Producer Syk Sense Says Kendrick Lamar’s New Album Is Hard, Not Jazzy
Update (March 28, 10:33 a.m. EST):
XXL reached out to Syk Sense, who said the beats he heard weren't confirmed to be on the album. He's working on getting the interview he did taken down.
Original Story:
If you're expecting To Pimp a Butterfly 2 from Kendrick Lamar, you might be a little disappointed. According to producer Syk Sense, K. Dot's newest project—which has a rumored release date of April 7—is going to leave the jazz influence of Kendrick's last LP in the past.
In an interview with YouTube user Eric The Young Gawd, Syk explains that, though he hasn't heard any new Kendrick songs for himself, some of his friends have produced for the project, and from what they tell him, it's different from Kendrick's TPAB.
"Only thing I do know is that... I got homies that produced on there, that produced some crazy shit," Syk explained when asked about the sound of K. Dot's new album. "Like it's some of the hardest shit that I've heard. And the fact that it's connected to Kendrick as well just makes it that much better. And I haven't heard the songs, but I've heard the beats. Fuck, we've got some... some pretty heavy new guys that's really going to make a name for themselves off these beats."
He continued, "It's I would say like uhh, fucking that hard shit. It's not like the jazzy sound you would think. It's like fucking Memphis, fucking like... I don't know what to call it. It's L.A., it's Memphis." Syk went on to explain that some of the instrumentals he's heard did, indeed, sound a decent amount like Kendrick's untitled unmastered. cut "untitled 07."
Earlier in the interview, Syk detailed a bit of his experience helping to put together K. Dot's incendiary new single "The Heart Part 4," a dope new track that sees Kendrick take on everyone from a couple select rivals in the rap game to President Trump and Russia in a matter of only four minutes. Rising R&B star Khalid's vocals are on the track, and Syk and his friend Axl Folie were responsible for putting the El Paso, Texas singer on it and ultimately getting his vocals to K. Dot.
"With that one, you know I work with the kid Khalid. I was in L.A. in the studio working with him. Me and Axl Folie, that's my brother too. We was just sitting their vibing. No general direction or whatever, what we doing, we just like to create and see where it goes. Khalid had sung a few things. I don't know, it was just a whole bunch of different shit. So me and Axl are just going in and then—I don't know which one of us reversed the vocal. It could've been him or me, but we reversed the vocal, and then Axl came back and put the vocal on there going forward too," he explained, before saying that Khalid's voice is in the beginning portion of "The Heart Part 4."
You can hear more about Syk's experience producing "The Heart Part 4" and K. Dot's new music in the video below. The bits about K. Dot's new single starts at the 34:55 mark. The story about K. Dot's new sounds begins at the 39:00 mark.
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