MB Classics: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
 

Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly

https://ih0.redbubble.net/image.2191...8f8.lite-1.jpg

Your vote only counts if you say something about the album. It doesn't need to be a paragraph, just a couple sentences about the album.

Also, I'll ask mods to delete Votes this time. Just a couple of sentences. That's all.

No poll

I gave it a 6 out of 10 because it's above average and has some decent tracks.

Overrated because it's Kendrick and he talks about 'race issues'.

8

I’m not going to pretend like it’s not a quality hip hop record. I just think there’s something conservative and watered down about this album that keeps it from living up to it’s potential. Like a college chick who never gets drunk and slutty.

I'm not a hip hop fan generally but I was pleasantly surprised and gave it a 7. Watch out now because it must be snowing in Hell. I actually like something Frownie repped :laughing:

GKMC is better than it btw.

Now that is a good album.

a juicy 9’er

i think hip hop albums will have the toughest time joining the club because we have a lot of members here who don’t like the genre and will rate it poorly bc of it.

anyway, on the topic of the album it is immense. i agree that Kendrick has made tracks better than anything on this album, but as cohesive conceptual piece it is unlike nearly anything made in the last 10 years around hip-hop.

Pre-Listen:

I am suspicious of this album because of the vast amount of hype it's been given. I find that the more people talk something up, the more disappointed I tend to be when I actually experience it for myself. I mean, I like Kendrick Lamar, I liked DAMN, but I'm having a hard time understanding why he's so widely acclaimed. I mean it's not like he isn't good, it's just that his reputation is more than I think anyone can live up to. Anyways, this one is supposed to be his seminal work so I'm at least hopeful I will like it.

First Pass:

Wesley's Theory is a really great start. It's kind of awkward, kind of woozy, and there's a lot to admire musically. Kind of sounds more like an Ariel Pink song than Kendrick Lamar, but I like that. Music is always front and center for me; lyrics come much later. Never been a big fan of interludes. More often than not they're just wasted space, but For Free? has its merits nonetheless. King Kunta is rock solid too. I appreciate the variety in timbres he uses from song to song and the way the track builds is pretty great. These Walls starts out with a woman giving birth, but nevertheless becomes a very nice R&B neo-soul diddy. Hood Politics is the album's low point. Honestly, it's a little annoying, but it's nothing unforgivable, and it picks right back up with How Much a Dollar Cost, which is so smooth. Musically, it sounds like it came off of Amnesiac. The Blacker the Berry and I are a nice change in attitude towards the end.

Conclusion:

It took me about 5 hours to actually listen to the whole thing but that's because there's a 90 Day Fiance marathon on and it's a holiday tradition for my mother and I to binge watch trash TV.

Album on the whole is really varied, but consistent. I think I prefer this to DAMN. and it's definitely worth hanging on to. Even so, I'm not sure I understand why everyone and their dog has a boner for Kendrick Lamar--if someone wants to explain to me what he does differently that is so important to music and to hip hop, I am interested to hear it. Is he very good? Yes. Did my face melt and my understanding of the universe crack in half? No it did not.

In sum: 7/10 and I'm going to include it in my ongoing guide to hip hop for people who think they hate hip hop.

Used to love the **** out of this album, but it has not aged well at all. Every time I go back to it can barely listen to 3 songs before getting bored out of my mind and having to turn on something better. You could say the fact I don't really listen to hip-hop anymore might have something to do with this, but seeing as Flower Boy and Saturation II are two of my favorite albums of 2017 I don't think that this is the case. Going back the message seems entirely ham fisted and forced and the rapping is good at best. The beats are phenomenal in texture, but unfortunately never quite exit the "smooth" minutia of the album leaving it feeling underwhelming and bland.

5/10

*cough*

Tyler is layered in interesting ambiguity and as a result far more compelling so go get cough drop son.

The jazzy production hits all the right notes for me and I consider tracks like Wesley's Theory, King Kunta, and Blacker the Berry to be essential Kendrick material. I respect and even agree with the concept but it bogs it down as a listen tbh. 7/10

Nah.

This album is truly representative of a time, and yet not representative of a time at all. It's very strange like that. Anyway, while I can't say I agree with all of the philosophical concepts on this record, it is just such a raw dump of emotive rapping (especially the second side) that to enjoy this album is pretty much inescapable. Personally, it's not an album that goes above and beyond to a higher echelon, because there are tracks on this album that to me just don't fit with the rest. But overall, this is quite a fantastic album, especially if you just sit down and listen to the lyrics and the music. 9/10 for me.

What part of Flower Boy is ham fisted lmao

Some great tracks but I either disliked or was completely bored by about half of it.

6

"Blacker the Berry" is a solid track. The rest of the album is good but not great. 6/10.

Tried getting into it several times. Left no impression whatsoever. 5/10

Current average: 6.72

This is the third straight one of these that was really a no-brainer, 10/10. If it's not the fact that Kendrick is reciting a poem throughout, culminating in the interview he has with Tupac, the fact that it's so abstract for an album that was so popular and sold so well, or just the jazzy production in general, it's that it's just fun and easy to listen to. I love this album, and I think it's his best work to date, though DAMN. and GKMC are both growing on me.

Not being smart, but is there a "How" in the title? Is it not just To Pimp a Butterfly?

Didn't notice, but it is To Pimp A Butterfly.

Even if I loved this album I still couldn't give it a ten because of that retarded 'interview' at the end.

Also the video version of I would have been better so that's another problem.

Some of the beats are nice, I see people's points about that and why they like it because I agree. But there are too many faults with this, and some annoying bits, for it to get a great mark from me.

Just my opinion.

You voted 5 in the poll l0l

So can anyone tell me what's so great about Kendrick Lamar? Cuz these comments are kind of backing my theory that he's good, but dramatically overrated.

As a rapper, his voice is different and works well. As a lyricist, the way he approaches conscious rap is very unique with how he uses the production to add to his themes and such. Still very overrated, but a unique voice regardless.

When you say "voice", is that literal or figurative (as in, what he has to say)?

Can someone give me an example of how he uses production to express a theme?

I'm new to hip hop. All I know about it is that I either like it, or don't, but I'm trying to learn more about it. Bear with me, people.

We don't allow bears in here. You'll have to tie it up outside if you want to come in.

I mean his literal voice and inflection.

The interaction with the crowd on I is a good example.

He's decent, good flow, good lyrics and has put out solid tracks and albums that have been able to cross over. The fact that he can cross over and please the pop fans but is also quite a good MC means people are gonna overreact imo.

Have you heard GKMC?

No, but I've heard DAMN and the first one and they ranged from okay to solid.

By the first one do you mean Section.80 or Overly Dedicated? OD is his best imo.

Damn though, that's a crap record outside of a couple of tracks.

Coming up:

How to Have and Have Not

How to Catch a Thief

How to Kill a Mockingbird

Lol. Can a mod fix the title please?

I'm sure there's a Wiki how-to somewhere for all of those, as well as the best way to pimp your butterfly. :laughing:

This was very, very hard for me to get through. It's been a long time since I've had to listen to an album that I found so tedious and generally disagreeable. This album feels long. Very, very long.

I don't really see how this Kendrick fella is any good at rapping, but then, I'm a complete hip-hop philistine.

The music is generally pretty detailed and well produced, but mostly also shops around a bunch of clichés that I've heard better treated elsewhere.

On top of all that, I feel like this album is so heavily inteded as being by and for African Americans that me and my Sacandinavian white boy ass has no chance of feeling like it speaks to me on any level.

Sorry. I pretty much hated this album.

3/10 - because it is evidently well produced and apparently some kind of classic or whatever. I still remember how inescapable this thing was back in 2015.

I couldn't get into this album. I like some of the music and beats, and how it switched up. It had minimal drum machine beats, a lot of Soul and smooth Jazz samples, so in theory I should like it. But despite the things I like, there are a few others I dislike and couldn't get into the album.

so far ...

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
...
Kind of Blue
To Pimp A Butterfly
When the String Pops

You rated Acid Bath higher than you rated Kendrick Lamar.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was the game changer.

damn Vwls, a 1?

Am I seeing things or is Ziggy the only album not to receive a one so far?