The article doesn’t even mention Kanye, or Jay-Z!
1
I wish the line about Nas's "It Was Written" (mess of shoddy uplift and shoddy politicking) was at the beginning of this article, and not the end. It would have saved me some time. As another reader put it, this sounds like a heap of expectations placed on the artist by the writer, and then disappointment by the writer when the artist fails to live up to their expectations.
Im sorry I absolutely loved good kid but I did not get this album. Disappointed
The author lost all credibility when he framed the album "it was written", his best according to many Nas enthusiasts, as an attempt at greatness. His list of hip hop messiahs also reflects a distinct lack of exposure to non commercial trendsetters in the late 90s and 2000s.
2
Art, and great music, is often mysterious, provocative, and layered with meaning. I had a very different experience from the author in listening to 'To Pimp A Butterfly', seeing the lack of 'clarity' as compelling, and the broader themes as mature and worldly. It may lack the personal narratives of the previous album, but it's still richly steeped in the African American experience, in all of its best and jarring aspects, and captures the hypocrisy (see 'the Blacker the Berry') of America's attitudes towards blacks.
Unfortunately the entire artistic burden seems to fall almost exclusively on Kendrick Lamar. 'To Pimp A Butterfly' is the collaborative work of many incredible musicians and producers who delivered a transcendent representation of hip-hop that could only happen in 2015 (thundercat, glasper, martin, sounwave). Yes, Kendrick wrote (most of?) the lines, but the entire experience is so much more than the poetry. For me it's the greatest hip-hop album since Common's 'Like Water for Chocolate'.
I also find it amusing that the author couldn't find the one track that could 'snap [him] back to attention'. Isn't that basically saying 'I don't like it'? I found at least 6 tracks that I can't stop listening to, riveted.
Unfortunately the entire artistic burden seems to fall almost exclusively on Kendrick Lamar. 'To Pimp A Butterfly' is the collaborative work of many incredible musicians and producers who delivered a transcendent representation of hip-hop that could only happen in 2015 (thundercat, glasper, martin, sounwave). Yes, Kendrick wrote (most of?) the lines, but the entire experience is so much more than the poetry. For me it's the greatest hip-hop album since Common's 'Like Water for Chocolate'.
I also find it amusing that the author couldn't find the one track that could 'snap [him] back to attention'. Isn't that basically saying 'I don't like it'? I found at least 6 tracks that I can't stop listening to, riveted.
2
The hero worship of King Kendrick by many in wake of the release of this very mediocre album is overwhelming. http://killingthebreeze.com/channeling-joakim-noah-on-to-pimp-a-butterfly/
1
"...I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Kendrick Lamar. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Kendrick Lamar..."
2
Unfortunately this review does what many critics in the past have done with the efforts of artists and to a far greater extent, athletes and that is to take the critics expectations and place them upon the artist and then find the artist lacking according to the perspective of the critic.
Laying the 'next Ted Williams" mantle on Darryl Strawberry was unwarranted and yet because he was merely "only" very good in his first few years and NOT Ted Williams, then he had fallen short... meanwhile in the nearly 80 years since he hit .400 there has only been one Ted Williams.
I'm 56 and I thoroughly enjoyed "To Pimp a Butterfly." I enjoyed the 70s references and marveled at how this "kid" had so much depth tot he point he had reached back to my own youth in order to talk to my son's peers. I think his work stands on its own in terms of art and hip-hop and it is a tremendous effort, but does it have to be the "be all to end all" the critic seems to demand?
Laying the 'next Ted Williams" mantle on Darryl Strawberry was unwarranted and yet because he was merely "only" very good in his first few years and NOT Ted Williams, then he had fallen short... meanwhile in the nearly 80 years since he hit .400 there has only been one Ted Williams.
I'm 56 and I thoroughly enjoyed "To Pimp a Butterfly." I enjoyed the 70s references and marveled at how this "kid" had so much depth tot he point he had reached back to my own youth in order to talk to my son's peers. I think his work stands on its own in terms of art and hip-hop and it is a tremendous effort, but does it have to be the "be all to end all" the critic seems to demand?
4
I completely agree with you Larry. I've listened to this album over and over again and the complexities within the music and the message are vast... I find something new every time. I grew up as a teen in the early 1990's when hip hop was still emerging and making a name for itself and I have to say Kendrick Lamar is reminiscent of those times when hip hop actually meant something more than just words over beats.
2
My parents from were consumate professional musicians for their entire adult lives.
My dad struck out on the road as a jazz trumpeter at 16 years old in 1932. My mom, with perfect pitch a prodigy at the piano was classically degreed in music from Univ of Rochester in 1943 but then turned out to be an unbeliveably gifted gas of a jazz piano player and singer (after my dad and his travelling hot-shot pickup band got a hold of her).
Dad could write charts for all the pieces in a big band, he could play piano and drums and bass in addition to guitar. He could sight read whatever music you set in front of him.
Mom was first call for any piano job in Washington DC throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she did regular nightclub gigs and was in great demand by private and public party givers. Dad in that period was regularly playing his trumpet for the three top society band booking agencies.
There was also my brother with a degree in conducting, who played the bass in the elite USAF Strolling Strings, and had conducting jobs in the pits of Broadway in the 1970s.
That is what musicians do and who they are. Sample my mom's tunes and recite poetry over them? That does not make anyone a musician.
My dad struck out on the road as a jazz trumpeter at 16 years old in 1932. My mom, with perfect pitch a prodigy at the piano was classically degreed in music from Univ of Rochester in 1943 but then turned out to be an unbeliveably gifted gas of a jazz piano player and singer (after my dad and his travelling hot-shot pickup band got a hold of her).
Dad could write charts for all the pieces in a big band, he could play piano and drums and bass in addition to guitar. He could sight read whatever music you set in front of him.
Mom was first call for any piano job in Washington DC throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she did regular nightclub gigs and was in great demand by private and public party givers. Dad in that period was regularly playing his trumpet for the three top society band booking agencies.
There was also my brother with a degree in conducting, who played the bass in the elite USAF Strolling Strings, and had conducting jobs in the pits of Broadway in the 1970s.
That is what musicians do and who they are. Sample my mom's tunes and recite poetry over them? That does not make anyone a musician.
6
Kendrick is the new inspiration for Black People.
Sheer Masterpiece. It is so refreshing that the artist stayed true to himself, not swayed by the one hit or what executives want. Finally an album, a body of work (like the first) that is to be treasured not one hit to bob your head. This is how I grew up appreciating music: listening to a journey, as an experience. My kids will have this opportunity with artists like Lamar.
1
I think n feel that Eminem don't belong up there in that selection. Most of his songs are not great and shouldn't be compared to the rest of them. Those are legends of hip hop times n songs that has changed history. And as long I've known I haven't heard an person bumping an eminem song out of there speakers.
1
Poetry? I would lose my job for using this language and this publication won't print it. If this is Art, I'm Rembrandt.
Best rap album I've ever heard. Despite this critics opinion. I disagree with the notion that it lacks emotional depth, I think it shows a lot of emotional depth - directed more towards certain emotions, surely, but exploring them with great clarity and self examination. And the production is beautiful.
4
To Pimp A Butterfly is an amazing album, and Kendrick Lamar deserves all of the respect, and accolades he's been getting.
However, to include Eminem as a hop-hop messiah, is ridiculous.
Perhaps he was a messiah for white boys in the suburbs.
However, to include Eminem as a hop-hop messiah, is ridiculous.
Perhaps he was a messiah for white boys in the suburbs.
1
Eminem was one of the best rappers in our generation. That's not just my opinion; its a consensus among his peers which include black rappers.
1
Is there anyone else out there who considers this stuff to be neither music nor poetry? I know, my-my-hey-hey, rock 'n' roll is here to stay. But criminy, this stuff is hideous. Always was, always will be. The day it disappears or morphs into something approaching either music or poetry will be a day of victory, however small, for civilization.
5
Have you read the lyrics of this album? Just like there is awful rock n roll and brilliant rock n roll, there is awful hip hop and transcendent hip hop. Don't lump it all in one bucket because to you it all sounds the same
2
I'm willing to bet you haven't even listened to this.
2
This is really ignorant. I suggest you try harder to wrap your mind around art that challenging to you on first encounter.
I like Kendrick, but he's trying too hard on this record. Sounds like a weird D'Angelo knock-off. Bring back the beats, Kendrick.
1
Just how exactly does this or any other hip-hop messiah bring any sort of salvation to the world? Who exactly is crediting them with such messianic powers? Music critics?
If so, it's apparent they're let themselves wear the headphones for too long with the volume turned up too high, and it's affecting their thinking and warped their perspective of reality.
Of course, maybe for the new reality the world is facing with all its darkness and chaos, who better a new Messiah than a gangster-rapper.
If so, it's apparent they're let themselves wear the headphones for too long with the volume turned up too high, and it's affecting their thinking and warped their perspective of reality.
Of course, maybe for the new reality the world is facing with all its darkness and chaos, who better a new Messiah than a gangster-rapper.
4
When you consider the horrendous words, suggestions and threats, in some of this music, as well as the behavior of some "artists," it's pretty hard to think of any of it as "golden" or "classic." I love almost every kind of music, mostly in small doses, but not this noise, or contemporary "country." I'd be happy to see this stuff wind its way down into oblivion. Elvis was provocative, in his time, but this guy looks like he wants to knock you down. Very entertaining.
1
The creation of Hip Hop in the 1970s was the inner city's answer to "White Flight" from the city's, and a marginalization from the wider society. These inner city kids had everything taken away from them. They had music classes cancelled in their high schools. Plus, they had no money for instruments and no access to greater venues.
These forgotten inner city kids took the bleakness and destruction of that urban America, ignored a purloined tax base that left them with nothing, and they used the devices that were around them, what Marcel Duchamp called "Readymades", and they created a new genre. These poor children took those samples, beats, and lyrics, and they created a musical style called Hip Hop that had the power to leave their neighborhoods, and walk the Earth, where every kid in the world rocks to a Hip Hop beat. This is one of the greatest American stories of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
These forgotten inner city kids took the bleakness and destruction of that urban America, ignored a purloined tax base that left them with nothing, and they used the devices that were around them, what Marcel Duchamp called "Readymades", and they created a new genre. These poor children took those samples, beats, and lyrics, and they created a musical style called Hip Hop that had the power to leave their neighborhoods, and walk the Earth, where every kid in the world rocks to a Hip Hop beat. This is one of the greatest American stories of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
17
Negro spirituals and works songs were a Black African American response to slavery.
Gospel, blues, jazz and soul were a Black African American reply to Jim Crow.
Hip Hop and Rap are just the latest genres of Black African American classical music.
Gospel, blues, jazz and soul were a Black African American reply to Jim Crow.
Hip Hop and Rap are just the latest genres of Black African American classical music.
3
The author seems to assume that hip-hop always has to involve linear story telling. This is like complaining that Kid A doesn't have guitar riffs: um, ok, but that's not the point! The piece just says more about what the author expected or wanted than what Kendrick actually made.
1
My top MC's in no particular order:
Tupac
Biggie
Rakim
Nas
Treach
Andre 3000
Snoop
Ice Cube
DJ Quick
The qualifications I use are fairly straightforward:
1) Did he create an album for all time (ex. Illmatic)?
2) Did the album capture the prevailing feeling of the time (Late 80's gangsta-ism/NWA/Ice Cube)
3) Did he create a style or change the direction of hip hop by himself (Rakim/Snoop/Biggie/Treach/etc...)
4) Was he unquestionably the "dopest" mc recognized by friend, fan and foe alike? (Tupac)
That's what is great about music in general and hip hop specifically: Styles lead and bleed into each other and it's always changing.
Tupac
Biggie
Rakim
Nas
Treach
Andre 3000
Snoop
Ice Cube
DJ Quick
The qualifications I use are fairly straightforward:
1) Did he create an album for all time (ex. Illmatic)?
2) Did the album capture the prevailing feeling of the time (Late 80's gangsta-ism/NWA/Ice Cube)
3) Did he create a style or change the direction of hip hop by himself (Rakim/Snoop/Biggie/Treach/etc...)
4) Was he unquestionably the "dopest" mc recognized by friend, fan and foe alike? (Tupac)
That's what is great about music in general and hip hop specifically: Styles lead and bleed into each other and it's always changing.
1
The Roots, Arrested Development, Black Star, Jungle Brothers etc.?
1
I dont agree with the author when says this album lacks the "emotional texture" of good kid M.A.A.d City. I see Butterfly as a much more mature, complex, and creative work then GKMC. The emotions might not vary as much on this album as they do on GKMC but I think I got a much better feel for Kendrick's state of mind from Butterfly than GKMC...its more straightforward but he doesn't hand it to you either.
9
this is a west coast funk.soul record
1
Writing about the "hip-hop messiah" like it is a given fact, without making an argument that locates this tradition in a place and time, is a profoundly lazy move as a critic. It sets up hip-hop as a genre of solo, male, U.S.-based artists, when its history has been far more heterogeneous and international than that. It is insulting to the intelligence of Times readers to ignore the kind of social advocacy that has been represented in hip-hop by groups-- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Public Enemy, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and countless others. Even within his own category, Kang inexplicably leaves out Jay-Z and Kanye West. So why should I trust this critic to take Kendrick down a notch, when his own musical history lacks sophistication?
13
Amen.
Gospel, blues, jazz, soul, rap and hip-hop are labels to confine and define Black African music throughout the diaspora.
Robert Johnson, Thomas Dorsey, John Coltrane, Charley Patton, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dave Edwards, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Jimmie Reed, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scott-Heron, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer etc.
Gospel, blues, jazz, soul, rap and hip-hop are labels to confine and define Black African music throughout the diaspora.
Robert Johnson, Thomas Dorsey, John Coltrane, Charley Patton, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dave Edwards, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Jimmie Reed, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scott-Heron, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer etc.
2
Listen to Nigeria in Fela Kuti particularly the classic "Black President".
Listen to Mali in Tinariwen and Ali Farka Toure.
Listen to Brazil in Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben.
Listen to Mali in Tinariwen and Ali Farka Toure.
Listen to Brazil in Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben.
1
http://instagram.com/p/0pJyXQmq5G/
He was driving around West Hollywood on a truck last night. The "messiah" had his followers. The music is great and the deeper message of his music is great but like with most rappers trying to sell albums the anger and the language seems to negate an opportunity to rise above exactly stereotypes.
He was driving around West Hollywood on a truck last night. The "messiah" had his followers. The music is great and the deeper message of his music is great but like with most rappers trying to sell albums the anger and the language seems to negate an opportunity to rise above exactly stereotypes.
4
I really liked the critique on the album. I wasn't sure if I agreed with the statement that it lacked the emotional texture of good kid, m.A.A.d. city. I found track like U, Institutionalized, Momma, and You Ain't Gotta Lie as more personal than his previous album. I didn't find the album "effortful" and was curious to know what gave you that impression. I would say there is nothing on the album that hits as hard as Sing About Me (although U comes pretty close, in my opinion).
All in all, I'm interested to see how long Kendrick can hold this "Hip-Hop Messiah" title. I haven't seen a lackluster release from the man and am wondering if us, the fans, will eventually drop that belief in him when he drops an OK album.
This album didn't meet my expectations, but it gave me something that I prefer more: an honest and greatly executed project about being a black entertainer/person in the US. I connected with this a lot more than Good Kid and I'm happier for it
Side note: I do think a "Hip-hop messiahs" is one who balances the reach of Mainstream but also speaks candidly and honestly about how it is to be a person who struggles. And above all, creatively executes well during their reign.
All in all, I'm interested to see how long Kendrick can hold this "Hip-Hop Messiah" title. I haven't seen a lackluster release from the man and am wondering if us, the fans, will eventually drop that belief in him when he drops an OK album.
This album didn't meet my expectations, but it gave me something that I prefer more: an honest and greatly executed project about being a black entertainer/person in the US. I connected with this a lot more than Good Kid and I'm happier for it
Side note: I do think a "Hip-hop messiahs" is one who balances the reach of Mainstream but also speaks candidly and honestly about how it is to be a person who struggles. And above all, creatively executes well during their reign.
2
NB: if you begin by claiming a phenomenon happens "every five years or so", and then struggle to name an unqualified example between 1995 and 2012, you risk giving the impression that you have actually no idea what you're talking about.
What this list really is, is a bunch of unquestionable names from the golden age of hip-hop, with Kendrick tacked onto the end (because he is the protagonist of your article, of course) and Eminem awkwardly half-shoehorned in. Otherwise known as struggling to fabricate a narrative.
What this list really is, is a bunch of unquestionable names from the golden age of hip-hop, with Kendrick tacked onto the end (because he is the protagonist of your article, of course) and Eminem awkwardly half-shoehorned in. Otherwise known as struggling to fabricate a narrative.
9
There's "golden age" of hip hop? Yikes! I hope that means it's going downhill, now.
2
How would you tell?
This is a terrific piece.
It is no exaggeration to call this young man a genius. I've listened to this album ten times already and it's still difficult to define. The best I can do is this: If you took Radiohead, George Clinton, Snoop Dogg, John Coltrane, Martin Luther King, Jr, Bob Dylan, Dr. Dre and Q-Tip, threw them all into a blender and let it wrrrrrrr for about two days, what would come out is "To Pimp A Butterfly", which is literally a masterpiece.
Lamar is a true artist and very unique amongst contemporary musicians in that his only motivation seems to be expressing himself. Rap happens to be the medium he chose for his expression, but he could just as easily be a poet, playwright, novelist or filmmaker.
It is no exaggeration to call this young man a genius. I've listened to this album ten times already and it's still difficult to define. The best I can do is this: If you took Radiohead, George Clinton, Snoop Dogg, John Coltrane, Martin Luther King, Jr, Bob Dylan, Dr. Dre and Q-Tip, threw them all into a blender and let it wrrrrrrr for about two days, what would come out is "To Pimp A Butterfly", which is literally a masterpiece.
Lamar is a true artist and very unique amongst contemporary musicians in that his only motivation seems to be expressing himself. Rap happens to be the medium he chose for his expression, but he could just as easily be a poet, playwright, novelist or filmmaker.
13
To think that you could equivocate any rapper to Martin Luther King who was not in the popular music business but in the changing of minds, hearts and morals and Bob Dylan who plays guitar re invented a medium of music and wrote songs . Back to basics. What does it mean to actually write a song? Music and lyrics, not just lyrics or music but both. And a song is sung not spoken. Rappers sample music and then speak over it. This is at least two to three levels lower as an art form. John Coltrane was an incredible performer, musician/instrumentalist, arranger and producer. The level of discipline that is needed in his jazz style any rapper would have no idea about it.
10
bob dylan reinventing? i do not think so. Regardless of your opinion, Kendrick Lamars use of the english vocabulary in harmony with rythmn IS an art form. Music itself is a form of self-expression. To say that rappers sample music and speak over it is ignorant. Not anyone off the street can do that. There is still time invested in making samples just as learning an instrument and using scales to learn the instrument. A sampler is just another instrument. Its about the message John.
5
JC, you speak like one who has never listened to any of the material you criticize. And need I remind you, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Elton John -- all wrote EITHER music or lyrics for many of their songs --not both. Yet, I suspect your criticism of them would be milder (if existent).
2
Hip Hop Messiahs? You need to dig down in to the roots a bit more deeply since you probably weren't even born "back in the day". You're lifting those names out of context - that's a media friendly commercial list of messiahs.
6
Don't be too harsh. In my opinion, Rakim is still one of the top MC's ever to grace the mic. Yet, hip-hop includes much more than rappers. J Dilla would be my vote for one of the humblest, realist messiahs the hip hop world has ever known. He was a master of manipulating beats or, according to Kendrick, "vibrations". Yes, this list is pretty commercialized and that is a shame. But, I am still happy good music exists and Kendrick has definitely shown me that.
3
This is a great review. I enjoy listening to Lamar. My favorite kind of hip-hop to listen to has a great flow of lyrics and variations in the music throughout each song and throughout the album. It can be fun to listen to popular hip-hop songs that have a great hook, are trivial, and overplayed on the radio; but there's something to be said for those who try to elevate their talents and the art that they produce. For now that is something Lamar is trying to do and I appreciate that.
3
While I'd love to see a fuller list, the author's "partial list" of hip-hop messiahs is interesting, especially when there's no mention of figures like Kurtis Blow, KRS-One, Chuck D, Bambatta, Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte...(respect to the Queens).
More importantly, I appreciate the author's engagement and hesitant critique of TPAB. I listened to TPAB several times, and found the interludes as compelling as the lyrics, beats, and production. Through each listening I picked up the layered, dense internal conflicts, strife, politics, vision and existentialism. This is bare-chested, vulnerable, full throated expression of a young Black man's entire experience, on digital display. I knew from the "Section 80" mixtape that Kendrick Lamar's work would be important. I see TPAB as a natural progression, and a reminder that this man [an artist] offers his life [transformations] through art. I'm eager to hear and see what he brings and offers next.
More importantly, I appreciate the author's engagement and hesitant critique of TPAB. I listened to TPAB several times, and found the interludes as compelling as the lyrics, beats, and production. Through each listening I picked up the layered, dense internal conflicts, strife, politics, vision and existentialism. This is bare-chested, vulnerable, full throated expression of a young Black man's entire experience, on digital display. I knew from the "Section 80" mixtape that Kendrick Lamar's work would be important. I see TPAB as a natural progression, and a reminder that this man [an artist] offers his life [transformations] through art. I'm eager to hear and see what he brings and offers next.
6
Hip-hop--as an art form--is inextricably tied to being black in America. So while there is certainly room for white rappers with technical skill and storytelling prowess (i.e. Eminem), it seems preposterous to include Eminem on the list of hip-hop messiahs. A hip-hop messiah is not simply the most gifted, well-known or commercially successfully rapper of the moment; rather, he or she is the artist who is most able to expand the public consciousness of what it means to grown up as a black person in this country. Kendrick belongs on this list. Jay Z and Andre 3000 should be there too. Eminem? Not so much.
20
Completely disagree. Hip-hop is storytelling in one of its more creative forms. Em's name is on this list because he has elevated the craft with a dizzying amount of talent ... and respect for the pioneers of the craft. I'm a Brooklyn-born, 70s era, black hip-hop baby. To not include Eminem on a list of the best is downright disingenuous.
8
you can't exclude Eminem for being white. In the way back early days of hip hop when it was a NYC exclusive. When the west-east beef was Bronx vs Queens there was plenty of Puerto Rican and Jewish kids from Queens/Brooklyn in the movement. Im talking late 70s early 80s. If anything Eminem brought back a social commentary that tends to get buried in hip-hop from time to time when too much focus is on the women and money. Having said that one of the greatest social rap groups is the original Brand Nubian.
5
grb...Thanks for emntioning Brand Nubian. i booked them and my man Lord Jamar was on several records I produced, both rapping and coming up with a beat. "Punks Jump Up To Be Beat Down". Still applies, eh?
Technically, Kendrick is a highly-skilled rapper, but like most rap artists, there's an authenticity issue that's impossible to ignore. One of his versus quoted in this article is 'If I told you I killed a n#$% at 16, would you believe me?' So he's throwing it out there that he may have killed someone? This is a childish notion. What he's really communicating to his audience is a desperate need to be perceived as 'dangerous,' as this gives him street cred. Tupac did the same bit back in the day, even though those who knew Tupac say he was not the gangsta he sometimes tried to act like. Jay-Z does this. Even in his 40's, he continues to rhyme about his drug-selling days. Its lazy and pandering. Rap messiahs tell the truth -- see Q-Tip, De La Soul as examples.
16
You've misread the lyrics entirely, beginning with the first word "if."
15
I did not misread his lyrics. The word 'if' implies that maybe he killed someone, and maybe he didn't. He's trying on the tough-guy persona, but its a phony one.
2
I totally agree with your rap messiah examples. And seeing 40 yo men pander about the past lives as drug dealers is lame.
2
This album, like any exceptional work of art, lingers with you. It demands repeated listens. It evokes feelings of joy, involuntary head-nodding and even profound discomfort at times. It is, at its core, everything a recording artist's album should be: something beyond a mere compilation of radio-friendly singles, a collected insight into the psyche and the emotions of a current place and time, content that speaks to both those who can visualize it vividly and those for whom all of this may seem a foreign notion.
At times, I listen to this album and Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and cannot believe what I'm hearing. The magnitude of genius of both Kendrick Lamar's lyrics and his shrewd ability to leverage just the right amount of support from the right collaborators is unprecedented in rap. In fact, it's difficult for me to even classify this mentally as a rap album. It's simply a tour de force, a work that simultaneously seems so effortless and so inimitable.
Amidst all the mindless trap house nonsense of the past decade, I can't tell you how thrilled I am when I see younger people of every color listening to Kendrick, quoting his verses and commenting online about how dope he is. He has established himself as a unique combination of this generation's Miles Davis, this generation's John Lennon and something altogether unique. Quite a feat. How exciting to have his music in a time when the world often seems inexplicable and difficult to understand.
At times, I listen to this album and Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and cannot believe what I'm hearing. The magnitude of genius of both Kendrick Lamar's lyrics and his shrewd ability to leverage just the right amount of support from the right collaborators is unprecedented in rap. In fact, it's difficult for me to even classify this mentally as a rap album. It's simply a tour de force, a work that simultaneously seems so effortless and so inimitable.
Amidst all the mindless trap house nonsense of the past decade, I can't tell you how thrilled I am when I see younger people of every color listening to Kendrick, quoting his verses and commenting online about how dope he is. He has established himself as a unique combination of this generation's Miles Davis, this generation's John Lennon and something altogether unique. Quite a feat. How exciting to have his music in a time when the world often seems inexplicable and difficult to understand.
20
"To Pimp a Butterfly" is the best album, and that includes his previous one, that I've heard in a looooooong time. I disagree with the author here that "m.A.A.d" is better. "m.A.A.d" is an excellent album, but TPaB is virtuosic, brilliant, and takes hip hop to new heights of creativity.
5
Amazing article. I love this album and am glad it's getting such a reputation, but I prefer gkmc. Sidenote, I guess I'm a bigger fan of Eminem than the author though. This is why I love NYT
I listened to the entire cd. The talent is striking and the music is better than most hip-hop productions. But I'm biased because there's a good deal of R & B and jazz behind it.
It's the kind of music you wish Bill O'Reilly would have to listen to wearing a straitjacket.
It's the kind of music you wish Bill O'Reilly would have to listen to wearing a straitjacket.
3
Kendrick brought the funk back. You weren't ready for it yet, but you will be.
3
Keep giving Kendrick love!
He really is a special force in today's hip-hop landscape.
He really is a special force in today's hip-hop landscape.
6
I find Mr.Lamar's music so amazing because despite all the ancillary messages and heady topics he tackles in his music, at the end of the day his music deals with the universal struggle of finding happiness, fulfillment and how to love yourself and those around you. Too often these are dismissed as easy things to do but both Good Kid Maad City and To Pimp a Butterfly shoe Kendrick struggling to find what his place is in the world, and how to be happy when there.
This all takes place for Kendrick in Compton and clearly his race and where he grew up are integral parts to his journey. Yet I appreciate how his music is so relatable, even to someone like me who comes from a completely opposite background. That's why Kendrick's music is so special. He can create albums that seemingly have a narrow focus on their narrative yet at their core deal with struggles everyone goes through. I may be a white man for the midwest and he may be a black man form Compton, yet we both struggle with finding out who we are and how that person fits into our world. His ability to create such relatable music is Mr. Lamar's biggest strength and I thank him for it.
This all takes place for Kendrick in Compton and clearly his race and where he grew up are integral parts to his journey. Yet I appreciate how his music is so relatable, even to someone like me who comes from a completely opposite background. That's why Kendrick's music is so special. He can create albums that seemingly have a narrow focus on their narrative yet at their core deal with struggles everyone goes through. I may be a white man for the midwest and he may be a black man form Compton, yet we both struggle with finding out who we are and how that person fits into our world. His ability to create such relatable music is Mr. Lamar's biggest strength and I thank him for it.
23
Mr. Kang criticizes Kendrick's new album for being "effortful" and not achieving "clarity," but this turgid essay commits many of the same sins. We're cryptically informed that the new album has "six separate levels of meta-analysis about the meaning of Lamar’s success and messiah status." What on earth does this mean? If Lamar's rhetoric is in fact that dizzyingly complicated, shouldn't Kang then describe what he's decoded? In the album's climactic moment, Kang writes, "Lamar mostly defers to Tupac and ends the exchange with an extended metaphor that helps explain the title of the album." Well, what is that metaphor, and is it clever or tortured? And what is the meaning of the album title? I'm glad that Kang figured it out, but isn't it his job to share those insights with his readers? And, by the way, what are Kang's "qualifications" about Eminem? And how is "inward-facing" different than "inward"? If you're going to criticize a great rapper, your own writing should be more on point than this.
17
I personally found more praise than criticism in this article. I thought the writer actually went to great lengths to avoid outright criticism and instead looked at any weak points within the context of the artists' development.
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