Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

halfway through To Pimp A Butterfly, and gotta say, if JE really didn't come out of this with anything memorable, he should check his ears.

Beautiful production, fantastic lyrics, delivery. This is an outstanding album, maybe even better than good kid, MADD city. I slept on that album for a long time, and man do i regret not getting it sooner. It ranks up with any of the greats of hip-hop, and this one just continues the journey of Kendrick Lamar.

After listening to this a few more times, it occurred to me how much "black music" has changed. Like. back in the funk days, it was all about being proud of black heritage and embracing your identity but unfortunately, the "black music" that we have no of days is Im in Love with the CoCo and 2Chainz. Music that portrays blacks in a very negative light.

It's refreshing to hear Kendrick call back to a time when music was more empowering

  On 4/9/2015 at 9:01 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

but unfortunately, the "black music" that we have no of days is Im in Love with the CoCo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvvbJnVLX40

album of the year for me so far.

what a album!

fantastic album, kinda feel like flying lotus should have been on it thoug, you're dead was amazing and the track with kendrick could have fitted right on there

  On 3/26/2015 at 3:52 AM, Candiru said:

 

  On 3/25/2015 at 9:51 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

  On 3/9/2015 at 12:54 PM, jhonny said:

Oh yes!

 

Sounds like i isn't going to be on it which is a major plus. The Blacker the Berry is an amazing track.

 

http://pitchfork.com/news/58754-kendrick-lamar-announces-album-release-date/

love the idea of Pitchfork casually mentioning a new album and then posting to their own video of said artist at their own festival. payola makes the world go round?

 

I'm also pleased that I know absolutely nothing about Kendrick Lamar and casually checking out his music left me with zero memorable impression (sorry went into it totally blind should probably "have some respect for him" since everybody talks about him, especially suburban white hip hop fans, but being totally honest)

Nah

 

  On 5/5/2015 at 1:15 AM, Alcofribas said:

 

  On 3/26/2015 at 3:52 AM, Candiru said:

 

  On 3/25/2015 at 9:51 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

  On 3/9/2015 at 12:54 PM, jhonny said:

Oh yes!

 

Sounds like i isn't going to be on it which is a major plus. The Blacker the Berry is an amazing track.

 

http://pitchfork.com/news/58754-kendrick-lamar-announces-album-release-date/

love the idea of Pitchfork casually mentioning a new album and then posting to their own video of said artist at their own festival. payola makes the world go round?

 

I'm also pleased that I know absolutely nothing about Kendrick Lamar and casually checking out his music left me with zero memorable impression (sorry went into it totally blind should probably "have some respect for him" since everybody talks about him, especially suburban white hip hop fans, but being totally honest)

Nah

 

 

https://youtu.be/jiZ12FFy6UM

  On 5/5/2015 at 1:13 AM, Ivan Ooze said:

fantastic album, kinda feel like flying lotus should have been on it thoug, you're dead was amazing and the track with kendrick could have fitted right on there

The first track, Wesley's Theory, is produced by FlyLo.

yeah this album was good!

  On 3/24/2015 at 5:21 PM, murphythecat8 said:

Momma

hood politics

mortal man : so cool what he do with the interview with tupac

complexion

how much a dollar cost

 

those are my highlight, the rest of the album I dont care, but I love those 5 tracks

This album is blowing me away. I love every track now, from track 4 to the end, its perfect without any bad moment. a true joy to listen.

The most powerful album Ive heard in a long time and probably my favorite rap album of all time.

Gave this a listen just now. I can see why people love it but it's just not for me. The music is pretty awesome but I just hold zero interest for what he's talking about. I just don't give a shit lol.

What Kendrick thinks is important to him in his hood, means jackshit to me, and if I said otherwise I would be lying to myself.

Oi chill out Beerwolf!

I liked this album, but it wasn't nearly as brilliant or gripping as people are making it out to be. Aside from King Kunta and The Blacker the Berry, I found little that I wanted to come back to. I respect Kendrick Lamar for his rhyming skill; he's certainly one of the best of the new generation of MCs, but I have yet to latch onto his albums.

I can't stop playing it, and the best part is that it all flows so well and he changes up the style and feel so much throughout that it doesn't feel overplayed at all.

woah such a good freaking video!

  On 7/1/2015 at 12:51 PM, Blank said:

Niiiiiice! Amazing video, and definitely one of my favourite tracks from the album.

Anyone know what the track is at 2:01 when they're in the car? That sounded dope too with that Thundercat bass thing going on there.

It's an unreleased track. Well it may not even be a full track but just something he made for this video

I kept hearing this album in my Friend's car, it took 4 or 5 times for me to go "I need to sit down with this album and give it some thought" have since listened to it consecutively 2 or 3 times through a number of times, as well as Good Kid MAAD City, which I had skimmed over when it first came out.

These albums are growers for sure. Kendrick is a great storyteller, and I think he has been saying some things that NEEDED to be said in rap.

GKMC seems like it's mostly about systemic problems in the black community, how hard it is to be a good kid in Compton. This one has this theme of raising black people UP. Bringing Jazz, P-Funk,spoken word, NWA west coast rap, etc. to his style to show the potential and the power they have.

it's more complex than that, but I just appreciate that he has high aspirations for his music. there's no dissing and demeaning to be heard

Also Lucy = Lucifer = abuse of power, temptations, struggles in fighting yourself toward your higher aspirations?

u, Momma, How Much A Dollar Cost, The Blacker The Berry, i, Mortal Man - Some great tracks on this album and is a decent 'progression' musically.

Not as good as good kid, m.A.A.d city but then what is?

  On 7/24/2015 at 10:23 PM, ganus said:

I kept hearing this album in my Friend's car, it took 4 or 5 times for me to go "I need to sit down with this album and give it some thought" have since listened to it consecutively 2 or 3 times through a number of times, as well as Good Kid MAAD City, which I had skimmed over when it first came out.

These albums are growers for sure. Kendrick is a great storyteller, and I think he has been saying some things that NEEDED to be said in rap.

GKMC seems like it's mostly about his childhood and systemic problems in the black community, how it's hard to be a good kid when the culture is drug dealing, drinking, and gang banging - also the dynamic between this and going to the Lord for salvation, and the middle point of real people, people just trying to live in the middle - (his parents are a reoccurring theme, his mom is kind of like his conscience, his compass)

This one has this theme of raising black people UP. Bringing Jazz, P-Funk,spoken word, NWA west coast rap, etc. to his style to show the potential and the power they have.

 

it's more complex than that, but I just appreciate that he has high aspirations for his music. it's political in a meaningful way, like, "we've been talking about this shit for decades, let's get real about it" there's no dissing and demeaning to be heard

 

 

i love this album but it's a huge chunck to digest

I guess it's an overall "better" album than GKMC, whatever that means... but I've played GKMC in its entirety countless times, whereas I only replay selected bangers from TPAB (Alright, Wesley's Theory, King Kunta) from time to time.

https://home.isi.org/why-kendrick-lamar-could-be-emblem-advent

This album is was an integral part of a daily routine for me.

for months I would allow these songs to comfort everything I was experiencing.

and it was the perfect soundtrack, from the music to the message, as the prom states

I didn’t wanna self destruct

The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn’t stop survivor’s guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned

this album fucking ruled in retrospect

  On 10/28/2016 at 9:36 PM, dr lopez said:

this album fucking ruled in retrospect

hell yeah

*gives you an incredibly cool high five that's about as cool as we can possibly make it for a couple of white guys*