“Everybody was talking about the verse and Kendrick was in Africa,” Rapspody says. “I went about a year before him so I knew what that trip does to you, especially as a Black person.”
Producer Sounwav also recalls that as being the moment of inspiration behind album.
“I remember he took a trip to Africa and something in his mind just clicked,” Sounwav says. “For me, that’s when this album really started.”
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“I felt like I belonged in Africa,” the “King Kunta” rapper says. “I saw all the things that I wasn’t taught. Probably one of the hardest things to do is put a concept on how beautiful a place can be and tell a this while they’re still in the ghettos of Compton. I wanted to put that experience in the music.”
Lamar’s engineer MixedByAli says Kendrick was like a “sponge” as he used the knowledge he learned in South Africa to help create the album.
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