A year before Kendrick released To Pimp a Butterfly, Flying Lotus was in trouble. It wasn't life-threatening, nor the kind of concern related to being told to sit down in the naughty corner, banned from extra-curricular activities for an indefenite time-frame. FlyLo had been putting off the release of a new Captain Murphy album - his rapping, alter-ego side project - due to a lack of fresh production material because "[Kendrick] took all my beats!", as he recounted to Pitchfork last August. "He took, like, 12, 13 of my tracks, man. I think he recorded all of them, too. I just don't know if they're ever gonna see the light of day".One of those beats eventually ended up on To Pimp a Butterfly - the album's opening track, "Wesley's Theory". The rest were kept back - locked inside the elusive vault of discarded rap tracks the rest of the world will never get to hear, stored next to the recording of an Earl Sweatshirt, King Krule, Warpaint, and Jagwar Ma session I'll be waiting my entire life to hear. One new track between the pair has been released though. Well, kind of. Flying Lotus premiered a previously unheard verse from "Eyes Above" during his Radio One Residency show last night. Listen below.
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The verse was intended for Flying Lotus' You're Dead! record, but was taken "off for political reasons". While we've heard the original, full-length track before, Kendrick's verse provides an insight into the foundation for the jazz-influenced sound on his new record. Aside from premiering the new track, Flying Lotus interviewed Kendrick Lamar about the new album, what's going on in rap music right now, and more. He also called To Pimp a Butterfly "a future classic". Listen to the full show here.You can follow Ryan on Twitter.