During his ascent to stardom following the success of good kid m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar joined Kanye West on his Yeezus Tour as an opening act. Although they reportedly didn't spend much time together and didn't have any sort of mentor-mentee relationship on the road, West didn't forget to shout out to the Compton rapper following the release of his latest album To Pimp A Butterfly.
"KENDRICK IS AN INSPIRATION," Yeezy wrote on Twitter. "THANK YOU FOR THE VIBRATIONS AND THE SPIRIT. YOUR MEANING, MESSAGE AND EXECUTION ARE GIFTS TO THE WORLD.
That post came after one that he had written a few hours earlier, in which he declared he was back in the studio.
"Finally back in the studio," he wrote. "Starting my day by listening to Kendrick's new album!!! Thank you for the music and messaging!!!"
To Pimp A Butterfly is the Lamar's second major label release. The Compton rapper officially announced the release of his long-awaited album on March 6, revealing that it would drop March 23 (it ended up dropping on March 15). A few days later, he unveiled the album cover and album title.
The effort was preceded by the singles "i" and "The Blacker The Berry" with the song "King Kuta" leaking this past Friday.
The album features appearances from Snoop Dogg, George Clinton, Ronald Isley, Rapsody, Thundercat, James Fauntleroy, Bilal, and Anna Wise. It is now available to stream on Spotify.
Meanwhile, West is at work on his follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2013 effort Yeezus.
Last month, West revealed what fans can expect from the album in an interview with Zane Lowe.
"[I'm] just working hard on it, and it's fun, it's fun to work hard and we're being inventive and I've still got a lot of opinions and perspectives that are important and could be inspiring to people that fight," he said. "College Dropout, the album, came out of a fight to want to rap and this new album's coming out of a fight to want to design ... it's a joyful noise unto the Lord. It is still the struggle, but the beauty from the struggle. The song 'Amazing Grace,' coming out of the worst pain possible and making the most beautiful song possible. I want to perform 'Only One' as many times as possible."
West relased the official video for his most recent single, "All Day" yesterday. Check it out below.
