Yung Bae

Under the name of Yung Bae, producer Dallas Cotton allies himself with future funk, the party-starting vaporwave outgrowth that merrily mutates samples of post-disco funk and Japanese city pop recordings. He debuted in 2014 with Bae, which has been followed by four additional numbered Bae LPs, plus the full-length Skyscraper Anonymous and an assortment of singles. On the roster of major-label Arista since 2019, he has progressed with “Bad Boy” and “Revolving” among a series of collaborative singles with evident crossover intent. Appropriately enough, Arista in the early ’80s was a constant source for a type of dancefloor-oriented R&B continually referenced by Yung Bae. His guest-heavy label debut full-length, Groove Continental: Side A, arrived in 2022.
Originally from Portland and based in Los Angeles, Cotton got his Yung Bae alias rolling in 2014, and within a few years issued the first four installments in his Bae series — Bae, Bae2, BA3, and B4E — on his Future of Funk label. Between the third and fourth volumes, he also offered Skyscraper Anonymous. Following Bae 5 in 2019, he signed with Arista and gained greater exposure with “Bad Boy,” the original version of which was followed in 2020 by numerous remixes and alternate versions, including one featuring Wiz Khalifa. Continuing to work with higher-profile singers and rappers over the next couple years, Cotton featured Marc E. Bassy on “Revolving” and AWOLNATION’s Aaron Bruno on “Disco Body Parts,” and he co-produced tracks by kenzie (“Donuts”) and Mike Posner (“Momma Always Told Me”). Groove Continental: Side A appeared in 2022, with guests including Channel Tres, EARTHGANG, Jon Batiste, and others. ~ Andy Kellman