Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly earned the rapper a number of accolades. The record was certified Platinum, awarded a Grammy for Best Rap Album and Album Of The Year, and then-president Barack Obama even named “How Much A Dollar Cost” as his favorite song of 2015. Now, people across the nation are finding the album still resonates amid the protesting taking place in response to police brutality and the murder of George Floyd. As a result, the album has impressively reentered charts this week.
To Pimp A Butterfly has managed to climb to No. 76 on Apple Music’s Top 100 charts and clocked in at No. 44 in the hip-hop charts, according to HotNewHipHop. The album’s charting placement arrives just behind Joyner Lucas’ ADHD, which was released just last week. Lamar’s album returning to the charts is an impressive feat, seeing as the album is five years old.
To Pimp A Butterfly is now heralded as a classic, but the recording process featured a few improvisations. One of Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly producers, jazz musician Robert Glasper, stopped by the Uproxx offices to speak with Talib Kweli on an episode of People’s Party last year. Glasper said that he was originally only supposed to work with Lamar on one song, “For Free? (Interlude).” But, after hearing his chops, Lamar eventually asked Glasper to lend a hand on nine tracks. Glasper also revealed that the piano solo on “These Walls” wasn’t was an improvisation. Unbeknownst to Glasper, Lamar had recorded his warmup and “they ended up cutting my warmup into the song and using it as a solo.”
