Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick is smart. He didn’t release with no notice, but he didn’t “accidentally” leak either. He just dropped his album a week early. This is why Kendrick plays in a league of his own.

The follow up to his 2012 good kid, m.A.A.d. city stands on its own. It’s a collection of songs that individually are good and are even better as a collection. You love each song more than the last and while they’re all very different, showcasing Kendrick’s versatility, they a story that connects them. Listening to it the entire way through, you can hear the tracks bleed into on another, stringing together as a cohesive collection. To Pimp A Butterfly is soulful and jazzy and really focuses on modernizing very classic piano and drum samples, while his vocals just illuminate on their own. The album completely sums up Kendrick Lamar. He plays off this old school hip-hop vibe, but it’s modern and rejuvenated. It’s a very laid back album but emotional and hard hitting and thought provoking in such an indescribable way. This album, of course, is one that should be listened to in full and digested and that process should be repeated multiple times before you can completely grasp the unique masterpiece Kendrick’s created.

Get lost in To Pimp A Butterfly here

Tracklist:

1. “Wesley’s Theory” (Feat. George Clinton & Thundercat)
2. “For Free? (Interlude)”
3. “King Kunta”
4. “Institutionalized” (Feat. Bilal, Anna Wise & Snoop Dogg)
5. “These Walls”
6. “U”
7. “Alright”
8. “For Sale? (Interlude)”
9. “Momma”
10. “Hood Politics”
11. “How Much A Dollar Cost” (Feat. James Fauntleroy & Ronald Isley)
12. “Complexion (A Zulu Love)” (Feat. Rapsody)
13. “The Blacker The Berry”
14. “You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Momma Said)”
15. “i”
16. “Mortal Man”