Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ was initially titled as a Tupac tribute

Kendrick Lamar has revealed that his new album, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ was initially titled ‘Tu Pimp A Caterpillar’.

In the first of a series of MTV interviews, Lamar states that the title was designed to pay homage to Tupac. Kendrick explains:

“[‘Tu Pimp A Caterpillar’] that was the original name and they caught it because the abbreviation was Tupac, Tu-P-A-C. … 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.”

‘To Pimp A Butterfly’s final track ‘Mortal Man’ features a sample of music journalist Mats Nileskar’s November 1994 interview with Tupac Shakur, used as the album’s closing fictional conversation between both of the rappers. A few hours prior to the album release on iTunes, Kendrick Lamar tweeted, “Yesterday. March 14th. Was a Special Day”, followed by, “20 yrs. Later”, referencing the release of Tupac Shakur’s 1995 album ‘Me Against The World’.

Watch the first interview between Kendrick Lamar and MTV via MissInfo.tv below. ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ is out now.