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Kendrick Lamar, Sounwave, Dave Free and Mustard accept the Song of the Year award for “Not Like Us” onstage during the 67th Annual Grammy Awards
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Key Takeaways:
- Kendrick Lamar began working on GNX immediately after releasing Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers in 2022.
- DJ Mustard and Sounwave pushed their production boundaries to align with Kendrick’s evolving sound.
- Jack Antonoff contributed to the final 12-track album, which was selected from nearly 100 songs and includes viral hit like “tv off.”
Kendrick Lamar’s GNX album was a momentous occasion thanks to hits like the SZA-assisted “luther,” and the wave of momentum sparked by “Not Like Us.” In a Variety article dated Wednesday (Dec. 3), collaborators DJ Mustard and Sounwave offered insight into K. Dot’s creative process behind the project.
It turns out that as soon as the Compton rapper finalized his prior album, 2022’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, he began working on music that would eventually turn into late 2024’s GNX. The Pulitzer Prize winner’s recording was so prolific that he reportedly ended up with around 100 songs to eventually whittle down into an album.
Sounwave, who has been working with Lamar since 2009’s Kendrick Lamar EP, offered insight into the process of getting to the 12-song GNX. “The beginning of it was throwing paint on the wall,” Sounwave told the publication. “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.”
Those friends include singer, songwriter and Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff, who first worked with King Kendrick on the Drake diss record “6:16 in LA” in 2024. The other is DJ Mustard, who produced the anthemic “Not Like Us.” Both would eventually have their fingerprints all over GNX. Mustard, in particular, took no chances when it came to making sure his first hit collaboration with Lamar wasn’t his last.
“I knew that I couldn’t send Kendrick normal Mustard beats,” Mustard told Variety. “I was sending [Kendrick] 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.”
It turned out that his second smash with Lamar, “tv off,” was actually the result of a combination of two separate instrumentals that Mustard had presented.
“I never asked Jack or Wave who put those two beats together, or Kendrick,” Mustard said. “I care, but I don’t care. I was just like, that was great.”
That’s an understatement. The song went viral off the strength of Lamar screaming “Mustard!” as a segue between its two-part instrumental, and in turn, got the attention of Heinz. The brand then collaborated with DJ Mustard on his own special flavor of the condiment.
As for Kendrick Lamar, he is up for nine Grammy Awards in 2026, including Album of the Year for GNX.