And she wanted to see me play.

It was a good laugh for sure.

That was, even for her, at the time that his passing happened, that had to be difficult for her. Flying Lotus (left) and Thundercat in Los Angeles in 2019.The pair had met at South by Southwest around the time the producer released his own debut album — and quickly formed a deep connection. I don’t get a chance to talk about it a lot but that was a really special moment because they hadn’t worked together since the late ’80s. I mean, they talked all the time, they’re friends and stuff, but the stuff they used to create together, like anything else in life, it’s always changing and morphing and becoming other things. It’s not about the stuck at home coronavirus shit. She’s good friends with Herbie [Hancock], and I think it was through Herbie that she found out about my music. It makes me happy to know, it keeps me inspired, it reminds me to keep pushing. I feel like it maybe made her happy to see the music would translate the way it did. Since then, he’s worked with a wild array of artists, from close collaborators like Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington, to monolithic names like Erykah Badu and Kendrick Lamar, to less-expected turns linking up with old-school progenitors like Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. For me personally, it was a really special moment: “Oh my gosh, this is coming together over my music.” That’s a really, really wild moment. It was one of those moments, I could’ve just cried. I’ve read so much about how close they were and things like that. That’s what inspires me when I make music. He’s always wondering what my mind is about things -- it's like I'm the Bizarro Ty. And so in passing while we were working, I heard Kenny and Mike chatting like, “When’s the last time we sat down together to write like this?” And I’m not joking, he said, “Maybe late ’80s, early ’90s?” To me, I was immediately like, holy shit. The thing is, Thundercat is on every track.

He’s pretty much playing on 90 percent of the album. I feel like Lotus treats my music like it’s his music also. First coming to prominence as a member of crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, he has since released four solo studio albums and is noted for his work with producer Flying Lotus and his appearance on Kendrick Lamar's critically acclaimed … The album, produced by Flying Lotus and Thundercat, features musical contributions from Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis... Artists / Friends & Family / Hype / News / Releases Thundercat – …

When he heard that I think there was part of him that was like… he was intrigued a bit. SAVE STEREOGUM: Donate to keep us in business and I wanna do a whole album with Lil B singing and me playing and singing his backgrounds. I said it on a radio interview one time, how big of an influence he was to me, and I think he actually heard that. And remember that it’s There was nothing that was traded back and forth at that point, it was like, “Oh, cool.” As time progressed, Kenny, he got serious as to what that meant. The Biz premium subscriber content has moved to Billboard.com/business.To simplify subscriber access, we have temporarily disabled the password requirement.Tasia Wells/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment At the end of the week, Stephen Bruner will release his latest album as Thundercat, But of course, Thundercat’s one of those names that’s been hanging around for years already. In 2008, Flying Lotus (born Steven Ellison) founded his label Brainfeeder and signed Thundercat to its roster, which has gone on to include acts like Teebs and Kamasi Washington. There’s a lot of trust. I wish I had a chance to spend a little bit more time with her, it was kind of in passing. By the time he reached out to me it was more like an, “Are you serious?” I’m always joking about stuff, so I guess he thought I was being silly, but I was like, “I’m dead serious. I can sing you five of your songs right now.”It was his suggestion that Michael McDonald get involved.

It’s about the art.