What it’s Like to Livestream Yourself Recording an Album, According to DDG

When we talked on Zoom last month, rapper DDG had just been streaming on Twitch for a week straight. During that time, he’d invited guests like Shaboozey and DaBaby to his studio for a 7-day “Hit-A-Thon,” where they’d record songs for his then-upcoming album Blame the Chat, which dropped last week. One would imagine that he might’ve wanted to take a break after wrapping up that kind of gauntlet. Instead, DDG was right back on stream only a few hours after the Hit-A-Thon ended. “Maybe three hours after I finished and logged off, I got back on,” DDG says. “I’ve just been in a working mood.”

For his fans, that much is obvious. The rapper and content creator has been working diligently this year, documenting much of it on his Twitch channel, where he’s among the top “IRL” — meaning in real life as opposed to gaming — streamers on the platform. He says the spark for his latest album, which was created largely during his livestreams with input from his audience in real-time, was making “Pink Dreads” with Plaqueboymax earlier this year. The song’s positive reception made DDG want to try the same interactive process for a full-length project.

Blame the Chat features appearances from Ty Dolla $ign, Rob49, Wiz Khalifa, and more. Many of the album’s guests appeared on DDG’s Hit A Thon livestream, further meshing the worlds of musicians and content creators. DDG spoke to Rolling Stone about live streaming an album, growing a community on Twitch, and how streaming requires thick skin.

What inspired you to stream the whole process of making Blame the Chat?
It’s what I did with the song “Pink Dreads” with Plaqueboymax. We made the song, and then, seeing it getting a little bit of traction, we hurried up and put it out. So it’s just giving them what you know they like. It’s a safer route rather than making a song and then sitting on the song and thinking it’s the one, and then you put it out and don’t get the exact feedback you want. And it’s like, why not show them the process? And if they don’t like something, you can stop it halfway rather than spending all this money on production on music videos and all this other stuff, and it’s a song they don’t even really like.

How did it feel to make that song live in front of an audience?
It was good. I do it every day, so every time I go in the studio, that’s just how I make music. And it is cool to do it live, especially in front of a different audience, because I feel like [Plaqueboymax]’s audience is a lot different from mine. They’re a lot younger, and they may follow trends and hate trains around my name, so for me to rap in front of them and show them the raw talent, I feel like that’s where the good reception came from.

On the flip side, do you ever feel like there may be too many cooks in the kitchen with the chat?
No, you can’t really… There’s been times where, especially during the Hit-A-Thon, I can pick a song that I really want to do or I really want to use, or I can pick a beat and we won’t agree, but I’m the artist at the end of the day, I don’t let… This is my profession, this is what I do, so I always tell them when I’m recording, at least if I like something, if I hear something, let me do what I do, and then we can deliberate at the end. So it’s like a collaboration, we go back and forth, we talk, and then we see what really works. So I never let them get to me to the point where I’m like, you know what? I’m just not going to try it.

What inspired you to get into streaming in the first place?
I’ve always been good at basically staying relevant and staying in the current spaces. Coming from YouTube, I feel like it’s not really as big as it used to be when it comes to making YouTube videos and vlogging and doing all those types of things. Live-streaming has taken over, and just fans and supporters want the content now. They don’t want to see snippets and wait and do all of that. They want to see what’s going on now. So it’s really just me adapting to what’s new.

You’re working with people who don’t necessarily stream all the time, what was it like bringing people into this new environment?
I think it was cool. I like to think that I make everybody feel comfortable—it’s a fun experience. The thought of live-streaming, especially as an artist and creating new music, people automatically get a little nervous and they don’t really know if they want do it, but I feel like with my specific audience that love music and they want to be a part of the process, it just makes it a lot easier because I call them the ‘chat’. The chat is pretty… They’re funny, they’re welcoming, they let you know if they like something, they let you know if they don’t like something, so it’s just a fun experience overall.

Were they people that reached out to you or people that you already wanted to work with?
A lot of people reached out to me, but the first single, “Motion” with DaBaby, I called him. He wasn’t on schedule to pull up. I just called him in the morning, and they pulled up, and then we ended up making two fire songs back to back. So a lot of it was just calling people on the spot and just seeing who was available in LA. Everybody’s scattered, everybody in Atlanta, everybody in Miami, everybody in New York, and some people in LA, so I just called who was available and then tried to make happen whatever I could.

Do any of these artists also bring their fans to you? Maybe somebody who hadn’t really heard of DDG but tuned in because you had Shaboozey or DaBaby on?
People that’s fans of the artists hopped on the stream to see what we was making. It’s just cross-pollination. They got fans, I got fans, we make music together, and just see what both bases think about it.

What’s gone into building out what your online community looks like?
It depends on the streamer. It depends on the creator, a lot of us share fans, so some people might have a different type of opinion and a different chat versus coming in mine. And I feel like I’m pretty strict when it comes to being respectful to guests and stuff like that. I can time people out, ban people, all types of stuff. So I like to keep it to where it is fun, but it’s also respectful, especially when an artist comes on, just so people feel comfortable.

Does it take a toll after so many consecutive days of streaming?
No, for sure. It can definitely get you tired. Your brain has to constantly be coming up with creative ideas to entertain because if you’re not entertaining, you’re not funny, or if you’re just sitting there and just looking at the camera, not doing nothing, they’re going to leave. It’s a constant pressure to entertain, but that’s what I like. I enjoy working, I enjoy the pressure of entertaining. I enjoy stretching my creativity and always having to think. So I don’t really see a problem with it, but there’s definitely been some days where I don’t want to stream or I’m very exhausted or tired and don’t really know what I’m going to stream for the day, but I seem to always figure it out. So until that day comes when I completely crash, I’m going to keep going every day.

Your son has become a very beloved character within your content universe. As a parent, what goes through your mind as you introduce your child to this world?
At the end of the day, I got very tough skin. To me, it’s just the internet. Whenever I do stuff with my son, I look at it as something that he can watch later on when he gets older and see himself, and see what he was like as a one-year-old or as a baby. But he might pop in and out, live streaming. If I do something with my son, it’s on more controlled apps. I stream every day, so whenever he wants to walk in a room and see me while I’m streaming, he might kick it for 20 minutes or so. I have a very great support system. My mom helps me a lot. And I try not to keep him on the live for too long.

From Rolling Stone US.