Behind The Scenes with @kendricklamar [King Kunta'] [Video]

How Kendrick Lamar Transformed Into 'The John Coltrane of Hip-Hop' on 'To Pimp a Butterfly'

"If you're under a certain age, how the f--- you know what jazz is? We all got the same reissues motherf---er."

The liner notes for Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly might, at first glance, seem a little dense. Aside from Dr. Dre, the album’s executive producer, West Coast legend Snoop Dogg, and eternal hitmaker Pharrell Williams, most of the names are question marks for hip-hop fans. For those who follow jazz, however, the liner notes were a revelation -- Grammy Award-winning pianist Robert Glasper, prolific crossover bassist Thundercat, and critically-acclaimed trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire are all international stars within the genre.

Kendrick Lamar Earns His First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart

Digging deeper into the credits, the threads that connect the musicians behind Kendrick’s latest release emerge. Like the rapper, their roots lie in Compton and South Central L.A., outlining a family tree of L.A.’s mostly unsung jazz scene, simultaneously revealing how instrumental it’s been to West Coast hip-hop for decades. ReadMore