On Kendrick Lamar's DAMN., there's very little space where the rapper's voice is not present. With features few and far between, Kendrick is front-and-center, but he also has a talented team of collaborators behind him. Looking through the writing and production credits, we've highlighted a few of the producers, vocalists, and the like who can be contribute across the project. Click through the galleries above to take a closer look.
Check out the full writing and production credits from the album here.
Kendrick Lamar
Mike WiLL Made-It
Contributes to: "DNA." "HUMBLE." "XXX."
Though only present on 3 tracks, Atlanta super-producer Mike WiLL Made-It plays a big role in DAMN. WiLL contributed the beat to "HUMBLE.", a minimal, but immediately striking instrumental that along with an inventive video that made the album's first punch a Haymaker. His two additional instrumentals on the album come on two equally important songs. "DNA." uses the same urgent energy as "HUMBLE." to kick off the album. Like "HUMBLE," Mike is the only producer credited on the track, making it one of a few productions without collaborators. Later on, he leads "XXX.", a song that had even the biggest Kendrick stans sweating when they saw the potentially disastrous U2 feature. Thankfully, it follows in the trajectory of Mike's other blunt-force beats, giving us one of Kendrick's most raw performances on the album before it transitions into a tastefully jazzy Bono duet.
Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith
Contributes to: "BLOOD." "YAH." "LOYALTY." "PRIDE." "XXX." "GOD."
Though he appeared as an executive producer on Kendrick's previous albums, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith earned his first production credits for K-Dot on DAMN., and there are quite a few of them. While it's not clear what exactly his contributions were, landing credits on 5 of the 14 tracks makes Top Dawg one of the most involved collaborators on the project. All of the composing credits are for production, which has us wondering what the label CEO brought to the beats on this album. Tiffith also inspired the closing track on the album "DUCKWORTH.", which tells a story of "coincidence" between himself and Kendrick's father. Kendrick tells the story of Ducky, a man who worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken who befriended a man he feared would rob the restaurant. He later reveals that this understanding between the two men changed their lives (and his) forever.
Because if Anthony killed Ducky
Top Dawg could be servin' life
While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight
In this story, the relationship between Ducky and the man, revealed to be Kendrick's father and Top Dawg, allows Kendrick to be discovered by Tiffith at the age of 15, and eventually reach the peak he has today. It's symbolic of the special bond Kendrick has with Top Dawg, which is more visible than ever in the credits.
Bekon
Contributes to: "BLOOD." "YAH." " ELEMENT." "PRIDE." "XXX." "GOD." "DUCKWORTH."
Bekon is one of the more mysterious artists involved with DAMN., but it didn't take long for people to discover his true identity. Of course, it was right there in the writing credits.
Listed as D. Tannenbaum, Bekon can be linked to writing and arrangement on hip hop tracks reaching back to 2010, the first of which being Fabolous' "Imma Do It" off Loso's Way. From there, he landed credits on Snoop Dogg's Doggumentary, Aloe Blacc's Lift Your Spirit, Eminem's Recovery, and Dr. Dre's Compton, according to Discogs. One would assume that Kendrick's connection probably came through Dre. He confirmed to Pitchfork that he is in fact Daniel Tannenbaum, and the artist formerly known as Danny Keyz.
Bekon appears on 6 tracks, where he contributes production, additional production, and additional vocals. This makes him the second-most frequent contributor to the album behind Sounwave and Kendrick himself.
DJ Dahi
Contributes to: "YAH." "LOYALTY." LUST." GOD."
DJ Dahi first worked with Kendrick Lamar on good kid, m.A.A.d. citys "Money Trees," a Beach House-sampling Jay Rock collaboration that has become one of Lamar's most beloved deep cuts. He's also provided production on projects from K-Dot's TDE labelmates ScHoolboy Q and SZA. Though he was absent from To Pimp A Butterfly, DJ Dahi has fingerprints all over DAMN., showing as a producer across 5 tracks. Any fan of Dahi's will hear his touch on "YAH.", as well as his rare vocal appearance on "Loyalty," the lush Rihanna collaboration that takes a DJ Quik-esque vocoder vocal, speeds it up to Chipmunk soul tempo, and then glitches it out by sporadically flipping it in reverse. The backwards sample flip is actually reminiscent of his "Money Trees" instrumental.
Sounwave
Contributes to: "YAH." "ELEMENT." "FEEL." "LOYALTY." "LUST." "LOVE." "XXX." "GOD."
Sounwave's large presence on DAMN. should surprise no one. The Compton producer's collaborations with Kendrick can be traced all the way back to 2009's Kendrick Lamar EP. He's been present on every Kendrick album since, not to mention a handful of other TDE releases. He appears on 8 out of 14 tracks on DAMN., giving him the most credits of any producer on the album. At this point, his sound is as synonymous with Kendrick (and by extension, TDE) as Timbaland with Missy Elliott or Gucci Mane and Zaytoven.