A place where the main goal is the advancement and protection of the culture.)Īn immaculate amalgamation of rap, jazz, funk, soul, and spoken wordĬrafted with a live band consisting of Bilal, Thundercat, Terrace Martin, and Anna Wise - all talented artists in their own right - To Pimp a Butterfly pulls no punches. A land where the natural barriers of music don’t exist. (Black Music, inhabited by the likes of Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Prince, the Fugees, Andre 3000, and D’Angelo. It’s the latest evolution of Black Music, and it’s nothing short of genius. It cannot be restricted by a single genre. To Pimp a Butterfly is an immaculate amalgamation of rap, jazz, funk, soul, and spoken word. There’s no other adjective that can properly convey its greatness. I was afraid that he would only dip a toe into the pool of Black Excellence music, that he would hesitate to speak on social issues, or succumb to label pressure to provide a few radio-friendly records. I wasn’t scared that Kendrick would deliver a flop. This is about to be some social commentary / Black Excellence music. If the direction of the album wasn’t clear before, it was now. Then we got the artwork for To Pimp a Butterfly. We got a taste of the new musical arrangements back in December on The Colbert Report when he performed an untitled song that if released would probably have been the best song of 2014 (it didn’t even make the album). He gave us "i" back in September, an uplifting track about self-love - there’s an updated (see: much better) version of "i" on the album that sampled The Isley Brothers. It was going to be soulful - conscious as they say. But Kendrick was never that to begin with. It wasn’t going to be your traditional 808-laden, two-club-hits-and-a-love-song hip-hop album. We knew Kendrick was going with a new concept for this album. Kendrick Lamar isn't conventional in the least Rappers rapping about their upbringing will never end, but Kendrick Lamar isn’t conventional in the least. It worked once, and Kendrick is talented enough to make use of it again. He could have used the same blueprint for his second album. It was brilliant and clever, a concept album that still told Kendrick’s "how I got here" story. Good kid, m.A.A.d city, was an autobiographical masterpiece that vocalized the struggle of growing up in dire circumstances in Compton and how it affected Kendrick’s perception of the world. The last two artists who debuted with albums that redefined the genre were Kanye West ( The College Dropout) and Jay Z ( Reasonable Doubt). His first major label album, good kid, m.A.A.d city is one of the greatest rap albums of all time. To Pimp a Butterfly isn’t just another album, and Kendrick Lamar isn’t just another rapper. Kendrick Lamar could be the greatest rapper of all time. It would be foolish to even discuss it publicly. Like a pitcher throwing a perfect game, it’s never spoken aloud. When I talk about Kendrick Lamar with people who follow hip-hop, there’s always a hushed exchange that takes place.