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Aug 30, 2015Matt_07_1998 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar released his third studio album "To Pimp A Butterfly" on March 15 2015. However Kendrick Lamar stated in an interview with Rollingstone magazine "Tu Pimp a Caterpillar was the original name and they (Dead End Hip Hop) caught it because the abbreviation was Tupac, Tu-P-A-C. Me changing it to Butterfly, I just really wanted to show the brightness of life and the word 'pimp' has so much aggression, and that represents several things. For me, it represents using my celebrity for good. Another reason is, not being pimped by the industry through my celebrity." Although the original intention of utilizing the title to spell out T-U-P-A-C was slightly changed, the legend's presence is far from non-existent in this album; that's all I'm going to say without trying to spoil it. Unlike Kendrick's past extremely successful projects, To Pimp a Butterfly (or TPAB for short) Kendrick brings a whole different style and sound. Instead of packing magazines of hard-hitting trap type instrumentals with a trigger happy aggressiveness Kendrick equips himself with a Funk, soulful, Jazz type sound on this album and is heavily influenced by all three as well as some spoken word. Kendrick had an army of wicked-talented producers at his fingertips for TPAB. The list includes executive producer and NWA legend Dr. Dre; Flying Lotus, Pharrell Williams, Knxwledge, Sounwave, and Thundercat, and many, many more. This album discusses a lot of heavy topics such as politics, race issues, street violence, greed, wealth over mind, love, regret, guilt, self-worth and self-esteem and mental health, and hypocrisy amongst a large a demographic of his. This album is truly great, It took me a few listens to have the albums' sound grow on me, but once it did, I had nothing but appreciation and admiration for both this album and the positivity and realism Kendrick is preaching (in a non-preachy way) through his music. This album is truly nothing but impressive. As a person who much more prefers east coast hip hop over west, I can whole heartedly say this is at the top of my list for hip hop albums that came out in this recent decade. If this album does not win Hip Hop album of the year, I'm telling you the awards are rigged or go simply based off of radio friendliness and sales. I can seriously say that it would surprise me if TPAB does not become a hip hop classic in the future. I rate this album 9/10 only because the sound and style takes a little getting used to if you are not huge on west coast hip hop from the 90s and 80s.