Hot 21 Radio

Hit-Boy spoke to HipHopDX about Kendrick Lamar's 'Backseat Freestyle' origins, with Ciara having it as R&B song before it ended up on 'good kid, m.A.A.d city.'

Backseat Freestyle is known as one of the more hard-hitting cuts on Kendrick Lamarsiconic good kid, m.A.A.d city album, but some people might not know Hit-Boysbeat was originally an R&B song with Ciaraon it. Talking to HipHopDX alongside Dom Kennedy, the Grammy-winning producer recalled the origins of the track and the processs of working with Kendrick Lamar leading up to his major label debut. I had already did some sessions with Kendrick before we did a couple of ideas, Hit-Boy began. Actually, we went to Vegas for a few days and we was just locked in the studio, and none of them songs ended up being in the mix by the end of the album. He came back and was like, I need some more beats. was in the batch of the beats I gave him. I think he was on tour at the time, we had just stopped through when he came into town for a second. Next thing I know, he was like, Man, Im out in Texas right now, text me the song or email, whatever the case is. He was like, We got one. When I listened to it, Im like, This n-gga spazzing for real on this shit.' He continued, I didnt expect it at all because somebody had recorded a song to that beat. Actually, Ciara recorded an R&B song to that same beat, Backseat Freestyle, and the song was called Hit Boy. So I was dumb hyping it, I was like, Shes saying my name. Nah n-gga, that shit wasnt supposed to go down, you know what Im saying? Besides crafting big rap songs such as JAY-Zand Kanye Wests N-ggas in Paris and Travis Scotts Sicko Mode, Hit-Boy has also built up an impressive list of collaborations with female R&B singers. Since 2009, hes produced songs for Beyonc, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Brandy, Macy Gray, Jennifer Hudson, Keyshia Cole, Cassie and Teyana Taylor to name a few. Read more