Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Gabriel Teodros, host of Early on KEXP, is "DERIVE (feat. Webz)" by Waahli, a 2021 single on Wyzah Musk Prod.
Born and raised in Montreal to a Haitian family, Waahli is one of the leading members of Hip Hop supergroup Nomadic Massive. He is revered as a trilingual emcee (English, French, Creole), guitarist and beatmaker. In 2018, he broke out on his own to release the debut solo album Black Soap and has since followed that up with 2020’s Soap Opera EP (Waahli is also an organic soap maker, hence his thematic focus on the sudsy cleaning product) and a string of singles.
One of his recent singles and today’s Song of the Day is a reimagining of the song "À la Derive,” originally written by Haitian songwriter Fabrice Rouzier and performed by his fellow countryman Eric Charles. Built on a series of guitar loops entitled “nights in the cave” that Waahli regularly posted on social media and featuring vocals from the Paris-based Franco-Haitian singer Webz, the song is a dreamier, jazzier, more melancholic take on the Haitian original.
