The Greatest Album of All-Time?
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly”, is it the best of all-time? (Written sometime before “untitled unmastered” was released, do not have a specific date)
Obviously you guys are no strangers to Kendrick Lamar and his work. The West Coast rapper who perked up ears with his first project: “Section .80”, then took the world of hip-hop by storm with “good kid, m.A.A.d. city”. The album was met with praise that could be any artist’s (of any platform) nightmare. Kendrick was dubbed “THE NEXT 2PAC!”, “THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME”, “HIP HOP’S STRONGEST ARTIST”.
That kind of praise, while it seems nice and exciting, also has the potential to bring a lot of disappointment. I can’t help but feel like Kendrick was pressured into a box with this praise, as many artists would be and have been. When dropping an album that is being hailed as the “saving grace” of modern music, that does nothing but pressure your next project.
I discovered “gkmc” in late 2014. I instantly became a huge fan of the album, but not only did I really love the music, I closely followed the reviews for the album and people’s opinion of it. Not because I care what other people think, but simply because I recognized that Kendrick was going to drop something new soon and I was curious what direction he would go in.
Would he bring something new? Considering “gkmc” was milestones different from “Section .80”, I didn’t think it was unlikely. Would he continue the same style? The trendier beats, the homage to 90s “golden age” hip-hop, the radio-friendly but critic friendly and artsy conceptual style. Most importantly, would Kendrick live up to the hype and expectations with his next project?
It can’t be easy to follow up an album as bold as “gkmc”, and if you asked anyone around that time what they thought Kendrick’s then-unknown follow up would be like, I’m willing to bet most people assumed that it was not going to be as good as his previous works. I don’t want to say “TPAB” was written off before its release considering people were salivating at the lips for Kendrick’s next project, but in a way, it kind of was by many people.
Following up such a massive album is tough. First off, if new albums have taught us anything, it’s time is not on your side. If you take more than a few years, people lose their minds (shout out all of the people in the Frank Ocean subreddit), and if you drop it too quickly, there’s the potential of it being rushed. And secondly, if you keep your sound that made you so popular, many will consider you a “one trick pony”, but if you change your sound, you have the potential to alienate your fanbase. It’s a no-win situation usually.
By the time “i” dropped, people were cringing in fear. “Kendrick is now a pop artist now” and “sellout” were just some of the responses that people who heard the song had. I personally had no problem with the track. I dug the message and I love both Kendrick and The Isley Brothers, so it was a win-win for me. But admittedly, it was not a good first single, especially considering this cut of the track didn’t make it onto the record anyways.
So, in terms of response, sure the track got praise from some, but ultimately the hip-hop community put their guards up towards it. Because how dare an artist who has made uplifting and positive tracks before make another one but with poppier production, am I right?
But… People quickly got their stuff together by the time “The Blacker The Berry” came around. I remember the first time hearing this track and I’ll never forget it. I FELT Kendrick’s message. I FELT his passion. As much as I hate to say the overused “it gave me chills” phrase, it really did give me chills, and yes I was a white kid in high school, but that is not important. Kendrick was spitting viciously over very dark sounding production and a pounding boom-bap rhythm, up until that point none of us had ever heard Kendrick sound so passionate and animalistic. He spit pure soul into the microphone and held nothing back, all of his emotions, beauty, and power are on that track alone and you don’t have to look hard to find them, his anger is in your face and pounding your eardrums with no remorse.
I know the intent of this single wasn’t to say “F you” to the “i” critics, because the message of the track is way bigger and more powerful than playing petty games with haters, but in a way it did. Everyone who thought Kendrick went soft had no choice but to pack their bags and move out because he swept their platform right from underneath their feet. And they didn’t see it coming.
This left Kendrick fans like myself in a place where we still didn’t know what direction he would take on his next project because of the diversity between “i”, a much more soulful, poppy, positive track and “The Blacker The Berry”, a grittier, harsher track. But we at least knew that the album would not be “good kid, m.A.A.d city 2: The Rehash”.
Rather than being a kind of a modern hip-hop record inspired by 90s artists like “gkmc”, “TPAB” has an obvious 1970s inspiration, but stays true to its hip-hop roots. Funk, soul and jazz are at the forefronts here but sculpted into a hip-hop structure. I guess something that is so admirable about “TPAB” is that it pays homage to “black” music of all ranges, but brings new ideas to the table at the same time.
Rather than Kendrick just being content with being passed the torch from the West Coast legends of the 90s, he looks deeper than that with influences from Miles Davis, Funkadelic and artists like Marvin Gaye, D’Angelo and Sly & The Family Stone.
Sure, you could praise this record for being so different from where the rest of hip-hop is at, or praise it for its message, but I think the strongest thing about the album is its story.
While not as obvious as the story that was told on “gkmc”, it’s more thought-provoking and serves itself almost like a TV show, where you have to watch every episode from start to finish and follow the plot closely to get the big “pay off” at the end of the season. There’s the main plot, and multiple subplots that all correlate into the big ending. “gkmc” was the film, and “tpab” was the HBO drama series.
I could take the usual route I take in my reviews by going in depth with every track, but honestly, I don’t think that’s necessary. The bigger picture is what I’m going to focus on here. And since this is one of the few records I find flawless or perfect, it would defeat the purpose of my review to just sit around and kiss each track’s butt. The bigger picture here is the concept.
“TPAB” has been repeatedly compared to “What’s Going On?” by Marvin Gaye. And while that is the ultimate, all-time concept record, I think calling “To Pimp A Butterfly” the “modern What’s Going On?” cheapens the impact. It cheapens it for multiple reasons, but the main reason being that “TPAB” is a record all on its own and separated from any concept album or another studio album because of its originality and way of telling its story.
“Wesley’s Theory” and “For Free?” are the opening tracks that serve as a fantastic introduction for the album. They give a good taste of what the record is all about, but the story or concept doesn’t really pick up until the end of “King Kunta” with the opening line of Kendrick’s ongoing poem. “I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence, some times I did the same”
I feel the story begins with “Institutionalized” and expands even further with “These Walls”, “u” and the following tracks. The ongoing poem on the album gets longer with each recitement at the beginning or end of the following tracks and gives the record a big level of excitement with it. You’re wondering what the poem is all about, and you start putting pieces together with the lyrics on the tracks compared to the poem and what the deeper meaning is, and then when “Mortal Man” comes around, you finally get it, but at the same time, you have to think about it deeply. Kendrick Lamar is reciting the poem, “Another N*gga” to 2Pac, revealing multiple things about himself and seeking some sort of advice or consolation from his idol.
He’s unsure of his influence, he’s guilty about being a powerful man while people in his hometown are at war, he’s overwhelmed with guilt and depression. But mainly, he wants to unify the black community but is unsure if he’s just another rapper or Mortal Man so to speak. Not only does it flow well as a poem on its own, but given the context of the record, it properly gives room to the tracks on the album to expand on what he’s saying. It’s powerful what he’s saying, but it doesn’t end there, it gets even deeper.
2Pac and Kendrick go back and forth, 2Pac seems to be answering all of Kendrick’s questions, but when Kendrick comes around to explain the “To Pimp A Butterly” title concept and ask what 2Pac’s perspective is… 2Pac disappears. It’s confusing on first listen, but when I was thinking about it and taking a look at Genius’ interpretation of the ending… It all starts to unfold.
Quote from Genius: “After explaining the album title, concepts, and interconnecting layers, Kendrick asks Pac on his thoughts.
“Because the spirits, we ain’t even rappin’, we just letting our dead homies tell stories for us” Were the last words 2Pac spoke to Kendrick. This explains why we don’t hear Pac’s perspective because it is Pac, living through Kendrick’s music. Lamar has previously mentioned dreaming of Pac and recalling his words: “Keep doing what you doing, don’t let my music die”’
Reading this brought a new outlook to the ending for me. While the ending lets the listeners create their own perspective to Kendrick’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”, it’s obvious Kendrick feels an obligation to pick up where 2Pac left off. He’s just a man who wants to inspire his community, but knows he’s only mortal, and could just be “Another N*gga”.
It’s a powerful realization that Kendrick makes along with the listeners, that saving communities and helping the world is no easy task for just a man, it’s nearly impossible, and no matter how hard you try to help, it’s easy to feel unsure of yourself and feel like you’re just another guy doing what others before have tried to do repeatedly. Those people have died out, and what they were fighting against still happens daily, so why should you even try?
That message alone can be seen as pessimistic and hopeless for it grounds this album in dark realism, but to me, it’s actually pretty uplifting. Kendrick Lamar knows he’ll be dead someday and knows he very well may fail in his attempts to make the world a better place, but hopes we (the listeners) can pick up where he left off and try to do our best, just like he’s doing for 2Pac.
Maybe I’m off basis, maybe I’m wrong about the ending, but I think what makes “TPAB” so powerful is that it doesn’t rely on preaching, Kendrick lets the listeners make their own ending and choose where we take the album and what it means to us personally. Believe it or not, how listeners interpret this album means a lot more than some might think. Will we try and help our community and the world we live in or give up simply because it’s a daunting task and we are just fragile human beings in the end? Kendrick Lamar and 2Pac don’t answer this question, for we must find the answer ourselves. Are we the caterpillar or are we the butterfly?
Going back to earlier in my review, Kendrick answered all the questions we had about the project before its release in amazing fashion. He created a sound and message totally different from “gkmc”, and it earned him more acclaim than ever. Sure, we are all questioning what route Kendrick will take next like we were after “gkmc”, but I’m not worried about it personally. After seeing how Kendrick responded to an album like “gkmc”, I think Kendrick will knock it out of the park, even if “TPAB” is a hard album to follow up.
Overall, this album is amazing. I know I didn’t really explain the music much, but I think there’s a deeper message to this album than what lies on the surface of our ears and what we’re hearing. I could go on for days about how the bass playing on “Wesley’s Theory” is impeccable, or how “These Walls” is one of the greatest songs ever, but I wouldn’t be doing the album justice. The focus here is the story that Kendrick is trying to tell and how we all interpret it.
