Kendrick Lamar has worked really hard on his upcoming album “To Pimp a Butterfly” which is mainly an inspiration from 1970s funk. The first glimpse of the album was leaked online on March 13 which was full-version of track “King Kunta”. The track was posted online by Hot 97 who took it down later in the day. It was probably meant to create hype around Lamar’s upcoming album.
The track has a good feeling about it. Lamar is focusing on tight driving style rap that was the key for James Brown to transform R&B into funk. Just like the popular funk songs from 1970s, the female singers in the background as for funk. So if you have experienced transition from R&B to funk and then to hip-hop in the 70s, you will find yourself captivated by what Lamar has done in his new single “King Kunta”. Even Rolling Stone drew a comparison between “King Kunta” and 70s theme.
Although the popular 70s R&B and funk themes were lightweight that often kept dark and serious theme away, Lamar in “King Kunta” does exactly the opposite as the track winds up towards a darker theme. To justify his choice of a darker theme, Lamar refers to grimness of “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson.
