Kris Bowers on Kendrick Lamar's "Section.80" (2011) [redux]

In honor of Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 turning 10 years old this month, we are re-airing our convo with Kris Bowers on Lamar's  debut studio album.[show notes from original post]To talk about Kendrick Lamar’s studio LP debut, we wanted to find someone of K-Dot’s generation, another L.A. young gun, and who better than pianist and composer, Kris Bowers? Like Kendrick, Kris grew up in L.A. and just as Kendrick has ascended the hip-hop ladder, so has Kris in jazz, as he won the prestigious Theolonious . But more than that, the web of Los Angeles musical ties was bound to bring the two into orbit in different ways – something we discuss in the episode – not the least of which is the fact that Kris covered one of the biggest tracks in Kendrick’s early career: “Rigamortis.”In our conversation with Kris, we got deep into how he put together both the song and video for his version of “Rigamortis,” whether or not Kendrick has a jazz sensibility in his style, and what it’s like to see a hometown kid become the Greatest Rapper Alive.More on Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80Kendrick talking about Section.80 in an interview with Complex.com.Ditto but in an interview with Billboard.Ogden Payne’s revisit of the album in 2016 for Forbes.More on Kris BowersKris on NPR’s “Piano Jazz: Rising Stars.”NY Times on Kris winning the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Prize.Website | Soundcloud | Twitter | FacebookShow Tracklisting (all songs from Section.80 unless indicated otherwise):Hol' UpA.D.H.DKris Bowers: Forget-erKris Bowers: RigamortisRigamortisMurs: Everything Chapter SixKeisha's Song (Her Pain)Kendrick Lamar: Sing About Me, I'm Dying of ThirstAb-Souls OutroPoe Mans Dreams (His Vice)F*ck Your EthnicityKush & CorinthiansRigamortisKris Bowers: RigamortisWillie Jones III: The ThornRigamortisBlow My High (Members Only)HiiiPowerAb-Souls OutroHere is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on thereIf you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!