Butta P talks writing song ‘Chicago’ after returning to place she was sexually abused

While Butta P worked on her debut solo EP The Coronation in 2015, she flew from Florida back to her birth state of Pennsylvania in search of inspiration.

“I was just driving through the city where I grew up and stuff,” she said. “I went to all my old spots and just these different places and just started bringing back so many memories.”

As Butta P drove, she played in her car an unfinished version of a song that D-Flow, who produced The Coronation, had given her. The song was “Chicago,” track No. 4 of the project, on which she writes about being sexually abused at five years old.

“The song got a little deeper than I was expecting,” Butta P said. “It was crazy because I talk about something in the song where I say, ‘It’s kind of funny when you five years old, and a nigga take a piece of your soul / Not knowing but that would be the moment I would own it and use it for the glory of my king on his throne.’ … I actually went back to the place where I was first sexually abused. I drove over there, and I got out of the car, and it was just like … kinda outer-body a little bit, like, ‘Dang, this is crazy.’ I hadn’t been there in years. It was a place that I avoided.

“I was just standing there grateful as well,” she added, “like, ‘Wow God, even though this guy tried to break me when I was five years old, look at me now. I broke out of that, and I’ve been able to be successful with what I’m doing, and I’m doing it for your glory.’ It was emotional, but I think it was definitely healing for me, too.”

Butta P returned to her car and wrote down what she had literally said outside, although she planned to change it.

“I actually wasn’t going to keep it because I used the word ‘nigga,’ and I don’t usually say it,” she said. “But it was such a raw emotion … I just felt like people are going to be able to relate to this.”

Watch Butta P’s three-part interview about The Coronation, which dropped last June, and more below. She shared that new music — potentially a lot of it — is on the way.

“You’re probably going to think I’m crazy,” Butta P said. “I’m actually working on two albums. … I work off of inspiration, so I need to strike while the iron’s hot. For me it’s like, I’m feeling this, I know what pocket I’m in right now, so I need to do it now. I don’t care if I have 50 songs. I’ll choose the album later. I just know I got 50 songs.”

READ MORE: How Lauryn Hill prepared Butta P for her journey to ‘The Coronation’

David Daniels
David Daniels
David Daniels is a columnist at Rapzilla.com and the managing editor of LegacyDisciple.org. He has been published at Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, CCM Magazine, Bleacher Report, The Washington Times and HipHopDX.
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