Kendrick Lamar said the new, untitled song he performed at the end of his riveting, politically-charged Grammy medley came from a trove of tracks that did not make it onto his acclaimed album, To Pimp a Butterfly .
“I got a chamber of material from the album that I was in love [with] where sample clearances or something as simple as a deadline kept it off the album,” Lamar said in an interview with Grammy.com that was continued on 2 Dope Boyz. “But I think probably close to ten songs that I’m in love with that I’ll still play and still perform that didn’t make the cut.”
Lamar has begun to make a habit out of performing these unreleased, untitled songs during TV appearances. He dropped the first on one of the final episodes of the The Colbert Report in December 2014 ”” months before To Pimp a Butterfly was released ”” and more recently during a January episode of The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon .
Lamar’s show-stealing Grammy performance also included renditions of To Pimp a Butterfly cuts “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.” During the opening number, the rapper appeared as a prisoner who breaks through his chains; he then stormed through “Alright” amidst a group of African drummers and dancers, and finished with the explosive, untitled song.
Lamar also earned five Grammy Awards Monday and swept the rap categories, collecting Best Rap Album for To Pimp a Butterfly , Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for “Alright,” and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for his “These Walls” featuring Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat.
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