"King Kunta" | ||||
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Single by Kendrick Lamar | ||||
from the album To Pimp a Butterfly | ||||
Released | March 24, 2015 | |||
Recorded | 2013–2014 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:54 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Kendrick Lamar singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"King Kunta" on YouTube |
"King Kunta" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar, taken from his third album, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). It was released as the album's third single on March 24, 2015. Lamar co-wrote the song with Thundercat, while Terrace Martin, Michael Kuhle, and Sounwave served as producers. The song features interpolations and references to lyrics written by Michael Jackson, James Brown, Fred Wesley, John Starks, Ahmad, Redfoo, and Johnny Burns, who are all credited as songwriters.
"King Kunta" is a reference to the archetypal rebellious slave Kunta Kinte, [2] the basis of the main character from the Alex Haley novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family . The song also contains references to Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart and Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man . The song contains an interpolation of "Get Nekkid" (2000), written by Johnny Burns (a.k.a. Mausberg), performed by Mausberg, and produced by DJ Quik; resung lyrics from "Smooth Criminal" (1987), written and performed by Michael Jackson; elements of the 1974 James Brown song "The Payback", written by Brown, Fred Wesley, and John Starks; and a sample from the 1994 song "We Want the Funk", written and performed by Ahmad Lewis. [3] Background vocals are provided by Whitney Alford.
"King Kunta" was placed at number seven on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Songs of 2015" list, with the editors commenting, "The fiercest and most funkadelic track on To Pimp a Butterfly takes aim at everything from Lamar's haters to "the power that be." We already knew Kendrick was a great lyricist; turns out he's kind of a badass, too." [4] Additionally, Pitchfork ranked the song at number four on its "The 100 Best Tracks of 2015" list. [5] Village Voice named "King Kunta" the second-best single released in 2015 on their annual year-end critics' poll, Pazz & Jop. [6] It came in 2nd on the annual Triple J Hottest 100 for 2015. [7]
The song's music video was filmed in Compton, California. Lamar stated in an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97 that the majority of the people in the video are friends of his who still reside in Compton. The video was directed by Director X, who explained to Complex that the visual to "King Kunta" was originally inspired by "Still D.R.E.", a classic in the West Coast video canon. "King Kunta" also borrows ideas from 2Pac and Dr. Dre's "California Love" video. In the beginning of "California Love", 'Pac goes to the Compton Swap Meet to look for some clothes to wear to the party later that night.' In "King Kunta", Lamar gets on top of the Swap Meet and raps to an adoring crowd below. Wal-Mart has officially purchased the Swap Meet, so the video is both Lamar's shout-out to 'Pac & Dre and a "goodbye party" to the Compton institution. [8] The video premiered on Vevo and YouTube on April 1, 2015. [9]
Lamar has performed "King Kunta" on The Damn Tour., [10] as well as on The Big Steppers Tour. [11] [ circular reference ]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [30] | 6× Platinum | 420,000‡ |
Belgium (BEA) [31] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
Canada (Music Canada) [32] | 4× Platinum | 320,000‡ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [33] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [34] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [35] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
The discography of American record producer, sound engineer, and rapper Dr. Dre consists of three studio albums, forty-two singles,, two compilation album, one soundtrack album, and twenty-one music videos.
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Known as "King Kendrick", his artistry and cinematic storytelling have made him an influential figure in contemporary hip hop culture, with Billboard and Vibe naming him the second-greatest rapper of all time in 2023.
American rapper Kendrick Lamar has released five studio albums, one compilation album, one extended play (EP), five mixtapes, 65 singles, and three promotional singles. Lamar initially performed under the stage name K.Dot, releasing three mixtapes under that moniker: Y.H.N.I.C. (2004), Training Day (2005), and C4 (2009). He gained major attention after the release of his fourth mixtape Overly Dedicated, which was released in 2010. It was Lamar's first full-length project to be released under his birth name and fared well enough to enter the United States Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, where it peaked at number 72.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City is the second studio album by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Dr. Dre, Jay Rock, Anna Wise and MC Eiht. It is Lamar's first major label album, after his independently released first album Section.80 in 2011 and his signing to Aftermath and Interscope the following year.
"The Recipe" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on April 3, 2012, as the first single from his major label debut Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). The song, however, only made the deluxe edition of the album.
"Fuckin' Problems" is a song by American rapper ASAP Rocky featuring Canadian rapper Drake and fellow American rappers 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 24, 2012, as the second single from Rocky's debut studio album Long. Live. ASAP (2013), and was later released to radio on November 27, 2012.
"M.A.A.D City" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, from his second studio album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). The song, which appears as the eighth track on the album, features a guest appearance from fellow Compton native and West Coast rapper MC Eiht. The song was produced by Top Dawg in-house producers THC and Sounwave for the first part of the instrumental, and Terrace Martin for the second part. The song peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Backseat Freestyle" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It debuted on October 15, 2012 in the United Kingdom as the third single from Lamar's second studio album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). It was released in the United States with the album's release on October 22, 2012. "Backseat Freestyle" was written by Lamar and Chauncey Hollis and produced by Hollis under his stage name Hit-Boy.
"It's On Again" is a song by American singer Alicia Keys featuring American rapper Kendrick Lamar. The song was written for the 2014 superhero film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 by Keys and Lamar in collaboration with Hans Zimmer, who scored the film, and producer Pharrell Williams, "It's On Again" was released on March 31, 2014 as the lead single from the film's soundtrack.
"I" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar featuring Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers. It was released on September 23, 2014 as the lead single from Lamar's third studio album To Pimp a Butterfly. The song uses music from "That Lady", written by and originally performed by R&B group The Isley Brothers, elements from which were re-recorded rather than being directly sampled from the original record. "I" won two awards at the 2015 Grammy Awards: Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song.
To Pimp a Butterfly is the third studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on March 15, 2015, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was recorded in studios throughout the United States, with production from Sounwave, Terrace Martin, Taz "Tisa" Arnold, Thundercat, Rahki, LoveDragon, Flying Lotus, Pharrell Williams, Boi-1da, Knxwledge, and several other high-profile hip hop producers, as well as executive production from Dr. Dre and Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. Guest appearances include Thundercat, George Clinton, Bilal, Anna Wise, Snoop Dogg, James Fauntleroy, Ronald Isley, and Rapsody.
"Alright" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar featured on the artist's third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). The song expresses ideas of hope amid personal struggles and features uncredited vocals in its chorus from co-producer Pharrell Williams. "Alright" was released to radio stations as the album's fourth single on June 30, 2015. Many music publications considered it among the best songs and videos of the year. "Alright" received four nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards: Song of the Year, Best Music Video, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song, winning the latter two. It was also nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year.
"These Walls" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 13, 2015, as the fifth and final single from his third album, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). The track was written by Kendrick Lamar, Terrace Martin, Larrance Dopson, James Fauntleroy and Rose McKinney. It won Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards on 15 February 2016. Lamar has stated that this song is his favourite from the album.
"Freedom" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé featuring American rapper Kendrick Lamar for her sixth studio album, Lemonade (2016). The song was written by Jonny Coffer, Beyoncé, Carla Marie Williams, Dean McIntosh and Lamar; it contains samples of "Let Me Try", written by Frank Tirado, performed by Kaleidoscope; samples of "Collection Speech/Unidentified Lining Hymn", recorded by Alan Lomax in 1959, performed by Reverend R.C. Crenshaw; and samples of "Stewball", recorded by Alan Lomax and John Lomax, Sr. in 1947, performed by Prisoner "22" at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Its production was handled by Beyoncé, Coffer and veteran hip hop record producer Just Blaze.
"Goosebumps" is a song by American rapper Travis Scott featuring fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was sent to rhythmic radio on December 13, 2016, by Grand Hustle Records and Epic Records as the third single from Scott's second studio album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight.
"The Greatest" is a song recorded by Australian singer and songwriter Sia for the deluxe edition of her seventh studio album, This Is Acting (2016). Being made available for digital consumption as the record's third single on 6 September 2016 through Monkey Puzzle and RCA Records, the single version of "The Greatest" features a verse from American rapper Kendrick Lamar. The electropop song was written by Sia, Greg Kurstin, and Lamar while production was only handled by Kurstin. The solo version was written only by the former two. The song was originally intended to be on a new album called We Are Your Children.
"Humble" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on March 30, 2017, along with its music video, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The song was written by Lamar and producers Mike Will Made It and Pluss. It was provided to rhythmic contemporary radio as the lead single from Lamar's fourth studio album, Damn. "Humble" is Lamar's second number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 after "Bad Blood" and his first as a lead artist. The song received four nominations at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video, winning in the last three categories.
"DNA" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar from his fourth studio album Damn. Despite not being released as a single, the song received support at rhythmic radio after its official music video was released. The second track on the album , it was written by Lamar, while the production was handled by Mike Will Made It.
"All the Stars" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar and American singer SZA. Written alongside Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith and producers Sounwave and Al Shux, the song was released on January 4, 2018, as the lead single to the soundtrack album of the film Black Panther. Its release coincided with Top Dawg Entertainment's announcement that Tiffith and Lamar would be producing the Black Panther soundtrack album. Marvel Studios confirmed the news and revealed that Lamar was hand-picked by Black Panther's director Ryan Coogler to produce the soundtrack album. The song appeared in the movie's end credits.
"King's Dead" is a song by American rappers Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, and Future with English singer James Blake, from the soundtrack album of the Marvel Studios superhero film Black Panther and Jay Rock's third studio album Redemption.