Sounwave
Mark Anthony Spears, known professionally as Sounwave, is an
American hip-hop record producer and songwriter from Compton,
Sounwave
California,[1] and an original member of the Californian hip-hop label,
Top Dawg Entertainment.[2] Sounwave has worked on every
Kendrick Lamar studio album since the 2009 Lamar's self-titled EP,
including the Grammy Award-winning albums Good Kid, M.A.A.D
City, To Pimp a Butterfly, and the multi-Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-
winning album Damn. He has received two Grammy Awards: Best
Rap Song (2015) for "Alright", and Best Rap Album (2017) for
Damn.[3][4]
Contents
Early life
Musical career
2005–2008
2009–2016
2016–present Background information
Songwriting and production discography Birth name Mark Anthony
Songs Spears
2011
Born Compton,
2012
California, U.S.
2013
Origin Los Angeles,
2014
California, U.S.
2015
2016 Genres Hip hop
2017 Occupation(s) Record producer
2018 · songwriter
2019 Instruments FL Studio ·
Albums MPC2000 · Akai
MPC · Acid Pro
Awards and nominations
3.0
Academy Awards
Golden Globe Awards Years active 2005–present
Grammy Awards Labels Top Dawg
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Associated acts Black Hippy ·
References Skhye Hutch ·
Digi+Phonics ·
External links
Red Hearse
Early life
Hailing from Compton, Sounwave credits "Up Jumps da Boogie" by Timbaland as the first hip hop
instrumental he ever listened to. From the age of ten he started using a Korg drum machine to make simple
drum beats. From there, he graduated to a 4-track machine and then to the MTV Music Generator for
PlayStation. After using that for a while, he hooked up with rapper Bishop Lamont from Carson, California,
and a song he produced for him with MTV Music Generator received local radio placement.[5]
Musical career
2005–2008
In 2005, Sounwave was originally discovered by Top Dawg Entertainment co-founder Terrence "Punch"
Henderson, who had him meet with TDE CEO, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith
was originally unimpressed with Sounwave, however, he persisted and honed his craft which ended up
"blowing away" Tiffith.[6] It was then he became a member of Digi+Phonics, an American hip hop production
team, composed of fellow California-based record producers Tae Beast, Dave Free and Willie B. They served
as the main in-house producers for Carson-based record label, Top Dawg Entertainment. Digi+Phonics
worked significantly on projects from all the members of hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, who are also
signed to Top Dawg and is composed of rappers Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul.
2009–2016
Sounwave's earliest work for Top Dawg Entertainment surfaced on the self-titled Kendrick Lamar, and Jay
Rock's compilation track "Fa Sho" in 2009 and 2010 respectively.[7] In 2011, Sounwave produced the bulk of
Lamar's mixtape/album Section.80, which landed him on Complex's "15 New Producers to Watch" list.[8] He
also produced three songs on Lamar's critically acclaimed second album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012).[7]
Sounwave is best known for producing Kendrick Lamar's hit single "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe", among other
songs such as "M.A.A.D. City", "A.D.H.D" and Schoolboy Q's "There He Go".[9][1] In 2014, he earned a
placement on Top Dawg Entertainment artist Isaiah Rashad's Cilvia Demo and produced "Hoover Street" and
"Prescription/Oxymoron" on Schoolboy Q's Oxymoron. Outside of his work with artists in the Top Dawg
Entertainment label, he worked with Flo Rida on the song "Finally Here" from the latter's second album
R.O.O.T.S. (2009).[5] Sounwave is also credited with production on four tracks on Schoolboy Q's fourth
studio album, Blank Face LP.
2016–present
In 2016, Sounwave worked alongside Lamar and Top Dawg Entertainment's CEO Anthony "Top Dawg"
Tiffith as co-writer, A&R, and producer of Black Panther: The Album,[10] the official soundtrack to the film
Black Panther. His work on the film's single "All the Stars" with Lamar and SZA earned nominations for Best
Original Song for the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Critics' Choice Movie Awards.
Outside of Top Dawg Entertainment, Sounwave has collaborated with Beyoncé, Mary J Blige, and many
others. In 2019, Sounwave co-wrote and co-produced the song "London Boy" for Taylor Swift's seventh
studio album Lover (2019).[11]
Songwriting and production discography
Songs
2011
"A.D.H.D" – Kendrick Lamar
"Hol' Up" – Kendrick Lamar
"No Make-Up (Her Vice)" – Kendrick Lamar
"The Spiteful Chant" - Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q
2012
"m.A.A.d city" - Kendrick Lamar
2013
"Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" - Kendrick Lamar
2014
"Break the Bank" – Schoolboy Q
2015
"Alright" - Kendrick Lamar
2016
"That Part" – Schoolboy Q, Kanye West
“John Muir” — Schoolboy Q
2017
"Element" - Kendrick Lamar
"Feel" - Kendrick Lamar
"God" - Kendrick Lamar
"Love" - Kendrick Lamar, Zacari
"Loyalty" - Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna
"Lust" - Kendrick Lamar
"XXX" - Kendrick Lamar
"Yah" - Kendrick Lamar
2018
"All the Stars" - Kendrick Lamar, SZA
"Big Shot" - Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott
"Black Panther" - Kendrick Lamar
"Bloody Waters" – Ab-Soul, Anderson .Paak, James Blake
"I Am" – Jorja Smith, Kendrick Lamar
"King's Dead" – Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future, James Blake
"Opps" – Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples, Yugen Blakrok
"Paramedic!" – Kendrick Lamar, SOB x RBE, Zacari
"Seasons" – Mozzy, Sjava, Reason
"The Ways" – Kendrick Lamar, Khalid, Swae Lee
"X" - Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, 2 Chainz, Saudi
2019
"Nile" - Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé
"London Boy" – Taylor Swift
Albums
Section.80 – Kendrick Lamar (2011)
Black Panther – Kendrick Lamar (2018)
Lover – Taylor Swift (2019)
The Lion King: The Gift - Beyoncé (2019)
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
Nomination: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) – "All the
Stars" (2018)
Golden Globe Awards
Nomination: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) – "All the
Stars" (2018)
Grammy Awards
Won: Best Rap Song – "Alright" (2015)
Nomination: Album of the Year – Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2013)
Nomination: Album of the Year – To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
Nomination: Song of the Year – "Alright" (2015)
Nomination: Album of the Year – Damn (2017)
Nomination: Record of the Year – "All the Stars" (2018)
Nomination: Album of the Year – Black Panther (2018)
Nomination: Song of the Year – "All the Stars" (2018)
Nomination: Best Rap Song – "King's Dead" (2018)
Nomination: Best Song Written for Visual Media – "All the Stars" (2018)
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards
Nomination: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) – "All the
Stars" (2018)
References
1. "iStandard Producers Weigh In On XXL's 2013 Freshman Producers List - Page 14 of 16 -
XXL" ([Link]
eshman-producers-list/14/). [Link]. 2013-05-01. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
2. Mikael Wood (31 January 2019). "Kendrick Lamar's secret weapon? His right-hand man, 'Black
Panther' soundtrack producer Sounwave" ([Link]
[Link]). The LA
Times. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
3. Jeff Weiss (28 May 2019). "Sounwave: How the Kendrick Lamar and 'Black Panther' Producer
Quietly Made America's Soundtrack" ([Link]
wave-how-the-kendrick-lamar-and-black-panther-producer-quietly-made-americas-soundtrack-
629632/). Rolling Stone. Retrieved 12 December 2019. "If he desired, Sounwave could easily
reap millions farming his beats out to the corniest names in popular music. Instead, he's so self-
effacing and averse to self-promotion that doesn't even have his own Wikipedia page."
4. Dan Hyman (22 April 2017). "Why Kendrick Lamar and Sounwave Camped Out in Sleeping
Bags to Make DAMN" ([Link] GQ.
Retrieved 12 December 2019. "The Grammy-winning producer and longtime Kendrick
whisperer Mark "Sounwave" Spears takes us behind the scenes."
5. "Beat Construction: Sounwave « The FADER" ([Link]
uction-sounwave/). [Link]. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
6. "Let The Beat Build - Digi-Phonics On Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre | Let The Beat Build | Noisey"
([Link]
dr-dre). [Link]. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
7. Sutherland, Sam (2013-03-20). "HEAT RISING: Sounwave made his first beats using a video
game, and now he's Top Dawg Entertainment family" ([Link]
3839/[Link]
-and-now-hes-top-dawg-entertainment-family/). [Link]. Archived from the original ([Link]
[Link]/2013/03/heat-rising-sounwave-made-his-first-beats-using-a-video-game-and-now-hes-top-
dawg-entertainment-family/) on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
8. "Sounwave — 15 New Producers To Watch Out For" ([Link]
5-new-producers-to-watch-out-for/sounwave). Complex. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
9. "Digi + Phonics — 25 New Producers To Watch Out For" ([Link]
10/25-new-producers-to-watch-out-for/digi-phonics). Complex. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
10. Weiss, Jeff (May 29, 2018). "Sounwave: How the Kendrick Lamar and 'Black Panther' Producer
Quietly Made America's Soundtrack" ([Link]
ave-kendrick-lamar-and-black-panther-producer-w520584). Rolling Stone. Retrieved
August 23, 2019.
11. "Here are the full credits for Taylor Swift's new album, Lover" ([Link]
8/23/taylor-swift-lover-full-album-credits). The FADER. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
External links
Sounwave ([Link] on IMDb
Retrieved from "[Link]
This page was last edited on 3 October 2020, at 18:03 (UTC).
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