It appears the outro to Kendrick Lamar’s Damn. album originally went by a different name other than “Duckworth.” According to producer 9th Wonder, the song was original titled “Life Is Like a Box of Chicken.”
The news was revealed during an interview 9th and fellow producer Young Guru had with the RapRadar podcast this week. 9th Wonder told a story about meeting Kendrick Lamar, and how “Duckworth” came together.
“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 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 assumed the beats were for three separate cuts, 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 has ever told.’”
“The original name of the song was ‘Life Is Like a Box of Chicken,’” 9th would say around the 8:55 mark.
Check out the full interview (below), and/or fast forward to the 6:00 minute mark to hear the “Duckworth” talk.