The song was serviced to American rhythmic contemporary radio on January 15, 2013, [48] and peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It was released on October 22, 2012, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. i] "The Recipe" contains elements of "Meet the Frownies", written by Eric Cardona, Gabe D'Amico, Dev Gupta, Andrea Hernandez and Bryan Ujueta; and a sample of "Meet the Frownies", as performed by Twin Sister. When he announced the album's title and release date, Lamar indicated that the "correct" rendering of the title is lowercase except for the two vowels in " m. He explained that the reason why he had not censored his own eyes was that the album's story was told through his eyes, and is based around his experiences.

Pitchfork 's Jayson Greene feels that they reinforce the album's theme of "the grounding power of family", interpreting "family and faith" to be "the fraying tethers holding Lamar back from the chasm of gang violence that threatens to consume him.

Dre, Just Blaze, Pharrell Williams, Hit-Boy, Scoop DeVille, Jack Splash, and T-Minus, among others, contributing to the album. Lamar is the James Joyce of hip-hop", he said, "in the complexity of his storytelling, in his knowledge of the canon, and in his continuing focus on the city of his upbringing—Compton.On November 8, Gaga released the version she was featured on, which had her singing the chorus and a verse.

On March 10, 2015, Lamar unexpectedly released the song "County Building Blues" to iTunes as a promotional single.He would later reference Shyne on the song "The Jig Is Up", stating: "I pray to God this beat good enough for Shyne". a twist, or sometimes upend[ing] them completely" on a record that "brims with comedy, complexity and the many voices in Kendrick Lamar's head.