At the end of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly record, “Mortal Man,” the song concludes with a back-and-forth between K-Dot and the late Tupac Shakur. The “interview” between the two artists was created using quotes from what GlobalGrind.com reports was a 1994 interview between Tupac and Swedish music journalist, Mats Nileskär.
Towards the end of the musical portion of the Sounwave-produced song, Kendrick asks “I always wanted to ask you about a certain situation—about a metaphor actually. You spoke on the ground. What you mean by that? What the ground represent?”
Tupac then responds:
“The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil. That’s how I see it. My word is bond. I see—And the ground is the symbol for the poor people. The poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people. Cause the rich people gonna be so fat and they gonna be so appetizing. You know what I’m saying? Wealthy, appetizing. The poor gonna be so poor and hungry. You know what I’m saying? It’s gonna be like—There might be some cannibalism out this mothafucka. They might eat the rich.”
Kendrick, who previously revealed that Tupac once came to him in his sleep, then proceeds to ask the rapper if he sees himself as “somebody that’s rich or somebody that made the best of they own opportunities.”
“I see myself as a natural born hustler,” Pac says in his response. “A true hustler in every sense of the word. I took nothin’. I took the opportunities. I worked at the most menial and degrading job and built myself up so I could get it to where I owned it. I went from having somebody manage me to me hiring the person that works my management company. I changed everything. I realized my destiny in a matter of five years. You know what I’m saying? And made myself a millionaire. I made millions for a lot of people. Now it’s time to make millions for myself. You know what I’m saying? I made millions for the record companies. I made millions for these movie companies. Now I make millions for us.”
“Mortal Man” serves as the final track on To Pimp A Butterfly, which was released digitally this week.
For additional Kendrick Lamar coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
DANIELLE HARLING PLEASE JUST DIE ALREADY.
Why the fuck are y’all spoiling the surprise, man? The shit just dropped today. Dumb ass niggas; can’t wait to get a click.
its a stupid fucking idea anyway its not a real interview anyone can blend pac’s voice into a song. Ive listened to pimp a butterfly album 3 times now and it’s kinda wack average beats horrible hooks and dumb voices /flows k dot might have dropped the ball on this one
^^^ I agree 100%. Album is meh
Album is dope, it’s your mind that’s average. Priorities all fucked up puttin energy in wrong shit.
PREACHHHHHHHHHHHHH @ PrickJames
This album is really dope with a lot of layers to it… I don’t know what ya’ll are listening to.
Best Hip Hop album in the last 15 years. Good Night.
In the studio with the boys last night, and as soon as we got to Track 16, we buzzed out. Didn’t know how to take it!
Peace, all the way from Australia.
Didn’t know how to take it in the ass I mean. I mean, blowing guys is what kendrick does right?
Very creative, reusing people’s aliases. Where did you learn that one?
Whole album is dope, but that track right there…yeah that’s the one.
Y’all talking bout beats, hooks y’all so used to jingles y’all think that’s what makes a dope album? Kendrick put together a great body of work on this one great MUSIC , LITERATURE, ART. You can’t ride around to this repeating the same 4 bars
You dealing with the simple minded here bruh. They don’t know what you’re talking about. Whole album is dope but like you said, they’re looking for jingles.
U have to understand, this era of music is pure Garbage.. something this deep and artistic comes around people get lost in the woods.. U now see why an artist like Joey Badass cant get more fame then he has.. its REal HipHOP .. Kendrick, Rapsody and Joey Badass keep hiphop breathing ..
him throwing that pac interview on there was wack and cheesy as fuck. pac didn’t know u nigga! the new album is trash his first album is better.
It wasn’t wack it was creative & believe it or not Kendrick showed up to his California Love video at the age of 8. Plus, it makes sense for him to do that. yes we know he didn’t know him but moral of it all open up your mind & expand.
Some idiot said they listen to his album three times and said is was wack……you wasted a hour and a half on wack shit? i think not
the only song where a dead rapper was featured AND worked was Jay-Z’s “A Dream” where biggie’s verse was included in the song.
Mortal man sounds pretentious. the whole album sounds a bit pretentious and fake deep.
I feel this way about Nas post Illmatic
2bitch (who got taken out like one) is the reason why so many wack artists like ken doll are on the scene today. At least there’s many others like birdman and drake that follow dope artists.
Blasphemy and lies. 2Pac is the greatest of all time (how does one get taken out like a bitch) and it’s only right that a dope artist like K-Dot is inspired by him. Also, Birdman and Drake are shit. Also, you can’t talk shit about 2Pac when he inspired your favorite rappers.
These rappers were only inspired by 2bitch in what NOT to do. Biggie inspired them more, classic artist. 2Pac didnt do shit but sell his soul to death row, make garbage, and when his contract wasnup up, surge collected his soul by having others take him out like the bitch he always was.
No, they were inspired by Pac in what to do. All of tha shit you said was a lie as Pac never sold out, he stayed real and kept making dope music. The people who killed him are the real bitches, not him. Your favorite rappers would fuck you up for talking shit about Pac.
how much promotion does this nigga need? shit nigga i get the point
Yet another moron who blindly follows the cult of Tupac. Was Tupac the best emcee? Nope, not even close. Does he have one of the strongest bodies of work in hip-hop history? Nope. I mean it’s large, but Tupac has a lot of utter garbage where he’s just yelling about “riding up on niggas”, like the closet homo dancer he was.
Cosign that. Biggie’s a lot better. Tupac has either inspired wack artists or good artists in what NOT to do.
Both of you are hipster idiots. Tupac is one of the best. His music has variety from socially conscious to bangers and they talk about different things. Pac has inspired every artist that came after the, including your favorites, who would kill you for disrespecting him.
I don’t care what my favorite rappers have to say, I can think for myself. I’m not a sheep like you. I also don’t need you to tell me what he was like, I listen to some Tupac, but he’s nowhere near the top emcees ever if my criteria for that is actual lyrical skill and overall body of work. Tonnes of people have varied subject matter and bangers. Many of whom are underground. I don’t follow trends, most people are idiots, yourself included.
You clearly are an elitist hipster nerd trying too hard to be different from everyone else. I listen to many rappers, both mainstream and underground and Tupac is one of the best.
love when ppl say RIP tupac. then release 8 posthumous albums and an ‘interview’ with some dude he didnt even know and prolly would of ended up dissing, ya rest in peace. huehuehue
Look man this coulda been a good album of it was his 4th or 5th album. But he cant do the things established artists like jay yay or em do when they reach a level of success and experiment with other shit cuz they got nothing else to prove. Its cool that kendrick is trying to convey a positive record, but bro with these sorry jazzy beats and terribe choruses youre not going to reach the ppll on the streets or ppl who want to listen to contemporary music. Look at tupac he was a legend becaise he conveyed a positive message with great west coast music and had a connection with ppl. It took you almost 4 years
To make this album while you hid from the public its a dissapointment bruh. Again good concept but i think the album is just ok. GKMC was a classic because you rapped about being a third party in the hood and coming out as a prophet for younger cats to follower over awesome beats and good hooks. Wheres dr dre on production for this album. These producers should get fired.
You didn’t get it.
It went in one ear and came out of the other
Zkzkz
I gotta say ..i finally peeped the album…and i coming from an experience listener..i have heard the worst and the best of hip hop…from pac to vanilla ice…Kendrick album sounds really old school..i mean old school without improving on it …he may have 3 or four good tracks on there..to be honest …my opinion
To Pimp a Butterfly
big up K·dot Dope music bro
with some Respect
Lamar……that’s a very influencial nd guiding album u got bro……#thumbs up.