Is there anything that Kendrick Lamar has ever suggested that hasn’t sounded like anything but a fantastic flipping idea? Just one of those artists where there really isn’t a single thing he could do wrong at this point in his career. Be it appearing in a Taylor Swift song, or the Late Show, or even playing selected To Pimp A Butterfly tracks with the National Symphony Orchestra.
Yeah, that last one actually sounds all kinds of awesome. So you’ll be happy to know that it is a real and spectacular thing that is absolutely happening in the very, very near future. October 20th to be exact, when Kendrick teams up with the National Symphony Orchestra for some classical rap renditions of some of the best tracks off of his Album of 2015 candidate.
The National Symphony Orchestra is conducted at present by a gentleman named Steven Reineke, and if you’re worried about how the hard hitting beats of Butterfly will mesh with all the orchestral elements (and that one guy who has a triangle) then fear not, he was the man with the little pointy conductors stick behind other classical and hip hop collaborations with such luminaries as Nas and John Legend.
King Kunta with horns! The Blacker The Berry with strings! If these sound like the niftiest combination since peanut butter and jelly and you can afford plane tickets to Washington, DC then you can catch the extravaganza performed live at the Kennedy Centre in that city. Surely someone will be smart enough to film this though, for those of us who can’t jet across the world at the drop of a hat. In the meantime, please enjoy this classic Simpsons clip of Cypress Hill performing with a stolen-from-Peter–Frampton London Symphony Orchestra as a precursor.
For other cool things Kendrick Lamar has done, check out him prank calling Jay Rock here. Or his letter to Tupac here. Or even his foray into journalistic interviews right here.