Bongo ByTheWay: The Heartbeat of R&B
The Producer Issue cover star has been the quiet force behind some of modern R&B's most essential music. Now, he's ready to be seen.
There’s a moment that often happens in great R&B records where the production just holds you still. The drums pull back. The air gets thick. Something underneath the melody — a texture, a breath, a choice only one person would’ve made — tells you this was built by someone who truly feels music.
Bongo ByTheWay is that someone.
The Nigeria-born, Providence-raised, LA-based producer has been threading himself through the fabric of modern R&B for over a decade through records with Summer Walker, Ari Lennox, Jazmine Sullivan, Chloe Bailey, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, and more. And he never makes it about himself.
“I look back, and I’m like, man, I’ve been really like a heartbeat in R&B.” The realization is still fresh, even though the catalog has been building for years.
Often with music, we hear from the artist that lead the songs. But what about the producers that are bringing those classics to life? For the Producer Issue cover story, I talked to one of today’s leading R&B producers about his journey, his biggest hits, and what’s next.
Starting on Pots and Pans
Bongo’s introduction to music wasn’t through a traditional studio or a mentor with a deal. It was pots and pans, a church drum kit, and a brother who handed him Stevie Wonder records like they were scripture. “He introduced me to everything,” Bongo says. “From Stevie Wonder to D’Angelo to The Roots to Jay-Z.” By 8, Bongo was rapping. By 11, he realized that he needed beats to rap over, and couldn’t just borrow other people’s. So he made his own.
On a four-track tape recorder and a Casio keyboard, he started building music for his friends in Providence. Little neighborhood albums. No budget, all heart. That was the first version of music production for him. It wasn’t built out of being a career move, but as a necessity.
The moment it became real came later, when he started spending time at a professional studio in Atlanta with his cousin, eventually landing a placement with Musiq Soulchild. “Being around that environment,” he says, “that’s when I was like, okay, yeah…I could do this for real.”
The Texture Savant
Ask Bongo what his production signature is, and he doesn’t hesitate. “Texture,” he says. “I’m a texture savant.” He can go ‘70s soul, ‘90s R&B, contemporary hip-hop, or pop. The genre shifts, but there’s something consistent running underneath all of it. A feel. A weight to the drums when the drums need weight. A willingness to strip everything back when the song demands it.
That instinct for restraint shows up most clearly on “Girl Like Me” with Jazmine Sullivan and H.E.R. — the Heaux Tales record that he names as one of his most impactful. It arrived in the cultural moment right after Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion’s mega smash “WAP,” and it offered a different kind of anthem for women. And Bongo made a call that still surprises him: no drums.
“I didn’t want anything to get in the way of the record,” he says. “We had live strings. I just stripped it back to really let it breathe because of what they were saying, and how amazingly they were singing it.” For a producer who describes himself as being very particular about drums, that was a significant leap. It now lives on as a definitive song on a Grammy-winning classic album, and the lesson stuck.
What the World Told Him
Bongo didn’t set out to become the go-to producer for women in R&B; it kinda just happened over time. He describes his lane as wide. He swerves genres, works across formats, and doesn’t like to be boxed in. But somewhere along the way, the pattern made itself clear. Someone told him early on that the world would eventually tell you what it wants from you.
“I looked back, and I was like, man…I’ve worked with Mariah Carey. Jessie Reyez. Mary J. Blige. Lizzo. Summer Walker. Ari Lennox. Teyana Taylor. Tinashe. Coco Jones. And More. It has consistently been the vibe. So you’d be remiss to not take note of that.”
When he works with women, the approach changes — and he’s deliberate about why. “The song has to come from their perspective,” he says. “Love and relationships have always been hot-button issues, but even more so now. Whether they want to be strong and independent, or vulnerable and loving, you have to be attentive to where each person is in their life.” He’s producing the music, but he’s also holding the space. That combination, it turns out, is kinda rare in music these days.
In the Room: Four Artists, Four Stories
JAZMINE SULLIVAN
Producing for one of the most technically gifted vocalists alive could be an exercise in pressure. Bongo doesn’t see it that way. “I don’t approach it differently,” he says simply. What he does bring is gravity — the weight and intention the record deserves. The result was a creative relationship that produced one of the best records of the last decade. For a producer who once said he’s almost never released a drumless record, stripping everything back for “Girl Like Me” wasn’t a compromise. It was the whole point.
SUMMER WALKER
“Take Me Out This Club” came together with songwriter Jozzy and was recorded at the LVRN studio in Atlanta. By the time Bongo walked in, Summer had already cut it. “I walked in with favor already,” he says, laughing. “The deal was already sealed.” What struck him wasn’t just the record — it was her focus. Summer had just finished “Heart Of A Woman,” and watching her listen back to her own work, he could see it clearly. “She’s serious about her craft.” There are more records in the vault, and Bongo makes clear he wants to keep building.
CHLOE BAILEY
“Working with Chlöe was nothing short of amazing. It was literally perfect,” is how Bongo describes working on her second solo project ‘Trouble In Paradise’ — and he means it in the most specific way. They went to St. Lucia for two weeks to lock in. The work was focused, professional, and deeply collaborative. What set it apart was Chlöe’s willingness to collaborate, even though she’s more than capable of doing everything herself. “She was super open-minded and allowed herself to be produced,” Bongo says.
“Some artists don’t have the wisdom to do that. A lot of people think they know everything. I watched her promote the records herself, pour her own money into the vision, show up as a complete artist — dancing, singing, acting, directing, the whole thing. She’s mind-blowing, honestly. She’s the epitome of an artist. Working on that album was one of the best working experiences.”
ARI LENNOX
Bongo and Ari locked in for two weeks in LA, and out of those sessions came “Smoke” and “Wake Up” (my personal favorite from her album Vacancy). What he remembers most is what it felt like to be in the room while she was actually singing. “When she’s in the booth hitting crazy notes, it’s mind-blowing,” he says. “Sometimes artists will get in the studio and hold back, but I was able to hear her range, the things she appreciates vocally, and she’s just so dope.”
Beyond the voice, what struck him was her as a person — she showed up to the sessions with gift baskets, grabbed things for his pets, and moved through the room with the kind of warmth that makes people want to do their best work. “We’re going to keep working for sure,” Bongo says. With records like “Wake Up”, that’s less a plan and more an inevitability.
Bring Love Back
Bongo is bullish on the future of R&B, but he’s clear-eyed about what’s held it back. Marketing, mostly — the infrastructure to get these artists in front of the audiences they deserve. A lot of the artists that Bongo has worked with are amazing, but they don’t get the support they need. But he senses a shift. “Fans are starting to appreciate musicality again in real, tangible ways, and when attention moves, money follows.”
AI has been a hot topic in music lately, especially Black music. We’re starting to see artists and songs made up completely by AI prompts. Some fans (myself included) are perplexed by the thought. Bongo draws the line at craft — not technology. “AI as a tool, I can see that,” he says. “But to completely circumvent the whole process? That’s a loss for everyone. The engineers, the songwriters, the producers, the love of the thing itself.” What you can’t clone with AI, he says, is real soul. And real soul is exactly what R&B is supposed to carry. It’s supposed to make you feel. Cry. Yearn. Lust. Emote.
His vision for where the genre goes next is simple and ambitious at the same time: innovation plus love. “When Timbaland did double-time drum fills for the first time, we were like, whoa, what is this?” he says. “That type of innovation, sonically, that’s what I’m excited about. And then, substance-wise: bring love back.” He talks about rap’s dominance creeping into R&B’s messaging for years, flattening its emotional range. He wants to reclaim the space. “We’ve been down that road. We can break away.”
Recently, Bongo has worked with Lekan, Durand Benarr, and Saint Harison, artists that he says are vocally insane and bring a much-needed texture to the genre. So Operation Bring Real Soul Back is well in the works.
ByTheWay Wednesday
Beyond the studio, Bongo has been quietly building something else with his manager and business partner Cory Ford. ByTheWay Wednesday is a monthly R&B night he co-hosts in LA — live band, curated themes, a room where Stevie Wonder might perform, and A$AP Rocky might be sitting at the next table. “You could be right next to your favorite artist and not even know it,” he says. It’s become one of the most genuine R&B spaces in Los Angeles. “It doesn’t feel pretentious. It doesn’t feel like Hollywood. It just feels like a great vibe.”
That instinct – to build community around the music, not just contribute to it – says a lot about who Bongo ByTheWay is at his core. The production credit is one thing. The intention behind it is another.
What’s coming next for Bongo is a full production slate: SiR, Lucky Daye, Muni Long, Joyce Wrice, Anderson .Paak, Jeremih, and more are still tucked away. Each one is a bet on music made by people who mean it.
“Innovation is what moves the culture forward. Sonically, yeah. But also — we gotta bring love back. That’s what I want people to remember from this era.”
He’s been the engine behind records that move people. Now Bongo ByTheWay is taking the wheel - delivering R&B from the heart and for the heart.
