Kendrick Lamar Performs ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ Tracks Live for the First Time

Kendrick Lamar performed several songs off his third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly, for the first time this past Sunday (June 7). The tracks "King Kunta," "The Blacker the Berry," "Hood Politics" and "Alright" were among the 11 included in his set at this year's Hot 97 Summer Jam hip-hop festival, which took place at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium over the weekend.

Notably absent from Lamar's set was the lead single off To Pimp a Butterfly, the self-love anthem "i." But he made up for it by bringing out Schoolboy Q to guest on "Collard Greens" and "Studio," while SZA came onstage to perform alongside Lamar on "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe." He even brought viral sensation Welven Da Great onstage -- who served as the inspiration behind Lamar's self-appointed character name in Taylor Swift's celeb-infused music video for "Bad Blood."

Speaking about the song "King Kunta," Lamar told NME in an interview that the track details "the story of struggle and standing up for what you believe in. No matter how many barriers you gotta break down, no matter how many escape routes you gotta run to tell the truth. That’s what I think we all can relate to."

He continued, "That's me taking pride in my pen, just being the most confident in the things that I wrote and the ideas that I have. Going back to the essence of being a true lyricist at heart."

You can check out Lamar performing "King Kunta" live for the first time in the video above.