Kendrick's "To Pimp A Butterfly" is the evolution revolution of Hip Hop

[CORREA]

I bought the CD last night. Took out my old discman and sennhesiers and pressed play. I'll save any opinions for a few weeks. It takkes me a while to soak in an album. But a lot of my people here are praising it, so I am  expecting big things.

I'm only a couple days in, but I have to say this album may very well end up going down as one of the great albums of all time and one of the defining artistic endeavors of the decade.

I am coming around to this. Just for the hell of it, I re-listened to Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City, and right now I'm leaning to To Pimp a Butterfly being better. I think GKMC is the best hip-hop album since at least Untitled by Nas, and maybe since College Dropout by Kanye. It was that good. But TPAB might have surpassed it. Maybe. I'm leaning that way. I can relate to GKMC more, but TPAB is just so damn good.

its good to see people coming around to check out kendricks albums its a name that will be around for a long time and the one sided fucks should give it a chance and stop talking shit when they didn't give the albums a chance but why stop at To Pimp A Butterfly

if you never heard section 80 or od or kendrick lamar ep check those out too

[Shallow]

I bought the CD last night. Took out my old discman and sennhesiers and pressed play. I'll save any opinions for a few weeks. It takkes me a while to soak in an album. But a lot of my people here are praising it, so I am  expecting big things.

I'm only a couple days in, but I have to say this album may very well end up going down as one of the great albums of all time and one of the defining artistic endeavors of the decade.

I am coming around to this. Just for the hell of it, I re-listened to Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City, and right now I'm leaning to To Pimp a Butterfly being better. I think GKMC is the best hip-hop album since at least Untitled by Nas, and maybe since College Dropout by Kanye. It was that good. But TPAB might have surpassed it. Maybe. I'm leaning that way. I can relate to GKMC more, but TPAB is just so damn good.

I thought Dropout sucked and Butterfly may be better as an album than anything Nas released, except Illmatic. Its already better than any Jay Z album. And all of the first 3 Em albums.

Its simply on a higher level musically and artistically. This isn't coming from a hip hop fan. A music fan.

[Sccit]

I bought the CD last night. Took out my old discman and sennhesiers and pressed play. I'll save any opinions for a few weeks. It takkes me a while to soak in an album. But a lot of my people here are praising it, so I am  expecting big things.

I'm only a couple days in, but I have to say this album may very well end up going down as one of the great albums of all time and one of the defining artistic endeavors of the decade.

I am coming around to this. Just for the hell of it, I re-listened to Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City, and right now I'm leaning to To Pimp a Butterfly being better. I think GKMC is the best hip-hop album since at least Untitled by Nas, and maybe since College Dropout by Kanye. It was that good. But TPAB might have surpassed it. Maybe. I'm leaning that way. I can relate to GKMC more, but TPAB is just so damn good.

I thought Dropout sucked and Butterfly may be better as an album than anything Nas released, except Illmatic. Its already better than any Jay Z album. And all of the first 3 Em albums.

Its simply on a higher level musically and artistically. This isn't coming from a hip hop fan. A music fan.

lolwhat

[Shallow]

I'll only adress the  Nas claim because Kanye isnt worth , my time.

Illmatic is what it is, a masterpiece. Everything else Nas did is far from a masterpiece. Butterfly is shaping up like it may be a masterpiece. So by logic, Butterfly is better. Jay has zero masterpieces. Neither does Em.

A classic album isn't always a masterpiece. Jay and Em have classics, not masterpieces, but very few artists have one. Springsteen has 2, but thats very rare.


I am open to the idea that Butterfly falls off with time. I thought Stillmatic was almost masterpiece when it came out. It has not hold up years later.

The major difference for me between Still and Butterfly was that at the height of my Jay Z hatred I desperately wanted to love the news Nas album and over hyped it to myself when it hit. Its still better than Blueprint but its not better than Written or I Am.

With Kendrick I was on a years long hip hop drought and looked for reasons to dislike it, and after first listen was ready to dismiss it. But with listen 2 and 3 it stood out to warrant listens 10 and 11.

I wont be ready to call it a masterpiece until I revisit it years from now and see how I feel then. With BTR and Darkness, or Illmatic, I revisit them once a year and feel as great about them everytime.

[Sccit]

I'll only adress the  Nas claim because Kanye isnt worth , my time.

Illmatic is what it is, a masterpiece. Everything else Nas did is far from a masterpiece. Butterfly is shaping up like it may be a masterpiece. So by logic, Butterfly is better. Jay has zero masterpieces. Neither does Em.

A classic album isn't always a masterpiece. Jay and Em have classics, not masterpieces, but very few artists have one. Springsteen has 2, but thats very rare.


I am open to the idea that Butterfly falls off with time. I thought Stillmatic was almost masterpiece when it came out. It has not hold up years later.

The major difference for me between Still and Butterfly was that at the height of my Jay Z hatred I desperately wanted to love the news Nas album and over hyped it to myself when it hit. Its still better than Blueprint but its not better than Written or I Am.

With Kendrick I was on a years long hip hop drought and looked for reasons to dislike it, and after first listen was ready to dismiss it. But with listen 2 and 3 it stood out to warrant listens 10 and 11.

I wont be ready to call it a masterpiece until I revisit it years from now and see how I feel then. With BTR and Darkness, or Illmatic, I revisit them once a year and feel as great about them everytime.

FIRST OFF, STILLMATIC IS WAY BETTER THAN I AM....SECOND OF ALL, EMINEM AND JAY-Z BOTH HAVE CLASSICS, WHICH TO ME IS INTERCHANGEABLE WITH A MASTERPIECE.


BUT LIKE M.O ONCE SAID, OPINIONS ARE LIKE ASSHOLES, EVERYBODY GOT EM.


REALLY THO, IT'S HARD FOR ME TO IMAGINE THIS KENDRICK ALBUM BEING BETER THAN EITHER SSLP OR MMLP

[Shallow]

Of course its opinion, but undeserved masterpieces rarely last. What I mean by clasic vs mastepiece is that a classic is something that everyone with in a genre of art can say that is amazing. A masterpiece is something that breaks the genre and speaks to the hearts, minds and souls of people that just love art and aren't limited or even fans of the genre of that art.

Scarface is a classic. Fans of of gangster films all love it. Godfather is a Masterpiece. Fans of art love it. People that love art; the human expression of one's inner most thoughts and emotions are not going to in large numbers ever come to love Scarface. But will for Godfather.

But fans stuck inside genres can't see past that. There are plenty of fans of just gangster and action films and they'll die by Scarface and can't imagine why anyone would say Godfather. Art, like Science has people that can't grasp it.

A quote; Art; in the end its all subjective, but in the beginning its all objective.

You can't successfully break the rules of art until you've mastered them. Picasso could sketch your face like a photograph. After learning all the rules and laws of drawing and painting, then he broke them and and decided to go abstract.

Illmatic is one of those pieces of art. Nothing by Em or Jay, or Kanye come close to something like that. I don't know if Kendrick's last album will be one of those. I may say in two weeks I was way off. But I know Nas, and Em and Jay's work very well and only Nas on one album ever reached that.

Tupac had songs that were masterpieces, but never an album, and that was mainly due to him making albums too long or having too many of his friends on them. Me Against the World gets ruined by filler and the Outlawz, but very well could have been a masterpiece. If Illmatic had 4 more tacks thrat were filler party songs and 3 or 4 guests on half the tracks it would have fell apart too.

[Blood$]

I bought the CD last night. Took out my old discman and sennhesiers and pressed play. I'll save any opinions for a few weeks. It takkes me a while to soak in an album. But a lot of my people here are praising it, so I am  expecting big things.

I'm only a couple days in, but I have to say this album may very well end up going down as one of the great albums of all time and one of the defining artistic endeavors of the decade.

I am coming around to this. Just for the hell of it, I re-listened to Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City, and right now I'm leaning to To Pimp a Butterfly being better. I think GKMC is the best hip-hop album since at least Untitled by Nas, and maybe since College Dropout by Kanye. It was that good. But TPAB might have surpassed it. Maybe. I'm leaning that way. I can relate to GKMC more, but TPAB is just so damn good.

basically agree with most of this

[M Dogg™]

Of course its opinion, but undeserved masterpieces rarely last. What I mean by clasic vs mastepiece is that a classic is something that everyone with in a genre of art can say that is amazing. A masterpiece is something that breaks the genre and speaks to the hearts, minds and souls of people that just love art and aren't limited or even fans of the genre of that art.

Scarface is a classic. Fans of of gangster films all love it. Godfather is a Masterpiece. Fans of art love it. People that love art; the human expression of one's inner most thoughts and emotions are not going to in large numbers ever come to love Scarface. But will for Godfather.

But fans stuck inside genres can't see past that. There are plenty of fans of just gangster and action films and they'll die by Scarface and can't imagine why anyone would say Godfather. Art, like Science has people that can't grasp it.

A quote; Art; in the end its all subjective, but in the beginning its all objective.

You can't successfully break the rules of art until you've mastered them. Picasso could sketch your face like a photograph. After learning all the rules and laws of drawing and painting, then he broke them and and decided to go abstract.

Illmatic is one of those pieces of art. Nothing by Em or Jay, or Kanye come close to something like that. I don't know if Kendrick's last album will be one of those. I may say in two weeks I was way off. But I know Nas, and Em and Jay's work very well and only Nas on one album ever reached that.

Tupac had songs that were masterpieces, but never an album, and that was mainly due to him making albums too long or having too many of his friends on them. Me Against the World gets ruined by filler and the Outlawz, but very well could have been a masterpiece. If Illmatic had 4 more tacks thrat were filler party songs and 3 or 4 guests on half the tracks it would have fell apart too.

Agree with all of that, other than 'Pac not having a masterpiece... lol. I think Me Against the World is, and Makaveli.

I mentioned this with my first listen review to the album, it's a masterpiece. This holds up against great music in general. When I think of Hip-Hop classics, Good Kid m.A.A.d City comes to mind, but To Pimp a Butterfly is an artist masterpiece. It doesn't mean the Hip-Hop community will see it as a Hip-Hop classic. But without a doubt, some albums are classics, but it doesn't mean they transcend to art, and some albums are artistically amazing, but it doesn't mean that it will be a classic.

But right now, this album is a masterpiece. Kendrick may have put out the album which solidifies him as the best reaper of his era. It's too soon to tell, but it wouldn't be a stretch. He speaks to many emotions, the struggle of black America, the inner workings of the industry and dealing with his own personal demons through all of this. It's a complex album which either ups the game or is ignored as everyone else does their own thing. I know this, for the first time since Eminem's Recovery album, I went out and bought a physical CD. I went and grabbed a copy because I feel so strongly about this album that I blew up his listens on Spotify and I bought the disc. I may never open that disc, but I wanted to make sure that album has at least one sale from me.

I might get bored of that album, but right now, I doubt it. There is so much to dissect that every time I listen I hear something new.

[CORREA]

matw aeom and makaveli all are classics and all 3 stood the test of time and are 3 albums that will never be forgotten

i see Kendricks albums having the same honor but its too early to tell cause who knows what albums he will drop next in the future
band wagon fans really need to check out his older albums   

[Shallow]

Of course its opinion, but undeserved masterpieces rarely last. What I mean by clasic vs mastepiece is that a classic is something that everyone with in a genre of art can say that is amazing. A masterpiece is something that breaks the genre and speaks to the hearts, minds and souls of people that just love art and aren't limited or even fans of the genre of that art.

Scarface is a classic. Fans of of gangster films all love it. Godfather is a Masterpiece. Fans of art love it. People that love art; the human expression of one's inner most thoughts and emotions are not going to in large numbers ever come to love Scarface. But will for Godfather.

But fans stuck inside genres can't see past that. There are plenty of fans of just gangster and action films and they'll die by Scarface and can't imagine why anyone would say Godfather. Art, like Science has people that can't grasp it.

A quote; Art; in the end its all subjective, but in the beginning its all objective.

You can't successfully break the rules of art until you've mastered them. Picasso could sketch your face like a photograph. After learning all the rules and laws of drawing and painting, then he broke them and and decided to go abstract.

Illmatic is one of those pieces of art. Nothing by Em or Jay, or Kanye come close to something like that. I don't know if Kendrick's last album will be one of those. I may say in two weeks I was way off. But I know Nas, and Em and Jay's work very well and only Nas on one album ever reached that.

Tupac had songs that were masterpieces, but never an album, and that was mainly due to him making albums too long or having too many of his friends on them. Me Against the World gets ruined by filler and the Outlawz, but very well could have been a masterpiece. If Illmatic had 4 more tacks thrat were filler party songs and 3 or 4 guests on half the tracks it would have fell apart too.

Agree with all of that, other than 'Pac not having a masterpiece... lol. I think Me Against the World is, and Makaveli.

I mentioned this with my first listen review to the album, it's a masterpiece. This holds up against great music in general. When I think of Hip-Hop classics, Good Kid m.A.A.d City comes to mind, but To Pimp a Butterfly is an artist masterpiece. It doesn't mean the Hip-Hop community will see it as a Hip-Hop classic. But without a doubt, some albums are classics, but it doesn't mean they transcend to art, and some albums are artistically amazing, but it doesn't mean that it will be a classic.

But right now, this album is a masterpiece. Kendrick may have put out the album which solidifies him as the best reaper of his era. It's too soon to tell, but it wouldn't be a stretch. He speaks to many emotions, the struggle of black America, the inner workings of the industry and dealing with his own personal demons through all of this. It's a complex album which either ups the game or is ignored as everyone else does their own thing. I know this, for the first time since Eminem's Recovery album, I went out and bought a physical CD. I went and grabbed a copy because I feel so strongly about this album that I blew up his listens on Spotify and I bought the disc. I may never open that disc, but I wanted to make sure that album has at least one sale from me.

I might get bored of that album, but right now, I doubt it. There is so much to dissect that every time I listen I hear something new.

Me Against The World has masterpiece songs on it. It just doesn't string together quite right. Just cut a couple tracks and cut the Outlaw parts on the title track and its there. Its definitely as close as it gets. Makaveli is amazing too. It just falls a bit with the diss tracks. And even songs like Me and My Girlfriend, which I love the concept of and its put together fantastically, it just doesn't hit the high art soul of most of Me Against The World, or a lot of that album.

And the level of soul Pac hits on those tracks really shows how far ahead he was than the rest, then and now. Pac definitely had the capability and ability to release a high art masterpiece head to toe, but purposely got in the way of it it seemed to allow outside forces to influence the output.

[Sccit]

lol 2pac doesnt have a master piece but kendrick lamar does.......thats good

[Fraxxx]

I dont know. Some cool tracks, but he's voice changing is wack. On couple tracks he sound like some female.

Tell that to Prince.

[Shallow]

lol 2pac doesnt have a master piece but kendrick lamar does.......thats good

You purposely left out that I said Tupac's lack of masterpiece was done by his own hand. I said Pac was the better artist but let the poltics ruin his albums. If Kendrick had blatant dis tracks ln ths album or let his crew ruin songs by rapping in the middle of them then Butterfly would not be as good as MATW or Makaveli.

Kendrick's best attribute as rapper s knowing that no more verses or lines are needed.

[CORREA]

lol 2pac doesnt have a master piece but kendrick lamar does.......thats good

You purposely left out that I said Tupac's lack of masterpiece was done by his own hand. I said Pac was the better artist but let the poltics ruin his albums. If Kendrick had blatant dis tracks ln ths album or let his crew ruin songs by rapping in the middle of them then Butterfly would not be as good as MATW or Makaveli.

Kendrick's best attribute as rapper s knowing that no more verses or lines are needed.

wacklawz did indeed ruined a lot of pac songs

[M Dogg™]

Of course its opinion, but undeserved masterpieces rarely last. What I mean by clasic vs mastepiece is that a classic is something that everyone with in a genre of art can say that is amazing. A masterpiece is something that breaks the genre and speaks to the hearts, minds and souls of people that just love art and aren't limited or even fans of the genre of that art.

Scarface is a classic. Fans of of gangster films all love it. Godfather is a Masterpiece. Fans of art love it. People that love art; the human expression of one's inner most thoughts and emotions are not going to in large numbers ever come to love Scarface. But will for Godfather.

But fans stuck inside genres can't see past that. There are plenty of fans of just gangster and action films and they'll die by Scarface and can't imagine why anyone would say Godfather. Art, like Science has people that can't grasp it.

A quote; Art; in the end its all subjective, but in the beginning its all objective.

You can't successfully break the rules of art until you've mastered them. Picasso could sketch your face like a photograph. After learning all the rules and laws of drawing and painting, then he broke them and and decided to go abstract.

Illmatic is one of those pieces of art. Nothing by Em or Jay, or Kanye come close to something like that. I don't know if Kendrick's last album will be one of those. I may say in two weeks I was way off. But I know Nas, and Em and Jay's work very well and only Nas on one album ever reached that.

Tupac had songs that were masterpieces, but never an album, and that was mainly due to him making albums too long or having too many of his friends on them. Me Against the World gets ruined by filler and the Outlawz, but very well could have been a masterpiece. If Illmatic had 4 more tacks thrat were filler party songs and 3 or 4 guests on half the tracks it would have fell apart too.

Agree with all of that, other than 'Pac not having a masterpiece... lol. I think Me Against the World is, and Makaveli.

I mentioned this with my first listen review to the album, it's a masterpiece. This holds up against great music in general. When I think of Hip-Hop classics, Good Kid m.A.A.d City comes to mind, but To Pimp a Butterfly is an artist masterpiece. It doesn't mean the Hip-Hop community will see it as a Hip-Hop classic. But without a doubt, some albums are classics, but it doesn't mean they transcend to art, and some albums are artistically amazing, but it doesn't mean that it will be a classic.

But right now, this album is a masterpiece. Kendrick may have put out the album which solidifies him as the best reaper of his era. It's too soon to tell, but it wouldn't be a stretch. He speaks to many emotions, the struggle of black America, the inner workings of the industry and dealing with his own personal demons through all of this. It's a complex album which either ups the game or is ignored as everyone else does their own thing. I know this, for the first time since Eminem's Recovery album, I went out and bought a physical CD. I went and grabbed a copy because I feel so strongly about this album that I blew up his listens on Spotify and I bought the disc. I may never open that disc, but I wanted to make sure that album has at least one sale from me.

I might get bored of that album, but right now, I doubt it. There is so much to dissect that every time I listen I hear something new.

Me Against The World has masterpiece songs on it. It just doesn't string together quite right. Just cut a couple tracks and cut the Outlaw parts on the title track and its there. Its definitely as close as it gets. Makaveli is amazing too. It just falls a bit with the diss tracks. And even songs like Me and My Girlfriend, which I love the concept of and its put together fantastically, it just doesn't hit the high art soul of most of Me Against The World, or a lot of that album.

And the level of soul Pac hits on those tracks really shows how far ahead he was than the rest, then and now. Pac definitely had the capability and ability to release a high art masterpiece head to toe, but purposely got in the way of it it seemed to allow outside forces to influence the output.

I see where you are coming from. I can agree with MATW, though I judge that based on Hip-Hop albums of the time, and where Hip-Hop was. Outside of Illmatic, MATW was the closest a Hip-Hop artist got to masterpiece level. But the features did mess it up a bit and messed up the flow.

Now for Makaveli, I would argue that part of Hip-Hop is the diss record. Bomb First might have been the most lyrical diss record put out in the 90's. It was straight heat from 2Pac's part. But the Outlawz did come in and they weren't as good as 2Pac. And Against All Odds did seem a bit out of place. But as Hip-Hop albums, they'll go down as classics. So I see your point. I'd still argue Makaveli was a masterpiece when you look at the art form of rap music and the importance of the diss record. But I can see the counter point.

What's sad to remember, 2Pac was 25 when he died. Kendrick is a young artist now, and he's already 27. Drake is in his prime and he's 28. Jay-Z was 26 when he finally released Reasonable Doubt. And when 'Pac dies, every album was better than the last and you felt like his best work was still in the future. To see what 'Pac could have done if he was still alive might be the biggest question. Could he have put out that transformative album that he seemed so close to putting out, could he have reached his artist peak, when what we saw was already so far ahead of everyone else at the time?

But we have what we have, and for right now it's a look at how Kendrick stacks up. Like I mentioned, I'm not sure if this album will be seen as a Hip-Hop classic, but it's such a great piece of art that does that matter? I'm almost wondering if by labeling it a Hip-Hop classic, might that be too limiting to what Kendrick did? I don't know. Maybe? Maybe not? Maybe it's time to expect more from Hip-Hop. It think what Sccit fails to see is this album in the bigger picture. This album might be the classic Hip-Hop album that MATW is, or other great Hip-Hop albums, but what does that say about Hip-Hop as a genre? I don't know. But I hope other young artist step their game up.