"Mortal Man" extensively samples a 1994 P3 Soul interview with Tupac Shakur.
Written by Lamar while onKanye West'sYeezus Tour,[4] "Mortal Man" ends with a simulated interview between Lamar and the late Tupac Shakur. It was sourced from an obscure, previously unreleased November 1994 interview between Shakur andMats Nileskär [sv] (host of Swedish radio station P3 Soul) that took place only weeks before the former was shot at Quad Studios.[5][6][7][8] Lamar met Nileskär in Germany in 2014 and he gave him the audio, which Tupac's stepbrotherMopreme and motherAfeni approved the sampling of.[7][9][10] According to Tupac Shakur estate-affiliate Tom Whalley, Lamar himself came up with the idea of appending a posthumous interview with Shakur to the end of "Mortal Man".[11] Lamar said he was inspired to make the song after seeing Shakur's shadow talk to him while asleep, in addition to realizing that they were both born in June.[12] Whalley stated that he "didn't really hear the final results until" afterTo Pimp a Butterfly's release.[11] The original, unadulterated interview was publicly released around the same time as the album.[13]
Top Dawg presidentPunch recalled in anInstagram post that duringTo Pimp a Butterfly's creation, Lamar "was feeling a bit lost in the concept" and so asked him to "write something to sum up the album". His words were later added to the end of "Mortal Man".[14] In an interview withMTV, Lamar stated that the song's title meant that he is "just a man".[15] The song's inspiration was his 2014 trip toRobben Island, South Africa whereNelson Mandela had before been imprisoned;[16][17] in addition, Lamar has said it is about how people seem to point out others' flaws without seeing "the big picture", citingJesus as an example.[15] According toMiles Mosley, invited byKamasi Washington near the end ofTo Pimp a Butterfly's production, he came over to the studio to recorddouble bass on the track.[18]
"Mortal Man" samples a 1977 cover ofFela Kuti's 1975 song "I No Get Eye for Back" byHouston Person,[16] in addition to incorporating "mid-tempo drums and muffled orchestration".[19] The track begins with a melodic section: there are references to popular figures such as Nelson Mandela,Martin Luther King Jr.,Huey P. Newton,Malcolm X,John F. Kennedy,Jesse Jackson,Jackie Robinson,Michael Jackson, andMoses, with a chorus that asks "When shit hits the fan, is you still a fan?".[20][21] The analyst Monica R. Miller says the line questions if fans of Lamar would continue to be loyal to him in difficult or controversial circumstances.[21]
Throughout the entirety ofTo Pimp a Butterfly, a recited poem is slowly revealed until the part after the song section of "Mortal Man" renders it in its entirety.[20][note 1] After the reading, Lamar simulates an interview with Tupac Shakur that slowly incorporates free jazz, in which they discuss "fame, the fattening of the upper class and the lifecycle of the black man's power".[2] Finally, he tells Shakur of a black-related metaphor aboutcaterpillars andbutterflies: it argues that people who live on the street are like caterpillars that must use up all surrounding resources, turning into butterflies if they realize their potential. According to Miller, the cocoon stage in between could symbolize "life, death, the system, [or] the industry that pimps out artists before they can become butterflies".[21] The analyst Sequoia Maner said that "Mortal Man" was its album's "crown jewel" and acted as its "thesis statement".[23]
Devon Jefferson ofAllHipHop referred to "Mortal Man" as "one of Kendrick Lamar's most notable, critically acclaimed album deep cuts".[14] Ben Travis wrote forGQ that the track is "a jaw-dropping conclusion that snaps everything before it into focus".[24] Kyle Anderson ofEntertainment Weekly selected it as one ofTo Pimp a Butterfly's best two tracks,[25] whileABC News called "Mortal Man"'s faux-interview weird but stirring.[26] In 2022,BuzzFeed's Kasim Kabbara ranked it as Lamar's 26th-best song, calling the track a "powerful outro".[27] Some criticized a line about the singer Michael Jackson ("That nigga gave us 'Billie Jean', you say he touched those kids?"), perceiving it to be excusing hissexual abuse allegations.[28][29][30]
Simmons, Kristen L.; Williams, Kaya Naomi (2023)."9: I Was Dreaming When I Wrote This: A Mixtape for America". In Thomas, Deborah A.; Masco, Joseph (eds.).Sovereignty Unhinged: An Illustrated Primer for the Study of Present Intensities, Disavowals, and Temporal Derangements. Durham London: Duke University Press.ISBN978-1-4780-2371-5.
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