You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
This episode contains explicit language.
The band Ebeyi is made up of twin sisters Naomi Diaz and Lisa Cayinde Diaz.
When they were only teenagers, they were signed to a record deal by Richard Russell,
who had previously signed artists like Adele and Vampire Weekend to his label, XL Recordings.
He also co-produces their records.
In this episode, Naomi and Lisa Kayinde take apart the 2017 Ibeyi song, Deathless.
Do you smoke?
What's your name?
Do you know why I'm here?
My name is Naomi Diaz, and I'm the percussionist, and I produce.
My name is Lisa Kainde and I play the piano and I sing and I write the songs.
So this song starts about this racist encounter I had when I was 16 with a policeman.
It was in Paris.
I was in the subway going to my piano class and I have a cop saying, what's your name?
I had never been stopped by a cop before.
So I'm like, hi.
I'm Lisa Cain de Diaz.