Mustard's career has been defined by his Kendrick Lamar association over the last year. The producer may have notched hits with nearly every big rapper in the game, but his work with Lamar will go down as legendary. One of the three songs Mustard and Kendrick Lamar made in 2024, however, was on a beat that the former struggled to sell. The producer discussed his involvement in Lamar's latest album, GNX, during a recent interview with People. During said interview, he spoke on the rappers who got to hear the "Hey Now" beat before Dot, and passed.
Mustard told the outlet that he made the beat for "Hey Now" in 2019. He'd attempted to use on albums by several of his biggest collaborators, but none of them bit. "I played it for [YG], he was like, 'Ah…', he didn't end up doing it," Mustard recalled. "And I played it for Quavo and I'm like, 'Quavo man, if you get this, if you can connect to this song, I'm telling you.'" The producer claimed the Migos rapper was taken aback by the beat's minimalism "He's like, 'What the hell you want me to do to it? Want me to whisper on the beat?'"
Mustard Originally Made The Beat In 2019
Mustard played the beat a third time for Ty Dolla $ign. Different approach, similar outcome. "Me and Ty were doing some stuff and he did it and it was a good song," the producer recalled. "But I never was all the way there with it." It wasn't until Mustard locked in with Kendrick Lamar that he felt the beat took on its full potential. "I was just like, 'Man, I got this really weird-a*s beat, but I really love it,'" he told Lamar. "And I sent it to him and right away he said, 'Oh yeah, I got it.' And I was like, 'Alright.'" Mustard did say that he was curious as to what Lamar would do with the beat, and recalls having to wait a long time to hear the final product.
Mustard claims he heard "Not Like Us" and "Hey Now" in the same listening session. He said Lamar was excited about "Not Like Us," but the producer was more focused on how good "Hey Now" was. "When I heard 'Not Like Us,' I wasn't as excited about 'Not Like Us' as I was about 'Hey Now,'" he admitted. "For whatever reason." Both songs managed to connect. "Not Like Us" was the first number one single of the producer's career. "Hey Now," meanwhile, peaked at number five. Not bad for a beat nobody wanted.
[via]
