The collaboration went as far as Lamar and Prince doing a session at Prince’s home studio in Chanhassen, Minn. Prince was supposed to be on the albumĪccording to Dave Free - a two-time GRAMMY nominee, and longtime Lamar collaborator and friend - To Pimp a Butterfly was partly inspired by Lamar’s fascination with Prince. Sounwave said Lamar beatboxed his preferred version, and after a studio session with Thundercat, created the version of “King Kunta” the world knows today. “The original was completely different, super jazzy, it didn’t have the groove that it had,” Sounwave, a two-time GRAMMY winner, shared.įollowing a request for more listener-friendly elements, Sounwave said he shared a much more complex version of the track that featured a piano and flute - but Lamar already knew exactly what he wanted. Mark “Sounwave” Spears, a frequent producer of Lamar, breaks down the different versions of the track by their respective amounts of groove. There were three different versions of “King Kunta”

Spotify news kanye