Justin Bieber single co-produced by Harrisburg

Bieber fever is spreading with the release of Justin Bieber’s new album “Believe” and Harrisburg is partly to credit. 
    
That’s because the second single off the album, “Die in Your Arms,” has a Harrisburg native on the credits — Dennis “Aganee” Jenkins. 
    

Music Producer Dennis "Aganee" Jenkins talks about co-producing a new song for Justin Bieber's album BelieveMusic producer and Harrisburg native Dennis "Aganee" Jenkins, talks about co-producing a song called Die In Your Arms for Justin Bieber's new album Believe.Watch video

Jenkins, who splits his time between Harrisburg and Los Angeles, co-produced the song with legendary hip-hop producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and Travis Sayles. 
    
When Jenkins began working on it, he was playing around with samples from the Michael Jackson’s song “We Got a Good Thing Going.” 
    
“I was getting ready to pretty much walk away from the beat... and Travis was like, ‘finish that up and let’s do something with that,’” Jenkins said. “Honestly, [this song] almost didn’t happen. It almost got closed up and put away.” 
    
Instead, the three producers set to work turning Jenkins' experiment into a song. 
    
“I wanted to give it a classic hip hop feel,” Jenkins said. “That’s where the synthetic drums came in, and that just got [the song] moving. It gave it a different sound, it felt retro and it also felt new.” 
    

View full sizeAP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, fileJustin Bieber

When they had finished, the three still had no idea what would happen to the song, but they knew they had something special. 
    
Everything changed once Bieber heard it. “From what I was told, as soon as he heard the record he was in love with it,” Jenkins said. 
    
It became Bieber’s second single off “Believe,” and last week reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. 
    
Jenkins grew up in Harrisburg, going to city schools and two years at Bishop McDevitt High School. 
    
It was in Harrisburg city schools that he was introduced to music theory and it was in the city’s hip hop scene that he developed his sound. 
    
“Harrisburg is such a plethora of different styles and just creativeness. There’s so many different artists in the area and there’s a lot of talent here,” Jenkins said. “It’s like a melting pot of different sounds.” 
    
In working with rap artists in the city, Jenkins learned to seamlessly switch between Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern-influenced hip hop beats. 
    
“I never wanted to lock myself into a set stamped sound.” he said. “I always wanted to be outside of the box and be able to cater to anybody. And if a country artist comes to me — I’m not saying I’m going to nail it, but I’m going to try my hardest to nail it.” 
    
His production work with local artists is something Jenkins credits for his success. For two years, he was named the best producer by the Central Pennsylvania Hip Hop Awards. Once his name was out in the hip hop circuit, it caught the eye of his manager, Buzz, who hooked him up with Jerkins. 
    

View full sizeDennis "Aganee" Jenkins. CHRIS KNIGHT/The Patriot-News

Jenkins is incredibly excited. “This has to be the biggest moment in my life,” he said. “Imagine, you’re in the World Series, bases are loaded, you’re down two and you come up to bat and swing— and you win the game. That’s how it feels. 
    
“It couldn’t get any bigger than Justin Bieber,” he said. “It has just opened the floodgates for so many other big things.” 
    
It’s also exciting for his daughter Faith Johnson, 10, who was ecstatic when she heard the news. 
    
Among other big things Jenkins is working on include Christina Aguilera’s new album and doing songs with rapper Nas.