“The first song I knew how to play was Prince’s ‘Purple Rain,'” says up-and-coming music producer Dee Lilly. “When I got to middle school I learned the basics of piano and started playing it.”
Born and raised in Washington D.C., Dee began his musical endeavors in the sixth grade by singing in his church choir. He later applied to Duke Ellington School of the Arts high school where he was accepted in the vocal department. As he continued his education at this prestigious school, he came to the conclusion that singing wasn’t going to be his path of success.
“There were people in there that were amazingly talented at singing,” he says. “And I wasn’t one of those people. So I started taking piano lessons seriously at my school because I didn’t know what I wanted to do in music, but I knew I wanted to do it. Music has always been a part of me.”
Dee began producing music two years ago and is now producing for multiple talents like Daryn Alexus (who we previously covered here) and the artist Legit (specifically tracks on his “COTL” mixtape). He is also an executive producer for Justin Ruff, whose EP is coming out soon, and hopes to work with Chance the Rapper soon.
There are many things in the works for this motivated and talented producer. But to Dee, music isn’t work: “I love doing it and finding out new things about my craft.”