What was the original plan for Kendrick Lamar & SZA's "luther"? Producer Sounwave explains the creative breakthrough

Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Luther began as a drumless interlude before metamorphosing into the Grammy-nominated hit it is now. Producer Sounwave, in a December 15, 2025, exclusive feature with Rolling Stone, revealed that the collaborative track was intended originally as an interlude for the GNX album.
 

Songwriter Ink credits Sounwave, who oversaw the bulk of the GNX album production, with bringing Luther to life, told the magazine:

"I got a call from our boy Sounwave, 'Yo, pull up on this.' We've been locked in since then. It’s always good to work with people who inspire you."

Sounwave added that he knew they had to make Luther into a full-fledged song after he heard Lamar sing a particular melody:

"There were no drums. It was literally me chopping the sample, and Dot just humming melodies. We had the sample in the tuck forever; we just never could crack it. But once he hit this one specific melody, I knew that this had to be bigger."

More details on Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Luther track 

Luther dropped in November 2024 and is named after Luther Vandross, the artist whose If This World Were Mine track is sampled on the song.

The song was released to critical acclaim and has earned Kendrick Lamar and SZA the Best Collaboration trophy at the BET Awards and Favourite Music Collaboration at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award.
 

It has also secured nominations for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Melodic Rap Performance for the upcoming Grammy Awards. For the GNX album, Lamar collaborated with Sounwave, Jack Antonoff and Mustard.
 

The trio are being honoured as  Variety Hitmakers’ Producers of the Year. Sounwave, in an interview with the magazine published on December 3, 2025, described the beginning process like “throwing paint on the wall”:

"The beginning of it was throwing paint on the wall,” says Sounwave. “And it started to form this massive funky West groove that we love because [Kendrick and I are] from Compton. And in that, I started to realise the people who we should bring in to push it even further, like the Mustards, the Jacks. … I was very fortunate to have these friends who are very talented to push it to the next level.”

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