c’mon y’all; To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick (2015)
SIRUS
2,554 Posts
nitpicks aside, i'm really loving this. sounds very alt-LA. also like kendrick/ production team is utilizing the more jazzier/funkadelic side of Gfunk to bring it back in 015.
i'm on track 8 so far.
i'm on track 8 so far.
Comments
"It's like a ghetto opera"...
Ug.
I'm going to let the hype settle a bit before diving into the new album. I don't want the wack fandom to bleed into my own experience.
I only watched one minute and my eyes hurt and my brain is numb.
anyway, back to Kendrick. I'll just repeat verbatim what I texted to my homie this am because I think it's about as succinct as I can get - there's some songs I absolutely love. some not so much. not sure if the album "works". but I'm glad he made it, it's difficult and uncomfortable and that is very good for rap.
dude is pushing forward. considering that most of what we embrace at the moment is facing the opposite direction, that's big. fairly sure we will look back on this shit in 20 years as a milestone.. "Wesley's Theory" is fucking insane. K Dot channeling Suga Free on "King Kunta" is too ill. the sequence from "Momma" to "Hood Politics" to "How Much A Dollar Cost"? son. and "Blacker The Berry" hits way harder in the context of the album, even considering how hard it was on its own.
the middle drags a bit. the reappearing poem, the Pac interview... I dunno about those. but as I listen more, I'm starting to get why everything is what/where it is, so... I'll let it marinate
Yeah, I'm sure I have some really cringey shit in my back catalog, but nothing this bad, thank Jebus.
I bought it last night but haven't listened to it yet. I'll probably get to it next week--it seems like the sort of thing I should actually give a proper listen instead of just throwing it on in the background while I do other stuff.
Also, Jay Rock dropping soon (*hopefully*)
http://www.bet.com/news/music/2015/03/16/tde-president-jay-rock-s-new-album-is-coming.html
(Come back, Bassie!)
other than some small things; pac interview, poem, some of the "retro" background vocals,etc. the thing works. great production, technique.
have to wonder, why wasn't Quik on this?
dude can play that fucking bass.
deets --->
george clinton sounds amazing on wesley's theory. thundercat is a monster.
institutionalized and these walls are dope. tiiight production. snoop and, again, thundercat killing it.
i'm not always into kendrick's slam poetry joints (ayo). but the bit at the end of 'i' is hard. he's on top form here overall.
(is 'ayo' harmful or disprespectful in 2015?)
alright is incredible. pharrell stays relevant. has he collabo'd with sounwave before?
in general, the tde in-house team is top five dead or alive (or at least recently).
how much a dolla cost! who the fi-duck is lovedragon?? (respecfully speaking.) i'm a big fan now. isley brothers stay relevant.
i was lamenting the lack of scoop and dahi and some of the other producers from the last album, but the beats are generally great here.
taz arnold jernts are dope.
$$ASIDE$$
when i lived in LA, i was a big fan of seeing sa-ra perform. this is all time:
/$$ASIDE$$
still think there's too much of a post-milennial santana vibe on the chrous of 'i'.
but i think it's a great album. epic and majestic.
:slowburner:
also this:
Has Quik ever produced a Crip?
is kendrick a crip?
regardless, that's a good question!
I was expecting the Pac dialogue to be super-corny, but it really wasn't. In fact, speaking of Pac, I was thinking today about that famous interview where he said something like, "I may not change the world, but I'll spark the mind that changes the world." Seems to me that Kendrick is determined to be that mind, and he's really going for it. It's as if he's thought, "Well, they might never let me make another record like this", and he's gone charging through the door marked "AMBITIOUS".
I think I feel the same way about "i" as you do about Blacker The Berry. It really comes to life within the framework of the album, and it now feels like the anthem it was obviously intended to be all along. Craig Jenkins put it well in Pitchfork when he said it sounded "less like the jingle we heard last year and more like the beating heart of the matter." When it first came out, I began to worry that the future (or at least one possible future) for K Dot might be an hour or so of musically compromised rockcrit catnip every couple of years followed by an eternity spent being the go-to "Stuff White People Like" rapper, but now it sounds so fucking powerful and defiant and full of love. People like to talk about how new rappers aren't saying shit, but right now the simple matter of standing up and saying, "I'm black, I'm alive, fuck all y'all" is some Huey P. Newton shit.
That may be because there are hardly any rap threads on Soul Strut anymore, but still. Broader point stands.
Track 8 thru 16 = jeah
7/10
So far, so good for me. I'm a bit of a stan, so factor that into my comments. I love how so many people are saying, "I listened once...meh." As I said to a friend, it's probably good that you didn't love it on first listen. I'm wiling to bet that a lot of people didn't love "Good Kid M.a.a.d. City" end to end the first few listens, either. I know it took me some time to really get into it. And that's good. I've found that albums like "To Pimp" and "Good Kid" have a much higher repeat listenability factor. I loved 2Chainz's last album, but it's not even on my phone any more. And do not get it twisted: I'm old, but I'm not one of those bitter old dudes talmbout "Kendrick is gonna save rap." Rap's been just fine for a very long time.
My one grouse: the live version of "i." I'm really struggling as to why they'd put that on the LP instead of the studio version. I get that the end of the live version has that great banter, but still. I'll sit with it for a while and hopefully come around to his "vision" for that one.
I checked it out on your "recommendation". Yeeech.
okaaaaaay.
Funny thing is, a lot of the dudes who get actively involved in rap discussions on Waxi generally have solid taste, an interesting point of view or even both. But contrarianism is a helluva drug over there.
A man with more time to argue and less skin in the game might suggest that there is a racial aspect to that, considering the overwhelming whiteness of the board
Sounding like a mid 90s bill laswell produced pfunk jawn.
Ive really made the effort to get in to his stuff - only standout on MAAD city for me was Swimming Pools.
I just need more hi impact rapping and production from a rap record. Its too all over for me. Lack of spittage.
I dont have the patience for this.
Never been a big fan of the multi persona / voice mc (black elvis / matthew - kool keith never did it for me either).
Attempts at spanning too many genres dilutes imo. So nah.
Not bad, very ambitious in scope and production - but as a fan of rap I'm personally filing this under non essential - crossover.
The rest of the world can have fun with it though.