Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

Released: March 16, 2015

When one of your favourite artists haven't released anything and has been quiet for a while, it really grinds your gears for a long time, since you're really hungry for so much more. Kendrick Lamar is one of those people. The last time we actually saw him was when he released the modern classic good kid, m.A.A.d city, and followed that with standout guest appearances and his controversial verse on "Control" with Big Sean & Jay Electronica, which has changed the rap game so much. So when Kendrick went on Twitter to tweet a iTunes preorder link to his highly anticipated (major-label) sophomore album, that's when the whole hip-hop/social media community went crazy because of how long they've been waiting for this. Rumours were spread on websites, until Kendrick and the Top Dawg crew revealed a lot. So surprisingly last week on March 16 (instead of the planned March 23 release), To Pimp A Butterfly finally dropped!

To Pimp A Butterfly was the long awaited sophomore (third, if you count Section.80) album that was in the works for nearly 3 years. Of course preceded by the 2 singles, "i" and "The Blacker The Berry", it was following at the time Kendrick was quickly growing a major stanbase, who, still today, have called GKMC a classic (just like me). Kenny slowly revealed the album details on the internet, with the cover and the 3 songs that were released into stores (and on iTunes & the web), being on the album. The highly anticipated album features 16 tracks and unlike previously, Kendrick builds a very different concept with only 1 rap feature from Rapsody (with many background contributions from Anna Wise, Bilal, Snoop Dogg, James Fauntleroy and Ron Isley), frequently focusing on blacks, society and political issues as a whole on the album, all while getting experimental, incorporating major elements of funk, jazz and soul. Like how GKMC had an extended version of "Swimming Pools (Drank)", this album manages to feature an extended version of the first single "i", with most tracks on the album running for 4-5 minutes (only the last track runs for 12 minutes). The album was originally supposed to be released a week later on March 23, but apparently Interscope messed up the original release, unintentionally pushing it forward to the 16th. In a matter of time, the hip-hop community, including websites like Rap Genius and HotNewHipHop, went absolutely crazy about the album, similar to the way they did when Lupe Fiasco dropped Tetsuo & Youth.

People were surprised when the album ended up coming out unexpectedly. Most said that this was great, and managed to be worth the wait and anticipation for people, with the album trending on Twitter for a long time right now; while some said it was a letdown due to the heavy experimental elements on the album Top Dawg has said on Twitter that he wanted this album's sales to reach 1 million, but during the opening week, the album's projected sales was 370-375k copies, with the actual first week sales leading up to 363k copies. Not only that but the album managed to break a new Spotify Record [beating Drake's surprise "mixtape", If You're Reading This It's Too Late] with over 9.6 million streams in a day, and debuted at #1 at the Billboard 200 [and also in the UK, New Zealand and Australia], making it his very first #1 album (yes, readers, GKMC reached #2 instead of 1).

But, was this album worth the wait or was it is a sophomore slump? Did it manage to top good kid, m.A.A.d city, and if so, is it Kendrick's best work to date? Did it even deserve to sell a lot? Find out in this exclusive review of Kendrick's new album!

1. Wesley's Theory

On the opening track, George Clinton and musician Thundercat come on with Kendrick. Here, it's an extended metaphor and follows how black artists has became "pimped" by the industry. I like the vibe on this, has a really funky feel. Here, Kendrick doesn't fail to impress me and I can hear a lot of that West Coast G-Funk sound. It's really good. Flying Lotus' beat is on point, and the bass just blows me away. Hearing Dr. Dre's interlude in the middle was nice and added more interest to the song. George Clinton's contribution nearly towards the end was interesting. I loved everything about it. Good way to start the album.

2. For Free? (Interlude)

A nice jazzy interlude with some poetry from Kendrick. It always makes me laugh how he starts his stuff with "this d*** ain't free", and the way he says it is really funny. Terrace Martin's saxophone contribution is great for the poetry and I liked it. But yeah, on to the next one!

3. King Kunta

Hearing this for the first time, I found this alright, a very decent song, but very disappointing for me. If you remember back in September or October, a white guy hyped that song up on Twitter, making up multiple overexaggerating tweets about it like it was the best thing he heard. I thought it'd be one of those songs that would completely blow me away. And then we got... this? But then, I actually rethought about it, and hearing it for a second time, it was actually great. It was really funky, smooth and something to vibe to, even managing to give a West Coast feel to it. I loved the bass in the song that was really nice and suiting. I'm however still disappointed about that guy who pretty much mislead a lot of people, so I understand why a few people didn't really like it that much. Still a good track though.

4. Institutionalized

Anna Wise and Bilal come on as background singers while Snoop does the bridge and outro. This song is alright. The beat is alright, but when I heard the beginning, that was a good beat, like how "The Art of Peer Pressure" started. I liked the concept and Snoop's bridge was reminiscent of his earlier work and stuff, but it just comes out solid and not a standout that much. Hey, and why does Kendrick sound a little weird in the second verse?

5. These Walls

Anna & Bilal come on again, with Thundercat back with the bass. Here, Kendrick still comes with the soulful and funky vibe, and I love it, especially the lyricism about how he's depressed and he wants to live better. The background vocals do a lot, and it impresses me. Thundercat's bass is just awesome, and the 3rd verse is just really interesting. Everything on this song is amazing. A solid track on the album.

6. u

On the counterpoint to the lead single "i" and the darkest song on the album, Kendrick goes around his negative thoughts, and deep into his mind. The intro is kinda scary with the big jazzy background. The middle part gets better as the beat gets a little chill. Kenny still speaks in a weirder and drunken way as he speaks to himself (in character) about his thoughts that has been bugging him. This is nice and is really appealing as we go deep into his thoughts and his negativity, and his biggest regrets. Another great song on the album. This was really good to hear, and is very interesting.

7. Alright

This song BANGS! I remember saying I wanted bangers on this, and my expectations on this came true. This song follows a great content of messed up situations, but still being alright. I liked this one and the funk and jazz elements are still present on this, while having a banging beat from Pharrell. Love this song!

8. For Sale? (Interlude)

Another interlude, which just feels like a regular song. Here, he takes a deep look into a character called Lucy. Once again like the previous interlude, "For Free", he does a lot of poetry, but at the same time unlike the previous one, he's on point with the beat as he raps too. The repetitive outro that has been used since "King Kunta" is still present. But once again, on to the next one!

9. Momma

Before I go on, I'm just gonna say that this beat is amazing. But yeah, this is one of my favourites and the lyricism is real on here. The content is great and I like what he talks about here. At the end however, he raps a verse similar to what he spat on the SNL Version of "i". I liked this song a lot here and it was good how he rapped on this. Great track.

10. Hood Politics

This already got me bumping my head as I write this. This reminds me of the earlier songs he did from Overly Dedicated or Section.80, and here unlike the previous tracks, he lays off the funk and soul and gives a heavy West Coast feel. I can actually imagine Jay Rock on this, and it completely sounds like this was originally for Jay's upcoming album. This was a really great track which stood out to me, and I finally found another banger instead of just "Alright".

11. How Much A Dollar Cost?

On this very soulful song, Kendrick tells a story where he talks to God, disguised as a homeless man,. Here, it's really interesting how he tells the story, and James Fauntleroy's hook is nice to the laidback beat, and having the legendary Ron Isley on here was another awesome thing. The concept was really clever and it was just nice to hear the story in a very great way. Another standout to me, and Kendrick doesn't fail to impress.

12. Complexion (A Zulu Love) [feat. Rapsody]

Rapsody makes it as the only feature on this (if you don't count background and additional vocalist like Anna Wise, Bilal or James Fauntleroy), which follows the concept of loving all kinds of black, no matter how light or dark the colour is. It's great hearing this, and it's a real chill & laidback track. Rapsody's verse standouts to me and it's longer than Kendrick's two verses. A different outro is present and I like it. But while this song is still nice, it doesn't stand out like the others. But Rapsody killed this though!

13. The Blacker The Berry

This song is just amazing. So Freakin AMAZING! This was another song that shook the hip-hop community as he talks about the blacks and their racialized self-hatred, where Kendrick brings up the hypocrisy from the blacks. I liked the song. It banged out, but remember that this came out last month, and was a single, not really an album track like the rest, but it was great to me. I loved everything about it. Boi-1da's beat, and the standout last verse where he talks about the black hypocrisy where they can mourn about racial killing, while still doing black-on-black violence. Terrace Martin managed to calm the song down with a lovely laidback jazzy instrumental. This song was just awesome. The best track on the album!

14. You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)

This uses the same beat sample Dilla used for "The Light" by Common and reminds me of that song, with a similar sound. Decent song with a good concept, and a very funky beat, but it didn't stand out to me much

15. i

The Grammy-winning hit single makes its way to the album in an extended form. Here, it sounds really different from the single/iTunes version, especially having a live concert vibe and mixing the second verse first and the first one second. Also, he even stops his verse sometimes for the crowd to vibe. He does a standout acapella verse after being interrupted from the 3rd verse by an argument, where he tries to prevent saying the infamous n-word and say "Negus". Right now, I'm liking the newer extended version, featuring a great feel. However, I did think that it would've been a little better if it didn't have a big live concert feel in this song, and I thought that verse he performed on SNL would be there. Still great though.

16. Mortal Man

Nowadays when you see a 12-minute song (scratch a song like Pro Era's "Suspect"), you can get really shook if it's gonna be an actual song or not. Remember, J Cole trolled us with "Note to Self" on 2014 Forest Hills Drive when we thought it may be a great ending, whereas we got a thank you and shoutouts song, where I grew tired of hearing him talk and shout out so much people. So most of us were wondering if this would be another troll where Kendrick would shoutout or have a long song like "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst".

Turns out we got a good one. Here, we get an actual song and it comes out really nice, I like the bridge and it's really interesting hearing it. The 3 verses were great and I liked the long outro of Kendrick and 2Pac at the end. Hearing Pac at the end kinda tore me up, just a little bit, because of the meaningful things he said at that interlude. It was really appealing and interesting hearing him speak, making the listener pay attention a lot to this "conversation", which actually made the overall concept of the whole album much more interesting than before. The ending where Kendrick does a speech and concludes by asking Pac about his perspective kinda leaves me in awe and it's something really clever to actually think about as the album ends. This was one of the best ways to end the album and I love this.

Well well well. I'm really surprised hearing this. I'm already having a feeling that 2015's gonna be a damn well good year, and one of the best we had in a while. Look, we already had Drake dropping and it was really nice, along with Big Sean dropping his best work yet with Dark Sky Paradise, and Joey Bada$$ & Lupe Fiasco having 2 great albums to start the year.

And then we got Kendrick right now that has dropped a nice album. To Pimp A Butterfly was a really comfortable listen. For someone who hasn't dropped anything in over 2 years, it was damn sure worth the wait. Here, I liked how Kendrick was experimenting a lot and he did his thing. Spoken-word poetry in interludes and outros were great and appealing and the jazz, funk and soul vibes in the album were just amazing for me. The additional and background vocalists from Anna Wise to James Fauntleroy were suiting and added a very interesting feel to the album. The album manages not to get too dark and heavily pro-black and we get a very nice project which is interesting from start-to-finish, coming out as a great album to listen to. There may not be much you can bump in your whip while you have the aux cord, but here, he comes out unbelievable and really amazing. However, it didn't top good kid m.A.A.d city, like people thought it would. There are just a few weak tracks, but the album is still on the real the more listens it gets and most of the time, you can get used to the weak tracks on the album.

I'm not gonna be one of those guys nowadays that would say it's a straightforward classic, or that it's the best thing this year (OK, maybe the best of this year's first quarter, way in front of Tetsuo & Youth and IYRTITL), but I'll say this: if you kinda compare this to Nas' first 2 albums, GKMC is pretty much his Illmatic (a classic and something that shook the hip-hop community) with this album being his It Was Written (great, but not better than the previous), but they're both great albums to listen to. Luckily, he manages to get off the sophomore slump theory and sends an important and interesting message which is something we need to hear. So it's funny how people say this was a letdown, like they can't deal with something we call "black music". I know it's their own opinion, but they end up coming out really ignorant & simple-minded especially saying they'd rather have so much bangers than something we need to hear. Heck, even if "Alright" or "Hood Politics" didn't bang out like it did, this album still would've been great, mostly being the fact that there doesn't need to be "bangers" on nearly every modern rap album. It's something a lot of people should get used to, so I do recommend a purchase. This was nice to listen to, reminding me of Section.80 (maybe the fact it was better) and it was worth the wait for me! This may be a cult classic the more listens it gets and during the years to come, but for now, PEOPLE AIN'T READY!

The Spectacular Se7en

The Blacker The Berry

i

Alright

Hood Politics

Momma

King Kunta

How Much A Dollar Cost?