Mortal Man

Inspired in part by a 2014 trip to South Africa, “Mortal Man” name-checks leaders from Nelson Mandela, to Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Moses.

At the back-end of the song Kendrick interviews the last King of Hip-Hop, Tupac Shakur. The two West Coast MC’s discuss black culture, racism, fame and image. Kendrick realizes he’s the new voice in a long line of leaders. Like Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Tupac Shakur, he understands that he has a limited time, and when speaking with Pac he knows that has to reach out to the teenagers and recruit them to change the world.

The excerpts of 2Pac’s conversation with Kendrick were taken from a 1994 interview with the Swedish radio show P3 Soul, hosted by Mats Nileskär. You can listen to the interview in its entirety here.

Kendrick also shared his connection to Tupac in an interview with MTV, where he revealed the album was originally titled Tu Pimp A Caterpillar — TuPAC.