Rapper Kendrick Lamar recently released his third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly, and Twitter blew up claiming that it was “fire” and “straight dope.”
Upon seeing the outbreak, I decided to check it out and voice my firsthand opinion.
It breaks the norm of what current rap and hip-hop was trending towards.
The “holy rap” raised by hip-hop royalty Jay-Z a la Magna Carta Holy Grail and Beyoncé’s Beyoncé, the kind of songs that make the foundation of Vine culture.
It breaks away from sounds like YG and Bobby Shmurda and reminisces on stylings from the 2005 College Dropout by Kanye West and the 2013 The 20/20 Experience from Justin Timberlake.
However, going beyond those two productions, Butterfly tells a cohesive story with constant reprises of a lengthy poem written by the rapper. The poem opens with just two lines and every song or two, a few more lines are added on.
This does tend to be obnoxious, but when it comes together in the finale, it boggles my mind even after multiple listens.
Taking each song as they come is like reading a random chapter out of a book, you find some understanding of the overall story, but you miss out on so much.
One minute he sits on a throne as “King Kunta” and another he falls into a drunken rant contemplating suicide.