Fast forward seven years later, and he has positioned himself as one of hip-hop's top beatsmiths. Sounwave had his hand in most of the tracks on Lamar's critically acclaimed To Pimp A Butterfly, and was tasked with putting together untitled unmastered. So it's safe to say he and Kendrick have pretty good chemistry. Three of these tracks were originally performed on late. Sounwave, who's somewhat soft-spoken, surprisingly had a lot to say. He thinks people are reaching when it comes to a Drake diss being on "untitled 07" and thinks LeBron deserves most of the credit for the release of these records. is a compilation album of eight demos of unused songs from the To Pimp a Butterfly recording sessions. How did Swizz Beatz's 5-year-old son get on the album? We also spoke about Swizz Beatz and Alicia Key's son Egypt, the strategy behind releasing this record, and the beginning of the "Alright" video. I remember first seeing that clip Swizz posted on Instagram of his son making a beat and the caption said, "Making a beat for Kendrick." So I'm blown away already that he's five years old making this crazy beat. I sent it to Kendrick like, "Yo, did you see this?" And he was like, "Man, Swizz already sent me all the footage. I told him to send me the beat." That kid is going to be a genius. I've never seen anything like it, five years old playing cords and all this other stuff. We wanted to go all out and he wanted it to feel 100 percent authentic.
How much involvement did you have in these particular tracks? I know you were heavily involved in TPAB. To be honest with you, these songs were literally done. The only involvement that we had was me and Ali trying to convince Kendrick that the project has to be mastered.
The point being that, ultimately, it is.We wanted to go all out and he wanted it to feel authentic 100 percent. Folks are laughing, goofing around, and words emerge, about the government and getting pussy and the struggle to keep your head on straight and make something beautiful and life-affirming as if it’s all one thing. “The flattery of watching my stock rise/the salary, the compensation tripled my cock size / I run through the stop signs/with no brake fluid, just premium gas” he notes, adding “This is the future/the master mind/until my next album/more power to ya!” It’s followed by the sound of a gunshot – the sound that disappeared Martin, Malcolm, Trayvon and on – and a chillingly orphaned beat (composed, if stories are true, by Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys’ five-year-old son). Then, suddenly, you’re eavesdropping in a room, listening to the sound of a song being made up with a bunch of friends over a handful of bass notes. It’s a familiar riff concerning what fame does to your brain, delivered with unfamiliar verve, as Lamar tries to figure a sustainable way to embody King Kendrick. On “untitled 07,” around a hypnotizing chant of “levitate levitate levitate levitate,” a devil-on-the-shoulder character delivers a drug-addled come on, with the promise of dollars and various ecstasy flavors. The most telling track on untitled unmastered. may be its shaggiest. The former lacks the firespitting Black Power outro the latter appears minus a final verse and outro, sacrificing fire for a tighter, more upbeat album-closer. Lamar premiered versions of “untitled 03” and “untitled 08” (then known as “untitled 2 (Blue Faces)”) on Colbert and Fallon, respectively, and they’re changed up a bit here. “untitled 01” is tagged 8/9/14, although Lamar rhymes about how he “made To Pimp A Butterfly for you,” referencing an LP that didn’t come out until nearly a year later. The songs are not titled per se, simply numbered and dated, although it’s unclear exactly when they were finished. But before we hit the two-minute mark he’s seeing rapists and murderers, “death faces screaming in agony,” “atheists for suicide/planes falling out the sky/trains jumping off the track.” And this is a jam about uplift. This eight-track, 35 minute set begins in a bedroom, incense burning, Lamar sexing up a lover over soul-jazz, bass-and-percussion foreplay. Of course, nothing’s that simple in the mind of Lamar, and after torching the Grammys, his embers are still popping.
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