Terrance Louis ‘Punch’ talks about the Black Hippy Album that was never released and Kendrick Lamar leaving TDE.
In an interview with Mic, Punch talked about the his regrets on not pushing more for the Black Hippy album and what it meant having Kendrick Lamar at TDE and his last album with the studio.
Which TDE artists will we see new albums from in 2022? “Hopefully everybody,” Terrance said. “The pandemic gave us time to go deeper into the studio.”
Fans wanted a Black Hippy album for years — and despite all four of them loving each other and having creative chemistry, it never happened. How much of a goal was that when everyone was there?
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.
Punch then goes on to talk about Kendrick’s migration from TDE into the projects Lamar wants to work on as an individual.
Kendrick’s next album is his final record with TDE. When did you guys realize that he was ready to leave?
Love Hip Hop?
Get the latest Hip Hop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
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. 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.
Does this make the stakes feel different for his last album at TDE? Does that make anything about the creative or planning process feel different?
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.
