While it was robbed for a best album Grammy, there’s no denying that Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly was a victory in every respect – not just as a brilliantly diverse collection of tracks, but as a cohesive political statement.

The political climate in his homeland has only become more tumultuous since then, so it’s no surprise to hear that his new record will be continuing the fight – but with an added emphasis on what he believes is missing from people’s lives: God.

In an interview with The New York Times, he opens up about the “urgent” new record, and how he’ll be adjusting given the new face of his country’s political system.

“I think now, how wayward things have gone within the past few months, my focus is ultimately going back to my community and the other communities around the world where they’re doing the groundwork,” he says.

To Pimp a Butterfly was addressing the problem. I’m in a space now where I’m not addressing the problem anymore. We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God. Nobody speaks on it because it’s almost in conflict with what’s going on in the world when you talk about politics and government and the system.”

A return to God, community and family seem to be the recurring themes, and Kendrick is already considering his responsibility to all three.

“This is what goes on in my mind as a writer,” he says. “One day, I may have a little girl… She’s gonna grow up. She’s gonna be a child I adore, I’m gonna always love her, but she’s gonna reach that one point where she’s gonna start experiencing things. And she’s gonna say things or do things that you may not condone, but it’s the reality of it and you know she was always gonna get to that place. And it’s disturbing. But you have to accept it. You have to accept it and you have to have your own solutions to figure out how to handle the action and take action for it.”

“When I say ‘the little girl’, it’s the analogy of accepting the moment when she grows up. We love women, we enjoy their company. At one point in time I may have a little girl who grows up and tells me about her engagements with a male figure — things that most men don’t want to hear. Learning to accept it, and not run away from it, that’s how I want this album to feel.”

You can read the entire interview here, which also features insightful chats with Beck and Tom Waits, and continue to twiddle your thumbs waiting for Kendrick’s next bomb to drop.

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