Kendrick Lamar Inspired David Bowie’s New Album

Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp A Butterfly has touched people like few records -- at least in recent memory -- have. The visceral reactions that To Pimp A Butterfly produced from those inside the hip-hop circle were particularly notable. XXL spoke to some of artists involved in the making of the album and they clearly knew there were part of something special. But it's become apparent that To Pimp A Butfferly's reach stretches far outside of hip-hop.

You can count legendary artist David Bowie among those who were impacted by Kendrick Lamar's latest album. In fact, To Pimp A Butterfly inspired Bowie's new album Blackstar. Rolling Stone interviewed some of the contributors to Bowie's forthcoming album, who went into great detail about its creation. Producer Tony Visconti explained that Lamar was a major inspiration for Bowie and everyone involved in the creative process.

"We were listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar," Visconti said. "We wound up with nothing like that, but we loved the fact Kendrick was so open-minded and he didn't do a straight-up hip-hop record. He threw everything on there, and that's exactly what we wanted to do. The goal, in many, many ways, was to avoid rock & roll."

While the debate of To Pimp A Butterfly's status as a classic will likely rage on for years to come, there's no denying that Kendrick Lamar crafted something that struck a chord with listeners in unique and special way.