Song · Kendrick Lamar
“King Kunta” by Kendrick Lamar
From the album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
“King Kunta” by Kendrick Lamar appears on 11 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 2015 and 2025. It was first released in 2015 on the album To Pimp a Butterfly. Its best result is #2 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2015. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #64 alternative song of 2015.
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"King Kunta" struts out of To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar's third album, from 2015, as its third single, and it's the record at its most defiantly funky: a slinky G-funk bounce built on Thundercat's rubbery bass, with Matt Schaeffer and Marlon Williams adding guitar. Lamar wrote it with Thundercat, Sounwave produced it with Terrace Martin and Michael Kuhle, and Derek Ali mixed it.
The title points to Kunta Kinte, the rebellious slave whose story sits at the root of Alex Haley's Roots, and Lamar crowns him king. He also slips in nods to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and the song borrows so freely from the funk and rap canon, Michael Jackson and James Brown among them, that a small crowd shares the writing credit.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 11 | Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium | Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2015 | 50 |
| 2015 | 7 | The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | The Current Top 89 Songs of 2015 | 89 |
| 2015 | 78 | WFUV New York, NY | WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2015 | 90 |
| 2015 | 2 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2015 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 499 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2020 | 23 | Triple J | Triple J Hottest 100 of the 2010s (2020) | 100 |
| 2024 | 472 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
| 2024 | 473 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 365 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 51 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 444 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
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