In Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly, fans and listeners understood Lamar's respect for the late hip-hop legend Tupac. Lamar recently revealed that the title of his album was in fact originally named, Tu Pimp A Caterpillar (Tu-P-A-C) in honor of Tupac.
In an interview with MTV News today (March 31) Lamar dished on the original name and how it morphed to what it is today.
"That was the original name and they caught it because the abbreviation was Tupac, Tu-P-A-C," Lamar told MTV on the subject of how other journalists caught on to the Tupac referenc.
Throughout the album, Lamar continues with a passage that begins "I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence," that ultimately leads to a pretend interview Lamar has with Tupac during his song "Mortal Man" that uses actual clips of a Tupac interview.
Lamar ultimately decided on To Pimp A Butterfly, the final title to the heavy, racially conscious and unapologetic album fans still talk about since its early release on March 16 on iTunes. The rapper described why he changed his mind on the title.
"Me changing it to Butterfly, I just really wanted to show the brightness of life and the word pimp has so much aggression and that represents several things. For me, it represents using my celebrity for good. Another reason is, not being pimped by the industry through my celebrity."
The title might have changed but Lamar explained that the concept of To Pimp A Butterfly has always been the same. He shared how he gathered and found his inspiration in the process of making this album.
"You're grabbing all these different experiences around the world and all these conversation pieces — you almost have to reenact that because the time I got inspiration I probably was on the road," Lamar told MTV. "I knew that was going to be the concept, I didn't know if that was going to be the title."
Check out his interview with MTV via Youtube below:
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