lil wayne “fireman”
by ben detrick
it was five years ago that Bigram “Develop” Zayas swore off turntables for good. An odd resolution for anyone, it was a particularly strange oath for a world champion DJ who had just wrapped up a showcase performance at an MTV New Year’s Eve party. “With the DJing, I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do musically,” explains the 26-year old Manhattan native and current New Jersey resident of his abrupt decision. “[Now] I don’t even touch records.”
A nephew of salsa legend Marc Anthony, Develop was exposed to the music world early—an edge that helped him become a young phenom of the turntablist circuit as a member of the crew The Allies. He credits such experiences as taking home the 1999 ITF team championship in Hawaii with strengthening his production ear. “I had the opportunity to see what makes people dance, what gets people moving, and what doesn’t,” says Develop. “People react to certain things, different tempos—little weird things that not every producer thinks about.”
Honing his production chops for several years while holed up in his pop’s Queens condo, Develop’s first break was the Grafh street record “Damage is Done” in the summer of 2004. Slowly but surely, Develop started making critical industry connections, and it was an association with Juelz Santana that truly got the ball rolling. “When he was in the studio with me, he wasn’t just a producer,” says Juelz, who tapped Develop for three songs off his sophomore release, What the Game’s Been Missing! “He was recording tracks and engineering for me. I would have an idea and he would just come back with the beat already done up. As far as producers, that’s one of the best I’ve ever worked with... Pharrell [and] all them niggas is in trouble.”
Now eschewing vinyl for even sampling purposes, Develop crafted Lil Wayne’s “Fireman” (as the Doe Boys, alongside frequent co-producer Matthew “Filthy” Delgiorno) and J.R. Writer’s “Birdcall” using an array of keyboards, strings, and percussion. With future collaborations in the works with Fabolous, Fat Joe, and Jennifer Lopez, it’s obvious Develop has made that fateful New Year’s resolution pay off.