To Pimp A Butterfly Review — beachboymusicreviews

To Pimp A Butterfly is the third album from Compton, California rapper, Kendrick Lamar. It’s approaching its 10 year anniversary, as it was released on March 15th, 2015. I feel that reviewing and re-listening to this album is appropriate now, because as of my writing of this, it’s the day before he performs the halftime show for Super Bowl 59. I reviewed GNX and it was a strong album, but Kendrick definitely has better in my opinion. Here are my thoughts.

I will start off by saying that this record is not your typical hip hop album. In what was a year full of amazing albums like Travis Scott’s first record, Rodeo, A$AP Rocky’s second album, At. Long. Last. A$AP, and Vince Staples’ debut, Summertime ’06, TPAB stands out sonically, lyrically, and thematically. It’s not psychedelic like Travis or Rocky’s albums were and it’s not going for a minimalist approach like Vince’s record. Rather, it combines the sounds of West Coast hip hop, jazz rap, Neo soul, and funk. “Wesley’s Theory,” is a groovy track primarily produced by multi-instrumentalist Flying Lotus that features psychedelic funk legend George Clinton, and bassist Thundercat. The lyrical themes are incredibly introspective as Kendrick dives into how he feels like he’s changed from being the voice of the ghetto, now that he’s successful and rich. I like that the refrain references the Rick James skit from Chappelle’s Show. After a super jazzy interlude in “For Free?”, with rapid fire self-critiques from Kendrick, we have the thumping G-Funk influenced track, “King Kunta.” The Kunta Kinte inspired lyrical themes create this cool dichotomy from Kendrick where he dives into the conflicts of feeling oppressed like a slave while also feeling like the king of hip-hop.

The lyrics on this album are some of the strongest that I’ve ever heard on a hip hop album, and the concepts dived into are timeless and have aged incredibly well. “Institutionalized,” which features Bilal, Anna Wise, and Snoop Dogg, dives into Kendrick’s feelings guilt of his soul being trapped into the ghetto, while he’s became rich and famous. He’s retrospectively looking at his old life, knowing that he’s escaped the poverty but still remembers the things he learned before he blew up. I really like Snoop’s narrative feature. “These Walls,” which features Bilal, Anna Wise, and Thundercat once again, is one of the most exquisite tracks instrumentally, with groovy guitars, bass riffs, and organs. The title of the track represents three things all of which Kendrick uses to tell his story. The walls of a woman’s vagina, the walls of a prison cell, and the walls of his conscience. The story is him talking about how he has sex with a woman who has kids with an imprisoned man who killed one of Kendrick’s friends. He sees it as payback but also feels immense guilt, hence he feels imprisoned by “these walls.” “U,” is an antithesis to the second to last track on this album, which I will dive into later, but this track serves as a scathing critique of Kendrick directed towards himself.

It’s one of his most emotionally intense songs, and the phases of production that the track goes through make it one of the most experimental sounding on the album. He himself said that this was one of the hardest tracks for him to record, and you can hear the pain in his voice. At times it’s hard to listen to. He hates himself for things like leaving Compton while his friends and family are stuck there for the rest of their lives. Two of Kendrick’s closest friends were murdered, and he feels shame because he feels like he abandoned them. “Alright,” is a stark difference from the previous track but serves as a great follow up, as it carries a powerful message, opposite from the last one. An amazing single that shows Kendrick finding confidence and love for himself that things will get better no matter how hard it is in the present moment. “We gon’ be alright.” In addition, it serves as a track that is uplifting to everyone, and was actually an anthem for those who protesting racial injustice and disproportionate police brutality towards black people. “For Sale?,” is another trippy sounding interlude where Kendrick further dives into the one of the recurrent figures in this album, Lucy, which is Lucifer on this album. He uses Lucy as a representative of sin and evil, trying to tempt Kendrick into getting in all of the negative aspects of hip-hop culture. “Momma,” is another track that serves a polar opposite to its previous track, as Kendrick discusses his love for hip hop and his resilience through his struggles and hardships. “Hood Politics,” continues the themes of survivor’s guilt delved into in the earlier tracks, as Kendrick talks about his trauma, the hypocrisy of the American government when it comes to gang violence (see the War on Drugs and police brutality), while basically being composed of their own gangs (see political parties). “They give us guns and drugs, call us thugs. Make it they promise to fuck with you.” This track easily has one of my favorite instrumentals on the album, which is saying a lot because I love all of the beats on this thing.

“How Much A Dollar Cost,” brilliantly covers the themes of selfishness and greed, making religious connections. Kendrick is asked for a dollar from a homeless man, he says no and gets angry as the man continues to hassle him, but finally the man reveals himself to be God and condemns Kendrick for his selfishness and greed preventinv him from giving him a dollar, and denying him entry to heaven. Ronald Isley and James Fauntleroy’s contributions are soulful and emotional and fit with the track’s central message very well. “Complexion (A Zulu Love),” featuring Rapsody, covers the themes of beauty standards and colorism in the black community, stating it doesn’t matter how light or dark someone is, they’re all equally deserving of love. “The Blacker the Berry,” has this foreboding guitar centered instrumental with hard hitting drums, and an absolutely powerful performance. He wrote it immediately after the murder of Trayvon Martin, speaking in all three of his verses from different perspectives that all unite into one. The first verse discusses Kendrick’s disgust with White America for dehumanizing black people, his anger with the prison industrial complex, and finally anger at his hypocrisy for being outraged about white on black murders, while not showing the same anger to black on black murders. I liked “You Ain’t Gotta Lie,” even though I don’t enjoy it as much as the rest of the album. “i” is what Kendrick considers to be the best song he’s ever written. I love the Isley Brothers sample instrumental as it serves a strong backdrop to a song centered around self-love, as he personally feels that growing up in Compton, that was incredibly lacking. Being able to love himself, when in his words “there’s a war outside,” and he feels deprived in self-confidence, he uses this self-love which is the polar opposite of “u,” to serve as him rising above the trauma and suffering he’s dove into on this record and tie it into themes of black pride. Finally, “Mortal Man,” discusses the theme of moral absolutism and criticizes celebrity worship.

There’s a reason this album is not only considered to be one of Kendrick’s best albums, but one of the best hip hop albums of all time. His introspective lyricism, social awareness, and wisdom illuminate these tracks. The jazzy, soulful production defies any genres, and it feels like vocally and instrumentally this record feels like multiple generations of different black artists speaking through Kendrick. The thematic content of TPAB is detailed and thorough and it still holds up all these years later. The features on this thing are fantastic, and Sounwave, Pharrell, and all of his other producers did a phenomenal job. This is the type of album you always come back to, and its legacy will last for centuries.