Kendrick has returned with a vengeance - and a message - in his new album, To Pimp A Butterfly.
Kendrick has always been an artist who has gone against the norm and tried not to be a 'typical' rapper singing about 'hoes', money and weed. In this album, he reinstates this with his message about race relations in America today. This album has come at an exceptional time in American history. With tensions running high between the black community and the Police, the world is asking for change. Reminding the world that #BlackLivesMatter. Asking when injustice will stop.
Lamar ressaures blaring 'we gon' be alright' in the aptly named track, Alright to then remind us society is an institution as bad as a police cell in Institutionalised. Lamar reminds us it is up to us to break free of the cocoon society attempts to put onto us from birth due to our gender and colour. In Complexion (A Zulu Love), the hook reverbs 'complexion don't mean a thing'. Yet in the black community, it is something which seems to divide. With 'lightskins' and 'darkskins' being viewed differently, it is a song which asks us to love ourselves before we expect love from the rest of the world. In King Kunta and Blacker The Berry, Lamar plays with stereotypes. He refers to black stereotypes such as ‘monkey mouth’, ‘nappy hair’ and ‘round and wide noses’. Lamar turns these stereotypes around and claims pride as a ‘proud monkey’. Stereotypes are a dogma faced by black people within today's society which connects with unjust racial profiling and immediate presumptions. By Lamar's flippantly addressing these stereotypes, it shows acceptance of genetic difference, not shame. Lamar addresses the actions society perceive black people to act out, ‘eat watermelon and chicken on weekdays’ and ‘celebrate February like its my b’day’. The succeeding track, The Blacker The Berry which derives from the well known phrase, “The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice”. We all recognise this phrase as something positive: empowerment of blackness. Lamar turns this positive affirmation of blackness and uses it as another look into the mentality of black on black crime. It also ties into deeper issues that black men face within their communities such as profiling based on race by police and their presumptions of racist police, ‘You hate me don’t you?’ Songs such as These Walls, Momma and You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said) were tracks that made me more able to dance and tap my foot but they still seemed to relay a message to me. Lemar flawlessly looks into sexual liberation, family ties and remembering where you're from whilst maintaining sustainable flow.
This entire album engaged me so much so that I wrote an academic essay on it that I submitted as part of a unit in my first year of university. It received positive feedback and engaged further conversation with my lecturer and I upon race relations not only in the US, but the UK. This truly proves Lamar differs from the other rappers. He is a forward thinker, not only of the rap game, but our world.
Rating: 10/10
Standout tracks: 'These Walls' 'Mortal Man' 'King Kunta'
