After revealing the forthcoming artwork and title for his upcoming LP, To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick and Rolling Stone has revealed their newest issue featuring Kendrick.
The piece, which was amazingly written by Josh Eells, talks about Kendrick and “his struggles with self-confidence in the wake of his 2012 breakthrough, good kid, m.A.A.d city, and how he navigated his newfound success and ultimately overcame his obstacles through his music.”
Some choice quotes:
Sonically, Lamar’s new album is adventurous, incorporating elements of funk, spoken-word poetry, and free-jazz, augmented by lots of live playing. (Lamar says he was listening to a lot of Miles Davis and Parliament while making it.) “It’s a unique sound,” says Sounwave. “Every producer I’ve ever met was sending me stuff [for the album], but there was a one-in-a-million chance you could send a beat that actually fit what we were doing.” Lamar’s longtime engineer, Derek “MixedByAli” Ali, says the rapper would often talk in moods: “He would say, ‘I want it to sound eerie,’ or ‘I want it to sound like you’re driving past something.’ Or he talks in colors: ‘Make it sound purple. Make it sound light green.’”
Rolling Stone also stated that “King Kunta,” will make the album:
Lamar also gave Rolling Stone a preview of six new songs from To Pimp a Butterfly, in addition to the two already released. The songs range from the intensely personal to the swaggeringly aggressive – like “King Kunta,” which could be the theme song from a Seventies blaxploitation flick. When Pharrell Williams first heard the track, he praised it by calling it “unapologetically black.” “It’s just him expressing how he’s feeling at the moment,” says Lamar’s longtime producer Mark “Sounwave” Spears. “And right now, he’s mad.”
The issue hits stores this Friday (March 13th). The whole piece is honestly amazing, so just peep the whole thing here after you’re done.
