Kendrick Lamar's "u" is one of Kendrick's most vulnerable and gut-wrenching moments. While holing up in a hotel room, a Compton rapper experiences suicidal thoughts as he struggles with survivor's guilt.
All heard it, multiple shots, corners calling out with tears in their eyes/Yet again, where were your antennas? /Where/Where/Where was your presence, where was your support that you pretend?pretend?pretend? he asks in a drunken, guilt-ridden yell, before telling the man in the mirror, "shoulda killed yo ass a long time ago."
In the latest episode of Spotify's The Big Hit Show podcast, Kendrick Lamar's closest collaborators shed light on the making of "u, revealing the real-life suffering that spilled into the studio.
That time he actually went into the booth and turned out all the lights and you just knew something was different," said Sounwave, who co-produced the song with Taz Arnold and Whoarei. "I'm about to cry. That was deep. I've never seen him like that."
"I've seen him experiment on trying to get different things out, but in my head I felt him bombarding himself with every heart thought that's hitting him at the time so he could get that feeling."
TDE President Terrence “Punch” Henderson Jr. added, “[He] cut all the lights out and just really went in… got all of those emotions out.”