Soul Saturday: Dwele reflects on his debut, Detroit roots, story behind Kanye’s ‘Flashing Lights’

This summer marks the 20th anniversary of Dwele’s first album Subject. 

The Detroit native sat down with WDET’s Soul Saturday to reflect on his debut record and to talk about his development in music. Dwele shares how he became a DJ, the music that formed him as an artist, and what it was like working with Kanye West.

The following interview has been edited for clarity.

Dwele on his debut album Subject:

They always say that you have your whole lifetime to work on your first album, and man, that was definitely the case. You know, Subject for me, was a lifelong development up to that point. Before I came out with Subject, I had an album that I was just chopping out of my trunk called Rize. And Subject had a few songs off of Rize as well. But of course, when you are a musician, when you’re an artist, you always want people to know your most recent work. So we pulled up a couple pieces from Rize that felt like they had to be on the album and then everything else was something that I had created up until that point when I was with Virgin Records. Subject was just a feel-good album — nothing ever beats the first to me.

On getting his start:

I connected with Slum Village at a place called Cafe Mahogany. On Sunday nights, I played with a guy named Malik Alston. He had a small band that he put together. They used to do soulful house live music. I had just gotten up in the ropes and he said I could be a good addition to the band. So, he brought me on and it kind of gave me my live chops a little bit. Baatin would actually sell incense and oils on Sunday nights at Cafe Mahogany while we were performing, so I made a connection with Baatin that way. At the time I was rapping, so I connected with [Slum Village]. I wanted them to hear my music, my beats, my lyrics, whatever. So [Baatin] introduced me to T3 and we kind of all started connecting. They were like, “Yo, you got to meet Jay Dee [J-Dilla].” Between all of those different points, everything just kind of came together.

On creating “Find A Way” single:

“Find A Way” was my first time kind of stepping out of my element, not being in the back room at my mom’s house off of Joy Road creating. You know, I actually went to LA…connected with a guy named G1. He actually came up with the “Find A Way” beat. I took it back to the hotel room, sitting under palm trees, and just tried to write. That’s what came out. I reflected on a past love and just lived in that moment.

You know with my albums, I always try to tell a story with the interludes.

On creating “Hold On” track:

We cut that song in [New] Jersey. They gave me the lyrics, I heard the music, and we just went in. I kind of put my style on it and we made it happen. It was magic.

On how he likes to tell a story through his music. 

You know with my albums, I always try to tell a story with the interludes. I’m still heavy into interludes with things that I do. So, I feel like Subject…it’s an album that you really need to listen to front-to-back. I tried to make it an offering that you didn’t need to skip through. You can just let it play and it’ll take you on a journey. I try to do that with all albums, but especially with Subject being that it was my first one.

On how Detroit fits into Dwele as an artist and his development as a performer:

There’s (sic) so many different musical fruits to pick from in this city, you know? Whether it’s soul music, whether it’s gospel, jazz, hip-hop, house, techno, etc. I feel like all of that has kind of made me who I am. Even if I’m not a techno artist, I feel like there are certain elements that may come out in certain songs when I produce. Even though I’m not a hip-hop artist, there are certain elements of that that may come out in my writing style — even though I’m not rapping, I’m singing. I feel like all of that has played a part. Of course I grew up on Motown and all of that. So, it’s in my blood.

On artists Dwele was inspired by when he was creating Subject:

On the hip-hop side of things, definitely [A] Tribe Called Quest, Boogiemonsters. I was heavy into that style, like the East Coast style. I feel like that really influenced my pen. Musically and vocally, I listened to a lot of Michael Franks back then. I just love the vibe that they could omit through a song or through a chord. It makes you feel a certain way and I try to emulate that the best that I could.

Dwele on how he started DJing:

I randomly told my manager, “I want to try DJing. I want to learn it.” Mind you, I said I wanted to learn how to DJ. He went and booked me to DJ at the black-tie affair [North American International] Auto Show afterparty. It was crazy. This was like a big deal and I’m like, “Bro, I don’t know how to DJ. I said I wanted to learn.” I had to go out and buy CDJs.

This was when I was working on “Flashing Lights” with Kanye. I went out and bought CDJs and a cheap mixer. I flew with it to New York and was working with Kanye during the day. Then I would come back with it to the hotel and practice DJing. I came home two days later and I had to do the joint. DJ Fingers was there to catch me when I fell. He set me straight and taught me a few things on the fly. We got through it.

Working with Ye, I always say that in that moment, I learned that sometimes less is more.

On working with Kanye West

Me and Ye had done a few shows already in Chicago. We had done a run of shows at the Disciple Museum. We had connected here and there. And by that time, we had already crossed paths via Slum Village’s [Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit) single] “Selfish.”

Working with Ye was cool. I learned something from him on the “Find A Way” record. There’s one thing that I always say that I learned while working with him. He was gone when I was in the studio working on the record. It was just me and the engineer. He was like, “Well, I got all the vocals.” Ye had already written what he wanted me to say. So, he was like, “I got everything here. If you want to, you can run in there and cut it.” So Ye had his reference vocal and I went in there. I cut it the way I heard it.

Then I started adding all these “Dwele” harmonies on it, right? So, I laid it up, made it super lush and everything. Ye comes to the studio and I said, “I already cut it.” He said, “Cool, let me hear it.” We listened to it and he’s like, ‘That’s beautiful man. That’s really cool…but I’m trying to rock stadiums.” I didn’t know what that meant. He said, ‘Take off all the harmonies and just leave the lead lines.’ So, we took off the harmonies, left the lead line, and it worked. He knew what he was talking about. Working with Ye, I always say that in that moment, I learned that sometimes less is more.”