When Beyoncé released Texas Hold ’Em, the global superstar became the first Black woman to top the Hot Country Songs charts in the US. With it, Killah B also became the first Black producer/ songwriter, alongside Raphael Saadiq, to do the same. Here, the LA-based hitmaker tells us all about how the UK chart-topping track came to life, praises Queen Bey and reflects on making history...
INTERVIEW: MIRANDA BARDSLEY
I feel like I’ve got photosynthesis ears! I can hear something once and download the integrity of it, the instruments and the way it impacts people. I’ve done it throughout my life and it was just like that for Texas Hold ’Em. I had so many ideas, they were just waiting for me to make them into something. It came about years back when I was at a PartyNextDoor birthday party and I was doing some networking, looking for songwriters. I’d had a hit with Ariana Grande’s Positions, I’d started a publishing company and was looking for the next thing.
This guy, [co-writer] Nate Ferraro, walked up to me and said, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ We started talking and I told him I was looking for songwriters. He played me a few of his songs, they were fire, and about three weeks later him and two other songwriters [Elizabeth Lowell Boland and Megan Bülow] called to ask me to come and work with them.
I was leaving the studio and was so tired at the time, but they were like, ‘Hey, we’re doing country, man!’ and I was just like, ‘You know what, I like that, that’s different, let’s go.’ So I pulled up, we did one country idea, then we started Texas Hold ’Em.
Nate picked up the guitar, played a chord, and we started to build the structure. As we did that, the others and I started writing, and once we had some melody and lyrics, they started cutting vocals and I got into my headphones and produced the beat in full.
I didn’t want to make traditional country so I kept the track rhythmic, I wanted there to be an urban sense to it. I feel like the bridging of pop and urban tends to win more in today’s music.
When we finished the track, we put claps in, I came up with the whistle and then we went in the booth and put some ‘Woohoos’ in there. We were trying to create this anthemic bluegrass moment where we could see people in a field, waving their hands, by the fire, with S’mores, whiskey...
We knew it was dope, but it wasn’t until I got in the car to go home that night that I was like, ‘Damn, this shit is fire, somebody is going to take this.’ Lo and behold, three weeks later, Queen Bey herself took the record right off my hands...
That happened at another party with a close friend of mine who was working with Beyoncé’s A&R Mariel Gomerez-Rodriguez. I’d known her from a while back when she started under me and my team in Atlanta. We were vibing at this party and my friend asked me if I had any country records. I was a bit nervous to play the track, but she loved it, then sent it to Mariel and [Beyoncé’s label] Parkwood Entertainment.
Mariel also fell in love with it. She stripped it down, played it for Beyoncé, and they sat down and came up with a plan. In that same month, Mariel reached out to all of us and had us sign an NDA!
And Beyoncé, well, that lady has vision. She took the track to the next level. She brought Raphael Saadiq in to add some things, an extra kick to the drums, some more percussion and violins, and they also added that last bit with the piano where Beyoncé sings, ‘And I’ll be damned if I cannot dance with you’, which was so fire. It’s incredible how Beyoncé was able to hear herself in the original demo; it was completely left-field from what we’d usually hear from her and that’s just how genius she is. I was blown away.
I’ve met Beyoncé in the past but through this we didn’t because we were so busy, but there was a lot of back and forth where we were trying different things. After the 11th or 12th revision, she was like, ‘You know what? Let’s go back to the original!’ So we worked from there – Beyoncé’s so meticulous, down to every instrument.
When we released it, I was in shock, I was so excited. Growing up, and as an adult, you see so many ‘first Black person this’ and ‘first Black person that’ because Black people are still emerging from racism that plagues the country right now. I never thought that I would be part of that story in Black history where I would be the first of something, kicking doors down. I’m so thankful to God that I was the catalyst, the instrument to usher that in.
On the flipside, I never used to feel any issue with where Black people stood in country music, but recently I’ve really seen it and Beyoncé had to deal with it – that’s why she went so hard with this album [Cowboy Carter]. There are people who are still invested in ideologies of hate for Black people and in controlling the music they think we should be doing. But country music was made by Black people! And we’re told we can’t be a part of it, it’s crazy.
This genre is colourless, anyone can do it if you do it right and in your own way. There are so many Black country artists emerging and it’s been beautiful to be a part of opening the doors for those who were there before me, who’ve been keeping the genre alive and saying, ‘Hey, Black people have been here the whole time.’
People want to see new things too, that’s what it’s all about. And as for me? I just want to create more ‘Wow’ factors. I’m positioning myself to create the next ‘I can’t believe he did that’ moment...
PUBLISHERS:
Sony Music Publishing, UMPG, Kobalt, Hyvetown Music Inc., Bucks Music Group Ltd.
WRITERS:
Beyoncé, Brian Bates, Raphael Saadiq, Nathan Ferraro, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow PRODUCERS: Beyoncé, Brian Bates, Raphael Saadiq, Nathan Ferraro
RELEASE DATE: 11.02.24 LABEL: Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia TOTAL SALES (OCC): 873,355
Publisher’s Corner
Leading executives salute their star songwriters...
Walter Jones, EVP, head of A&R, Sony Music Publishing: “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Killah B before his co-writing success on Texas Hold ’Em, and it’s been incredible to see him grow his catalogue and make time for huge stars and up-and-comers. His ability to produce a room and write the right song for an artist is pretty special.”
