 Recording sessions for the album took place at PatchWerk Recording Studios in Atlanta , Encore Studios in Burbank , <unk> Red Room in Carson , and " At [ Kendrick Lamar 's ] Mama 's Studio " in Los Angeles . Lamar stated Good Kid , M.A.A.D City would sound " nothing " like his previous album , Section.80 : " I couldn 't tell you what type of sound or where I 'ma be in the next five years as far as music , " he said . " It 's a big difference from the next project compared to the last . And that 's what happened with this album . Going back to the neighborhood and going to different spots , chilling with my <unk> , put me back in that same space where we used to be , bringing back them thoughts , reminiscing how I was feeling . I got myself right back in that mode and I got inspired by that . So this album won 't sound like <unk> Completely nothing like it , " he told XXL . The first song Lamar and Dr. Dre ever worked on together was " Compton " , the twelfth track on the album , which serves as the standard edition 's closing track . 
