Sounwave Breaks Down Creative Process Behind Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers!!!

KingsOfKings

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GQ: Last time we spoke, around the release of DAMN., you mentioned how you and Kendrick have a routine of not declaring an album finished until you listen to it on a car ride. I have to assume that happened again for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers?


That is never going to change. I remember about a week before the album was coming outā€”the dates were locked inā€”I looked at Kendrick and I said, ā€œYou know itā€™s not going to come out unless we take this car ride.ā€ And he was like ā€œYup.ā€ And so we both drove our separate ways. And itā€™s always this emotion that you have to have. Well, for me at least. I have to feel this overwhelming feeling of ā€œWow, this it. Itā€™s completed.ā€ And if I donā€™t have that, Iā€™m going to immediately call him up and say, ā€œItā€™s not ready.ā€ Usually, we are so linked to where if I donā€™t think itā€™s ready, heā€™ll be like ā€œIā€™m 10 steps ahead of you. Iā€™m changing this, this and this.ā€ And fortunately enough, that last car ride, it was ready.

For DAMN., you had producers and artists sleeping in the studio. Did you do more work remotely this go-round, due to COVID?

You wanna jump right in? Letā€™s jump right in. This was the toughest and longest creative process for me. We didnā€™t necessarily have everyone come to us; we traveled. The first portion of the albumā€”or the first brainstorming of the albumā€”happened in London. We just took a couple of usā€”I think it was me, DJ Dahi, Baby Keem, Bekonā€”and we just created for a week in London, just to get out of our element and try something new. And in that session, I think, this is probably early 2019, only one song made it. But at that moment, we felt we had the full album, the core of the album done. But because of how life works, that was not the situation [laughs]. The only song that made it from that session was ā€œFather Time.ā€ And thatā€™s because we had an amazing session with Sampha. He pulled up and that song was just so undeniable that it was the only one that slid through the cracks of everything else. So yeah, we traveled here and there, but when it came down to locking everything in, we always have to find that natural place that weā€™re all comfortable, and just lock in and iron out all the edges.

There was a heavy dose of live instrumentation on this album.

It didnā€™t start off that way. The more life happened, the more it became cut down to a point where a lot of what you heard lyrically from Kendrick was all done from pianos. Just piano riffs either from me or J-Towns or Bekon. Itā€™s just literally a feeling that you get when you hear pianos. Thatā€™s why when you listen to this album, 98 percent of the song is going to have a piano in there. Literally the piano plays a very important part in the sonics of this. It has its own meaning to this album. And strings too. Strings and pianos, to me, you canā€™t go wrong. I had the task of creating a world that this artist is living in. And this world, for me at least, was a person stripped down of everything, locked into a white room with just their thoughts and a piano. And it is up to me to manipulate the piano enough to where you donā€™t get bored of it and you arenā€™t just going crazy hearing the same notes.

There are exceptions like ā€œDie Hardā€ or ā€œPurple Hearts,ā€ or even ā€œN95ā€ and ā€œSilent Hill,ā€ but overall Mr. Morale is almost anti-pop.

Itā€™s not like we go in saying ā€œWe want to do the exact opposite of what the world is doing.ā€ We just go to wherever the music is taking us. And at that moment, the music took us to that world. I hear what youā€™re sayingā€”itā€™s not a poppy album. Itā€™s not like you listen to it and youā€™re like ā€œThatā€™s the single!ā€ But thatā€™s not why we make music. We make music based on how weā€™re feeling. And thatā€™s what came out.

Talk to me about creating the sonic template or, rather, the world that an artist can live in when working on a project. Is that process different with someone like Kendrick who you know so incredibly well?

Itā€™s always going to be different with every artist, but Kendrick, heā€™s very specific. He knows what he wants and even when he donā€™t know what he wants, he knows what he wants, if that makes sense. Comparing him to anybody else is night and day. We lock in and for weeks just create ideas. And maybe nothing comes from it or maybe a whole album comes from it. Like I said, this is probably one of the toughest creative processes imaginable creating this album. We went through so much: starting in early 2019 we lost Nipsey, and then less than a year later we lost Kobe. For me, creatively, that hurts. It took a lot out of me. And then a few months later, what happens? We get locked down. Pandemic. So Iā€™m taking that as, ā€œOkay, itā€™s time for me to actually create.ā€ And thatā€™s when I learned a lot about myself. I learned that, ā€œHey, I canā€™t create in one confined place. I need to do something to get out of this situation.ā€ It got to the point where I was almost ready to give up music. Not going to lie to you. I was that lost and that down ā€˜cause there was nobody dropping music and nothing coming out to inspire you. So I took on the A&R role at that point. I A&Rā€™ed Baby Keemā€™s The Melodic Blue. I A&Rā€™ed the majority of what you hear on Kendrickā€™s album. The little things that I can do just to stay alive and keep my hope alive in music, thatā€™s what I was attempting to do. I want to say it wasnā€™t until. like, maybe May of 2021 when I was finally able to snap out of it and thatā€™s when I put the gears into motion. And thatā€™s when Kendrickā€™s album was basically created and completed.

The guests on this album were very tailored to each songā€”from Sampha and Ghostface Killah to Beth Gibbons of Portishead.

It was always super-specific. Especially when it comes to someone who can add or enhance the message that Kendrick is trying to portray. A lot of times itā€™s just people he highly respects, as do I. Itā€™s easy to be like, every album has to have my favorite people on it. But you gotta kinda hold back and save those moments. This time, we created songs that were great for Ghostface. We love Ghostface. Weā€™re both huge Wu-Tang fans. Same with Beth. Portishead was my life coming up as a kid. Finding that for the first time just blew my mind. So to actually have a song with her, itā€™s just like, ā€œshyt. What more could I ask for?ā€ For her to actually understand where we were coming from and be thrilled to be a part of itā€¦

I have to ask about one song in particular, ā€œWe Cry Together.ā€ You arenā€™t credited as a producer on it but what can you share about how that one came to life?

Iā€™ve had family members call me and be like ā€œYou must have been looking into my bedroom!ā€ Iā€™m like ā€œI donā€™t know what to tell you. This is all strictly through the genius mind of Kendrick.ā€ This is probably one of the earlier songs. Alchemist sent that beat and Kendrick always had it in the tuck and I asked him what he was doing with it and heā€™s like ā€œI donā€™t know yet.ā€ And I just remember one day, it was probably 2019, where he just had this scratch idea of a couple arguing. He didnā€™t have all the words downā€”he just had the maleā€™s verse and then mumbles of the ladyā€™s part. I come in one day and he had pitched his voice up to sound like a girl and he was literally arguing with himself. I remember my mouth just droppedā€”ā€œDo we drop it like this with just your voice?ā€ He was like ā€œNah, weā€™ve gotta find someone who can actually nail this moment.ā€ And that was a long process too. Who can give this kind of emotion but also act it out the way that itā€™s supposed to feel? And thatā€™s how we landed on [Taylour] Paige. I remember Dave Free bringing the idea of Paige. We all lit up. ā€œLetā€™s give it a shot!ā€ She came in, instantly added her two cents to it, added everything you hear now. She almost one-taked it! That was one of the songs that we knew was staying, for sure. That was one of the songs that held on. That and ā€œFather Time.ā€
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link for the full interviewk: ā€œWe Knew This Was Going to Be a Tough Listen": Sounwave On the Making of 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers'[/QUOTE]
 

KingsOfKings

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I need to listen to it fully myself.
 

DonRe

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Ya missing out. Its heavy. Very heavy and layered album. But its fukkin good. Well produced without this over production like his last two gawns.
 

Abstract83

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I'll see what his next album do. Wasnt crazy about this one. Had some joints on there but nothing amazing.
 
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