Jack Antonoff, Mustard and Sounwave Reflect on the Years-Long Production Process for Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’: ‘We Developed Our Own Thing’

Kendrick Lamar's sixth studio album, "GNX," arrived without warning in November 2024, a surprise release heralded only by a cryptic teaser. The project represented a significant artistic re-centering for the rapper, coming after a three-year gap and a headline-grabbing feud with Drake that had consumed the previous year. By returning to his Compton origins with a definitive West Coast sound, Lamar achieved both massive commercial success and critical reverence. This is underscored by its nine 2026 Grammy nominations—spanning the major categories of Album, Song, and Record of the Year—and Lamar's headline performance at the Super Bowl in February 2025.

The album's distinctive sound is the work of a production trio later named Variety Hitmakers’ Producers of the Year: Sounwave, Jack Antonoff, and Mustard. Sounwave, Lamar's primary collaborator since 2009 whose credits also include Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, provided a foundational creative partnership. Jack Antonoff, the pop architect behind hits for Sabrina Carpenter and Lana Del Rey, introduced a new perspective. Completing the trio was Mustard, the hitmaker pivotal in shaping the modern Los Angeles hip-hop sound through work with YG and Ty Dolla $ign, who ensured an authentic West Coast texture. Their collective willingness to experiment yielded one of rap's most sonically unique records in recent years.

Recording for "GNX" began not long after Lamar's 2022 album, "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers." Lamar, Sounwave, and Antonoff—who first met in 2015 during sessions for Bleachers' "Gone Now"—formed what Antonoff called a "weird little secret society," embarking on an extensive period of trial and error. Sounwave describes the early phase as "throwing paint on the wall." This process organically solidified around a funky West Coast groove, a sound both he and Lamar, as Compton natives, naturally gravitated toward. From an initial batch of 80 to 100 song ideas, the team engaged in a rigorous editing process to distill the project down to its final twelve tracks. As music historian Dr. Elena Torres observes, "Lamar's process mirrors that of a master editor, where volume of material is a prerequisite for achieving a flawless final cut. This approach, seen on classics like 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' ensures only the most compelling narratives survive."

The album's key hits illustrate this collaborative chemistry. "Not Like Us," released amid the Drake rivalry, established a template and even surprised its producer, Mustard. He had been sending Lamar unconventional beats for years, deliberately avoiding his signature sound to spark something novel. Similarly, "TV Off" was born from two separate Mustard instrumentals texted to Lamar, which the rapper suggested combining. The resulting viral beat-switch, punctuated by Lamar shouting Mustard's name, became an instant cultural moment.

The standout "Luther," featuring SZA, dominated 2025 as a chart behemoth, reigning atop the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 consecutive weeks. Its core is a sample flip of Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn's 1982 duet "If This World Were Mine," an idea Lamar and Sounwave had considered since 2017. The track was a meticulous group effort: producer Roselilah laid foundational beats, Sounwave chopped the sample, M-Tech replayed chords, and Ink developed melodies for SZA's feature. Antonoff then filled the sonic landscape with layered guitars and Mellotron, aiming to craft a "special" presentation. The team worked until the last possible moment, with final mixes completed mere hours before the album's surprise release.

The monumental triumph of "GNX," confirmed by its Grammy accolades and chart dominance, justified the producers' experimental gamble. For Sounwave, the album's broad resonance—he cites the example of a 60-year-old woman reciting every lyric—demonstrates the power of fearless artistic evolution. "It basically shows that there’s no boundaries," he states. "We hate to just keep doing the same thing over and over. It’s something we kind of thrive off of... Do stuff that makes it exciting, and the people who supported you will be excited with you." The project endures as a testament to the extraordinary results possible when elite talents unite behind a shared, unbounded creative vision.