GRAMMY-Nominated Producer of the Year, Anderson .Paak, Prince, Bootsy Collins, Berklee
Alissia picked up the bass relatively late, and within a few years she had Prince calling, Quincy Jones paying attention, and Bootsy Collins telling her she had something special. Her bass videos at Berklee College of Music went viral on YouTube and Instagram, catching the ear of people who had been in the game for decades. That kind of early validation would turn anyone's head, but Alissia channeled it into something more lasting: a career as one of the most sought-after producers and bassists working today.
In this 68-minute conversation, Elmo sits down with Alissia to trace the full arc of how she got here: from her first days with the bass, through Berklee, to her long creative partnership with Anderson .Paak (including NxWorries and collaborations with Kaytranada, Bruno Mars, and Mary J. Blige), and now a GRAMMY nomination for Producer of the Year. This is a conversation about talent, timing, and what it actually takes to build something real in music when the opportunities start coming fast.
Alissia is one of the most compelling musicians working right now, and this episode captures exactly why: her story is about more than skill. It's about perspective, relationships, and knowing who you are as an artist before the industry decides for you.
"When Prince tells you something, you don't forget it. You carry that with you into every session after."
How Alissia found the bass, what drew her to it, and how her viral Berklee videos created a direct line to some of the most legendary figures in music history.
What it meant to have those three icons take notice early in her career, the conversations that followed, and how that kind of affirmation shaped her confidence and direction.
The depth of her creative partnership with Anderson .Paak: how it started, what they built together, and how NxWorries became one of the most beloved collaborative projects of the decade.
Her work across a wide range of top-tier artists, how she approaches production from the perspective of a bassist, and what she's learned moving between different creative environments.
What a Producer of the Year nomination means at this stage of her career, how she processes that kind of recognition, and where her ambitions are pointed as a producer going forward.
Alissia's relationship with the instrument that started it all: how she thinks about the bass as a creative tool, how it informs her production work, and what kind of artist she's working to become.
Alissia tells the full story of how her Berklee bass videos went viral and what happened next: the messages that started coming in, the first real conversations with industry legends, and how quickly things moved once the right people started paying attention.
Her account of connecting with Prince: what he said to her, what that conversation meant, and how being seen by someone at that level changed the way she saw herself as a musician at a critical point in her development.
The Anderson .Paak partnership in full: how they found each other creatively, what working on NxWorries was like, and what Alissia brought to those sessions that made the collaboration feel like something neither of them could have done alone.
What Bootsy Collins told her about the bass: his perspective on her playing, why it landed so hard, and what she took from that moment into her approach to the instrument and to production.
Her honest take on the GRAMMY nomination: the emotions around it, the context of being nominated for Producer of the Year as a woman, and what she believes the recognition represents for the people who came up watching her bass videos from a dorm room at Berklee.
Alissia on the future: where she wants to take her artistry as a producer, the kind of records she still wants to make, and why she believes the best work of her career is still ahead of her.