Imagine Dragons producer Alex da Kid recently provided some insight about how the acclaimed band hooked up with Kendrick Lamar at the 2014 Grammy Awards.

Those who caught the performance at the ceremony last month were understandably blown away by the set. Although fans might think Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar spent a considerable amount of time laying the groundwork for the gig, Alex da Kid explained that everything came together in a pretty casual manner.

During his recent conversation with Billboard, the producer revealed that he had no idea the rapper was a fan of the band’s work. As soon as he realized how good the guys were, Lamar wanted to put something together with them.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=EdLOZvYbg2M

“I don’t think he knew until he saw the performance at the American Music Awards. That’s when he was really like, ‘I wanna do something with those guys.’ It was all Interscope so it was easy to put together,” Alex da Kid explained.

The producer said that rehearsals for the Grammys gig began at a recording studio in Las Vegas. Kid added that Kendrick Lamar had no problem flying out to Nevada to work with Imagine Dragons on the specifics of their performance.

He explained:

“We knew we wanted to do something big but we didn’t know the whole color thing. We were thinking of different things to do like, breaking instruments and stuff like that. At every rehearsal, the Grammys had a presence there so they were not in love with that. It wasn’t even a fully thought out idea. We were all in the room, like 10 TDE guys and 10 of us and we were like, ‘Why don’t we do this? Why don’t we fly?’ because Dan [Daniel Platzman, Imagine Dragons' drummer] flies in some of the shows and plays the drums upside down.”

Alex da Kid said Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar eventually came up with the idea of starting out in white and then transforming into something a bit more colorful. Since they don’t make red dye, the producer said they had to have someone make it for them.

“It was a lot of work. At first, all the managers hated the idea. We didn’t know the logistics of it. We didn’t know if it was poisonous or anything so we had to research all that. There will be a video out soon with some of the rehearsals,” Kid explained.

Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar ultimately followed up their stint at the 2014 Grammy Awards with a performance on Saturday Night Live. What did you think of the collaboration?