Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly |OT| It's The American Dream

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GKMC is a smart concept album digestible to the masses by retracing the same old hip hop themes that people accept.

TPAB is bold and gives no fucks about accessibility. Just an artist being an artist.

You'll come around.TPAB>>GKMC
 
wesley's theory - overture/overview
for free - before kendrick was famous. he wants to be famous. has a chip on his shoulder about it.
king kunta - kendrick has made it and is exactly the type of person the girl in for free would want (let's call her "lucy" ;p), hence the easy transition. since lucy is obviously not an actual girl this is where kendrick's relationship with lucy begins.
institutionalized - kendrick realizing that he still has evil inside of him
these walls - kendrick giving in to those evils
u - kendrick reaching rock bottom
alright - kendrick realizing that his relationship with lucy needs to end which also means starting one with god
for sale - kendrick sees through lucy at this point, hence lucy sounding ugly and sort of demonic ("waaannntt youuuuuu"). Kendrick also realizes that he was still immature in some ways after making it, hence sounding really clueless ("where's Ricardo?"). he essentially escaped one evil for another and seems ashamed that at least for a little bit he was smitten with her. we can assume kendrick's relationship with lucy is over at this point and he has once again accepted god.

so from momma on it's basically kendrick realizing that even though his relationship with lucy is over he still had a lot of shit to deal with and then eventually coming to i which serves as the realization of the album. kendrick is also trying to preach this message because in this instance his love interest for the album is someone we can all fall prey too.

(I'm gonna go to bed now haha, let it marinate. the narrative is stronger than gkmc in my opinion, the music plays a larger role. I dig that)
Somewhat this.

Momma was him going back to his city to show what he has learnt from fame just to find out that he himself hasn't learnt anything at all and is tainted by the lust and greed of fame.
 
GKMC is a smart concept album digestible to the masses by retracing the same old hip hop themes that people accept.

TPAB is bold and gives no fucks about accessibility. Just an artist being an artist.

You'll come around.TPAB>>GKMC

I'll just start saying this to people that don't like TPAB.
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People fail to realize that kendrick didn't want this album to be a GKMC. He wanted this album to be something unique and that's exactly what he did.
 
Listening to 'U' for the first time

First part:
kttcoliwow


Interlude painted such a vivid picture brehs, I could just see dude all messed up in a hotel early in the morning unable to open the door for the cleaning lady.

2nd part: ....
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Really? I can't stand u
How Much a Dollar Cost is probably the best track, and a top 5 kendrick song

Its an intense song. Shows kendrick's raw emotions and feelings towards himself and everything around him. Its a summary of the album's message in a way. I can understand why his delivery may be annoying for some people but he had to do that to get his message across.

Not banger material.

I'm glad to be honest. Not everything has to be a banger to be good. Same goes for 'turn up' music and beats.
 
Semi-related: Just found out this thing was released early. Is his Colbert song on there anywhere?

'Cuz that's the best song he's done, IMO.
 
I knew a guy named Ken who was amazing at the monkey bars at school. Is this what we are talking about?
 
Nah man, he barely getting started.

He's progressing.

Didn't enjoy Good Kidd Mad City too much, but he grew substantially with To Pimp a Butterfly.
 
In late 2012 I would have said he peaked with GKMC, there was nowhere else to go but down. Now I'm not going to doubt him. Dude is on another level.
 
I'm still not completely sure how I feel about this new album. good kid, m.A.A.d. City did a damn good job achieving being the "classic" album that it wanted to be, and makes for fierce competition. I really love this new album, though, and would definitely rank it above Section.80. There's just so much emotion that I feel coming out of it. But, at the same time, it has its iffy bits and it's difficult to find out what exactly it's trying to achieve because it kind of exists as its own thing. Still, damn, what a record.
 
Dude...the album just came out.

The train just getting started but I would say he's going in a good direction. Listening to his earlier stuff leading up to TPAB, Kendrick is on the path of becoming one of the most influential artists of all time.

but for now it's all baby steps...it's like asking "so did Nas peaked at It Was Written?".
 
I'm really digging this album. It's nothing like what I'd initially expected, but it's a great, cohesive experience from start to finish. I like the funk and jazz vibes of it, and I like how Kendrick is pushing himself so much as an artist, and how willing he is to challenge his fans and his listeners.

In terms of message, it's not super complicated. The short version of it is basically laid out in the poem that gradually expands over the course of the album. Kendrick is now successful. He's basically "made it". But what is he supposed to do next? Why is he the one who suddenly gets to be rich and powerful? What responsibility does he have, if any, to the community that raised him and the people he used to care for, and how can he help them in a way that will last, and avoid the ghetto trap that took Tupac's life before his time? This album is his story of trying to answer those questions. And the answers he finds are certainly ambitious.

I want to keep listening to this, because there are a few songs I haven't fully unpacked.
 
I'm glad to be honest. Not everything has to be a banger to be good. Same goes for 'turn up' music and beats.
Same. As someone who really enjoys a lot of stuff from the LA beat scene (like early Fly Lo stuff) there are parts of this album that I really, really enjoy. I mean, I enjoy the whole thing but at the same time I think you guys get what I mean. :p
 
"Definitely"? Nah. Once you accept TPAB for what it is and not what you want it to be, you can see how it's on a higher level than GKMC. GKMC has the more powerful single elements, but when you digest it all together TPAB ranks above GKMC IMO.

I do accept what TPAB for what it is and I don't care for it as much as I did for GKMC. Section 80. is better than both mixtape or nah.
 
Dude...the album just came out.

The train just getting started but I would say he's going in a good direction. Listening to his earlier stuff leading up to TPAB, Kendrick is on the path of becoming one of the most influential artists of all time.

but for now it's all baby steps...it's like asking "so did Nas peaked at It Was Written?".
Nah illmatic. Never even got close to it as a complete album. But it is the greatest album of all time so yeah.
 
I'm a fan, and I'm staying around, whatever he wants to put out.

Love this album, too early to say if it is best so far, and I hope it's not his peak, I don't think it is.

Hope Kendrick is a lifelong musician/writer/activist.
 
How can an album filled with such anger, anger directed towards himself, be called masturbatory?
I mean, if anything its a Pac dick riding project.
The album is literally Kendrick high on his own concepts. There's no subtlety to speak of. It's constantly bashing you over the head with it's own pretentiousness up until the very last conversation with tupac which becomes corny after the very first listen.
 
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