In a new five-part podcast series, Kendrick Lamar is dissecting his 2015 masterpiece, To Pimp A Butterfly.
The first episode has dropped today of the new season of The Big Hit Show, which journalist Alex Pappademas hosts. It is also produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s media company Higher Ground.
They release a new ‘chapter’ every quarter that focuses on a different “wildly successful piece of pop culture so big that it changes the world”, with the first series celebrating The Twilight Saga.
In a trailer for the podcast, Kendrick comments: “Going back into the album it was me explaining my experiences and what emotions it brought up from that experience, and tell them like, ‘Yo, it’s something bigger than Compton and where we from’.”
“In hip hop, we have this thing — the sophomore jinx,” Lamar also says. “I took it upon myself to do something that inspires me.”
Meanwhile, in a longer audio trailer on Spotify, Pappademas says: “When your breakthrough album convinces everyone that you’re the best rapper alive, what do you do next? If you’re Kendrick Lamar, you make To Pimp A Butterfly.”
He adds, “Going from hit to big hit is all about follow-through, how you carry it, what you do when all of a sudden nobody can tell you anything.”
Listen to the first episode below.