Rye Rye Adds More 'Bang' to Debut with Pharrell, Bangladesh

Rye Rye has kept fans waiting on her debut Go! Pop! Bang! since 2009, but it’s for the right reasons. M.I.A.’s protégée recently headed back into the studio with a gang of big-shot producers to record new material for her spring release.

“Now it’s just basically me deciding to go in and record new stuff to swap in and out of the album, just to refresh it,” the Baltimore MC told staging-rapup.kinsta.cloud. “Just getting to that comfortable place and deciding what songs I want to use and just going in and recording to see what I can get out of it. I might actually record songs that I like better or want to put on the album or take off. Basically, getting into my comfort zone.”

The 20-year-old, who released the M.I.A.-assisted “Sunshine” last year, hit the studio with producers including Bangladesh (who helmed the club banger “Hatter” and street cut “Homeboy”), So Japan, Christian Rich, The Villains, and Pharrell, who added some tribal flair to the upbeat “Shake, Twist, Drop.”

“We did a drum beat. To me, it sounds like just a bunch of drums. It’s real dope. It’s an uptempo beat, of course,” she explained. “It sounds like tribal drums, to be exact. M.I.A. said it reminded her of home.”

While M.I.A. previously served as executive producer, she’s taking a more backseat approach by approving cuts from afar. “She started working on her album and touring, so it’s sort of like she was trying to manage both, but I was still going it alone, doing my own thing and recording,” she said of Maya, who appears on four cuts. “But at the end of the day, all of the tracks go to M.I.A. and she says which ones she likes and doesn’t like. She’s major on the album. They go to her for all the decisions and stuff.”

In anticipation of the release of Go! Pop! Bang! Rye Rye heated up the Internet with her DJ Sega-hosted mixtape RYEotpowRR. Fans can catch the energetic performer live at this weekend’s Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif.

–Steven J. Horowitz