2015-03-14

Another piece of Kendrick Lamar’s eagerly anticipated sophomore album To Pimp A Butterfly has hit the Web. Exactly one week after not-so-quietly announcing the release date of his new full-length, Lamar’s funky, politically charged new track “King Kunta” leaked online on Friday afternoon (Mar. 13), and immediately began trending on Twitter worldwide.

“I got a bone to pick,” Lamar begins on “King Kunta,” a title that nods to the central character in Roots; like the previously released To Pimp A Butterfly track “The Blacker The Berry,” “King Kunta” finds the rapper confronting his blackness without holding back any of his lyrical fire. “Everybody wanna cut the legs off him, King Kunta/Black man taking no losses,” Lamar sneers over a funk-soaked bass line and female backing vocalists that cheer on his intense passion.

“King Kunta” was first mentioned back in October in a string of tweets by former Entourage music supervisor Scott Vener, who called the track “unapologetically black and AMAZING.” Rolling Stone recently confirmed that the song would appear on the To Pimp A Butterfly track list.

Lamar’s follow-up to 2012′s critically acclaimed good kid, m.A.A.d city is due out on Mar. 23. A rumored track list for the album floated around the Web on Friday, although it has yet to be confirmed by a rep for Lamar.

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