Kendrick Lamar Album Discussion 4-14-17

The Grammy-winning producer and longtime Kendrick whisperer Mark "Sounwave" Spears takes us behind the scenes.

Kendrick Lamar and his longtime producer Mark "Sounwave" Spears have a routine. After months spent together in the studio, when they finally think a particular project is finished, they take it for a ride. Literally. They cruise the streets. Test it out. See how it sounds. More importantly, how it feels.

"It gets to that last song and if you don't have a little chill in your body or some kind of quiver," Sounwave says, "then we're basically gonna say, 'This is not ready.' And we'll probably start back over."

This ride happened a few times before both guys were satisfied with DAMN., Lamar's brilliant, equal parts boisterous and bleak fourth album, released last week. "That's why it came out when it came out," the producer adds. "'Cause we've done this project a few times; we had different versions of it. But until we got that one chill at the end of the last song and it just gives you that vibe that this is it, it's not going out." Lamar and Sounwave have an innate understanding of one another. Sounwave knows to trust Lamar's instinct; Lamar knows Sounwave will as the producer says "clean up" his ideas.

So how did they approach the follow-up to 2015's critically lauded To ? a Butterfly—an album lauded not just for its sonic adventurousness and incorporation of g-funk and free jazz, but Lamar's hyperawareness of his burgeoning role as a preeminent voice in the cultural conversation? As Sounwave explains in a conversation that sheds light on Lamar's unending drive and the unrelenting effort that went into DAMN., they just got back to work. Because the creative process for him and Lamar never really ends. It just pauses—probably for a day at most. And then it's back to the grind.

These car rides. Multiple attempts at this album. For a producer, it must be equal parts challenging and exhilarating to work with an artist as self-aware as Kendrick Lamar.

It's definitely a gift and a curse. Sometimes we'll butt heads. I'll feel like it's done. "Let's put it out." Then he'll say, "Nah, but listen to this 0.3 seconds on this right here. It's not connecting." And that's when it hits me. "You know what? You're right. Let's go back in." Granted, look at his track record: It's amazing work. So you never go against his word. If he says something you listen to it. And 99.9% of the time it's right.

Kendrick never stops working, huh? I hear you were already back in the studio last night.
You have no idea. Literally was in there until, like, four in the morning.

Is Kendrick one to think about the expectations people have placed on him?
You don't want to overthink things. Especially with him. He just speaks on what he feels. And then it's up to me to clean it up a little bit here and there. Some people might be like "Ah, let me hold back. That's too much. They might not understand that." Nah. He's going to give it all. And fortunately all of our fans understand it 100 percent.

When did you actually start working on what became DAMN.?
Right after To ? a Butterfly. Literally as soon as it was done. He goes into these phases where basically his mind is this big storyboard and he's picking ideas: "What if we did this? What if we did that?"

What does the discussion sound like in terms of where a project is headed from a sonic perspective?
After TPAB people were wondering whether that was that funky jazz was his new musical wavelength or, like in the past, it would be on to the next.
I know him to the tee. I know he's not going to want to make another To ? a Butterfly, sonically or lyrically. So I'm going to go all out to find the people that are going to push a boundary and go somewhere different, because we never want to do anything the same. You listen to good kid, m.A.A.d city and then you've got ? , and that sounds totally different from that. And then DAMN. sounds totally different from To ? a Butterfly. So we're always going to try to push the boundary. It excites us.

You brought in more outside production help and new guest collaborators this time, from BadBadNotGood to Kaytranada and DJ Dahi.
Definitely. It was pretty much the same as with To ? a Butterfly. Once I know the direction we're going in, I'm going to reach out to the people that's going to enhance that sound. So for this album, once I seen the direction you gotta reach out to the Dahi's, the Rahki's, the Cardo's, the people that can just elevate the sound that we're going to and try to bend it as much as possible without going too crazy. My boy Brock, he's probably one of the greatest A&R's out there right now, and he just has all these producers under his belt. And he puts it in our hands to find the next crazy sound of producers. We take that serious. I literally put on my Twitter and Instagram: "If you got some crazy sound, just send it and I'll actually bring you to the studio."

So you just pick everything you can to make the greatest project. For this album in particular, every song was made in the studio. Except for "FEEL," maybe. But except for that song, it was literally like you needed to be in the studio. You needed to have this vibe. You needed to know where we're going sonically, lyrically, or it's just not going to work. Everybody was sending in amazing work. Top-notch producers sending in the greatest beats I've ever heard. But if their schedule wasn't open enough to come in for weeks, then it was kind of tough for them to actually be part of it.