Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly

"This dick ain't freeeeee" 

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam. Can we have a moment of silence real quick. 

The J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar debate must be dropped now and Kendrick has won. If you don't like my opinion please never return to this blog. 

Anyway, prior to the release of the album I genuinely thought that despite Kendrick's growing talent, he couldn't release an album better than good kid M.A.A.D. City. Even though this was a concept album (and I'm a big fan of these) the actual concept is very basic, Gang warfare and what it does to innocent people, friends, family, religion etc. however the way Kendrick used this concept to create a gripping and thought provoking story is beyond me. 

To pimp a butterfly is a project that I knew very little about prior to its release because Kendrick was very secretive about the music he was releasing but I don't mind that as it was even released early. I am so happy that Interscope messed up the release as I would've had to wait 3 days to listen to it. One thing I noticed when listening to the project is there's no Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q or Jay Rock. I was expecting to hear from at least Ab-Soul however only Jay Rock was on G.K.M.C. anyway so this wasn't a problem.

Strong Points:

The album includes a large amount of black supremacy themes, it is able to access such a controversial topic and do it in a way that it doesn't create a large problem. Kendrick is able to rap so fluently about Black people especially at a time whereby America is facing a large problem with: Police and violence with black people and Black on Black crime. Gangs are still a factor of this album which Kendrick explores however he doesn't do as much in comparison to G.K.M.C. Kendrick's style of rap has not deferred from his natural story telling quality and because of this he is still able to rap his stories or rap at someone else's point of view in tracks like "u" and "King Kunta". Kendrick delivers his very smooth and convincing style of rapping as he's been doing since section 80. A personal favoured line for me was in "Hood Politics" where he says:

Ain’t nothin' new but a flow of new DemoCrips and ReBloodlicans
Red state versus a blue state, which one you governin’?

The spoken word/poetry is something that is new but works extremely well, I mean "this dick ain't free" amazing. The poetry in the album supports the theme of Black power and is even delivered in a Black style, for example in "for free" an ambient jazzy tune plays in the background which is something you would expect in a jazz night at your local poetry club. The thought provoking "Mortal Man" is something that really sticks out to me as a strong album on the track which exemplifies black empowerment with the interview with the late 2pac. I think that the song a constructive use of the 12 minute length in comparison to J. Cole's 14 minute "Note To Self".

One thing that I love about the album is that it explores past music genres which reminds me of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre's partnership back in the 1990s, even in songs that have a more current Hip-Hop sound like Hood Politics there is still instances of G-Funk signature sounds like in California Love by 2pac. Songs like These Walls, King Kunta and Complexion (A Zulu Love) are great examples of the signature G-Funk that Kendrick has "brought back". We can't give Kendrick all the credit though because his array of producers have helped him make this project into what it is. In-House TDE producers such as Tae Beast and Sounwave have really shone in this project. The song Hood Politics has been produced to perfection (Credits to Thundercat, Tae Beast and Sounwave), the groove and instrumentation on These Walls (Martin, Dopson and Sounwave). The production throughout this album is just executed properly and the result is an all rounded groovy, meaningful, danceable album. I'm also very impressed with the Fela Kuti sample in "Mortal Man" where it incorporates the beat from "I No Get Eye For Back"

Weak Points:

It ends. Also I don't understand the weird moaning at the beginning of the "These Walls" but this is a small detail and it doesn't impact the perfection of the song. "u" is one track which I didn't understand in terms of production and lyrics however i realised that the concept is the opposite of the song "i", plus the song even diverges into a soulful melody as supposed to the abstract "You're Dead!" Flying Lotus kind of style.

Favourite Tracks/Things I love:

• These Walls (feat. Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat)
• Hood Politics
• Alright 
• King Kunta 
• Complexion (A Zulu Love) [feat. Rhapsody] 
• Black Empowerment/Culture Concept 
• Good Length 
• Kendrick's Bars 
• The collaboration of Thundercat
• The Cover Art
• The use of 90's G-Funk and Gangsta Rap songs

Final Rating: TTTTTTTTTT