In September 2021, Kamaiyah recorded a full block of tracks at Idea Studios in Honolulu. The session files are dated 9.25.21. Eight of those tracks are now on her released catalog and on the Prod. By DJ Idea YouTube playlist.
This is what happens when one of the Bay Area’s most respected voices flies to Hawaii to record.
The Kamaiyah session block
Tracks committed during the September 25, 2021 session at Idea Studios include:
- “Drip Again” (position 57 on Prod. By DJ Idea)
- “Keep Flossin'” (position 39)
- “Can’t Believe It”
- “Gets Nothin'”
- “Laguna”
- “Money Makin'”
- “Smile”
- “Special Baby”
The release credits trace back to Kamaiyah’s broader catalog, which sits in the same conversation as her major-label work for Empire and her independent releases. Production on the tracks from that session: DJ Idea.
Why Kamaiyah chose Idea Studios
Kamaiyah is from Oakland. Her sonic foundation is Bay Area hyphy-adjacent hip-hop, the same lineage that runs through Mac Dre, E-40, and the early-2000s Bay sound that influences current artists like Larry June. When she needed a recording studio in Hawaii, she had two practical requirements:
- A studio that could deliver the same vocal recording standard she gets in LA or Bay Area sessions, with no compromise on signal chain or room acoustics
- A producer who already understood the Bay sound at a working level, not as a stylistic interpretation
Idea Studios met both requirements. DJ Idea has been operating in the Bay Area sonic lineage for over a decade, with daily YouTube beat uploads since June 2016. The studio’s gear list (Neumann U87 in Studio A, Universal Audio Apollo, the same signal chain the LA rooms use) matches the recording standard of any major commercial release.
That standard is the entire reason the session got booked.
What the session looked like
Multi-day block in Studio A. Standard Idea Studios pacing: one finished track per booked hour. Vocal chain: Neumann TLM 102 into Universal Audio Apollo, monitored on Yamaha HS10 stack. Tracks were comped, mixed, and walked out the door before each session block ended.
That delivery model is the standard for Idea Studios engineered sessions, not a special case. Every artist who books Studio A or Studio B gets the same pacing and the same delivery promise: finished, broadcast-ready files, not “rough mix two months later.”
What this means for Hawaii artists looking for a recording studio
If Kamaiyah, with the resources to track anywhere in the world, flew to Honolulu to record at Idea Studios for a multi-day session block, the implication for working Hawaii artists is clear.
The standard you’d fly to LA for is on the island.
Book a session at Idea Studios:
- Studio A and Studio B, engineer-supported, by direct inquiry
- Studio C, self-serve, bookable online, $50/hour with a two-hour minimum
For the full Prod. By DJ Idea catalog of 287 verified placements, see the credits page.
