Since today marks the three-year anniversary of Kendrick Lamar’s classic debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city, we thought it would be appropriate to make use of our Bring It Back series and revisit one of the album’s most powerful records, “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst.”
Back in 2013, I was doing a lot of work with Life+Times (shouts to TIDAL for ruining that, btw). We sat down with Kendrick in Vegas – which just so happened to be the night he recorded “The Heart pt.3” – and had the Compton emcee break down the 12-minute narrative in an episode of DECODED.
“That’s one of my favorite verses on the album,” K. Dot said. “It’s an obvious true story. It hits home, as far as the past members of tragic situations that happened in my life. That one particular situation is my homeboy getting smoked while I’m right there, and I’m being the last one right there just seeing him take his last. The verse is his brother being irrevocable, a street cat, and him just thanking me for being right there, and wishing that he could’ve found a passion in something – maybe music, maybe sports – but it’s him recognizing the fact and truth that he was already in too deep.
—
“The craziest part about that verse – and in real life – is him saying, ‘If something happens to me before your album drops, just make sure you mention and tell this story in a positive light,’ and that’s exactly what I did and he definitely passed, too. That’s why that’s one of the final songs on the album – out of 12 songs, that’s closer to the bottom because when the reality check really hit, a lot people know Kendrick Lamar for who I am today, but for me to think of what I had to do to come from a dark space, and that was the turning point right there.”
A few months later, Kendrick partnered up with artist Eddie Peak to provide a visual look at “Sing About Me,” promising Part 2 (“Dying Of Thirst”) would follow – unfortunately, it never did.
