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“Fire We Make” – Alicia Keys featuring Maxwell

“It was such a blessing to be a part of that song. That was me, Alicia, Oak and my brother from another Gary Clark Jr. all in the studio vibin’. Gary started playing this lick and Alicia started playing these chords. It was just so crazy. I remember just standing up and asking “What the fuck are y’all doing?” We were really in there just jamming and vibing off of each other. “Fire We Make” was finished within an hour maybe. Alicia and I were talking. I told her that we should keep it rhythmically so simple. Similar to something Leon Ware would give Marvin Gaye. We were vibing off Marvin’s I Want You album at the time. That’s why the production was so simple, so soulful and so sexy. Alicia wrote the record so fast. Months went by and as Alicia’s album was closing we were going through older records. Alicia was like “This is kind of crazy.” I got the call not too long after saying Maxwell was going to be on it. That was just so crazy for me. Being such a huge Maxwell fan, like most people in the world and knowing that that record was the first duet he’s ever done in his career was really, really crazy. At the time when the record came out, a lot of what was on radio sounded like one thing. That’s just what radio is, but Alicia Keys is Alicia Keys. She doesn’t have to do that. She doesn’t have to chase what everybody else is doing.”