*Kendrick Lamar, who shocked fans when he released his new album earlier than expected last month, revealed he was toying with using the title “To Pimp a Butterfly” to spell out the name, “Tupac.”
He tells MTV, “‘Tu Pimp A Caterpillar’ was the original name and they caught it because the abbreviation was Tupac, Tu-P-A-C. Me changing it to Butterfly, I just really wanted to show the brightness of life and the word ‘pimp’ has so much aggression, and that represents several things. For me, it represents using my celebrity for good. Another reason is, not being pimped by the industry through my celebrity.”
Lamar instead included a song tribute to Shakur, who was fatally shot in 1996. His 12-minute track “Mortal Man” samples an interview with the late artist.