We’re living in an age with technology and social media so high, artists don’t even have to see the light of day to produce good music. Hip-hop’s Kendrick Lamar, on the other hand, seemingly disagrees with this method. Top Dawg Entertainment’s producer, Sounwave, affirms Lamar’s beliefs: “The whole process of this album [To Pimp A Butterfly] is you literally had to be in the studio with us to get the sound we’re trying to portray.”
On a similar note, prominent jazz artist Kamasi Washington sat down with Marc Maron on a segment featured on his popular WTF with Marc Maron podcast, and narrated an interesting anecdote pertaining to Washington’s work with the the Top Dawg star.
“Day one, he was like, ‘Okay, Kamasi, write some stuff to this’,” mentioned Washington, “I’m like, ‘Okay, do you want to give me the files and I’ll go home and come back?’ He’s like, ‘No, you’ve got to write this here. You don’t get to leave with anything.”
“So I’m just sitting there listening to the music, and I have a little piano set up, and Kendrick’s just sitting there on the couch watching,” laughed Washington, “But wasn’t a vibe of like, ‘Let me make sure you don’t do anything I don’t want you to do.’ It was more like, ‘I’m just curious to see how this process works.’”
The jazzer resonated to the current trend of internet sessions, as well as attesting to the unique experience you get with them, but on this bit, Washington expressed a different narration which led to a long-lasting impression over Lamar.
“I would see him do superhuman stuff,” Washington remarked, “One day, Terrace [Martin] brought a new beat, and I saw Kendrick just create a whole song while he was hearing it for the first time. And it felt like a complete song. I was like, ‘Did you just create that right now while I was sitting here as you were listening to it for the first time? Wow. That’s amazing.”
You can listen to the full podcast with the link below. The conversation with Kamasi Washington-To Pimp a Butterfly begins at 54:00.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/
By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com
