Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly has been the topic of many conversations since its recent release. The "King Kunta" rapper released his album ahead of the announced release date, and fans excitedly downloaded the album to hear what the Compton rapper has been working on. North Carolina rapper Rapsody was featured on the track "Complexion (A Zulu Love)." In a recent XXL interview, Rapsody talked about what it was like working with Lamar on To Pimp a Butterfly.
Rapsody met Lamar in 2011 in North Carolina. They worked on "Rock the Bells" for Rapsody's mixtape. She felt that Lamar's honesty is what draws people in.
"I just think it's the type of person he is and the type of music he makes. Musically he's very honest, he's not apologetic in what he does. You can see how much energy and time he's put into his craft and perfecting it," Rapsody told XXL. "And just the execution of it and the emotion, that really comes through in his music. Coupled with the honesty. People get attached to that; it's not fake, it's not fluff, it's real. He's the type of artist who gives me the type of feeling like when I first heard Lauryn Hill, [they have] that same energy and spirit about them. That's what I would think it is."
When she was called to do a song on To Pimp a Butterfly, the rapper tried to have fun with it and not "overthink it." It took her about an hour to create her verse on "Complexion (A Zulu Love)."
"I wrote it in pieces. I wrote a little bit, then I think I took a nap and I wrote a bit more. [Laughs] But it probably took an hour. When he sent the track I was in Toronto, I had a show, I didn't sleep that night," she told XXL. "I had a 4 a.m. flight to D.C. so that's why I got to the room, I called Kendrick that day, I listened to the beat a few times and I started writing on it. I took a nap before I crashed and then I went and finished it. And 9th came up that night and we went in and recorded it."
The track hit close to home for Rapsody, since she grew up experiencing colorism and the idea that having a darker complexion was less favorable.
Rapsody's EP Beauty and the Beast was released Oct. 7, 2014, via iTunes.
The rapper told XXL that she is in the beginning stages of working on a sophomore album. Her upcoming plans are to release a video for her track "The Man" and re-release Beauty and the Beast.
