Kendrick Lamar has just released his new album To Pimp a Butterfly , ahead of its originally planned 3/23 release, with clean and explicit versions available via iTunes and Spotify.
The surprise release comes after snippet of “King Kunta'” leaked online, followed by the song in its entirety over the next several days. Before this only two songs from the album had been confirmed on the tracklist: “i” and “The Blacker The Berry”.
Just before the release, Lamar tweeted this:
Yesterday. March 14th. Was a Special Day.
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) March 16, 2015
And this:
20 yrs. Later. — Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) March 16, 2015
Both tweets are a reference to the 20th anniversary of Tupac Shakur‘s Me Against The World.
However, it would seem TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith was not to pleased with the album’s early release, venting his frustration towards Interscope over twitter:
I WOULD LIKE 2 PERSONALLY THANK @Interscope FOR FUCKING UP OUR RELEASE… SOMEBODY GOTS 2 PAY 4 THIS MISTAKE !!!! #TOP
— dangeroo kipawaa TDE (@dangerookipawaa) March 16, 2015
Despite Tiffith’s obvious displeasure towards the early release, TDE was rumoured to be behind the entire move.
You can listen to To Pimp A Butterfly below, via Spotify Stream.