Mustard on Generating Kendrick Lamar’s Quick Hit ‘Now not Like Us’

Manufacturer Mustard were sending rapper Kendrick Lamar beats just about on a daily basis for 6 months when he texted him the snapping instrumental for “Now not Like Us” in early April. “It was once actually simply an ordinary day,” he recollects. “He hearted that one and was once like, ‘This one is loopy.’ I didn’t suppose it was once going to be ‘Now not Like Us,’ but it surely ended up being that.”

The track arrived in Would possibly amid a feverish lyrical spar between two of hip-hop’s largest titans — Lamar and Drake — and nearly immediately grew from a searing dis monitor (with accusations of pedophilia) right into a national anthem selling solidarity. It’s been the soundtrack for the whole thing from wearing occasions and graduations to Kamala Harris’ presidential marketing campaign rallies. It additionally earned Mustard his first No. 1 at the Billboard Sizzling 100 — the place it reigned for 2 weeks — and is the uncommon dis monitor to be nominated for a number of Grammy Awards.

For Mustard, a 15-year veteran who has helmed huge hits for Rihanna and Large Sean, crafting the track got here as a part of his running regimen with the monitor’s co-producer, Sean Momberger, who incessantly provides him with possible samples. On April 6, Momberger despatched him a chopped-up model of Monk Higgins’ duvet of Ray Charles’ “I Consider to My Soul” with further piano. Mustard threw on some drums and pitched up the pattern, transport it off to Lamar for attention. “It’s beautiful easy,” says Mustard, “nearly like a manufacturing facility.”

Lamar performed his playing cards shut all over the monthslong pork with Drake, surprise-dropping tracks on Instagram and YouTube. It wasn’t till “Now not Like Us” arrived on Would possibly 4 that Mustard realized that no longer best had Lamar recorded to the instrumental, but it surely additionally slotted into the rising pantheon of disses the rappers had been buying and selling. “I believe like each and every track in that entire factor, everybody was once ready to pay attention,” he says. “This simply came about to be the true hit that was once like, ‘Oh shit!’ I don’t know if any document can stand subsequent to this one who I’ve performed previously.”

Funnily sufficient, Mustard realized that “Now not Like Us” were launched whilst on his technique to a child bathe at a chum’s house. He learned there was once one thing remarkable about it when, simply hours later, he heard it blasting from a celebration subsequent door. A FaceTime between him and Lamar adopted, with the rapper telling him, “We were given one.”

The track unfold abruptly and organically, due to its hyphy-adjacent sound and Lamar’s pointed but self-empowering lyrics. As soon as the monitor exploded — it paradoxically broke Drake’s document for largest single-day streams of a hip-hop track on Spotify — Lamar took a couple of victory laps, staging the “Pop-Out: Ken & Pals” live performance at Los Angeles’ Kia Discussion board in June, the place Mustard opened and Lamar concluded the display with 5 back-to-back iterations of “Now not Like Us.” On July 4, he launched the video for the track, which due to this fact returned to the highest of the charts.

Hardly do dis tracks succeed in the heights of “Now not Like Us,” however Mustard thinks it’s already etched a spot within the hip-hop corridor of popularity. “It’s identical to Nas and Jay-Z — when shit like this occurs, we return and evaluate with the ones historical rap battles,” he says. “So when the largest artists like Kendrick and Drake are rap-battling, years from now youngsters are going to be like, ‘Rattling, take note when Kendrick and Drake battled?’ The entire tale at the back of this shit goes to be a large a part of historical past.”

SONGWRITERS: Kendrick Lamar, Ray Charles, Sean Momberger

PRODUCERS: Mustard, Sean Momberger

CO-PRODUCER: Sounwave

LABEL: pgLang/Interscope-Geffen-A&M Information

HITMAKERS:

PUBLISHERS: Kendrick Lamar– Kendrick Lamar Track (BMI), administered by way of Songs of Common, Inc; Dijon McFarlane p/ok/a “Mustard” – Mustard On The Beat Publishing/Songs Track Publishing (BMI); 10 Summers Publishing, LLC d/b/a Track of 10 Summers (BMI); Sean Momberger – Sean Mother Publishing / 300 RAINWATER MUSIC (BMI) c/o Songs of Common; Mark Spears p/ok/a “Sounwave” – Mark “Sounwave” Spears (BMI); Ray Charles – Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI