Förra året kom nyheten att Kendrick Lamar ska släppa sitt sista album på Top Dawg Ent, skivbolagsetiketten som under många år varit så viktig för hans karriär och skapande. I en ny intervju med MIC berättar nu TDE-bossen Terence “Punch” Henderson om Kendricks beslut att lämna Top Dawg-familjen:

“I don’t even know if I would describe it that way as ready to leave, as more so ready to build his own thing. That’s a grown man right now. We watched him grow from a teenager up into an established grown man, a businessman, and one of the greatest artists of all time. So how long do you actually be signed up under somebody? It’s been almost 20 years. So it’s time to move on and try new things and venture out…”

På frågan om den stundande albumlanseringen av Kendricks sista album blir annorlunda, svarar TDE-bossen vidare:

“Yes, and no. It’s different now just because it’s different, not because it’s his last project. It’s just the evolution of where we are. Kendrick doesn’t need anybody in the studio to coach him and help him make an album anymore. He’s well capable of doing everything on his own. It’s just the timeframe that we’re in.”

På frågan om det någonsin skulle ha blivit ett Black Hippy-album säger Punch, något ångerfullt:

“We definitely wanted to do a Black Hippy album. But it was such a learning experience for us, everything was new. The timing never really panned out. When one guy would be recording his album, another guy would be on tour. Everybody was never in the same timeframe. So we didn’t want to hold back; we wanted to keep going and just push further into their individual careers. In hindsight, I wish I would’ve pushed the Black Hippy album more. That was always my goal, personally. You would have to ask everybody individually to see if that’s what their goal was.”

Allt som allt verkar Punch ha en förstående attityd kring att Kendrick lämnar TDE och berömmer arbetet som K.Dot och Dave Free gör med Baby Keem:

“He’s doing a great job developing Baby Keem. It’s always been there, but now it’s just time and space where he can actually do it. It’s a beautiful thing to watch because that’s something that started with what we built in the beginning. To see it blossom, it’s a full-circle moment.”

Punch är själv aktuell som rappare med gruppen A Room Full of Mirrors, där även Nick Grant, DayLyt, Earlee Riser, Billymarie, Lyric Michelle, Ichiban Don, Hari och Jrias Law ingår. Gruppen släppte i december månad EP-projektet “Money Bags” via Top Dawg Ent. Lyssna nedan!

Foto: Punch / Facebook / Press (montage)