In a dope lengthy featured article on Kendrick Lamar, The Guardian reviews the Compton rapper’s most talked about album of the year, To Pimp A Butterfly. With everything going on in the news, like cops versus black teens, The Guardian suggests that the project came right on time. “It was almost a sign: motherfuckers are making some s**t that’s relevant to the times,” said R&B crooner, D’Angelo.

While the timing was on the nose, Kendrick admits to having worked on some of the material well before its release. “The Blacker the Berry” came to him following the death of Trayvon Martin.

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“These are issues that if you come from that environment it’s inevitable to speak on,” he says in a studio dressing room, twanging a wodge of mint-green gum between his fingers. “It’s already in your blood because I am Trayvon Martin, you know. I’m all of these kids. It’s already implanted in your brain to come out your mouth as soon as you’ve seen it on the TV. I had that track way before that, from the beginning to the end, and the incident just snapped it for me.”

With that being said, Kendrick knows what was going on in crime-stricken neighborhood of Compton before the fame, and he knows what’s going on in those type of neighborhoods now, so he already knows the way he’s trying to go for his next release. “I know exactly what I want to say next,” he said. “Everything is going to make sense – not only to myself but to anybody who wants to understand life and music. Everything will make a little more sense.” Another lyrical thinkpiece, hmm?

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Read more on Kendrick Lamar over at The Guardian