Weekly updates:

Music

Kendrick Lamar speaks about making ‘Mortal Man’ and ‘Complexion’

"To Pimp a Butterfly. It means to have these wings emerge in a caterpillar mind state of the ghetto"

Posted by

Kendrick Lamar on ‘Mortal Man’

It’s the song about being insecure and not wanting to accept the responsibility of being a leader. It’s also about accepting that responsibility and being scared that your peers will bring you down from it.

Thundercat on ‘Complexion’

That was originally my song for one of my projects where I was singing about the feeling of wanting something. The version of me singing would make you laugh. Kendrick was like “get that sh*t outta here!”

MixedByAli on Kendrick’s Tupac ‘interview’

The Tupac interview really tripped me out. He sent me this little clip a year before the album came out. It was a clip of him talking to Pac and he did it himself on Garageband… I don’t know how he did it.

Rapsody on her inclusion on ‘Complexion’

Terrace Martin told me that they were in the studio going over female emcees and Kendrick had mentioned my name. The other story I heard was that Top Dawg thought he was crazy. Azealia Banks was supposed to be on the hook and I don’t know if it was for real but if he said it, her name must have come up.

After being nominated for the most Grammy Awards for a hip-hop artist in one year—11, including Album of the Year and Rap album of the Year—AND winning five of them, Kendrick Lamar recently gave Andreas Hale of 2DopeBoyz an oral history lesson of his recent album, To Pimp A Butterfly.

Through this lesson of creative ability and big decisions, Kendrick delves into how the two songs,  ‘Mortal Man’ and ‘Complexion’, came to be. Giving insight into his song choices, the meaning of the album title, and even his decision to include female vocalists, including rapper Rapsody, on his track, as well as the influence of that Tupac interview.

His team of collaborators, MixedByAli, Sounwave, Thundercat, Terrace Martin, and Rapsody, express their amazement of the wonders of the ‘unique processing unit’, Kendrick’s brain and his secretive yet purposeful work habits that lead to the eargasmic tunes.

Check out some of our favourite quotes in the gallery above. Get ready for a real lesson in the mind of Kendrick here, and prepare yourself for the ‘chamber of (unreleased) music’ that is yet to come.

  • Words: Mikaela Ortolan

Weekly updates


Popular