Travis "Teddy" Walton, the 24-year-old producer behind track ten on Kendrick Lamar's new album DAMN., sits comfortably in his Beverly Hills home, anticipating the debut of his single, "Love." As the song begins, our chat halts as the light keys fluctuate softly in the background, broken up intermittently by trap drums. An angelic male voice echoes behind Kendrick's, and in tandem they envelope the beautiful melody and upbeat percussion. Walton then digresses briefly from our conversation to consult with his manager, who informs him that a hook he had suggested the rapper use made it onto the album in a different song. "Hold on, something crazy just happened," he says excitedly. "[Kendrick] used my phrase, 'This what God feel like' for track 13."Through a viscous Southern accent, the Memphis native amicably recalls wanting to get into music as a child because he particularly enjoyed the sounds in cartoons. "I used to watch TV a lot, so I started getting into music really then. I was actually trying to download a game, but then I made a mistake and downloaded FL Studio," He jokes. "Since then I stayed on there just really fucking around until I started taking it seriously." The time eventually came for Walton to pursue music more earnestly when he began to produce for his brother, June, who helped him craft his unique sound. "I would describe it in three words: Three Six Mafia, Tame Impala, and SWV. I bring a psychedelic, yet soulful sound to most of my music."He adds, "I knew that I could be a big producer after [we] dropped [June's] first project, EVOL. It was definitely a huge underground project. He helped me out by making me fuse 90s and R&B. I would say everybody knows me from that," he says with animated reverence. "Really, before like everybody started doing trap and R&B, I was the first person to do that. ASAP Yams found that out on the internet." Walton and Yams eventually met when he skipped school to go to South by Southwest in Texas with his brother, who was playing shows at the festival. "Yams actually knew about my brother's music. So he was a fan of my work," Walton said. "He actually like, pulled up on me and my friend and [said], 'Hey I think I know you. We've been trying to work with you for a minute.'" A year later, they reconnected via Twitter, conversing back and forth about working with A$AP Rocky, and in 2015, Teddy produced "Electric Body" for AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP. Since then, Walton has been curating and developing his eclectic sound through several new personal projects and collaborations—namely with GoldLink, Freddie Gibbs, Nipsey Hussle, Bryson Tiller and now, Kendrick Lamar.Continue reading on Noisey.
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