Music
Best Songs on Kendrick Lamar's New Album
Here are the three best songs on Kendrick Lamar's album "To Pimp a Butterfly."
Kendrick Lamar at ONE MusicFest
© Prince Williams/FilmMagic
Less than three weeks ago, we published a story about how " surprise albums" have become such a huge thing, fundamentally changing the way we experience music. We ranked 10 of the best surprise albums ever, inlcuding D'Angelo's "Black Messiah," Beyoncé's "Beyoncé" and Drake's "If You're Reading This It's Too Late." Now everything has changed.
Way back then, we had no idea Kendrick Lamar was going to surprise release one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year. We knew it was coming in 2015, but we didn't know when. We didn't know what we know now. What do we know? If we were to remake that list of the best surprise albums today, right now, Lamar's new one would be near the top of it.
Lamar has been talking about the follow-up to 2012's "good kid, m.A.A.d city" since early 2014, slowly leaking details ever since. Last September, we got "i," the first single. In February, we got another one, "The Blacker the Berry." On March 10, the album art and title, "To Pimp a Butterfly," were revealed. Two days later, there was a track list and a release date of March 23. And then, on March 16, "To Pimp a Butterfly" entered the world one week early. It's all everyone's been talking about since. It even broke a Spotify streaming record, with more than 9.6 million streams in 24 hours. Surprise!
"To Pimp a Butterfly" is an album people will talk about for a long time. It's also not an easy album to make a quick assessment of, but the Internet exists to make quick assessments of things, so here we are. It's a tough listen, musicially and lyrically, conceptually and politically. It makes a big statement through many complex, often conflicting smaller statements. It doesn't provide a view from above, of where we are and how we got here and what we are supposed to do, but many views from the ground, looking right and left and all around.
Along the way, Lamar uses different musical styles (among the producers are Flying Lotus, Pharrell Williams, Thundercat and Sounwave) and an arsenal of vocal styles to express different subject positions, to embody different characters who wrestle within themselves and with others and with the world. It is about race, class and power but not just race, class and power. It provides more questions than answers, more fresh pathways than dead ends. It also sounds great.
"To Pimp a Butterfly" is an album that needs to be listened to as an album. Front to back, more than once, more than eight times. This makes attempting to rank just three songs a challenge, if not a fool's errand. But we've done it anyway, because this is the Internet. Right now, on March 19, 2015, these are the three best songs on Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly." What will they be tomorrow? Or the next day? Don't know. Let's focus on today first.
3. "i"
This was the first taste we got of "To Pimp a Butterfly," back in late 2014, before we knew the name of Lamar's new album and when it would be released. With its swinging sample of The Isley Brothers' "That Lady," it was an upbeat number, way more upbeat than anything we had heard from him before, and so people were naturally skeptical. Was Lamar going pop? Maybe. And then the song won two awards, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song, at the 2015 Grammy Awards. But the message was a smart and timely one, celebrating the self and making a case for self-love in a climate of systematic and internalized hate and oppression. And it is especially interesting how "i" becomes even stronger when it is recontextualized on "To Pimp a Butterfly."
On the album, Lamar directly contrasts "i" with "u," a track about shame, self-doubt and self-hatred. His proclamation in the former is "I love myself"; his proclamation in the latter is "Loving you is complicated." This tension, and how it manifests psychologically and in the world, is explored across "To Pimp a Butterfly."
Also, the version of "i" on the album is lyrically and structurally different than the single version. The album version is made to sound like a live track. You can hear the audience rumbling and hollering, and Lamar stops performing the song to speak with the audience about politics. This shift allows a song focusing on self-empowerment to more clearly become a song about empowering a community.
Considering the early cries of "Kendrick's gone pop" that "i" initially garnered, it is also interesting that, on the album, Lamar disrupts his poppiest and most popular single yet and uses it as a space for experimentation and political speech. In both its forms, it is an undeniably powerful song, one that will define both our current historical moment and Kendrick's career.
WATCH: Kendrick Lamar — "i"
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2. "How Much a Dollar Cost"
God pays Lamar a visit on this track, which features both Ron Isley (of The Isley Brothers) and Inglewood's own James Fauntleroy. God, in the form of a homeless man, approaches the narrator at a gas station while the young star is filling up the tank of his luxury car, and asks for money. The narrator, who does not know it is God, says "No," but even if he did know, he would probably still say "No."
Over the course of the track, the narrator's feelings toward the homeless man move from spite to almost sympathy and back again, as Lamar addresses one of the big issues of "To Pimp a Butterfly": the obligation that someone who has become weatlhy and successful has to his or her community.
This is a melancholic track with a smooth instrumental and a contemplative, other-regarding message that highlights Lamar's ability to tell a story. "Sour emotions got me looking at the universe different," he raps en route to expressing that the narrator has had to work hard and struggle for himself so should not be bothered by those looking for a handout. But it is this response, justified by "looking at the universe different," that provides the space for the listener to look at the universe different. To see the selfishness of the narrator. To consider the human cost of a dollar. And how much, if anything, we owe.
1. "Hood Politics"
Listen to that funk, that bass slap, courtesy of Thundercat, as Lamar gets a phone call from a friend who mocks him for making "weirdo rap" and wearing "skinny jeans."
On "Hood Politics," among other things, Lamar is conflicted about what he should rap about. The streets? Street politics? Politics politics? Violence? Gangs? The celebrity rap life? Having fun? He also addresses critics and he name checks Killer Mike, Obama, Snoop and Jay Z, who congratulates him on his Internet-shattering verse from Big Sean's " Control."
Like every second of "To Pimp a Butterfly," there is a lot going on here. A lot to think about, a lot to discuss, a lot to argue and question. But do not forget the fact that "Hood Politics" sounds great too. From that opening bass slap to the playful hook. That sloppy Dilla-esque beat. Those ghostly, warped backing vocals. Weird keys. Lamar's twists and turns. Turn this one way up, please. But keep an eye out for Lucy.