Rihanna – “Man Down”
There was a writing camp we got invited to, to work on the Rihanna album [Rated R]. And everybody in the writing camp was writing dance records, because the label felt that was the direction they wanted to take her in, at that time. We just felt like we don’t want to compete with 100 writers and producers all making the same song. The only way we would stand out or have a shot at making Rihanna’s album is if we be different from everyone else. And then we were like she is a Caribbean woman, so why not do a Caribbean record. Something that is just authentic and has a good story to it. I love hearing women sing reggae records. There aren’t too much women out here in popular music singing reggae records. We were like, “Yo, let’s just make a reggae record for Rihanna.” It showed us how everybody around the world still has love and appreciation for quality reggae music.