Kendrick Lamar-To Pimp A Butterfly (March 23) Updated with tracklist & features

[M Dogg™]

bg-funk



havent heard it yet, but it seems overdone to me based on what im gathering...guna cop it when it hits shelves and drop an honest opinion. outside of this forum, it's bein received to much harsher criticism than GKMC.


also, @mdogg "masterpiece" and "classic" are pretty much interchangeable terms.

Not really. Masterpiece is a great piece of art, classic is something everyone agrees influenced the culture. At least to me, that is how I'm using it. So listening to TPAB, I can hear it's an artistic masterpiece, but it needs to stand the test of time before it's called a classic. It's not an instant classic. People have to digest it first. But it's getting better reviews as people listen to it more. First day people were calling it trash, second day lots of good reviews with lots of insight.

[Will_B]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/album-reviews/id.2443/title.kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly

Reading some of the comments it's clear that for some young people this will be their Illmatic. Because they don't know any better

[me1]

the album is great for those who suffer from insomnia.

dont get mad cause ti cant do other then the typical generic garbage thats already out there 

no I'm mad cause this nigga has dr. dre at his disposal and his beats is delicate as fuck.

fuck dre he never needed him

LOL he need to leave soundwave and them other niggas alone.

soundwave and ali and others are responsible for building tde with their production 

them beats is wack.  they fucked up the album wit them delicate beats.

Delicate? Beats?
So that's what makes me now?
Man, I don't give a fuck about no beat

Okay, I have gave this album two spins. No doubt it's a good album. I can get to different levels of this, so I will...

If you listen to Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, and you listen to it from beginning to end, then this album only makes more sense. As a concept album, this album follows Kendrick after he left the streets and became King Kendrick. The album title is To Pimp a Butterfly, and it was stated over and over that Butterfly is a metaphor for talent. This album is him pimping his talent for profit to get out, but then dealing with the depression of survivor's guilt, and at the same time wanting to uplift his community all while being selfish and getting out the community. For reals, this album is DENSE. There is so much in it, and so much to digest that even after two complete listens, I still didn't catch 50% of what I think I heard. Content wise, this album is loaded on content. And the order of the songs is important, because out of order this album would just be all over the place. Like it makes sense to have Blacker the Berry after Complexion (A Zulu Love). Also, the some tracks are really deep, but is coded with basic hood talk, like Hood Politics. Basically using terms that we said as kids, and then mixing it up with the title of a Jesse Ventura book, Kendrick swings from hood to educated language throughout the whole song. And he does it effortlessly. He calls Lucifer Lucy throughout the album. Talks about wanting to kill himself if some songs. This album is so loaded.

So with that said, the album flows, it is deep, lyrical, lots of content, not only has replay value, it NEEDS to be replayed just to catch everything. Now to the music.

A long time ago I wrote a lot on how you can't catch people with lyrics if you have bad beats. At the time, I was talking about these underground cats who always wondered why they have so much skill yet no one is listening to them. Since the Love Below, and basically all of Kanye West post-Dropout, these beats don't seem so experimental or even bad. There is a lot more Jazz in the music, a hint of G-Funk and it gives off an experimental vibe that's similar to OutKast or early Kanye West. I can't explain it too well, other than some songs might be drowned out by trumpets. One track, I forgot the name, did have a hint of those old G-Funk whistles. It was very refreshing. LOL. The first 3-4 songs are very funky as well, and I really was just enjoying the hell out of them. Overall, right now I can't pick out a true single's track, maybe King Kunta. But this album was not made to have radio tracks. I felt the same way about Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City too, but Swimming Pools and Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe took off. But any track that makes the radio will probably need to be redone to fit radio sound. But that's not unheard of, and it's not even unheard of for Kendrick. I can see remixes being big on the radio.

My overall feeling on this album, I like it. I also own all of Kanye's albums, and OutKast. To me, this is not alternative hip-hop, or experimental hip-hop, this style has been out for at least 10 years. It's different for the westcoast, but it very much fits in hip-hop over the last 10 years. I almost see this as Kendrick trying for his own Me Against the World. At the time, 2Pac was doing Thug Life, his sound was really raw and aggressive, and then he put out Me Against the World which was different than what he did before. It was almost like he made a whole album of Keep Your Head Up. This feels like Kendrick making a whole album that was meant to uplift, deal with issues and be something people talk about for a long time. It captures the times we are in, it has lots of Black Lives Matters overtones, it sounds like hip-hop today, it is very much the soundtrack of right now. I'd say the one thing that is inconsistent is that the lyrics spit over the music are very raw and real, were as the music don't fit the themes of the lyrics. But I think that's done on purpose. I heard him spit some of those lyrics over a few Biggie's beats and it sounded so raw. But over this album it sounds more thought provoking.

So yeah, that's a quick reaction to this album. Stand out tracks, of course Blacker the Berry, How Much Does a Dollar Cost and Hood Politics. Also U is very good and I think These Walls could be a single if worked out right.  I'll give this album a 4 out of 5. It's a masterpiece, but it's not quite a classic. At least not yet. Unlike many rap albums, in order to tell if this album is a classic, you have to see the way people interact with it and digest it. Good Kid was very much an album of Kendrick tell you his life, this album was meant to be interacted with and process. Very different, and so to give it instant classic status is very premature.

great review, ty for taking the time to write it.

i'd add that i think this album flows and is more cohesive than his first. whereas the first had a couple joints that maybe didn't fit exactly perfectly in, production wise, this one flows better to me.

just based on one listen. i'm sure my opinion will continue to evolve over time

[M Dogg™]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/album-reviews/id.2443/title.kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly

Reading some of the comments it's clear that for some young people this will be their Illmatic. Because they don't know any better

To be fair, Illmatic was 20 years ago. In the 90's, if you told me I had to respect something in the 70's, I'd be tripping because times have changed. Nas was speaking on stuff in the streets in the early 90's, which was when the US was at it's peak of crime rate. Kendrick is speaking on different stuff because now times have changed. It took me forever to accept this, but when I talk about my story, kids today who even grew up in the same city as me can't relate. That's like on some crazy, I've listened to too much rap music shit. Kids today trip out, yet these muthaphukkaz are from Fontana, Rialto and shit. They think that shit only stays San Bernardino. But yeah, kids are different now. So to me, I'm old now, I'm in my early 30's, and I moved out and on. Kids are going to relate to what they relate to. But I think Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City will be this generations Illmatic. That shit is a classic album, and it's some street stories.

[Mr. Theo]

This album clearly has influences of :


Mr. George Clinton ( Parliament-Funkdelic)

Mr. Quincy Jones and Mr. Miles Davis ( Jazz themes )

Mr. Ronald Isley ..The Isleys..who have feat. on the album..

Mr. Curtis Mayfield

WATTS PROPHETS.

and Mr. Quik

Of course 2Pac poetry.

Classic!!!!!!!!!!

[Chamillitary Click]

Can't get enough of this.

[M Dogg™]

Can't get enough of this.

It's so deep that every time I listen to it, I hear something new.

[CORREA]

Can't get enough of this.

the 1st time i heard it i knew i was going to have listen to this several times to really hear everything
the album gets better every listen reply value will be high on this

what i like more is hardly no features and hardly no big mainstream name producers i wouldn't mind tde features
no radio type songs and hes not talking bout money cars and bitches in every song
who would even try to put out a album full of beats like this today?

who in hiphop today can pull that right there separates the shit rappers and good ones  
*all other rappers back to the drawing board

[Will_B]

Lmao at people saying this is a classic or a masterpiece, then saying it's gonna probably have some decent replay value. How low are your standards 

[M Dogg™]

Lmao at people saying this is a classic or a masterpiece, then saying it's gonna probably have some decent replay value. How low are your standards 

Hum.... Interesting. As I said, it's very artistic. Lots of time put into this. It's a great piece of music. What more do you want? Illmatic? Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City? The Chronic? Those come only once in a while now. This is its own lane, its own style that is to be listened to differently. If you can't understand that, it's cool. Music is subjective. But know you are in a minority.

[Will_B]

Lmao at people saying this is a classic or a masterpiece, then saying it's gonna probably have some decent replay value. How low are your standards 

Hum.... Interesting. As I said, it's very artistic. Lots of time put into this. It's a great piece of music. What more do you want? Illmatic? Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City? The Chronic? Those come only once in a while now. This is its own lane, its own style that is to be listened to differently. If you can't understand that, it's cool. Music is subjective. But know you are in a minority.

If it's a true classic or masterpiece you could play it every day forever and it wouldn't get old

[Black Excellence]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/album-reviews/id.2443/title.kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly

Reading some of the comments it's clear that for some young people this will be their Illmatic. Because they don't know any better

tpab is for those people who think they're smart but is still on some basic shit. atysyc >>>>>

[Desert Lord]

Lmao at people saying this is a classic or a masterpiece, then saying it's gonna probably have some decent replay value. How low are your standards  

Hum.... Interesting. As I said, it's very artistic. Lots of time put into this. It's a great piece of music. What more do you want? Illmatic? Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City? The Chronic? Those come only once in a while now. This is its own lane, its own style that is to be listened to differently. If you can't understand that, it's cool. Music is subjective. But know you are in a minority.

If it's a true classic or masterpiece you could play it every day forever and it wouldn't get old

this will be one of those albums trust me...at least for me

it's way better than gkmc for me. it got more soul and it is way more complex...and i loved gkmc too.
i guess a lot of "hiphop-fans" don't like that some of the songs don't even got a "beat" in the traditional sense, but live band music instead..people like the roots, lauryn hill etc. already did that and that wasn't for everyone neither. if you look at the credits, there's pretty much a ensemble of musicians all over the album like thundercat, bilal, lalah hathatway, terrace martin etc. you can definitely hear it, which makes it even more organic and give you the sound of a real band.
personally i'm more than happy with this album

[CORREA]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/album-reviews/id.2443/title.kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly

Reading some of the comments it's clear that for some young people this will be their Illmatic. Because they don't know any better

tpab is for those people who think they're smart but is still on some basic shit. atysyc >>>>>

ti is on some basic shit and with a shit load of features on his albums typical south rapper

[Black Excellence]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/album-reviews/id.2443/title.kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly

Reading some of the comments it's clear that for some young people this will be their Illmatic. Because they don't know any better

tpab is for those people who think they're smart but is still on some basic shit. atysyc >>>>>

ti is on some basic shit and with a shit load of features on his albums typical south rapper

t.i.'s album exceeded and met my expectations while you pseudo intellectuals are forcin' yourselves to like kendrick's new weedplate by listenin' over and over again. fuck that weirdo shit.