In what may be a case of unfortunate timing, Kendrick Lamar will appear in an extended Spotify podcast series that examines his classic 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly” — premiering Wednesday (Feb. 16). The show was actually announced at the beginning of January, but debuts in the wake of the firestorm of controversy around the company’s stance on Joe Rogan’s podcast spreading Covid-19 misinformation and his frequent past use of racial slurs on his program, and presumably should not be read as a statement from Lamar on that situation.
Reps for Lamar did not immediately respond to PvNew’s requests for comment. However, the series premiere follows Lamar’s appearance with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent at the Super Bowl, where many fans noticed the absence of some of the more controversial lyrics from Lamar’s song “Alright.”
Asked directly by TMZ on Monday about the lyric omission, Dr. Dre said, “There were a few things that we had to change, but it was like really minor things,” adding that the NFL was aware that Eminem would take a knee during the performance in solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s stance protesting police violence against the Black community. While the NFL had issues with Lamar’s lyrics, however, “Em taking a knee, that was him doing that on his own and there was no problem with that,” Dre said.
From Compton to the big stage
