“How Much a Dollar Cost” turned heads thanks its main piano line that seemed to be lifted from Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song,” but it evokes two other songs to reflect Lamar’s fractured mind. In the wake of his fame, it looks like Lamar might have been horrified by what he saw in the mirror. Even on Good Kid we had the false bravado of “Backseat Freestyle,” all Butterfly can offer is “Alright” where Lamar proclaims “ We gonna be alright” with sarcastic, terminal humor. The only time Lamar finds his swagger is on “King Kunta,” perfectly placed after the mad free-jazz of “For Free? (Interlude)” where Lamar is drowned under a torrent of complaints from his girl before she threatens him by calling her “Uncle Sam” “King Kunta”’s menacing funk finds Lamar giving the finger to the girl and Sam, but it’s the only time Lamar puffs out his chest. “ This is a woooorld premiere” smirks an unseen presence as Lamar goes off into a triple-time rhyme about how he wants to “ jump” and not in House of Pain’s style. The wonderfully sweet “Momma” has Lamar returning to his home in Compton and chanting “ I know everything, know myself/ I know morality, spirituality, good and bad health.”The peace only lasts a second, as an unsightly interruption drags Lamar back into the spotlight. Even then, it’s only a momentary break from the outside world. On most of Butterfly, he’s scared and running, avoiding his problems and only finding solace in his family. Lamar shifts his voice constantly, seemingly afraid of the flow that landed him on the throne. What is surprising is how few songs brim with self-esteem. Squealing synths and screams accent Lamar’s visions of the end times.Ĭonsidering Good Kid was told by Lamar looking back on the trials of growing up in Compton, it’s no surprise that Butterfly has plenty of fragile moments. This is “Wesley’s Theory,” a crash course on what sort of beast Butterfly is. Just as Gardiner’s final notes fade, in rush the jitters of Thundercat’s morphing bass and a crazed monologue from George Clinton. The album opens by serving up Boris Gardiner’s dreamy pop cut “Every Nigger is a Star” and Lamar doesn’t buy Gardiner’s philosophy. With releases from Death Grips, Earl Sweatshirt and Butterfly all coming within weeks of each other, 2015 is shaping up to be a deeply sobering year for rap.īut even alongside the suicidal thoughts of his peers, Lamar is dangerously wrapped in his own neurosis. It’s an uncomfortable album because its creator is uncomfortable, a glorious ramshackle mess of an album that’s titanic in length, scope and ambition. Every piece of Black American music finds its way into the musical DNA, with uncomfortable questions about race, sex, economics and politics all howling along to the mutant music. Butterfly swirls and rages with a million insecurities digging into Lamar’s flesh and crawling into his flow. This is Lamar unable to see if his 15 minutes are up or if he’s getting a full half hour-and unable to decide which is more terrifying. This isn’t the swaggering Lamar of “Control,” nor the keen-eyed filmmaker of Good Kid. Loving To Pimp a Butterfly, however, is complicated. He rapped “ I’m the King of New York/ King of the Coast, one hand, I juggle them both,” and had people nodding in agreement. Lamar was deftly aware he upped the ante. Either you die a hero, or live long enough to release Magna Carta, Holy Grail. People prefer their saints to be buried in the ground where they can’t defile their legacy. “Kendrick forgive me for my sins! I’ve been listening to too much Rick Ross!”įunny thing about saviors though, they don’t last long. Whether he liked it or not, the label of “best rapper alive” was being thrown around and hip-hop heads were quick to place him as a savior of sorts. Sometime after the release of Good Kid (maybe after the Grammy awards decided that Macklemore was the best rapper of 2012) a small, but growing cry began. Good Kid M.A.A.D City gave him the crossover success that’s usually confined to myth. He was the underdog finally making it big with enough bangers to dominate parties while splicing his tracks with brilliant political and social musings to have Black Star fans salivating. In fact, it might be the least controversial bandwagon hop in music.
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