David Bowie will release his 25th album, Blackstar, on January 8, the same day as the iconic musician turns 69. Longtime producer Tony Visconti sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss the making of the album, including some of its influences and guest appearances.

Visconti notes that the style of the album came from listening to “a lot” of Kendrick Lamar. “We wound up with nothing like that, but we loved the fact Kendrick was so open-minded and he didn’t do a straight-up hip-hop record. He threw everything on there, and that’s exactly what we wanted to do. The goal, in many, many ways, was to avoid rock & roll,” he added.

LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy also appears on the record, adding percussion to a few songs. “His role was never really defined,” drummer Mark Guiliana said. “He brought in some synths and some percussion and had a ton of ideas.”