{"id":423196,"date":"2025-12-04T03:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T03:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423196\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T03:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T03:08:11","slug":"jack-antonoff-sounwave-and-mustard-on-crafting-kendrick-lamars-gnx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423196\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Antonoff, Sounwave and Mustard on Crafting Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn November 2024, Kendrick Lamar\u2019s sixth album, \u201cGNX,\u201d<\/a> arrived as big records often do these days \u2014 with little warning, other than a teaser video that dropped less than an hour before the surprise release. But for those under the rapper\u2019s cone of silence for the past three years, \u201cGNX\u201d was the culmination of hard work and collaboration that met the moment head-on.<\/p>\n

\n\tLamar, fresh from arguably the most high-profile beef in hip-hop history (the one with Drake that reached a fever pitch last year), delivered an album that invoked the sounds of West Coast rap music while re-centering the national spotlight on his native Compton. The reaction was nothing short of rapturous: He has secured nine Grammy nominations for 2026, including album of the year and song and record of the year, and he performed at the Super Bowl last February, taking a victory lap on the biggest stage in the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tLamar, of course, couldn\u2019t have done it without his musical hive mind, primarily Sounwave<\/a>, Jack Antonoff<\/a> and Mustard<\/a>, who are collectively being honored as Variety Hitmakers<\/a>\u2019 Producers of the Year. Each has had stellar runs as titans in different corners of music: Sounwave has been Lamar\u2019s most consistent production collaborator since 2009 and contributed to records from Taylor Swift and Beyonc\u00e9; Antonoff only recently came into Lamar\u2019s orbit but has become pop\u2019s go-to collaborator on albums from Sabrina Carpenter and Lana Del Rey; Mustard brought the sound of contemporary L.A. hip-hop to records like Lamar\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us\u201d and \u201cTV Off\u201d after years of architecting the style with artists like YG and Ty Dolla $ign.<\/p>\n

\n\tTogether, they helped craft one of the most singular and impactful rap albums in years. Work on \u201cGNX\u201d began almost immediately after the release of Lamar\u2019s 2022 album, \u201cMr. Morale & the Big Steppers,\u201d with the rapper collaborating closely with Sounwave and Antonoff, a pair who first connected around 2015 for Bleachers\u2019 sophomore album, \u201cGone Now.\u201d \u201cWe have such a specific language between us, me and Sounwave,\u201d says Antonoff. \u201cAnd then we developed our own thing, the three of us. You have it or you don\u2019t with people. When you have it, it\u2019s really magical; when you don\u2019t, you go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trio spent years toiling on what Sounwave estimates was somewhere between 80 and 100 songs, later pared down to the dozen that made \u201cGNX.\u201d They would snag batches of time in the studio and created their own \u201cweird little secret society,\u201d recalls Antonoff, not in pursuit of a specific sound but seeing where the process took them. \u201cThe beginning of it was throwing paint on the wall,\u201d says Sounwave. \u201cAnd 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. \u2026 I was very fortunate to have these friends who are very talented to push it to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d which dropped at the height of Lamar\u2019s contretemps with Drake, two songs on \u201cGNX\u201d \u2014 \u201cLuther\u201d featuring SZA and \u201cTV Off \u201d featuring Lefty Gunplay \u2014 became among the biggest hits this year, according to Luminate. \u201cNot Like Us\u201d set the stage for the shape of the album, released to the surprise of Mustard after he\u2019d been sending Lamar beats for years. \u201cI knew that I couldn\u2019t send Kendrick normal Mustard beats,\u201d he says. His instrumental that became the backbone for Lamar\u2019s \u201cHey Now,\u201d for instance, had been passed over by Quavo and YG. (Ty Dolla $ign cut an unreleased song over the beat.) \u201cI was sending [Kendrick] all types of shit, anything that I thought sounded like something that I\u2019ve never made before. That\u2019s what I was going for, because Kendrick is different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmid the swaths of ideas that Mustard would text Lamar directly were two instrumentals later combined to make \u201cTV Off,\u201d which went viral on the back of Lamar screaming Mustard\u2019s name at the beat switch. Mustard recalls creating the first half of the song in the same month that he produced \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d and he worked on the second part as an idea for his own album. As with \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d he heard the completed \u201cTV Off \u201d for the first time along with the rest of the world. \u201cI never asked Jack or Wave who put those two beats together, or Kendrick,\u201d he says. (Sounwave says it was Lamar\u2019s idea.) \u201cI care, but I don\u2019t care. I was just like, that was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cGNX\u201d magic happened in the studios where Lamar, Antonoff and Sounwave collaborated, particularly for \u201cLuther,\u201d one of the biggest hits of 2025. The record is built around a sample of Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn\u2019s 1982 rendition of \u201cIf This World Were Mine,\u201d a song that Lamar and Sounwave had wanted to flip since 2017\u2019s \u201cDamn.\u201d \u201cLuther\u201d came together as something of 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\u2019s part. It was a \u201cspiritual\u201d experience, says Sounwave, \u201cbecause of how everybody just fell in. Everything we added was just like the perfect missing piece to that record.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAntonoff, for his part, densely laid in bits of guitar and Mellotron to build out the world of \u201cLuther.\u201d \u201cIf you really listen to the record, obviously Kendrick and SZA are right there and the beat\u2019s right there and the melody,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe meticulous nature of \u201cGNX\u201d only intensified as the record sped toward completion. Antonoff recalls working on final mixes as late as four in the morning, just hours before the album\u2019s release. Its impact was instantly tangible \u2014 \u201cLuther\u201d held court atop the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks, while \u201cNot Like Us\u201d picked up Grammys for song and record of the year. But for the producers who helped bring \u201cGNX\u201d to life, it signified that taking risks \u2014 sonically and creatively \u2014 was the only path forward.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt basically shows that there\u2019s no boundaries,\u201d says Sounwave. \u201cWe hate to just keep doing the same thing over and over. It\u2019s something we kind of thrive off of, just reinventing yourself. Do stuff that makes it exciting, and the people who supported you will be excited with you. I kid you not: Yesterday there was a 60-year-old woman driving down the street rapping a \u2018GNX\u2019 song word for word. Just to see that my home is still playing it as if it just came out \u2026 that\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHITMAKERS
<\/strong>Jack Antonoff,\u00a0producer
Sounwave,\u00a0producer
Mustard,\u00a0producer<\/p>\n

\n\tluther featuring SZA<\/strong> (No. 2)
SONGWRITERS: <\/strong>Kendrick Lamar<\/a>, Sol\u00e1na Rowe, Ink, Sam Dew, Mark Anthony Spears, Jack Antonoff, Roshwita Larisha Bacha, Matthew Bernard, Kamasi Washington, Scott Bridgeway, Marvin Gaye
PRODUCERS:<\/strong> Sounwave, Jack Antonoff, roselilah, M-Tech, Bridgeway, Kamasi Washington
LABEL:<\/strong> pgLang, under exclusive license to Interscope Records
PUBLISHERS:<\/strong> Kendrick Lamar Music (BMI), administered by Songs of Universal, Inc.; SZA
(BMI) \u2013 Songs of Universal, Inc.; Atia Boggs (Ink) \u2013 Sony\/ATV Ballad, BMI; Samuel Joseph Dew \/ Greyscape Songs \/ Sony\/ATV Ballad \/ Sony\/ATV Music Publishing (BMI); Mark Anthony Spears p\/k\/a \u201cSounwave\u201d individually and d\/b\/a HE PUBLISHING DESIGNEE OF MARK ANTHONY SPEARS (BMI) and SONY SONGS, a division of SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING (US) LLC (BMI); Jack Antonoff \/ Isimo Compositions \/ Universal Music Corp. (ASCAP); 6K Publishing, administered worldwide by BMG Rights Management (Benelux) B.V.; Matthew Bernard p\/k\/a \u201cM-Tech\u201d \/ Selfpublished (BMI); Ruchaun Maurice Akers \/ Universal Music Corporation (ASCAP)<\/p>\n

\n\tNot Like Us<\/strong> (No. 8)
SONGWRITERS:<\/strong> Kendrick Lamar, Ray Charles, Sean Momberger
PRODUCERS: <\/strong>Mustard, Sean Momberger
CO-PRODUCER:<\/strong> Sounwave
LABEL:<\/strong> pgLang, under exclusive license to Interscope Records
PUBLISHERS:<\/strong> Kendrick Lamar\u2013 Kendrick Lamar Music (BMI), administered by Songs of Universal, Inc; Dijon McFarlane p\/k\/a \u201cMustard\u201d \u2013 Mustard On The Beat Publishing\/Songs Music Publishing (BMI); 10 Summers Publishing, LLC d\/b\/a Music of 10 Summers (BMI); Sean Momberger \u2013 Sean Mom Publishing \/ 300 RAINWATER MUSIC (BMI) c\/o Songs of Universal; Mark Spears p\/k\/a \u201cSounwave\u201d \u2013 Mark \u201cSounwave\u201d Spears (BMI); Ray Charles \u2013 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI<\/p>\n

tv off featuring Lefty Gunplay<\/strong> (No. 13)
SONGWRITERS:<\/strong> Kendrick Lamar, Dijon McFarlane, Sean Momberger, Mark Anthony Spears, Jack Antonoff, Kamasi Washington, Larry Jayy, Jimmy Webb, John Barry, Jay Hawkins, Chris Martin, Christopher Wallace
PRODUCERS: <\/strong>Mustard, Sean Momberger, Sounwave, Jack Antonoff, Kamasi Washington, Larry Jayy
LABEL:<\/strong> pgLang, under exclusive license to Interscope Records
PUBLISHERS:<\/strong> Kendrick Lamar Music (BMI), administered by Songs of Universal, Inc.; Dijon McFarlane \/ Pay Mustard \/ SONY\/ATV TUNES, a division of SONY\/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC dba EMI APRIL MUSIC INC. (ASCAP); Sean Mom Publishing (BMI) administered by 300 Rainwater Music (BMI) & Warner Chappell Music.; Mark Anthony Spears p\/k\/a \u201cSounwave\u201d individually and d\/b\/a HE PUBLISHING DESIGNEE OF MARK ANTHONY SPEARS (BMI) and SONY SONGS, a division of SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING (US) LLC (BMI); Jack Antonoff \/ Isimo Compositions \/ Universal Music Corp. (ASCAP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In November 2024, Kendrick Lamar\u2019s sixth album, \u201cGNX,\u201d arrived as big records often do these days \u2014 with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":423197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,171,197443,151518,31347,197444,197445,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-423196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-hitmakers","11":"tag-jack-antonoff","12":"tag-kendrick-lamar","13":"tag-mustard","14":"tag-sounwave","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}