In an interview with Rap Radar, producer 9th Wonder told the tale of how he met Kendrick Lamar and how he came to produce "DUCKWORTH.", which is the outro to Kendrick's hit album. In doing so, he revealed that the original title for the track was "Life Is Like A Box Of Chicken.
It was a crazy day in Los Angeles,” 9th recalls. “At 1 o’clock that day we went to see
Snoop Dogg. At 6 o’clock that day we went to Dr. Dre’s studio… We saw Kendrick at
like 11 o’clock, and I’m like, ‘That’s the West Coast.’” After providing Kendrick with
about 20 beats that day, 9th received a text message from Kendrick in June 2016
containing a brief snippet of what would eventually be “Duckworth.”
“Free hit me like, ‘Hey man, I need the samples for these two songs,” 9th said. “I’m
like thinking, ‘Oh I got two beats that made it. Then he hit me back and said, ‘There’s
a third beat I need the sample information on. ‘ And I’m like, Oh, OK, I got three.’” 9th said he thought that the beats were for 3 different songs, but Dave Free clarified it
was just one: “He’s like, ‘Nah, it’s one song,’” 9th recalled. “He’s like, ‘Yeah man, it’s the greatest story Kendrick ever told.’”"
On "DUCKWORTH.", Kendrick Lamar raps about how his now-TDE boss Anthony 'Top Dawg' Tiffith once thought about killing Kendrick's dad.
Do you agree that "DUCKWORTH" (formally known as "Life Is Like A Box Of Chicken.") is the greatest story Kendrick ever told?
9th Wonder talks "DUCKWORTH" about the 8:50 mark.