Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)

Is it Jackie, is it Jesse, oh I know, it's Michael Jackson, oh / ... / That nigga gave us Billie Jean, you say he touched those kids? / When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?

answer: no

granted i don't know, but i'd bet that's more him asking a question than it is him giving dap to an alleged pederast

"you say he touched those kids" reads defensive

so does citing a song as justification for "shit hit(ting) the fan"

this is obviously heartfelt, but i think it also illustrates the perils of writing about something after listening for a day:

http://themuse.jezebel.com/the-overwhelming-blackness-of-kendrick-lamars-butterfly-1691770606

"I don't know what all this means yet, so I'd rather not make this neat, like I usually do."

like the "that n---a gave us billie jean" line seems like a question asked in a voice that isn't his own and i thought might be intended to rep. the black community at large. re: the second part, i dunno, kendrick doesn't seem like the guy for whom that line means, "obvs we gotta stand by our massively culturally significant dude even if he did this shit"

granted i don't know, but i'd bet that's more him asking a question than it is him giving dap to an alleged pederast

― slothroprhymes, Tuesday, March 17, 2015

I haven't listened to the album enough, but that's how it sounds to me?

piece on the artwork if its not been posted -
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/11/kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly-album-cover

"That apprehension is overruled, as usual, by a nagging desire to drain the brain of its thick thoughts. It's a force that compels you to at least attempt to analyze—and ultimately judge—a wholeness that's impossible to capture."

can't help but think it might be easier to capture if you listened to the album for three days!

"This is a special album, and that won't change. But I already need a break from it. I gotta get away from it. Its blackness is way too vast."

one day was one day too long!

The NRA just released a statement guys: “In the wake of this tragic early album release, now is not the time for hot takes by vloggers or assignments of canonical status by twitics. It's time for the families and communities to groove.”

aww opening with a Boris Gardiner sample! sold on this already

can't help but think it might be easier to capture if you listened to the album for three days!
― scott seward

as someone that works in editorial can i just say that the gulf between what people SAY they want and appreciate and what they actually click on in practice makes the grand canyon look like a pothole

boobs

*6 former child actors who now look like roadkill* kinda hard to pass up...

i heard the michael jackson line as flipping of the chorus. are you still a fan even when the shit hits the fan in a way that makes the object of your fandom a genuine monster? you can read it either way you want, depending on how you feel about the allegations, depending on whose truth you want to rep for, who you're a fan of

i have to say i never thought i'd be digging "jazzy" hip hop in 2015 but this album is immense

*6 former child actors who now look like roadkill* kinda hard to pass up...

― scott seward, Tuesday, March 17, 2015 12:00 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*scribbles in notepad* hey scott is it cool if i use that?

the system has turned against writers who want to sit and think about things, clover getting out what she did considering the constraints on everyone is actually an accomplishment

Agreed.

and good luck trying to pitch a piece on this in 4-5 months' time after it's actually had time to sink in

interested in longneck's post upthread, too ill for my brain to respond but would you mind expanding on this?

On the other it betrays his need to be somewhere else (in the architecture and the dramatizing of an idea) rather than fully present in the moment, in a genre largely built on presence.

bc i think i see what you mean in one sense but disagree that kendrick actually sounds detached from the moment...

"and good luck trying to pitch a piece on this in 4-5 months' time after it's actually had time to sink in"

how about a week? to actually live with the thing and let it sink in a bit...

what is this beat on institutionalized it's like it doesn't even have a tempo lol

I kinda hate that stupid fucking poem.

There are definitely things here that probably sound like they'd fit on that Common album everyone hated

which one

last common album was dope fuiud

It's all a remake of The Wall, right?

Electric Circus?

yes

the musicianship here is a lot more thorough IMO

I never heard Electric Circus but I would assume there's spoken word poetry involved

man this whole thing *really* feels like a Quik vibe, surprised he's not on here tbh

it's been forever since i listened to electric circus but iirc it mostly fails bc common is the weakest link in it?

the last common album was dope yes

That's heaven to me

holy shit re: Complexion

What an amazing record. I don't have anything else insightful to say about it right now, except it feels like a record with dealing with imagination and politics in a way that would have seemed impossible in 2015. It also sounds great.

incidentally this record doesn't feel like a mess to me at all. every element of it seems very considered, it's just long and occasionally mercurial

the only song I'm eh on is "u."

that song is key to the whole shit

This album has so many peaks that any song is key.

everyone except any debbie downer otm

WHAT'S THE YAMS?!

The lyrics on How Much Does a Dollar Cost are so so bad, but the beat is one of the best on the record. But I'm out on the whole concept thing with this, I don't find it profound at all.

haven't had a chance to listen to this yet so i'm gonna play the whole album on my radio show tonight, fuck it

we won't tell

such an excellent thing to do imo