By Taylor Drake
The evils of Lucy manipulate the hatred and wicked desires within us,
An internal struggle,
Leading to hatred of people we never met before,
The same reason guilt isn’t a part of killing a mockingbird,
Is the reason no tears are shed when you pimp a butterfly.
On Mar.16 Compton MC, Kendrick Lamar released his long awaited third album, “To Pimp a Butterfly”, a week early.
Kendrick Lamar came into the spotlight not too long ago, with his fourth mixtape “Overly Dedicated” (2010), a year later he gained even more acclaim with the release of his debut album “Section 80”, Kendrick then blew to stardom with his second album “good kid m.A.A.d city” (2012), an album considered a future classic, but lost to Macklemore for the 2013 Grammy awards. Recently Kendrick received two Grammies for his single “I” and released another single called “Blacker the Berry” after the win. His new album, “To Pimp a Butterfly” was supposed to have been released on the Mar.23 but popped up on the 16th, and boy is it different.
On June 23, 2014 Kendrick said in an interview with 93.7 The Beat in Huston that he was not going to follow trends. Damn was he not joking!
The album is filled with all types of funk and jazz or an influence of such on a rhythmically altered soundscape.
The only wack part was on the song “Momma”, when you hear some guy say, “Oh shit, I need that sloppy…” what does a BJ have to do with your mom… never mind I don’t want to know.
The first track, “Wesley’s Theory”, Featuring George Clinton and Thundercat, gently introduces itself with a sample from the Boris Gardiner record “Every Nigger is A Star” using the hook of the same as the title. Then the mother ship drops down and lures you in with fluent funk instrumentation, the base lives in this purple riptide of groove, this groove is enveloped in a medley of synthesizers and a steady drumbeat.
Incorporating the element of comedy that funk can give you (Funk It up). The first thing you hear from Kendrick is.
"At first, I did love you, But now I just wanna fuck, Late nights thinkin' of you, Until I got my nut..."
You have George Clinton repeating the last words of the 2nd and 4th line during 2:36-2:44.
Then you have Thundercat semi quoting Dave Chappelle from the Rick James sketch from the Chappelle Show saying in the pre-hook.
"We should never gave, we should never gave, Niggas money, go back home, money go back home."
The most visible jazz oriented track “For Free? (Interlude)”, the song uses a fast tempo that uses an emphasis of slide base when Kendrick is reciting this scatting/jazz poem inspired rap about how the woman on the song mistreats him.
The messages on this album are tremendous and well hidden with metaphor and song presentation. The themes involve things like Black pride, the pitfalls of fame, and racism.
Some of the most impressive tracks that you can come across on this album would be “Institutionalized”, the story of Kendrick’s friend who is caught in the crossroads of coming from the streets and being used to living like a goon, to being around red carpet events and upscale venues where he sees all these people with Rolexes and designer clothes. He is now tempted to do his hood stuff in that setting.
“How Much a Dollar Cost”, Kendrick has a bad exchange with a homeless man, he refused to give him a dollar at a gas station, even though he is a rich man. The end of the record sent a chill down my spine when the retch reveals,
"Know the truth, it'll set you free, You're lookin' at the Messiah, the son of Jehovah, the higher power, The choir that spoke the word, the Holy Spirit, the nerve, Of Nazareth, and I'll tell you just how much a dollar cost, The price of having a spot in Heaven, embrace your loss, I am God."
The feature list on this record is pretty impressive. there are mostly singing features, two from legends of music;
George Clinton did an intro and outro on “Wesley’s Theory”, giving a space age intro to the album and a theme to the song at the end. Ronald Isley, gives a great outro to “What Does A Dollar Cost”, summing up the record perfectly. Bilal ,Anna Wise and James Fauntleroy do great jobs with singing on tracks through out the album. There are only two rap features; Snoop Dogg, did a great intro and outro on “Institutionalized” telling the story of Kendrick’s friend. But the Snoop feature wasn’t exactly a 16 bar rhyme, but Rapsody did a great hot 16 on “Complexion”.
But the most interesting aspect of the album is the poem called “Another Nigga”, which is used as a device to drive the album forward and give theme to specific songs with each continuation of the poem. As you hear the poem being said, you wonder, “What is this leading to?” the answer is presented when the song “Mortal Man” reaches its last minutes.
Kendrick reads the whole poem and we find out that he’s been reading it aloud to 2pac. Kendrick then interviews 2pac, this interview is scary, it feels like 2pac is sitting there speaking to him and the answers that 2pac gives are shocking, being that they apply to recent events, even though he’s been dead for 19 years.
Kendrick: “…you spoke on the ground. What you mean by that, what the ground represent?”
2pac: “… the ground is the symbol for the poor people, the poor people is goanna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people. Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetizing… you know what I’m saying…”
Kendrick: “… I can truly tell you that there’s nothing but turmoil goin’ on so I wanted to ask you what you think is the future for me and my generation today?”
2pac: “I think that niggas is tired of grabbin’ shit out the stores and next time it’s a riot there’s gonna be,like, ah, bloodshed for real. I don’t think America know that. I think American think we was just playing and it’s gonna be some more playing but it ain’t gonna be no playing. It’s gonna be murder, you know what I’m saying, it’s gonna be like Nat Turner, 1831, up in this muthafucka. You know what I’m saying, it’s gonna happen.”
To Pimp a Butterfly gets 9 quotes from the Massey lectures(Martin Luther King) out of 10 Ballot or the Bullet audio clips (Malcolm X). We can have some freedom or some bullshit.