Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)

re: the last post & Raymond's post before it I think it's not a stretch to suggest that he's working in a layered meaning, that what DJP is describing is the real source tension but that it manifests itself in ways like KDot vs. his audience particularly, or KDot vs his neighborhood, etc ... like it doesn't have to be a concrete symbolic translation

sure! that's art!

so no one's gonna explain the yams thing to me

― Οὖτις, Thursday, March 26, 2015 2:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think Yams is the dead guy from the Aesop crew

cover of the album should have been something like...

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001846587/942494372_InkBlot2_xlarge.gif

woah...come to think of it, why don't people have ink blot covers more often?

http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/d4949f2c-f263-4b29-8c76-6131cc231f9e/1b2e18a4-2778-45ec-9b4d-1bc651889137_560_420.jpg

that last one is obviously batman coming out of my mom's head...

your mom is The Joker?

OK so after a lot of listening, current thoughts (which will keep changing as I listen more). Love this album. And contra my early comments about not-enough-fun, I think it's a lot of fun to listen to, it's just a different kind of fun (i.e. not pop-rush fun, though it has some of that -- more the fun of watching/listening to a virtuoso who can do so damn many things). I'm most ambivalent about the Devil and God tracks -- I don't really need to hear the narrative to "How Much a Dollar Cost" anymore, but would love to have the instrumental track. I love "Mortal Man," but I turn it off once the music stops.

I love "Mortal Man," but I turn it off once the music stops.

This is a mark of sanity IMO

Also, totally agree with above comments about the instant-classicness of "King Kunta." It's an all-time jam.

"Mortal Man" need be listened to just once.

The musical portion of "Mortal Man" is fantastic, though. And honestly, the 2Pac conversation is pretty easy to ignore if you're on the train reading Facebook.

basically any spoken word parts of almost any musical album can be skipped after a second listening if not sooner

The poem couplets sprinkled throughout the rest of the album and the "negus" poem at the end of "i" are great IMO

i can cope with the mellifluity of the throughline poem just fine but i've taken "i" (revised or otherwise) out of play

Yeah, I dig "Mortal Man" minus Pac. And I think the poem actually works really well, even though it's the most self-consciously "This Is Art Do You Get It" thing on the album. It helps that it's short.

By poem, I mean the through-poem. The "Negus" poem is good too, even though it kinda makes me go ...

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/014/033/knowing.jpg

we need more words like "mellifluity" in this thread

after sitting with this all week, im now at the point where i wish the beats were maybe more interesting in places, and less like the kind of stuff i would have heard on an old common album (more LWFC than EC i think).

at the risk of further yamsplaining, an issue with kendrick's "negus" poem is that it's not really etymologically accurate.
"Nigger" is a fucked up word with an appropriately fucked up history; the roots are murky but tend to be directly attributed to the matter-of-fact Latin "niger", French "negro" or Spanish "negre": black.
Here's an excerpt from Randall Kennedy's brisk and readable book on the subject:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/nigger.htm
That said, Kendrick's point here obviously is one of reclamation, which is an idea that was old when Dick Gregory floated it in the '60's.
I'm wary of hearing K's take spouted as gospel by both lazy kids and racist apologists and the resultant blowback tainting the album.

hopefully this doesnt sound reductive, but i feel like this album is more interesting/important for the form, the technique, and the sheer writerliness of kendrick than the actual points being made - if youve been listening to rap/R&B for longer than 10 years, you are prob familiar with most of the concepts and ideas on the album regarding black politics/race. he def avoids black power cliches, but im not sure theres that many new ideas being proposed either. though as someone who liked git up git out, i feel like some of his comments about taking responsibility are not necessarily victim-blaming, more just recognition that always assigning power to someone else diminishes your own.

the negus thing is something i keep thinking i heard tupac say, though i might just be imagining that.

I don't think he's trying to claim the n word is literally derived from 'negus'.

I don't think so, either.

i don't either, hence "Kendrick's point here obviously is one of reclamation" but it certainly can (and i'd argue, inevitably will) be read that way:
"The history books overlooked the word and hide it / America tried to make it to a house divided / The homies don't recognize we be using it wrong"

yeesh guys the pac interview isn't that bad

xp then why the concern trolling?

xp

It's not that bad, but how many times do you want to listen to any interview, real or imaginary? The first time through, Kendrick's whole "our only hope is music" thing resonated, because he'd just spent 70-odd minutes proving it. But point made, I'd rather hear it demonstrated than articulated.

xp, "I'm wary of hearing K's take spouted as gospel by both lazy kids and racist apologists and the resultant blowback tainting the album"; if voicing a concern of a reasonable reading of the lyrics is concern trolling then i'm concern trolling i suppose. I was mostly responding/understanding tipsy mothra's "the more you know" star banner response as being a "oh that's where that word comes from" interp.

but how many times do you want to listen to any interview, real or imaginary?

my name is giovanni giorgio, but you can call me.... giorgio

I usually let the Pac interview run out when I'm listening to the album in full, skip it if I just want to hear Mortal Man by itself. That's usually my guiding principle when listening to rap albums with these interludes.

the negus thing is something i keep thinking i heard tupac say, though i might just be imagining that.

KRS-One no? He's brought it up in several discussions on rap.

didn't think albums like this were made anymore. it's great that its so popular.

If he knew how to write a hook/have even mildly insightful something to say other than pussy/money/his dick/ maybe his rapping skills could be put to some use. Usually his production is solid enough. The Art of Peer Pressure was pretty good, more focused. But he doesn't have enough verbal dexterity or technique to pull off his cliched lyrics.

― Raccoon Tanuki, Wednesday, September 24, 2014 3:52 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that was the last album?

and you're the only person in the world who thought that album had nothing to say "other than pussy/money/his dick/ maybe his rapping skills"

I think he struggles a bit as an MC, he's a bit forced and unnatural,-Artic in part re this album upthread

So last album he had rapping skills, but on this one he struggles?

did we ever find out the age of this british travis scott-worshipping self-appointed rap expert who can never seem to keep his own opinions straight? he can't be older than 19, can he?

Album largely reminding me of Stankonia, slowed down. I talked about the production team being like Outkast's and the sound is too.

arctic noon bot

Why do you even entertain this clown

Huh who knew raccoons could jump on bandwagons

Rabies is a hell of a disease

http://media.giphy.com/media/78TcarPiOFxQc/giphy.gif

https://33.media.tumblr.com/65367190261af8537935d99cdc92c78a/tumblr_mhffsoM7wt1s2yegdo1_500.gif

http://theaterfornerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Night-of-the-Auk-Fringe-review-002.jpg

You could replace virtually every Tanuki challop with the 'Get A Brain, Morans' guy and we would have lost nothing in the process.

I agree with every positive and negative comment made, regarding this album.

album getting same sort
of white audience
reaction
as Stankonia

You could replace virtually every Tanuki challop with the 'Get A Brain, Morans' guy and we would have lost nothing in the process.

― Matt DC, Sunday, March 29, 2015 8:16 AM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

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