Kendrick Lamar’s engineer, Nicolas de Porcel, has revealed a quite peculiar and energetic way of going about creating diss tracks aimed at Drake. Setting a new bar in the music world, Lamar strayed from the rather common approach of using pre-recorded diss tracks within the industry, taking a quite impromptu and on-the-spot approach.
Kendrick Lamar nailed the raw emotion and the immediacy so much that his approach to recording diss tracks further drove home, forgoing meticulous planning and pre-recording by opting for live recording to underline authenticity and a genuine reaction. This allowed him to channel all those intense emotions into that moment right then and there for the most powerful and raw message toward his audience.
This entire spontaneous recording process was crucial to Nicolas de Porcel, a trusted engineer of Lamar. De Porcel shared insights into the urgency and spontaneity taken while attending these sessions. He described getting calls all of a sudden sometimes at odd hours to be ready for work immediately. More important, though, was the fact that Lamar and de Porcel had a close working relationship and trusted each other. In a way, this allowed de Porcel to quickly lock in the masters and sometimes even within minutes of its completed recording, release it to the public.
“We would get these urgent calls,”
de Porcel explained,
“Kendrick would be in the studio, and minutes later, we’re recording and finalizing tracks. High-pressure-type environment, but the energy was electric. The intensity’s in the room.”
A revelation such as this could stir change in the greater music industry. Lamar’s method of live recording may just affect other artists to be more spontaneous and genuine in their creative operations. The rawness and immediacy of live recordings could bring new levels of connection and engagement with audiences that would establish a trend for more organic and emotionally charged music.
Kendrick Lamar’s engineer confirms none of his Drake diss tracks were pre-recorded
“I would get a call [that said] stay on call, you’re gonna be working… As Dot was releasing these records, I was turning in the masters & it would drop like 12 minutes later.” PIC.TWITTER.COM/DERBYO3OYD
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) AUGUST 1, 2024
Diss tracks belong to hip-hop; it’s always that eye-for-an-eye type of thing rappers try to settle scores and assert dominance. Indeed, all those tracks are pre-recorded in order that the artists have time on their hands to think over what they want to tell their opponents. Lamar’s approach goes totally against the grain of that tradition. Kendrick Lamar catches the spontaneity, harshness, and likeness to hip-hop battling in its nascent years, when rappers would freestyle on the spot.
Historically, diss tracks were careful affairs, labored over for weeks or even months by artists like Nas and Jay-Z, or Tupac and Biggie. Lamar’s approach to capturing that raw energy of a moment could redefine the genre, recalling a lost sense of spontaneity and unpredictability rooted deep within old-school hip-hop battles.
The ingenuity that Kendrick Lamar displays with diss tracks is a statement on his regard for authenticity and real-time emotion. Supported by his engineer, Nicolas de Porcel, Lamar set in movement within the music industry a precedent for how recording live could be powerful. We could witness a rebirth into an age necessarily spontaneous and honest in music as other artists follow suite, definitive of a change in the face of hip-hop and beyond forever.
