King Kunta

King Kunta's harmony is rooted in funk minimalism — the verses ride a single Gm7 vamp in the tradition of James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, letting the bass riff and rhythm carry the energy. The jazz influence comes through in the extended chord voicings (7ths throughout) and the involvement of jazz musicians Thundercat and Terrace Martin, while the blues influence is evident in the minor pentatonic bass movement and raw tonal palette. The song prioritizes groove and rhythmic complexity over harmonic sophistication, which is precisely what makes it so effective as a funk-rap hybrid.

Kendrick Lamar co-wrote 'King Kunta' with Thundercat as part of the ambitious sessions for To Pimp a Butterfly. The song title references Kunta Kinte, the rebellious enslaved protagonist of Alex Haley's novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Lamar wove in additional literary allusions to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, using these narratives of resistance and identity as a framework for his own confrontation with industry politics and personal authenticity.

Released as the third single from To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, 'King Kunta' fuses 1970s funk with West Coast hip-hop swagger over a bass-heavy groove co-produced by Sounwave, Terrace Martin, and Thundercat. Layered with interpolations of James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Mausberg, the track pairs literary references to Roots and Things Fall Apart with Lamar's sharpest battle raps, earning top-ten placement on year-end lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and the Village Voice.