Benny Blanco On SiriusXM’s “The Sporkful”

Benny Blanco recalls the time SZA ate an entire tray of his banana pudding plus he speaks on being Spank Rock’s food runner before they started working together and more on SiriusXM’s “The Sporkful” podcast.

Today’s episode of SiriusXM’s “The Sporkful” features host Dan Pashman in conversation with producer Benny Blanco, who shares…

• How SZA ate a whole tray of Benny Blanco’s banana pudding when they first worked together: “She like had one bite. It was like in a big like sheet tray. And then like by the end of the day, there was no more banana pudding left…“
• How taking Spank Rock’s food orders eventually lead to them working together: “I was just the guy who like came in to order, and this guy, Naeem, his name is, or Spank Rock, he was like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this line?’ Before I could take his order…“
• How Safeway apple fritter donuts are “at least equal” to sex

SZA ate all of Benny Blanco’s banana pudding the first time they worked together

Benny Blanco: I remember like the first time I was working with SZA in the recording studio. We were at my house and she like went down to get a drink and she saw something in the fridge and she was like, “What’s that?” And I was like, “Oh, it’s like a little bit of like banana pudding.” And she was like, “Oh, can I have some?” And she like had one bite. It was like in a big like sheet tray. And then like by the end of the day, there was no more banana pudding left. She would just like sneak down for bites. And then every time she came to the studio, she needed like a banana pudding. she needed… Then it was like, oh, wait, what else do you make? Then it was like, lasagna. Then it was like, and then I, and then we wound up like cooking more than making food, making music, you know? There was a time when SZA said, “I’m not coming over unless you have spicy rigatoni cooked for me.” And she was like, and she was like, halfway joking, but halfway serious. And, and, and, ’cause I’ll bark demands at her. I’ll be like, “We need to get this vocal done.” And she’s like, “We need to eat the spicy rigatoni!” And there’s always like a bartering system between us.

How Benny and Spank Rock first bonded over food

Benny Blanco: I was in like sessions and I would be the food guy. Like you would, you would be like, “Oh yeah, let me get like a burger with fries.” And I’d be like, “Alright.” And then I’d go…

Dan Pashman: Send the intern out and they would send you out.

Benny: I was the runner. Yeah. I was the runner. One time, this guy, he’s an artist named Spank Rock. And it was like him and Mos Def and… All these people were like in the studio. And I was just the guy who like came in to order, and this guy, Naeem, his name is, or Spank Rock, he was like, “Hey, what do you think about this line?” Before I could take his order, and I…

Dan: Like a lyric.

Benny: I was like, “Oh, yeah, that’s cool.” And then, uh, you know, the next day we were in the studio, and I came in to get his order again, and he was like, “Hey, you know, what rhymes with so and so?” And I was like, oh, told him. And then, and then eventually I was like writing rhymes with him. And then, eight months later, or a year later, we wound up like making music and that was like the kind of the beginning of my… That was like the real… I mean I had like all these moments that happened before. But this was like the real deal beginning, you know.

Benny Blanco thinks Safeway donuts are “equal to sex”

Benny Blanco: They [Safeway] had apple fritter doughnuts, okay? And you would get three of them for a dollar, like three of the biggest apple fritter doughnuts you’ve ever seen. And at that point, I had never had sex, so it was the closest thing I could say: This is better than sex. And now, after having sex, I could say: It’s at least equal. It’s at least equal.

Benny Blanco on his work ethic

Dan Pashman: When I waited tables a million years ago, we had a manager who said the restaurant should function like a duck on a pond. Like, the duck is floating across the surface of the water, it looks so serene, it looks so relaxed, but underneath the surface of the water, it’s paddling furiously.

Benny Blanco: Yeah, exactly.

Dan: Is that sort of your approach to life beyond cooking? Kind of like you want, you like everything to look like it’s chill and effortless, but in reality, that takes a lot of effort?

Benny: I mean, I don’t want it to be that. I think it kind of is by virtue, you know, if you’re doing a lot of things, but, uh… I want to be paddling less.

Dan: But see, like, sometimes I feel that way about my own life and work too, but then I’m sort of like, but do I? You and I are people who like clean countertops and clean floors and folded laundry, benny, you know, like…

Benny: I know, then you start paddling less, and then you’re like, fuck, I want to get over there.

Dan: Right.

Benny: You’re like, you…

Dan: That’s right. So like, I feel like it’s in, it may just be in our nature to always be paddling.

Benny: Yeah, that’s true. Shit. Well, can I at least get a fucking floatie or something?

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