Anyone who’s seen the Grateful Dead, or even listened to an old show, is familiar with the “Donor Rap,” the spiel Phil Lesh delivers at each show about the organ donor, Cody, who saved his live via liver transplant. Forever “grateful” for the new lease on life that Cody’s loss afforded him, Lesh takes his “Donor Rap” very seriously, encouraging people everywhere to sing up to be an organ donor so that they may save the lives of others like Cody did for him (“Repeat after me: If anything happens to me, I want to be an organ donor”). You can watch Phil Lesh perform his “Donor Rap” at his Terrapin Crossroads venue in San Rafael, CA below:
Today, in an attempt to further urge the masses to register as organ donors, Lesh announced that hip-hop superstar and fellow California native Kendrick Lamar has been hired to perform the “Donor Rap” during all upcoming performances at his Northern California venue Terrapin Crossroads. Lesh spoke about the decision to bring Kendrick into the mix in a new interview with The Source, explaining “I’ve been doing the ‘Donor Rap’ for years, because obviously this cause is extremely important to me. But I was starting to feel like it was getting stale, and people weren’t responding to it as much as they used to. I guess that makes sense, though, when you think about it–I’ve been known to spit a few rhymes with the homies every now and again, but I wouldn’t claim to be a real ‘rapper.’ But Kendrick? Man, that kid’s got BARZ! I just know he’s going to take the Donor Rap to a whole new level. This shit is gonna be HOT. Bet on it.”
Lamar declined being interviewed about the new gig, explaining that it’s not about him–it’s about Cody, and all the good that organ donors can do for the world. But we think he’s just being “Humble.”
(Check out the powerful video for Kendrick’s new single “Humble” below):
[Cover photo (Phil) courtesy of Andrew Scott Blackstein]