Today, I am finally bringing you my review of Kendrick Lamar's new album, To Pimp A Butterfly. The entire hip hop community has been anxiously waiting for this album since late 2012, when Kendrick dropped his album good kid, m.A.A.d city. This album, one of the best of this decade in rap, showed Kendrick Lamar as an incredible rapper and storyteller. Kendrick told the story of himself growing up in the gang-infested city of Compton as an uncomfortable teenager, not sure who he was. As the album went on, the young Kendrick grew up into the man he is today, as he learned from his bad experiences. Now that this new album is out, the impossible question is answered: how can Kendrick follow up such an amazing project?
On To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar is a man. He is no longer an awkward teenager on the streets of Compton, but a grown adult who is just trying to navigate the life of a celebrity. The album follows Kendrick as he rides the emotional roller coaster of being famous. The album starts out on a fun note, with the song Wesley's Theory. From a pure musical standpoint, this song is absolutely awesome. Flying Lotus laid down an incredibly funky beat on this song as Kendrick killed it on both the chorus and the verses. Thundercat and George Clinton made great guest appearances, playing the bass and singing the outro, respectively. This track metaphorically references Wesley Snipes in its title, a black man who has been "pimped" by the fame, much like Kendrick. This leads right into the For Free Interlude, a fun two mintues in which Kendrick is rapping at his high level, but being funny. This track leads into the incredible 3rd track, King Kunta. This may be one of Kendrick's best songs ever, as the beat is infectious and catchy, Kendrick is being very lyrical, and the song has an amazing groove to it. At the end of this track, Kendrick seems to say the opening lines of a poem, one that he keeps adding lines to with the end of each track on the album. Kendrick keeps the funkiness going with the next two tracks, Institutionalized and These Walls, both of which feature singers Anna Wise and Bilal. Institutionalized was a very relaxed, laid back song which even featured Snoop Dogg on a bridge. These Walls, while fun and catchy, was just not a very interesting song to me. I appreciated the concept, but the execution left me with something I don't see myself listening to.
After a series of fun, positive tracks, Kendrick takes a complete left turn on the next track, u. All the new things going on in Kendrick's life clearly take a toll on him, as he is depressed and panicked on this track. He is constantly in an internal argument with himself, telling himself he is worthless and a failure. He talks about people from back in his hometown who he has left behind, including a friend who was killed. As the track goes on, we start to see Kendrick is drinking heavily as well, portrayed in a genius way with the bottle sounds going in and out of the track. This song was ridiculously impressive, and I simply can't see any other rappers doing something like this. On the next track, Alright, Kendrick is reassured that everything will in fact, be alright. This song had a pretty upbeat vibe and the chorus was infectious. Next up is the For Free Interlude, a dreamy track where Kendrick goes into detail on Lucy, a character he uses to represent Lucifer, which is constantly causing him to make bad decisons and have conflicts with himself. This song had an interesting meaning, but once again, this is a track I really would not listen to much. It goes on far too long and it just isn't dynamic enough to play on repeat. This is a turning point in the album, with Kendrick going back home to Compton in hopes of finding himself.
As a result of Kendrick returning home, the next few tracks on this album start to sound like old-school, West Coast Kendrick Lamar. He talks about himself some more on the track Momma, which sees Kendrick going over all the things he has learned about as he has become a huge celebrity. Kendrick really goes in old-school mode on the next song, Hood Politics, which I loved. This song had a great hook and Kendrick had some awesome lines, including a shout out to one of my favorite rappers, Killer Mike. Just as it seemed Kendrick was leaning more towards the West Coast sound and less toward lyrics, the song How Much a Dollar Cost comes. Kendrick kills it lyrically on this track, telling a story about meeting a homeless man who asks for money, who later turns out to actually be God. This track sees Kendrick learning valuable lessons and getting less plagued by Lucy. Kendrick keeps the good values going on the track Complexion, which had an awesome, catchy hook I could really bop my head to. As the title suggests, this track states that complexion doesn't mean anything to Kendrick. Rapsody, the only guest rapper on this whole album, took her moment and owned it on this song. She laid down a great verse filled with quotables. Ironically, Kendrick sticks the very angry, pro-black song The Blacker the Berry right after Complexion, a happy, positive song. On this song, Kendrick is angry, energetic, and his delivery is absolutely gripping. Kendrick deals with racism here, coming with some powerful lines. After this comes the track You Ain't Gotta Lie, the one song on this album I can't really get behind. While it is soulful and nice, it just has no replay value for me and I didn't think the concept was nearly as strong as it was on other tracks here.
The last two songs are where the album hits its ultimate creative climax. The song i comes in as the 15th track, a song that was initially dropped a while ago, but has been replaced with a live version, and it sounds great. This song is funky, catchy, and fun, as Kendrick celebrates self-love, a complete change from the other track, u. Going with the live version, Kendrick connects the story by preaching to two fans in the crowd fighting each other. He really sounds powerful on this track, talking about being a black leader, a king and connecting it to an old African word, negus, which really means "black royalty". He at the end dedicates to the closing verse to Oprah Winfrey, one of the most successful black people ever. On the final track, Mortal Man, Kendrick wraps it up with a beautiful song where he shouts out some more black rulers, like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. The outro of this album is where it really shined, and shocked people in the process. Kendrick reads the final version of the poem he had been sneaking into the end of every track, where you see that each line of the poem connects to a certain song. It is revealed that the whole time he was telling the poem to the late Tupac Shakur. Using exerpts from an unknown interview tith Tupac, Kendrick seamlessly has a conversation with the dead rapper, talking about fame and image, things Kendrick is trying hard to deal with. Kendrick wraps it up with one final poem that shows the meaning of the "To Pimp A Butterfly" title. After reading it though, Tupac is gone, and Kendrick is once again left alone. This is simply one of the best endings to an album I have ever heard, it took me by surprise, and left me feeling that Kendrick has crafted another classic album.
Overall, To Pimp A Butterfly is a conceptual masterpiece. It is the perfect follow up to GKMC and shows Kendrick looking in the mirror to fix himself. This album has some breathtaking emotional climaxes like u and Mortal Man, while also providing, quite simply the best music I've heard in a while with Wesley's Theory and King Kunta. I would still rank GKMC over this album, though, as that album simply had less tracks that I wouldnt listen to. Songs on this album such as These Walls, Momma, and You Ain't Gotta Lie are nice, meaningful tracks that contribute to the album, but I just won't be listening to them at all. Other than that, this may go down as 2015's best rap album, and Kendrick hit it out of the park again.
TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY WRAP UP
+Fantastic concept and story
+Shocking ending
+Brought elements of jazz and funk that created great songs
+Emotional
Best: Wesley's Theory, King Kunta, Complexion
Worst: You Ain't Gotta Lie
Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp A Butterfly
9.2/10
