoria, she’s amazing. I love when I work with an artist, and they act like it’s their own. That’s when you know

that somebody is serious about their stuff. She sent me the song after the last Grammy’s (2024). I told her we should work. I sat

on the verses for so long, because I needed it to be perfect. I recorded it in my house in Atlanta. I have a studio set up there

in ATL. She came to the video shoot, we even had dance rehearsals, it was crazy.

We made this one during my 2024 trip in Malibu. Any song you hear from Loudaa (the producer), was from that Malibu time. This is a

typical Davido record. I love songs with melodies, songs that talk to women. Anything that makes women feel gingered (excited), it

will always work. That’s why when we did Unavailable, I said bro, it was gonna work. Every girl wants to be unavailable. So I knew

10 Kilo would go, because of the message also. Yes, it’s talking about plus size, women, but there’s also a flip side of it, like

10 Kilo of gold as well. So it’s a double meaning.

I started recording this song in Houston, but finished it in Ghana about 3 years ago (2021). Shizzi (the producer) spends a lot of

time in Ghana and I was in Ghana then, taking a break. Victony had sent me a song idea, but then this was not the beat. It was a

demo with a different beat. I don’t know why, but the song sounded better with the beat that Shizzi sent me. When we were vibing

to the beat for CFMF, by mistake I sang “I can’t feel my face no more”. I was like this is sounding good. So I took the hook from

the demo Victony sent me. Then got the verses done with my boy Diende (credited songwriter). We penned it in Ghana.

I recorded Be There Still in Lagos, about two Decembers ago (2023). Obviously, it’s the same kind of message like I said on

Anything (another Davido song). Many will go, many will come but I will be here still… You know, my longevity in the game. What

people don’t understand is that when I’m in my cycle of recording, I go to the studio everyday. So I remember we made this in

Lagos and it’s a song about my life and story. It’s just Davido.

I said it during one of my listening sessions with Martel. This was the song that kinda got me into the rhythm for putting this

album (5IVE) together. We made it in Malibu. We were in Malibu having a good time around March 2024. My manager (Asa Asika)

brought some stuff from Loudaa (the producer) and the beat for Anything was one of them ones. I have a really good production team

around me and we are able to get things done no matter where I am and when the original producer is not in the same place as me.

We had a set up in Malibu. I recorded it during the trip. It’s a song about my journey through the music industry. I always like

to dabble into those kinds of things, to remind people of how long I’ve been here, because people tend to forget. Just obstacles

that we’ve passed, and conquered. So anything that has been put in front of you, any bumper, any obstacles can be overridden. Be

There Still I recorded Be There Still in Lagos, about two Decembers ago (2023). Obviously, it’s the same kind of message like I

said on Anything (another Davido song). Many will go, many will come but I will be here still… You know, my longevity in the game.

What people don’t understand is that when I’m in my cycle of recording, I go to the studio everyday. So I remember we made this in

Lagos and it’s a song about my life and story. It’s just Davido.