Benjamin Joseph Levin, known professionally as Benny Blanco, is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Blanco has also won five BMI Songwriter of the Year Awards, won the 2017 iHeartRadio Producer of the Year Award, and received eleven Grammy Award nominations.
real name: Benjamin Joseph Levin
labels: Mad Love Records, Interscope Records, Friends Keep Secrets, A&M Records
genres: pop music, new jack swing
member of: BenZel
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
Benjamin Joseph Levin was born on March 8, 1988, in Reston, Virginia, where he also grew up. He is Jewish. He began producing hip-hop instrumentals in his bedroom and recording his own vocals on top of them. His first serious exposure to music came in 1994, when he was six years old with Nas's "The World Is Yours" and All-4-One's "I Swear" on cassette tapes, which influenced his early productions. After early experiments with beat making and recording himself on his boombox, Blanco's rapping earned the attention of The Source magazine and executives at Columbia Records. His stage name came from the fictional character of the same name (played by John Leguizamo) in the 1993 film Carlito's Way, and was a reference to him being a white rapper.
"Eastside" is a song by American record producer Benny Blanco and American singers Halsey and Khalid. The song was released on July 12, 2018, as Blanco's debut single, and the lead single from his debut studio album Friends Keep Secrets.
Sheet music for "Eastside" shows the key of F♯ minor, with a tempo of 89 beats per minute and a chord progression of F♯m–E–A–D–E. The song is musically based around a "hazily" plucked guitar riff. Lyrically, "Eastside" discusses the development and complexities of a forbidden romantic relationship; it also discusses maturing, similar to a coming of age story.
Blanco premiered the song on July 12 on the Beats 1 station on Apple Music, in an interview with Zane Lowe. The song was then released for streaming and as a download, and the music video was released on the same day.