UPDATE (Feb. 16): the podcast is now live. The host speaks with Dave Free, Punch, Rapsody, George Clinton, Flying Lotus and of course Kendrick himself for the full breakdown of To Pimp A Butterfly.
Dave Free says the idea for the album began after Kendrick started studying Prince and became obsessed with him. He confirmed the report from back in the day that they recorded with Prince as well but it never made the album. Listen to the full episode below.
Previous story (Feb. 9):
Earlier this year, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s media company Higher Ground announced a new Spotify podcast series titled The Big Hit Show.
New York Times contributor Alex Pappademas will be the host of the series which is set to cover film, music, television, internet culture, and more. It will feature in-depth conversations with the creators behind the content and next up is a special episode exploring Kendrick Lamar’s much acclaimed sophomore album To Pimp A Butterfly. It will air on the streaming platform on Feb. 16.
From Compton to the big stage
Join Kendrick Lamar, @rapsody, @george_clinton, and many more as they reflect on his classic studio album "To Pimp a Butterfly."
#TheBigHitShow on @Spotify Feb 16 pic.twitter.com/gJeh0aWqoU — Spotify Podcasts
(@spotifypodcasts) February 14, 2022
Alex will talk to several of Kendrick’s collaborators on the album, his school teachers and childhood friends to explore his unique creativity as a musician. It will also feature an exclusive chat with K.Dot himself, as witnessed from the trailer that you can hear below. “You know, in Hip Hop, we got this thing, the sophomore jinx,” Kendrick can be heard saying in the audio. “I took it upon myself — I need to do something that inspires me.”
“The shows and films and albums we explore have all been chosen not just because they’re massive pieces of popular culture,” says Alex Pappademas about the series. “We’ve picked them because each has had a profound butterfly effect on our culture.”
Pappademas continues, “Whether we’re tracing how an author’s vivid dream about a sparkly vampire led to an entirely new fan culture or how a megastar reckoning with success, expectation, and survivor’s guilt crafted a masterpiece that became the soundtrack to the biggest protest movement in a generation, listeners will know from chapter to chapter they’re getting a high stakes narrative that explains how our culture has been influenced and shaped by these creations.”