Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp A Butterfly" Lives Up To The Hype
Rapper Kendrick Lamar dropped his new album “To Pimp A Butterfly” on March 15, shocking fans with an ahead-of-schedule release of the highly anticipated successor to his beloved 2012 album, “good kid, m.A.A.d city.”
In the same fashion as his 2012 work, “To Pimp A Butterfly” told a story of Kendrick’s life from the first song to the last. However, while “good kid, m.A.A.d city” focused on his life growing up amidst the rampant gang violence of Compton, the new album is all about the temptations and struggles he faces with his new found superstardom.
The album opens up to a decidedly ‘70s funk-inspired track titled “Wesley’s Theory”, which sets the tone for majority of “To Pimp A Butterfly” beautifully. The fade-in to a crackly, funky tune is harshly contrasted by Kendrick’s hard-hitting rap lyrics and even more so by a harsh discord at the end of the song.
That disorienting switch in tone and tempo happens repeatedly in every song of the album and is jarring even for those acquainted with Kendrick’s musical style. It makes for an almost dizzying experience while listening, yet the content of the album makes the occasionally unpleasant melodies fitting.
With songs like “How Much A Dollar Cost”, “Institutionalized” and “u”, Kendrick hammers home his message of the new challenges he faces in success. He even goes so far as to personify temptation with a character called “Lucy” in a skit halfway through the album, and describe the tidal wave of enticement in his life.
One track, “Momma”, details Kendrick’s relationship with his mother now that he’s a superstar and the lessons she taught him. This theme certainly isn’t too original in rap music (G-Eazy’s “Opportunity Cost” and J. Cole’s “Hello” are both examples of an almost identical message in very recent rap), but it remains powerful nonetheless.
Once again, Kendrick’s musical genius shines through from lyrical content and not the melody of the tracks. Few of the songs could be accurately described as pleasant listens, though they’re all certainly profound.
Some of the more accessible songs to listen to include the hit singles “i” and “The Blacker The Berry” that were released before the album itself, as well as “Alright” and “Institutionalized” which features three other artist (Bilal, Anna Wise and Snoop Dogg).
“The Blacker The Berry” was somewhat controversial upon its release due to Kendrick “calling out” his race as a whole in light of the events of Ferguson and the Trayvon Martin case. He calls himself and, more widely, the African-American race as a whole, “the biggest hypocrite of 2015” for decrying the actions against Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown by policemen while violence and riots are still perpetuated within the black community.
The most popular track of the new releases is “King Kunta”, a fast-paced and psychedelic song with a catchy hook. However, its content falls short in comparison to less catchy songs like “u” and “Complexion (A Zulu Love)”.
“u” tackles Kendrick’s self-image issues with a long monologue from the perspective of a friend of his from Compton. The friend calls, drunk and angry, to complain about Lamar leaving his roots to find fame and money. “A friend never leave Compton for profit,” says the friend in between sips and hiccups.
“Complexion (A Zule Love)” claims that “complexion don’t mean a thing” in much the same manner as a popular song earlier in Kendrick’s career, “F*** Your Ethnicity” (albeit less bluntly).
Some songs in the album hold just as much meaning and depth as “u” and “Complexion”, but are difficult to listen to without the context of the rest of the album.
“For Free? - Interlude” and “For Sale? - Interlude” are two skits in the album which call for an equal respect in relationships and describe fame’s temptations, respectively. They both carry a lot of weight with their lyrical content, but they are grating and harsh.
To wrap up the album, a 12 minute track titled “Mortal Man” includes five minutes of Kendrick rapping unabated (a blessing after all the other stuff in most of the other songs) and then an interesting, audacious interview for the rest. The song takes clips from an old interview with Tupac and has questions posed by Kendrick, edited together seamlessly to make an era-crossing conversation between the two influential rappers.
All in all, “To Pimp A Butterfly” is definitely a Kendrick Lamar album - deep, topical and an ongoing example of some of the best music in the rap industry currently. However, it is not an easy listen even for those who enjoyed “good kid, m.A.A.d city”, and it takes some time to acclimate to the strange style.
