¿Housekeeping? ¡Abre La Puerta!

Kendrick is back, (albeit a week ahead of schedule, (consult video at left)), and hip hop won't ever be the same because of it.  

Kendrick hasn't been quiet between the release of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and To Pimp A Butterfly.  He's hopped on a wide array of tracks, artists ranging from Flying Lotus to Eminem.  He stirred things up in 2013 when he called out a litany of rappers on Big Sean's Control.  He toured Kanye's Yeezus tour.  In short, Kendrick emerged into the mainstream.  But whatever artistic statements Kendrick made during the past couple years have been dwarfed by his new album.

On the first listen to To Pimp A Butterfly, I was expecting something similar to Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.  I was listening to the tracks looking for the same thematic arch, thinking, "maybe this is the Backseat Freestyle of this album."  When I saw the 12 minute run-time of Mortal Man, I expected it to be an theatric, tone-shifting epic of a song in the vein of Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst.  After the first listen, I wasn't sure what I thought yet, but I certainly didn't have an overwhelmingly positive reaction.  I realize now that my expectations of what the album should be were really stupid.  Of course Kendrick has changed since his last album, and of course Kendrick's too good to just recycle themes and material that worked on Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.  And, to anyone who hasn't listened to the album, or has only given it a cursory listen, do not trust your initial reaction to it.  This is a dense album.  Put the time into it, and To Pimp A Butterfly delivers.  

The album attempts to do nothing less than capture Kendrick's personal struggles, experiences, and journey throughout the last couple years of his life.  I'm not going to attempt to analyze all the themes in this album, there's way too much going on, and this doesn't need to turn into a literary analysis paper.  Though the fact that a formal analysis of this album is possible shows the kind of depth that Kendrick accomplishes on this album.  The central conflict, above all other themes, is Kendrick trying to rationalize his existence as both a public figure, whose words are heard and believed by millions, and a deeply flawed human being.  From this central conflict emerge the themes of the album.  Depression, survivor's guilt, institutional racism, sex, police brutality, political and social hypocrisy, the pressures of fame and Kendrick's self-awareness of his position in Hip Hop culture.

The production on the album is incredible.  I think the production on To Pimp A Butterfly has the most cohesive aesthetic of any of his albums.  Kendrick has truly brought rap back to its roots. Jazz and Funk are present in both samples, (James Brown, the Isley Brothers) as well as contemporary performance (Thundercat, Terrance Martin).  TPAB does not bang pe se. It grooves.  And that's an amazing thing.  When I'm feeling the beat listening to TPAB, I'm digging the song in a way, viscerally, that no other rap album really does for me.  I don't know how to describe it beyond that, but this gif I found in the comments section on Rap Genius does a pretty good job.

Titled: "Da funk be like"

 Sure, there's been jazz-hip hop in the past, and plenty of funk bass lines are used in rap, but this is something new, I think.  And, though TPAB heavily utilizes sounds of the past, no one would say its too concerned with the oldies, or not hip.  The jazz and funk aesthetics are blended with more conventional, hip-hop production similar to production on Kendrick's past albums, as well as other sounds of the present (Sufjan Stevens, Bilal, Anna Wise). Cutting edge producers Flying Lotus and Pharrell were heavily involved in the production process.  In all, the music is great. It's production that eludes to and expands upon the musical lineage that this album is joining and advancing. 

The true power of To Pimp A Butterfly is its relevance.  Kendrick is the king of hip-hop, and there may be no more culturally important King of ____ in America, or in the world, today.  The King of Pop is dead.  The King of Pain is still making good music, I guess. The King of Queens is in syndication.  Does the King of Saudi Arabia have the ear of nearly as many fans?  Kendrick is among a very select circle of artists that has the ear of the nation, to the degree that it can be achieved at all.  And amongst those few, he’s one of only a handful to really say something impactful. 

When Kendrick calls himself a prophet, you don’t scoff, you wonder how he feels about it, and he tells you.  Kendrick demonstrates this incredible self-awareness of both his own feelings, and how those feelings are relevant to his music.  The truth is, Kendrick is scared by is influence.  He knows that he’s a flawed individual, and he knows he fears being abandoned by his fans, and his public.  In Mortal Man, he references Michael Jackson, as a prime example of what can happen to someone in his position.  

"That nigga gave you Billie Jean, you say he touched those kids?

When the shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?"

I can talk on and on about the power of this album, but I’m deviating from the purpose of this post: how good is To Pimp A Butterfly?   Really good.  Really really good.  I think I should acknowledge that this album is so good, the question I’m really debating here is: Is this album a 10/10?  Talking to Manny about the album, he seemed worried that everyone, people whose opinions he respects, the people whose opinion he completely disregards, likes this album.  I don’t think that’s a problem.  The fact that anyone and everyone can recognize this album as a classic means that not only is it a classic, it’s an admirably accessible one.  Another question that was posed to me:

"Yeah, but does it have bangers" -- Noah Wong

A completely stupid question, for sure, but one with a legitimate answer.  To Pimp A Butterfly doesn't.  It just isn't that album.  King Kunta peaked at 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.  No, there are no stand out bangerz, nor are there any tracks that you can point to and say "that that is TPAB in a nutshell".  The album is not succinct, and it can't be summarized.  Though King Kunta seems to have been anointed as 'the single' from this album, this very well may be just because it got leaked first.  I personally thought Alright was 'the single' on first listen.  This album is certainly playing the long game, and only time will tell if more tracks gain steam and more people begin to 'get' the album.

When I started writing this review, I thought I would come up with enough complaints to be able to justify a lower rating.  But the more I write about it, I only find more to love about it instead.  (Rapsody's verse, George Clinton's appearance are great. And check out the wheelchair dude, the gold chainz kid, pimp-cane pop'n'lock it dude, the c-list bitches, and pretty much everybody in the background in the King Kunta video).  The only thing I can think of is "not popular enough", but that's not really a criticism of the art, only it's reception.  

I've tried to rationally critique this album, but maybe I'm just too blinded by my personal investment with Kendrick Lamar.  I strongly associate Good Kid, M.A.A.D City with a specific time in my life, junior year of high school, when I was first able to drive to school and cruised around in my Chrysler Town & Country bumping Sing About Me I'm Dying of Thirst and feeling like I was on the deluxe cover art.  This year, I found myself driving west through the southern Wisconsin countryside into the orange late-afternoon sun, winter quarter over with a week of spring break ahead, and To Pimp A Butterfly on the stereo.  Maybe I just have too much allegiance to Kendrick, an irrational infatuation with this music that is blinding me from its issues.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I guess that's for you to decide.  For me, I've got too much personal experience and enjoyment wrapped up in this great artist, and this amazing music, and I can't give it any lower of a rating.

10/10

Favorite Tracks: Wesley's Theory, King Kunta, These Walls, Alright, Complexion (A Zulu love), Mortal Man