Kendrick Lamar is riding high off the success of his new album To Pimp A Butterfly and now the 27-year-old emcee is breaking down the construction of his pivotal body of work.
In an interview with MTV, K. Dot spoke on how elated he was upon sealing “TPAB” and finally sending it out to the masses to hear.
“Definitely was an exhale [moment] … it’s so much of a spiritual process in making the album,” Lamar said. “I gotta really feel connected to the music, I gotta feel connected to what I’m talking about and that can drain you because you’re pulling all of these different emotions out, you’re grabbing all these different experiences from around the world, all these different conversation pieces. You almost have to reenact that.”
SEE ALSO: No Surprise Here: Kendrick Lamar’s ‘TPAB’ Is Number One
Within the sit-down, the Compton storyteller also deciphered the title behind the album, stating that it originally had the acronym T.U.P.A.C. which stood for “Tu Pimp A Caterpillar” but he changed it once a blog site, Dead End Hip Hop, uncovered what the name really meant.
“Me changing it to butterfly was just really wanting to show the brightness of life and the word pimp has so much aggression and that represents several things,” Lamar said. “For me it represents using my celebrity for good. Another reason is not being pimped by the industry through my celebrity.”
The “Alright” rapper also revealed the creation of some of the project’s standout tracks including “King Kunta” and “Wesley’s Theory” and how he remains level-headed in the spotlight.
You can catch Lamar on stage as one of the many acts at Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam which features Meek Mill, Chris Brown, Fabolous and more, but for now peep the interview above.