Kendrick Lamar‘s “HUMBLE.” was the first solo rap record to break 1 million pure sales in 2017, it became Lamar’s first solo No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, to date, the record has racked up 702 million plays on Spotify and 428 million views on YouTube. Needless to say, it’s the biggest record of TDE MC’s undeniably iconic career.
What fans of the beat, co-produced by Mike WiLL Made-It and PLUSS, might not know, though, is that the song’s production was cooked up in less time than it takes to listen to a quarter of the new Migos album.
“That beat was actually one of those 20-minute beats, real quick, 30 minutes tops,” PLUSS told Billboard.
For most hip-hop fans, this news likely isn’t surprising—Zaytoven often brags about how he never spends more than 10 minutes making a beat—but what might turn a few heads is PLUSS’ revelation that neither he nor Mike knew about Kendrick cutting the record, selecting it as a single for the 2x Platinum-certified and GRAMMY-nominated DAMN. or releasing the record until after it was officially out.
“One day I was at the studio and I got a call from a friend who works at LiveMixtapes and he was like, ‘Yo, if you had anything to do with this new Kendrick record, I’m naming my first born child after you,'” PLUSS explained. “I didn’t know what he was talking about. So I go on the internet and of course, the internet is on fire about the song and I’m just in the studio making beats. I see this record called ‘HUMBLE.’ and it’s the beat me and Mike made months ago.”
The creators of half a record not finding out about their finished product until after it’s already in the public’s digital hands might seem insane, but that’s the music business in 2018.