Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly
Positives
Negatives
Full Review
At first listen, I wasn’t impressed with this album. Especially with the success of “good kid mAAd City” which was a great first album for him. However after hearing the last track “Mortal Man” you hear a true story and reasoning for the album. The track grabs you and makes you really listen and take in what’s being said. It features an interview given with Tu-Pac, and Lamar cleverly makes it appear he is interviewing him. After hearing this track, giving the album a second listen makes you realise where his lyrics come from and puts you within a story that you feel a part of. Kendrick Lamar has been on a journey and to hear it from him you need to listen to this album.
With the funky vibes, this sets itself a side with any other Hip Hop album also. With funk slowly creeping back into commercial songs, Lamar has used this genre in the best possible way and it has complimented his lyrics in a great way. Heavy sax and Motown vibes gives a good beat to the music and makes you, in some tracks want to dance. With a lot of general dialect it helps you to picture situations in bars, houses and streets as the story’s unfold.
“King Kunta” was one of my favourites from the album. After hearing it, I was keen to see the video, as I had a clear image playing in my head throughout playing it, keen to see if these would match. It in fact did which shows how well he manages to give the same feeling he feels in his music. The most disappointing track for me was “For Free” as there isn’t any feeling or emotion behind this song. The track starts of well with the music crashing in but the lyrics are there to show how quick he can rap. In turn it still shows what a talented rapper he is and quickly redeems himself with “King Kunta”.
Another one of my favourites is “I”. You can imagine him on stage enjoying what his made of his life and feeling a sense of pride within him. This is a great track for people to listen to and feel good about theirsevles. Again a big funk influence with the backing track of “That Lady” by The Isley Brothers, it brings a feel of soul and rhythm making you want to dance.
As with any other Rap album, race is a massive feature and topic of this album. Where most people may see this as a negative aspect I see it as a positive. It’s one of the reasons Rap is so successful and is a way of reaching out.
Overall, a great album. Kendrick continues to show off his talent and shows how rap can show such a high level of creativity and intelligence. If you’re not a fan of it at first, give it a another listen. You will not regret it and it’s a great follow up album from good kid mAAd city.
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