The beat for Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle” was initially intended for Ciara, Hit-Boy revealed to HipHopDX on Wednesday (June 9). In an interview, the mega-producer explained that the popular good kid, m.A.A.d city instrumental was actually going to be an R&B song.

“I had already did some sessions with Kendrick before we did a couple of ideas,” Hit-Boy told the outlet. “Actually, we went to Vegas for a few days and we was just locked in the studio, [but] none of them songs ended up being in the mix by the end of the album. He came back and was like, ‘I need some more beats.’ [‘Backseat Freestyle’] was in the batch of the beats I gave him.”

“I think he was on tour at the time. We had just stopped through when he came into town for a second,” Hit-Boy continued. “Next thing I know, he was like, ‘Man, I’m out in Texas right now. Text me the song or email, whatever the case is.’ He was like, ‘We got one.’ When I listened to it, I’m like, ‘This ni**a spazzing for real on this shit.’”

Hit-Boy explained that Ciara already recorded vocals over the track, which was going to be named after him.

“I didn’t expect it at all because somebody had recorded a song to that beat. Actually, Ciara recorded an R&B song to that same beat, ‘Backseat Freestyle,’ and the song was called ‘Hit Boy,’” he explained. “So I was dumb hyping it. I was like, ‘She’s saying my name!’ Nah ni**a, that shit wasn’t supposed to go down, you know what I’m saying?”

“Backseat Freestyle” went on to rack up over 45 million YouTube views and become a fan favorite on K. Dot’s sophomore album, good kid, m.A.A.d city.

Watch Hit-Boy’s full interview with HipHopDX below.