Since we haven't gotten much for hip hop this year outside of an incredibly mediocre and boring performance from Future, I thought I would rewind the clock to 2015, arguably the best year of music in recent memory. Widely considered to be Kendrick Lamar's magna opus, is To Pimp A Butterfly as great as everybody makes it to be? The project goes in a much different direction from his previous effort, good kid, m.a.a.d. city. That project was more based on storytelling and depicting his life in Compton, with skits before and/or after many of the songs to tie the story together. It was much more of a traditional rap album. This project is really about Kendrick embracing and celebrating his black culture, while also acknowledging the problems they face. "Wesley's Theory" is maybe the best way Kendrick could have started this album, with this very funky instrumental that may be the best on the album. It's a bold move to start the album, and it lets you know to expect something totally different. Verse 1 is a young Kendrick's perspective, eager after getting signed and wanting the glory and the riches that comes from being a big artist. Then verse 2, we see a shift in perspective from Uncle Sam, whose verse represents the government and how it treats black people regarding money. The lines "So you better cop everything two times/Two coupes, two chains, two C-notes/Too much ain't enough, both we know/Christmas, tell 'em what's on your wish list/Get 'em all, you deserve it, Kendrick" is a representation of how the government sometimes only sees African-Americans as a source of money and income. This could also be stretched to how labels view their artists. One of the main themes of the project is Kendrick really embracing and celebrating his black culture, while also acknowledging the problems they face. The song "Alright" with lines like "And we hate po-po, wanna kill us dead in the streets for sure" became a battling cry during this time, as this was around the peak of Black Lives Matter. There's a lot of that black empowerment and celebration throughout this record. The track "i", which was a little more pop and won Kendrick a couple Grammys, could be interpreted as Kendrick proud to be himself: his successful, black self. On an interesting note, the version used on this album is a live version rather than a perfect quality studio version. I don't prefer this version by itself, as I don't want to sit through all 5:36 of it when about 1:30 of it is Kendrick talking, but it actually fits better in the album context. By using the lower quality version, it adds to that feeling of loving yourself even when it can be difficult. The song "Complexion" features the only other rap verse on the album aside from Kendrick, with female rapper Rapsody stopping by for a verse. The song is about loving everybody no matter their complexion, which is an important message in today's world when society's standard for a beautiful black woman is most often a lighter-skinned one. Colorism has been present in society for a long time, and the song does a great job addressing it. Rapsody's guest verse might actually be the best verse on the entire album. Proceeding this extremely positive song is one of the darkest songs on the entire album, "The Blacker The Berry." This is Kendrick at his most political and frustrated. Written after the Trayvon Martin incident, Kendrick is incredibly frustrated at the way African-American are treated in multiple way: the material "enslavement" they face, the way their culture is appropriated, blatant racism, etc. The song ends on a couplet of lines that mark a huge plot twist: "So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street/When gang banging make me kill a n-gga blacker than me?" The song makes you go back and have to relisten to it, and it brings up the question: How can Kendrick condone this black violence when he's guilty of the same thing? It can also be interpreted into a broader picture, making African-Americans wonder how they can be mad at white-on-black violence when black-on-black violence such as the Bloods vs Crips, Zulu vs Xhosa, and the Trayvon Martin case (all mentioned in the song). It's arguably the most insightful and thought-provoking song Kendrick has ever made. More than reflecting on the struggles black people face, Kendrick has a few tracks on here where he addresses his own mental state. The track "U" delves into the state of depression Kendrick had at one point. There is a skit in the middle where Kendrick is locked in a hotel room and housekeeping is banging on the door, begging him to open up (in Spanish). There is a sample going on at the same time that flickers in and out, reflecting the broken and dysfunctional state Kendrick has. Then the second and third verses show Kendrick devastated: he's slurring, probably as a result of heavy drinking, and his voice is cracking, sounding almost on the edge of crying. The song slowly shifts from an angry and pissed perspective into a guilt-ridden perspective; it might be the most emotional track on the album and is my personal favorite. "How Much A Dollar Cost" has the story-telling elements from good kid, m.a.a.d. city while also having many of the similar lyrical and production themes present within this album. Kendrick tells a story about how he sees a homeless man at a gas station, asking for "ten rand" (which is about one US dollar). Kendrick says no, assuming he's going to spend it on alcohol or drugs. The man stares back at him in verse two, slowly turning Kendrick agitated. The agitation and anger shifts to guilt in verse three, before the man turns out to be God. God then tells him that for his act of selfishness, he is denied a spot in heaven. He then repents in the outro through the voice of Ron Isley, asking for forgiveness. He had to be humbled to become humble. The song brings up a question: how much does a dollar really cost? More specifically, how much does chasing the American Dream, or dollar(s), change people for better or worse? From the perspective of Kendrick, it's made him more greedy and conceited, not giving to a man who Kendrick could once relate to; Kendrick was never quite homeless, but he struggled as a black youth in Compton exposed to violence and drugs. This could be a way of Kendrick saying for us to make a difference in the world, we must start by making little differences. We must treat our fellow men and women the way God intended: with love and care. What really separates this project from so much of what I've heard is the production. It sounds so different from everything else. Many of the tracks have these funk and jazz elements to the instrumental, rather than the more laid-back West Coast beats we got from Kendrick on his earlier stuff, or the trap beats that were starting to dominate hip-hop around this time. People like Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Ronald Isley and George Clinton give the track this blend of so many different sounds that it's almost hard to classify it as just a rap album. It's almost half rap and half funk/soul in the way Logic is half black and half white. In fact, a "We want the funk!" riff appears repeatedly near the end of "King Kunta", one of my personal favorites on the album. The track is essentially a flex track, Kendrick reminiscing on how people used to laugh at him and now he's right near the top. The chorus is very catchy, and the confidence on the track is just refreshing and bad-ass. Also, the beat is arguably the most funky of the album asides from "Wesley's Theory", creating an interesting contrast that allows for it to be re-playable for many listens after. The album ends in a powerful way with "Mortal Man". The track is Kendrick Lamar reflecting on if his fans will still be there when "sh-t hits the fan", which means when situations get bad. He then explains in the last verse how many great people have been betrayed -- from Jesus to JFK to Martin Luther King -- and how he doesn't want that to happen to him. The whole track reflects on this desire of truth. But the rapping isn't the most significant part of the outro. There is a poem throughout "To Pimp A Butterfly" that Kendrick says bits and pieces of at the end of several songs. As the album progresses, he starts to say more and more of it. He speaks the poem in his entirety, reflecting on how he got in some dark places but how he has grown from it and how he wants to teach his brothers back home how to unify and love another. It's then revealed how he is telling the poem... to Tupac. They then go on to do an interview, with Kendrick asking him questions about today's state and Tupac answering. The last part of the album involves Kendrick reading a poem about the world to Tupac written by his friend. It classifies people as two types: the caterpillar, and the butterfly. Kendrick has shifted into a butterfly from his recent success and is praised, and the caterpillar wants to benefit off the butterfly and consume it. The caterpillar then exploits the butterfly for personal benefit, which traps the butterflies in the system. But the poem ends by saying if the caterpillar, or the common people, found a way to change the system, we would finally be on equal footing. He asks Tupac for his thoughts on the issue, but doesn't hear anything; the last words of the album are a simple scream of "Pac?" repeated three times, begging for an answer. It requires the listener to think about whether they are a caterpillar or butterfly. But more importantly, the lack of an answer implies a hard-to-swallow truth: we can't look to the past (Tupac) for answers. We have to put things into our own hands, such as changing the system. It connects all of the themes about the album, does more thought-provoking, and is a great conclusion. The album is well-deserving of all the praise it gets. A majestic exploration into Kendrick's mental state and the state of African-Americans in America, Kendrick Lamar delivers one of the truly great albums of all time with this one. There's great rapping, creative production, storytelling, emotion; I don't think one could have asked for any more. Favorite tracks: Pretty much the whole thing Absolute favorite tracks: U, How Much A Dollar Cost, King Kunta, The Blacker The Berry, Wesley's Theory, Mortal Man Least favorite track: If I had to pick... You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said) Final score: 10
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