Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)

So for the record I'm loving this album but I still think the question of whether Kendrick's novelistic, allegory prone way of constructing his albums ultimately takes something away from his art is wort discussing. On the one hand, the artful construction obviously makes his work stand apart from his peers. 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. Also, the allegory/story arc here is in many ways very similar to the gkmc one, with tracks placed similarly: the youthful release of the early King Kunta mirroring the placing of Backseat Freestyle, the crisis points in the middle and the ending with Pac echoing the transcendence of Compton with Dre. The two albums are sonically different, but they're also very much alike - so much so that I'm wondering if this story arc/myth is what we'll have to expect even from upcoming albums. Your thoughts, please?

"why would somebody post this. like I can see how you might have the thought before you went "oh, right, that's a ridiculous way of thinking" but why would one actually say it where other people can read it."

i was just being flippant; plus sometimes its fun to make ridiculous predictions on what you see on paper/screen. but i want to listen to it - even if its not perfect, and god knows any political rap gets a much harsher reception than any other kinds of rap, so kudos to kendrick for being someone with such a high profile taking a chance to 'say something', even if how he says it might not be perfect. and if it makes people think about other more political rappers already out there, or just deem being engaged in that way is okay, then hey, good job (of course, i would love it if this were his nation of millions or whatever, but its okay if it isnt).

i find kendricks more literary approach a nice change from the usual first person POV of most rap, but at the same time, it does make it seem a bit distancing. i suppose thats why i was drawing parallels with prince among thieves - its sometimes like hes playing a role rather than really putting himself fully into the song, which can make it hard for you to really identify with it. but should prob wait to hear the album first lol.

xpost next album will be Tales from the Topographic Compton

lol

Listening on shuffle on the bus today helped a few more tracks stand out, and also emphasized the little intros/outros I'd love to hear expanded on (eg the "Momma" outro and whichever song has that Bill Withers-y instrumental opening). I like his sung hooks eg "You Ain't Gotta Lie" - he has an unusually good sense of what he can and can't pull off effectively as a vocalist imo

I sort of love how this entire album sounds like the buried backend of some other 78 minute album I couldn't make it through.

u really gotta put 1/1000th of the effort into tackling it that he did making it, at least

IAWTC which is why people publishing reviews of it less than 24 hours after they've heard it seems so genuinely stupid to me

like, this is clearly a complex work, nobody gives a shit about another "here's how I felt the first time I heard it!" reading, save that shit for music nobody's playing a year later. (threads on music boards are not what I'm talking abt btw, these & social media seem like good spaces for parsing real-time reactions, but "first look!" reviews...so pointless and gross imo)

what's that sample on "How Much a Dollar Cost?" it's totally David Axelrod right? I feel like I've heard it before but I can't place it

A lot of people have compared it to Radiohead's Pyramid Song.

xp wikipedia does not list any samples on that track

hmmm i swear that's axelrod but maybe i'm wrong

also who's does the dancehall hook on blacker the berry? no one is listed on the spotify tracklist

ok i guess i could fuckin google some guy named Assassin

also who's does the dancehall hook on blacker the berry? no one is listed on the spotify tracklist

― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, March 17, 2015 3:03 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

assassin - http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2015/03/12/392541701/assassin-raps-best-kept-secret

thx for the link lex

don't really dig the michael jackson child abuse apologist line :/

:/

kendrick has done plenty of wack and lame collaborations he just doesn't put them on his albums

― J0rdan S., Monday, March 16, 2015 4:31 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

scrapping the original "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" with Lady Gaga really feels like some kind of secretly massive turning point in the whole trajectory of GKMC and his career

― some dude, Monday, March 16, 2015 8:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol the interview i did with him in 2012 is like 30% about lady gaga :-/ http://pitchfork.com/features/update/8966-kendrick-lamar/

what's the Jackson line?

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?