During the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, singer Carly Rae Jepsen was given the chance to ask Beach Boy Brian Wilson any question she could dream of while Kamsai Washington was able to interview Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner. On an episode of the Talkhouse Music Podcast, Bruner discusses working with Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus, and his last conversation with J Dilla.
Washington and Bruner grew up together in Los Angeles, and have bonded over their intense love of jazz. From obscure session musicians to solo stars in their own right, they have both been fortunate enough to successfully pursue their passions.
Highlights from the interview include:
"There was a moment for me where I knew things were changing [in music production] when, right before J Dilla died, I remember having a conversation with him when he was on his way to Brazil and the conversation was, 'When I get back to LA, me and you gonna sit down and work!"
-Thundercat on his last conversation with J Dilla
"When I came into Kendrick's sessions, that was different! Like, we'd played sessions for Snoop, we did sessions for Puffy and we did sessions for Quincy Jones -- we'd played on all these different things. Normally, we'd come in and I'm like, my friends are on the record, I already know that, and they have hidden themselves into the music in a way that you would never know it was them. ... And so I come in to hear [Kendrick's] music and I'm like, 'That's full-fledged Stephen [Thundercat] right there! He ain't hiding! That's a whole full fledged chunk!' . ... We'd been hiding on records for decades and all of a sudden it was like, now we get to be ourselves!"
-Kamasi Washington on how Kendrick Lamar let the musicians go full on while recording To Pimp A Butterfly.
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By Kyle Eustice for RAPstation.com
