Liner notes: Steve McKeever 

Vol 9 Concept: Theda Sandiford

Art design and album Cover: Lyzell Williams

Unwrapped Vol 9: The Songs of Kendrick Lamar Reimagined

LINER NOTES

Since pioneering the concept of “Unwrapping” hip-hop instrumental covers, in the almost 25 years we have been making Unwrapped albums, we have never released a volume dedicated to a single artist. This is the first of its kind. Over the years, we’ve talked about it a bunch. Most recently, when Theda Sandiford was a Def Jam senior marketing executive, we brainstormed about collaborative efforts between our two labels to celebrate the upcoming 40th anniversary of Def Jam and the 25th anniversary of Hidden Beach (2025). Theda thought it would be fitting to not only do a collection celebrating this milestone but to continue by paying tribute to some of the iconic hip-hop artists launched there. We all loved the idea, but after the visionary behind the idea, Theda, left Def Jam, the conversations stopped.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that when Theda joined the Hidden Beach team last year, she rekindled the idea. Actually, “rekindled” is a bit soft. She insisted. I once thought the impetus for the concept was the collective of several folks with whom we brainstormed about the dual anniversaries, but it didn’t take long to figure out that the driving force behind wanting the Unwrapped franchise to branch into single-artist celebrations was Theda. She arrived with a long list of artists to explore and came equipped with notes on each one of the proposals. Theda had worked directly with many of the artists suggested and had unique insights on approaches for us to take with each.

We had all agreed that the first artist’s body of work we would tackle in this vein would be Kendrick Lamar. Unfortunately, the talented producer I had been talking with to tackle this project, my dear friend Ivan Dupee, the sole producer of Vol. 8 and a frequent contributor to the Hidden Beach catalog, unexpectedly passed away. It’s been almost six months since his transition, and I still can’t really believe I am typing these words. Ivan’s passing took the wind out of my sails. We were bandmates in college, and I considered him one of my closest friends. Even though the idea was still an interesting one creatively, in the shadow of his death, it was hard for me to think about passing the baton to someone else for the task.

Enter Theda. She was sympathetic to this major loss but saw so clearly the multiple reasons to do such a tribute that she wouldn’t let it go. She insisted. Still, it was hard for me to get my head around it, and while I thought of many worthy candidates to pass the torch, it wasn’t until I personally became involved with the brilliant new musical, 44, that it hit me like a ton of bricks who should take on the task.

The first time I ever saw 44, then running in a small dinner theater/frequent comedy stage in Hollywood, before the play ever started, the play’s band caught my ear. Unlike in the common musical production where you first hear the band/orchestra after the play starts, this band started jamming to warm the audience up about 20 minutes before the curtain. While I didn’t know any of the players at the time, it only took a couple of minutes to recognize that the group consisted of some real stars. With no Playbill program or public credits distributed, I had no idea the drummer of the band was Phillip “Fish” Fisher, a legend known to music fans as Fish, formerly of Fishbone. His fellow band members were all equally accomplished, seasoned musicians who’ve played with just about everybody in the business. I’d later discover that the group had been performing together under the name House of Vibe for years and even had a residency in Marina Del Rey, CA, every Friday night, where they specialized in hip-hop, and R&B covers with a host of special guests coming through during their performances. Before the play started, I wanted to know more about them. They had me hooked at note one. After the performance, and Fish losing his mind on the drums on the magical, unforgettable hook chorus, I was floored. The music was incredible. The players were as well. I wanted to get involved with the young production because of the music (I’ve seen it nearly 50 times at the time of this writing, January 2025), and Hidden Beach will now release the soundtrack.

The musical director of the play was the titular head of House of Vibe, known to all simply as Brew (Anthony Brewster). While seeing the play dozens and dozens of times, and even traveling with the production, I got to know the band well. My admiration for them all—Conrad Breuer, Fish, Brew, Corey Cofield, and Greg Raymond (all contributors here)—grew with each performance.

I’ve written in the liner notes of previous Unwrapped volumes about our frustration with the copycat Unwrapped imitators that at times have flooded the market with karaoke-like renditions of hip-hop classics. This frustration even had me retire the releases for a time. I believed Brew, leading the House of Vibe All-Stars, could pull this off, and I emphasized that the last thing we wanted was anything like the uninspiring, seemingly assembly-line imitators. By choosing Kendrick’s songs, we knew the bar would be high for reimagining the work, but little did I imagine the challenges and fun each selection created.

In short, making this record was a complete blast and full of surprises every day. Brew, leading his House of Vibe crew and calling in help from the onstage talent of 44 in the form of the gifted voice of Summer Nicole Greer (in 44 plays “The Voice of The People” and kills it, as she does here), took on this assignment with the calmness and confidence of the hero in the Mission: Impossible franchise. In this case, the mission impossible was a challenging proposed release date of January 2025.

Dragging my feet on starting the project was the first impediment, but once Brew got things started (Nov. 2024) with his talented right-hand man Travis “T. James” Margis and laid the foundation of the tracks, the always interesting process of casting the record with the right soloists began. Many people believe that making these projects is easy, but in truth, only a very small percentage of musicians can sustain the interest required to make the tracks captivating. The fact that the instrumental soloists on this project would be dancing over tracks where one of the most celebrated and accomplished rappers introduced his original music to us set a very, very high bar. This project felt blessed (perhaps Ivan was looking out for us) in that the right players seemed to appear in the nick of time as we raced toward Theda’s deadline. Not only did the House of Vibe members step up to crush their contributions, but early in the solo process, thanks to my man Bobby Columby, we were visited by life from another planet: the alien Jesus Molina 

Watching Jesus contribute to this project will be an experience I will never forget. No one in attendance will. Despite Kendrick Lamar having the most-streamed song of the year in “Not Like Us,” Jesus had never heard his music (for a kick, Google Jesus hearing Prince’s “1999” for the first time on YouTube). Not only had he not heard Kendrick’s music, but instead of us playing him the originals for reference and then letting him listen to the tracks to formulate his ideas, Jesus insisted on opening a track for him to experiment with while he heard each song for the first time. I am so glad we videotaped this. Otherwise, I’d never believe that all his contributions to this project were first takes! All of them!! I’m sure we will publish this feat online somehow. I can’t wait for you to see it! Unbelievable.

With big appreciation to all the contributors to this project—clearly the most musicians and vocalists we’ve ever used on a single Unwrapped volume—we are proud of everyone’s work. The Ozomatli crew killed it (check out track 2, “I”). That was a special night. From Naturally 7’s post-deadline additions, which had us gleefully change songs to accommodate, to the extra-special sweetening of Eunice Tanzil’s string arrangements, Conrad Bauer’s always tasteful guitar licks and soloing chops, the sweet sticky glue of both the Regiment Horns and C-Town horns, Ant Bell’s silky organ pads, Dan Lutz and Ian Martin bringing bass magic, the foundational Unwrapped contributor, incomparable Karen Briggs with her enchanted violin, the gifted husband and wife dynamic duo of Sherie Farris and D Smoke  Leon Mobley’s climactic conga solo on “Euphoria” (please read the full credits, which list all the wonderful musicians involved)—every contributor put a bit of their soul into this Vol. 9 tribute. I can hear clearly it.  Everyone at Hidden Beach is proud of you for participating in this elite fraternity of musicians. Not a believer in coincidences, I suspect Ivan had a hand here and is also proud of how this tradition has continued.

At the time these liner notes are penned (Christmas eve 2025), Theda, the mother of this “reimagined” project, still on holiday break, hasn’t heard the finished product yet. We all hope she is proud of what her determined insistence has created. I’m now sure there will be more…

All best,

Steve McKeever

founder Hidden Beach Recordings

P.S. We are currently debating who’s next. Who say you? Let us know your thoughts.