pretty interesting read to offer some perspective on gnx and finally dead a lot of theories surrounding its creation lmfao.

variety.com/2025/music/news/jack-antonoff-mustard-sounwave-production-kendrick-gnx-1236598023

Lamar started working on his sixth album right after dropping Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022. The trio (Kendrick, Sounwave, Jack) spent years toiling on what Sounwave estimates was somewhere between 80 and 100 songs. Antonoff recalls working on final mixes as late as four in the morning, just hours before the album’s release.

The beginning of it was throwing paint on the wall,” Sounwave said of their process in the beginning. “And it started to form this massive funky West groove that we love because Kendrick and I are from Compton. And in that, I started to realize the people who we should bring in to push it even further, like the Mustards, the Jacks. … I was very fortunate to have these friends who are very talented to push it to the next level.”

Jack Antonoff called it a “secret society”

They would snag batches of time in the studio and created their own “weird little secret society,” recalls Antonoff, not in pursuit of a specific sound but seeing where the process took them

Mustard’s contributions

producer said that he made sure to send Lamar unique beats and never asked who decided to put two of his instrumentals together. “I knew that I couldn’t send Kendrick normal Mustard beats,” he said. “I was sending all types of s—t, anything that I thought sounded like something that I’ve never made before. That’s what I was going for, because Kendrick is different.”

Mustard on TV Off creation

“Mustard recalls creating the first half of the song in the same month that he produced “Not Like Us,” and he worked on the second part as an idea for his own album. As with “Not Like Us,” he heard the completed “TV Off ” for the first time along with the rest of the world. “I never asked Jack or Wave who put those two beats together, or Kendrick,” he says. (Sounwave says it was Lamar’s idea.) “I care, but I don’t care. I was just like, that was great.”TV Off,” he said that he “never asked” about the two separate beats that were used, but Sounwave disclosed that it was Kendrick’s idea. “I care, but I don’t care. I was just like, that was great”

Luther came together as a groupthink exercise

Producer Roselilah sent a pack of beats mined for a kick and snare; Sounwave chopped up the sample; M-Tech replayed chords on the piano; Ink came up with melodies for SZA’s part. Jack laid in bits of guitar and Mellotron to build out the world of “Luther.”

Antonoff on Luther

“If you really listen to the record, obviously Kendrick and SZA are right there and the beat’s right there and the melody,” he says. “But there’s all this stuff dancing around, like in between them. I wanted to go overboard with the presentation of how special it could be. I ended up sitting alone for a really long time carving out all these little spaces.”

dope af album

definitely. interesting he had been working on it for 2 years through Morale era. that’s a big detail lmfao

For sure, all circumstances considered a lot of people were thinking it's a quickly done project, when in fact it seems like all this stuff was very well thought out way before.

And people were convinced that he made the album quickly after the beef and the real album was coming after

Shows that Not Like Us was a byproduct of the album sessions and not the other way around

nah, your timeline is off lmfao. TV Off and NLU were sent to Dot April 2024 based on this interview and Mustards interview about when he texted Dot NLU. some parts did come together fairly quickly, like Dodger Blue was finished hours before the album was due. but you are correct that the overall music was sent as just another beat, not about the beef

Time to spin it all again … my glutes about to go off at the gym … GNX time ayyyye

I know that Mustard sent him the NLU beat way before it came out. What I’m saying is his decision to choose that beat and rap over it the way that he did during the beef was clearly informed by the GNX sessions instead of the GNX sessions being informed by Not Like Us like people originally thought

Also working on the album until the last minute does not mean it was made quickly lmao, they literally said it was in the making since 2022

My main point is that GNX was always gonna be his follow-up to Mr. Morale and it’s clear now that it was not an album he threw together quickly to capitalize off of the sound of NLU like people were suggesting last year

he sent him NLU 3 weeks before it dropped but yes, I agree that gnx had been going on and he took TV off for the album and gnx for the beef when they were sent during the beef lmao. Mustard didn’t know he took TV off until the song came out on gnx

After sending him beats for six straight months for the GNX sessions…

I don’t see what the semantics has to do with my point regardless lmao, all I’m saying is the sound of the album was clearly not a result of the massive success of Not Like Us like people originally thought

because he sent him NLU and TV off at the same time during the “Kendrick hasn’t dropped in x days” weeks leading up to Euphoria/MTG/NLU and Dot specifically hearted NLU and said “this the one” lmao

the semantics are important because the people involved are adding nuanced details

Wait people thought Mustard was making NLU during the 2 weeks after Push Ups dropped?

Right but nowhere do they say that Not Like Us was a course correction for where they were headed sonically. Let’s not forget he posted the picture of the GNX on March 20, two days before Like That released, and before the beats for NLU and tv off were created.

They were cooking up a West Coast-heavy album before Mustard ever sent him those two beats specifically

and I get that, but all I’m saying is Mustard didn’t even send him the beats as if he was sending them for gnx or the beef. Mustard didn’t even know they were going to use his beats for gnx. he just sent him beats like a normal day like he had been for 6 months. maybe he was aware dot wanted some west coast vibes, but that’s about it based on how Mustard keeps talking about it lol

so of course he gone slide 2 of his toughest beats on just some normal s*** to get him motivated during the beef, but he said Dot went out of his norm when he did that and specifically liked NLU during the beef time. all I’m saying is, Dot coulda been in beef mode and NLU landed in his lap, while he saved TV off for when he back in album mode

All I’m tryna say is that the sound of GNX wasn’t a byproduct of Not Like Us man

gotcha. well there’s some details in case anyone wants to read, it’s what the thread is about anyways

Interview was a great read, love hearing producers go in-depth on albums

Need Kendrick to drop Make Me Happy and Tranquilizer

Yeah that is wild.
I thought it was cooked up in a month when it came out.
But I am happy I did not know that.
If this had been presented as
“Here are 2 years of work”
I would have been disappointed

Less discussion more music

Hurry up

Make me Happy been on repeat crazy for me lately Tranquilizer great but it feels like Kendrick already decided to go with United In Grief instead

Hope he drops I'm Better and Prayer eventually too

Thats interesting, always thought GNX was kinds worked on after the pop-out and the post morale album was something he scrapped for it.

But this actually makes more sense, and that NLU was just one of the beats that he had in a folder for this album. God's timing fr

That first picture....

shoutout Ink, she’s had a dope 2 years