Chanel “From the Outside In”—Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free Discuss Their Collaboration With French House

So, it’s the human dimension that you’re drawn to and have tried to capture in the video…

Lamar: I spent quite some time in the Chanel atelier where they make those beautiful pieces. These people sewed, their hands touched the fabrics, they’ve put their hard work into every piece, their traumas have touched these pieces; it’s not just fabric, but people’s stories, and energy, and it’s something exceptional and deeply human that has to be always valued and appreciated.

Free: Fashion, music, and art today are all intertwined, I think all infuses and inspires. When artisans are creating they’re often listening to music, and when we’re creating we’re looking at fashion, at design, because it takes you out of your parameters, and it allows you to see every perspective, and when you see somebody pushing from a creative standpoint, it makes you wanna push it even further and take it to the next level. It shows you there are no boxes in the room, it’s just the illusion of a box from which you can walk out whenever you want… Thanks to Virginie and the Chanel team we had a deep education on the craft process, we were able to study up the story of the house, of Coco, and also of Virginie herself, how she learned behind Karl, and this was our time of being able to help her to achieve her vision.

Lamar: Virginie—she’s magic, she has so many ideas, so much creativity off the radar, so we said we have to match that in a certain way.

Free: She’s a detail creator. We have a lot of similarities, in the sense that she’s very shy and reserved, and that’s special to us; we share the same attitude, we’re rather reserved, and when we talk about how much time and energy goes into the creative process, you really don’t have any energy left for anything else, and just meeting her we could see that for her it was all about the work and the creation. This just got us inspired; Kendrick’s experience also can make you feel that if someone is super passionate, all they want to achieve is accomplishing their goals—while also being kind, with a bright spirit, a beautiful smile, that makes you wanna work even harder and match that energy.

The show closed with the song Kendrick wrote for the video; the lyrics are rather soulful: intense and personal. What were the feelings and message you wanted to convey?