{"id":1053269,"date":"2022-05-20T14:24:27","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T11:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1053269"},"modified":"2022-05-20T14:24:27","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T11:24:27","slug":"how-kendrick-lamar-made-die-hard-according-to-collaborators-blxst-and-amanda-reifer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1053269","title":{"rendered":"How Kendrick Lamar Made \u201cDie Hard,\u201d According to Collaborators Blxst and Amanda Reifer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Columns<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

How Kendrick Lamar Made \u201cDie Hard,\u201d According to Collaborators Blxst and Amanda Reifer<\/h1>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Two featured artists give an inside look at how one song from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers<\/em> came together<\/div>\n
\n
\n
By <\/span>Matthew Ismael Ruiz<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Blxst (courtesy of The Chamber Group), Kendrick Lamar (Larry Busacca\/Getty Images for Coachella), Amanda Reifer (Naomi Christie)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

When Kendrick Lamar dropped his latest album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers<\/em> on May 13, fans across the country sat online clicking refresh on browsers and frantically pulling up streaming apps. The list of people eagerly awaiting Kendrick\u2019s sprawling, double-disc follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning album Damn.<\/em> included at least two of the collaborators who worked with him: Amanda Reifer and Blxst, the vocalists appear on \u201cDie Hard,\u201d a sun-kissed R&B jam that belies its heavy-hearted ruminations on trust, love, and personal demons.<\/p>\n

Reifer, who\u2019s been working on her debut album for Republic, was in the studio surrounded by friends and family. Blxst found himself in a Miami hotel, where he was in town for the F1 race as a guest of Red Bull (which happens to own two F1 teams and a record label). As they waited for midnight to strike on Friday morning, neither of them knew which parts of what they\u2019d worked on would make the album\u2014or if they\u2019d made it at all.<\/p>\n

These moments were the culmination of scattered sessions and long-distance FaceTime calls, with Kendrick Lamar coaxing exactly what he wanted out of talented artists who\u2014unbeknown to them\u2014already fit the vibe of the project. Neither Reifer nor Blxst met met each other during the song\u2019s production. Reifer came through the studio for an in-person session with Lamar; Blxst was on the move, working on his own debut album, Before You Go<\/em>, which forced him to record his contributions for Lamar in different locations.<\/p>\n

For Blxst, the process represented a marked departure from his usual creative flow. \u201cIt was definitely different for me,\u201d he said over Zoom. \u201cUsually I record at home. I engineer myself, so solitude is best. I like to just be in my home room, vibing out. But that just goes to show the level of trust I have for Kendrick and he has for me. I only hear that experience coming from people who work with Kanye West.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

While \u201cDie Hard\u201d is Lamar and Blxst\u2019s first direct collaboration, it\u2019s not the first time that they\u2019ve appeared on a track together. Back in 2013, Blxst produced Compton rapper Hitta J3\u2019s mixtape The Wake Up Call<\/em>, which featured a song called \u201cDo Yo Gudda.\u201d \u201c[Hitta J3] would always tell me, \u2018Yeah, I know Kendrick; he from the same neighborhood; I\u2019m gonna get him on one of my remixes,\u2019\u201d Blxst said. \u201cI’m like, yeah, whatever. But he actually ended up getting him.\u201d That 2014 remix for \u201cDo Yo Gudda\u201d also featured fellow Compton rappers Problem and YG.<\/p>\n

Despite the challenge of working on a high-concept album without a clear understanding of the actual concept, Blxst found that his subject material was already aligned with Lamar\u2019s vision for the project. When he heard the final track, everything clicked. \u201cI didn\u2019t know Amanda Reifer was a part of it,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut when I heard her vocals, I\u2019m like, \u2018This guy is a genius.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Reifer\u2019s sessions were conducted in the studio with Lamar, who offered her prompts off of which she could riff. Reifer opens the hook with \u201cshimmy shimmy cocoa puff,\u201d a nod to Little Anthony\u2019s classic 1959 single \u201cShimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko Bop\u201d that Lamar specifically requested. Blxst also found Lamar to be more hands-on than most. \u201cEvery step of the process, he was on the phone with me, like, \u2018Yo, I like this part; take out this part.\u2026 Yo, sing this part like this,\u2019\u201d Blxst said.<\/p>\n

Yet, each artist found Lamar managed to strike a delicate balance between having a very clear idea of what he wanted while letting them be themselves. \u201cHe\u2019s very open,\u201d Reifer said over Zoom. \u201cHe gives a lot of space for you to express yourself creatively. I was like, \u2018What\u2019s the vibe of this record?\u2019 I hadn\u2019t heard the whole thing in its entirety, and he doesn\u2019t want to explain all of what it is, you know? So it was more about what we getting from the music\u2014the sentiment. And so I\u2019m expressing what I\u2019m feeling from the music, and he\u2019s expressing the things that he wants included, and it all merged together to be what you\u2019re hearing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Kendrick<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
$55<\/span> at Rough Trade<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
$45<\/span> at Amazon<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
$49<\/span> at Target<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/how-kendrick-lamar-made-die-hard-according-to-collaborators-blxst-and-amanda-reifer\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Columns How Kendrick Lamar Made \u201cDie Hard,\u201d According to Collaborators Blxst and Amanda Reifer Two featured artists give an inside look at how one song from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers came together By Matthew Ismael Ruiz May 20, 2022 Blxst (courtesy of The Chamber Group), Kendrick Lamar (Larry Busacca\/Getty Images for Coachella), Amanda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-1053269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-pitchfork-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1053269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1053269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1053269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1053269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}