Compton-rapparen Kendrick Lamar har haft en framgångsrikt 2017 efter releasen av nya albumet “DAMN.” och i mars besöker han Sverige på Europaturné för en utsåld spelning på Globen.

I en ny intervju för tidningen Variety och dess “Hitmaker”-upplaga för november 2o17 öppnar Kendrick Lamar upp om inspelningsprocessen, inspirationskällor och mycket annat. Han avslöjar även att hans drömsamarbeten skulle vara med sångerskorna Sade och Anita Baker. Favoritprogram på TV/streaming? Kendrick berättar i intervjun att serien “Stranger Things” är favoriten för tillfället.

Om tankeprocessen innan inspelning i studion:

“For me, prior to me recording, it’s 70% me just formulating ideas in my mind and 30% just collecting sounds and making sounds, prior to me actually getting in the studio. Then it’s about figuring out which angle I’m going to attack it from and how the listener is going to perceive it. These are the ideas you’re constantly, constantly thinking about, and it’s not really about going to instrumentals and bringing on beats [from producers], because I feel my greatest knack is for taking cohesive ideas and putting them on wax. So it starts with me first, with my thoughts.”

Om inspelningsprocessen:

“… when you get into the world of songwriting, and making material that’s universal, you gotta be hands on and know the different sounds and frequencies, what makes people move, what melodies stick with you, taking the higher octaves and the lower octaves and learning how to intertwine that in a certain frequency, how to manipulate sound to your advantage.”

Om att all hans musik inspireras av Makaveli “Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory,” The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Life After Death” och DMX-albumet “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot”:

“I just come from that era. I don’t look at these albums like just music; it sounds like an actual film. To me, you need a big, grand production when you listen to these songs. You don’t necessarily just hear the music — you see it. You hear the stories; you hear the interludes; you hear the hooks and how different things intertwine. I always carry some type of conceptual idea inside my music, whether it’s a big concept or it’s so subtle you can’t even tell until you get to 20 listens. It’s such a huge deal to this day, seeing if an artist can still pull it off. Because there’s not too many artists who give you that in a way that feels authentic, where you say, ‘OK, this person really sat down and thought through this idea.’”