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Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta
[Intro]
I got a bone to pick
I don't want you monkey mouth motherfuckers sittin' in my throne again
(Aye aye nigga whats happenin' nigga, K Dot back in the hood nigga)
I'm mad (He mad), but I ain't stressin'
True friends, one question
[Hook]
Bitch where you when I was walkin'?
Now I run the game got the whole world talkin', King Kunta
Everybody wanna cut the legs off him, Kunta
Black man taking no losses
Bitch where you when I was walkin'?
Now I run the game, got the whole world talkin', King Kunta
Everybody wanna cut the legs off him
[Verse 1]
When you got the yams (What's the yams?)
The yam is the power that be
You can smell it when I'm walking down the street
(Oh yes we can, oh yes we can)
I can dig rapping, but a rapper with a ghost writer?
What the fuck happened?
(Oh no) I swore I wouldn't tell
But most of y'all sharing bars like you got the bottom bunk in a two man cell
(A two man cell?)
Something's in the water (Something's in the water)
And if I got a brown nose for some gold then I'd rather be a bum than a motherfuckin' baller
[Hook]
[Verse 2]
When you got the yams (What's the yams?)
The yam brought it out of Richard Pryor
Manipulated Bill Clinton with desires
24/7, 365 days times two
I was contemplatin' gettin' on stage just to go back to the hood, see my enemy and say...
[Hook]
[Verse 3]
(You goat mouth mammy fucker)
I was gonna kill a couple rappers but they did it to themselves
Everybody's suicidal they don't even need my help
This shit is elementary, I'll probably go to jail
If I shoot at your identity and bounce to the left
Stuck a flag in my city, everybody's screamin' "Compton"
I should probably run for Mayor when I'm done, to be honest
And I put that on my Mama and my baby boo too
Twenty million walkin' out the court buildin', woo woo!
Ah yeah, fuck the judge
I made it past 25 and there I was
A little nappy headed nigga with the world behind him
Life ain't shit but a fat vagina
Screamin' "Annie are you ok? Annie are you ok?"
Limo tinted with the gold plates
Straight from the bottom, this the belly of the beast
From a peasant to a prince to a motherfuckin' king
[Hook 2]
Bitch where was you when I was-
*POP*
(By the time you hear the next pop, the funk shall be within you)
*POP*
Now I run the game got the whole world talkin', King Kunta
Everybody wanna cut the legs off him, (King) Kunta
Black man taking no losses
Bitch where was you when I was walkin'
Now I run the game, got the whole world talkin', King Kunta
Everybody wanna cut the legs off him
[Outro]
(Funk, funk, funk, funk, funk, funk)
We want the funk
We want the funk
(Now if I give you the funk, you gon' take it)
We want the funk
(Now if I give you the funk, you gon' take it)
We want the funk
(Now if I give you the funk, you gon' take it)
We want the funk
(Do you want the funk?)
We want the funk
(Do you want the funk?)
We want the funk
(Now if I give you the funk, you gon' take it)
We want the funk
I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence
Kunta Kinte is the main character in the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. Haley’s said that Kunta Kinte was his own great, great, great grandfather and the character is based on a mix of fact and fiction. Kinte refused to accept the name “Toby” that slave masters tried to give him and his right foot was cut off following his attempts to escape the plantation he was enslaved on. Kendrick Lamar told MTV about his inspiration from the TV series Roots: "I’ve been called many things growing up. In the state of just being a black man, I’ve been called many things … But it’s taking that negativity and being proud of it and making it your own. Saying I am a king no matter what you call me." According to Songfacts, producer Sounwave told Spin magazine: "Me, I was like, ‘This is it! We got it right here.’ Me and Kendrick, we always work very hands on together, and this track, I just knew it. And I was waiting for his reaction as he was listening to it, thinking, ‘Yes, this is it.’ And he’s like, ‘It’s cool… but… I want it a little more nasty.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about? This is like the most beautiful thing I’ve ever made.’ And he was like, ‘Just, trust me on this. Simplify it.’ I ended up stripping a bunch of stuff off; I took all ten guitars off, and it just left one little bass line, and once I did that, I understood 100 percent exactly where he wanted to go with it. He’s a genius, he really should have got credit on it, but he was being modest – as long as the art was there, he was happy. A lot of people will never hear the original but it was, like, the jazziest record in the world. And it ended up being one of the nastiest records in the world." Kendrick told NME: "It’s the story of struggle and standing up for what you believe in. No matter how many barriers you gotta break down, no matter how many escape routes you gotta run to tell the truth. That’s what I think we all can relate to. Just being the most confident in the things that I wrote and the ideas that I have. Going back to the essence of being a true lyricist at heart."
