The Weeknd has branded Kendrick Lamar “a genius” in a new interview.
The Toronto artist – AKA Abel Tesfaye – is gearing up to release his third studio album, ‘Starboy’, on Friday (November 25). The new record boasts an all-star feature list, which includes the likes of Daft Punk, Lana Del Rey and Future.
Of Lamar, who guests on the track ‘Sidewalks’, The Weeknd said that he considers the Compton-born rapper to be “a genius.” Speaking to Zane Lowe in a rare interview on Beats 1, Tesfaye gave an insight into what it is like to be in the studio recording with Lamar.
“He’s a genius. He is really a genius,” the artist said. “He’d walk around. He’d play the record over and over again. I played him songs, the Starboy theme of course, which he incorporated into his verse. He would just walk around. We had food. He’s writing his verse in his head. He would go into his phone, look at it a few and then put it back and start walking around. He then at one point he went into the studio booth and I closed the door and I could hear him yelling his verse in his head. He was really committed, you can tell he put his all into it.
“It wasn’t just a random Kendrick Lamar verse, it was something special because again, I don’t like to say this all the time, but we’ve known each other for a while and it’s crazy how we started connecting on this record.”
Watch a clip of The Weeknd discussing the Kendrick collaboration below.
https://twitter.com/kingxjames43/status/801709250523316224
The Weeknd’s full interview with Zane Lowe airs on Beats 1 at 5am tomorrow morning (November 24).
From Trilogy to #STARBOY and everything in between, @theweeknd shares it with @zanelowe. Listen at 9PM LA/12AM NYC: https://t.co/rAPwDbKt1V pic.twitter.com/iPB6bQud9N
— Beats 1 (@Beats1) November 24, 2016