Review Summary: "Every n***** is a star"
This album really doesn't need another review, it’s sure to be the biggest circlejerk of the year, but there really is so much to be said about what an accomplishment this album is. People for years now have criticized a lot of modern hip-hop for lack of substance. Though I disagree with that label being applied to the genre as a whole, the amount of trashy pop-rappers has become a bit overwhelming. There needed to a fresh face to take the world by storm. Kendrick Lamar needed to happen. 2012's "Good Kid mAAd city" was a nearly perfect album that flirted with the storytelling and conscious social criticism style of many 1990's rappers. The album propelled Lamar to massive success and since has been hailed as one of the best in the genre ever. Since 2012, race issues have exploded back into the dinner time conversation in the United States with events like Ferguson and Baltimore, and "To Pimp A Butterfly" makes the criticism of modern racism on Kanye’s "Yeezus" seem like a middle school current event paper. If you just thought "racism doesn't exist anymore" in your head, you're exactly the reason Kendrick Lamar made this album instead of cashing in on club bangers.
I never expected to give an album a perfect score so soon after it’s release, but “To Pimp A Butterfly” overall quality exemplifies signs of being significant to music on a long term scale. From its opening moments, the opening track “Wesley’s Theory” proudly rings with a sample saying “every n***** is a star”. The use of the word is used to much of the same shock factor that “maybe I’m f***** America” did on Green Day’s political magnum opus “American Idiot” . The word is turned on it’s head, to heave forward really a giant celebration of black american culture. Whether it be paying tribute to traditionally black music genres such as soul, jazz, funk, r&b and of course, hip-hop, or explaining how the Ethiopian word “negus” means “king”.
Kendrick’s lyrics are absolutely phenomenal. His words on “The Blacker the Berry” are just as aggressive and as hard hitting as “Straight Outta Compton” was back in the day. He starts by rattling off all these black stereotypes, responding to them tauntingly to the people who believe in them by saying, “I’m as black as the heart of an Aryan”. He continues on with how prison sentences for petty crimes in a significant portion of the black community is plaguing the the US. Throughout the song, he repeats “i’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015”, but never ceases to turn his anger away from others. Suddenly, something changes. He tells us why he’s the biggest hypocrite of 2015, by uttering “So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street? / When gang banging killed a n*gga blacker than me?”. He’s telling us that while he believes while unjust white on black murders are horrible, black on black murders are just as bad, and it’s hypocrisy.
While it’s lyrics are the biggest strength, the production is incredible as well. Dr. Dre again proves why he’s one of the greatest producers in the game with his samples and jazz inspired back tracks. “I” is a fun ride that works as a great rap-rock song. “These Walls” is totally a throwback to 90’s g-funk and r&b. The cameos are also a nice touch, with guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers, and most notably, a previous recorded interview from Tupac Shakur. In the interview, Kendrick builds questions to “ask” Tupac and his wisdom sounds shockingly relevant to the current events in the United States.
Completing the album, is a poem read aloud by Lamar that explains the meaning of the album’s title, and makes the title sound much clever and smart than it sounds on first thought. Overall, “To Pimp The Butterfly” is a game changer that came at exactly the right time. I might be jumping the gun with the perfect score, but I’m not the only one, (the album has an average critic score of 97%. Which is ***ing ridiculous).
