Click to expand.Not sure. From the article: ' Kendrick Lamar: “That’s the story of it all right there, breaking down. In that song I’m breaking down the actual incident that changed my life: One of my partners had got smoked and I was right there to witness it.' 'Kendrick Lamar: “The same day [my homeboy got shot], I ran into an older lady. I don’t want to say she was religious, but she was a spiritual lady who broke down what life is really about to us. “‘I’m Dying of Thirst’ represents being in a situation where all this happens throughout the day, but at the end of the day we run into this particular lady and she breaks down the story of God, positivity, life, being free, and being real with yourself. She was letting us know what’s really real.
Because you have to leave this earth and speak to somebody of a higher power. “That song represents being baptized, the actual water, getting dipped in holy water. It represents when my whole spirit changed, when my life starts—my life that you know right now, that’s when it starts. The whole album is really it’s own. I can go back and listen to these stories and know that they come from reality.”' That second part makes it seem like Dying of Thirst is not real, just symbolic.