Cee Lo Green Explains How the Song He Made With Kendrick Lamar Came Together

The Goodie Mob member may have forgotten about his song with K. Dot on 'untitled unmastered,' but its becoming a fan favorite.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered project caught a lot of people off guard when he dropped it late last night. Cee Lo Green, who worked on “untitled 06 | 06.30.2014,” actually forgot that he did something on the track two years ago.

In an interview with HipHopDX, Cee Lo elaborated on how the song came together. He remembers working on the song during the To Pimp a Butterfly sessions, but didn’t think the demo would get revisited until today. The song’s producer, Adrian Younge, was the one who facilitated the collaboration between K. Dot and Cee Lo.

“The only truly exceptional thing about it is the song itself,” he says. “The way it was done was really organic and natural so there’s it’s not a really big story behind it. In the course of doing a project or multiple projects, you exercise your right to be expressive and compile new material. You really never know what to make of it.”

Cee Lo can’t recall if the date next to the title is exactly when the song was recorded. But he confirmed that he wrote his own lyrics separately from Kendrick. “We didn’t do the song together. It was an idea that was available to be embellished upon. Kendrick was attracted to the idea that was. So it was never really a complete song.”

He adds that the song we are hearing right now is the same version he worked on before. “He kept it in its original form for the most part. It’s unmixed, it’s unmastered. So, it’s raw. It’s very ironic, because it’s raw and well done at the same time,” Cee Lo says.

When we spoke to Terrace Martin earlier today, he shared a story of when he heard the bossa nova record in the studio with MixedByAli, Kendrick and others.

 

For the full interview with Cee Lo Green, head over here.

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