Jonah Almost Made Love on the Beat With D3AD6OY
Music

Jonah Almost Made Love on the Beat With D3AD6OY

Jonah Almost and D3AD6OY made love... “on the beat,” according to the New York City it-boy, who shares today the result of their musical sexcapades. Titled “Almost Dead,” the new single features D3AD6OY rapping over top of Jonah’s house-inflected hip-hop beats and marks his first official release through Hot Haus Recs. Below, PAPER dives into their collaboration, which we’ll be playing on rotation all summer long.

How'd you initially connect with D3AD6OY and decide to work together in this way?

We met through NYC nightlife, definitely at some club or party somewhere and became homies. It's funny cause we performed "Almost Dead" live a few weeks back and I introduced Tariq [AKA D3AD6OY] as "the deepest voice in NYC," and it's why I wanted to work with him. He's got such a sick style.

What does that collaborative process look like?

Super chill. He pulled up to my crib and we kicked it, smoked, made some beats. He works in Fruity Loops, I work in Ableton. Just kinda nerded out. Then I played him the beat, and he wrote a verse to it and we did a couple takes. It was really seamless. There's actually a third vocalist on the track, as well. Shout out my friend/collaborator, Kyle Kidd, who's vocals I sampled from a previous collab we did on my EP.

How’d you two land on the hook, "Think that I wanna die"?

That came from a scrapped demo I made. I think I was probably just looking for a random vocal to sample, but it ended up sounding cool. When I got Tariq on the track, it was a fun juxtaposition. D3AD6O and "think that I wanna die," but not in a dark way. More like a succumb to the sexiness and the swag kinda way.

In what ways are you inspired by New York City nightlife?

I just love getting to meet people. The entire reason the collab came together was through going out and meeting people you fuck with in nightlife — sonically/aesthetically/vibes — whatever. Tariq and I both have roots in NYC, so I think the sound is just naturally an extension of those different communities.

House music has such a rich history. How do you pull from it and update it?

Where to start. I mean, I'm super inspired by all the legends. Way too many to name, but off the top of my head Frankie Knuckles, Louie Vega, Deee-Lite. I definitely have a love for like, '90s flamboyant piano-y house, but I think in my world it's reimagined a little harder: Sexy piano stabs, rock 'n' roll vibes, autotune. Fusing different styles to create something new.

"I definitely have a love for like, '90s flamboyant piano-y house, but I think in my world it's reimagined a little harder: Sexy piano stabs, rock 'n' roll vibes, autotune."

Have you always been interested in making music? What has that journey been like discovering your voice?

I come from a musical family and so have always been connected to it in some way. Growing up, I listened to a lot of hip-hop/punk/pop punk/nu-metal, those sounds definitely inspire me. I discovered house/techno later when I was like 18. I went to Berghain/Pano, danced for 16 hours straight, it was poppin. Two years later, I bought my first synths and started learning Ableton. I didn't start releasing my music until the pandemic, though. I lost my job, so I just threw myself into learning how to produce and stopped giving a fuck about putting myself out there.

What does the future look like for you, music-wise?

I'm super hyped cause this is my first label release. "Almost Dead" and my next song, "Russian Roulette," out August 12, are both coming out on Hot Haus Records. I produced both of the songs, so I'm proud of the musical journey, for sure. I'm also excited to work with other artists and producers. I have some new, faster music coming out at the end of summer produced by Owwwls that I can't wait to share. New era of Jonah Almost: World Trade.

Stream "Almost Dead" by Jonah Almost, below.

Photography: Eric Johnson