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Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly


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I agree. Their reviews are long in general and while this one wasn't short, I expected a more detailed one for sure. Plus, I thought they'd give it a bit of a higher rating (although 9.3 is fair enough I guess - I still don't know what rating I'd give TPAB).

Needle Drop and Big Quint tho.

Knee jerk reaction would be 9.5 but I want to spend more time with it.

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Surprise album releases are doing for music criticism what 24 hour news networks did for news journalism. These critics are listening to an album once and claiming it's a masterpiece because they're being pressured for a review. They have preconceived opinions going into the listen, and don't really have time to digest the music and let it settle. The reviews are less and less about the music itself and more and more about getting content onto a website before people move onto the next big thing.

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They all blow Kanye away talent and story telling wise. I think you have the wrong definition of prolific, everyone except Earl has more songs than Kanye. Curren$y especially since he's probably the one you know least about.

 

Curren$y is actually my favorite rapper on your list besides Eminem. Pilot Talk 1 and 2 and Covert Coup are brilliant albums but they are a one-trick pony while Kanye constantly innovates. 

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Curren$y is actually my favorite rapper on your list besides Eminem. Pilot Talk 1 and 2 and Covert Coup are brilliant albums but they are a one-trick pony while Kanye constantly innovates. 

 

completely agree. i've been listening to curren$y for years, but i can hardly differentiate any of his work. the amount of material he's released in regards to the amount of time it took him is staggering, but he desperately needs some variation.

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Finally giving this a proper listen.

 

I know I'm going to catch shit for this...but so far it sounds like some Bruno Mars shit to me. Lyrically it's different (sometimes) in that it's more of a social statement, but the pseudo-funk backing on a lot the tracks sounds just like some of that shit (::cough:: King Kunta ::cough:: ), which I imagine most of you wouldn't give half a chance.

And the stuff that doesn't sound that way either sounds just like Outkast, or is almost too dense and layered for me to the point where stuff gets muddled and lost.

Then there's These Walls...which has a very MJ feel to it. I like it, but...if Michael Jackson had rapped instead of making pop music this song is it.

Kendrick is a great imitation of a lot of artists, but I don't think he's found his sound yet.

 

I guess that's why I'm so amazed everyone is creaming their jeans over this album/Kendrick in general. He does what he does well, but this at least doesn't sound like anything really new or groundbreaking to me. Solid 7.5 at best in my opinion.

 

Anyway, just my opinions. Thought I'd throw it out there rather than just shit on stuff with no reason given.

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No interest in Kanye as there are literally a million more artists that have more talent and integrity than him, no joke.

Furthermore, it should be known that no true genius ever says "I'm a genius".

I disagree with this entire post. You don't understand what literally means. And how many geniuses have you ever met in person?

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Obviously not enough about good hip hop

 

I mean I was largely setting people up for the punch-lines with the Macklemore comment [just for shits and giggles].  Same time, that dude puts on one of the best live shows you'll ever see and worked his ass off to get where he is at.   A$ap Racky, meantime, absolutely blows chunks live.  

 

But anyways... some good news [that's actually Kendrick related].  I was at Amoeba today and happened to ask about a vinyl release date for To Pimp a Butterfly.   The answer... it'll be dropping in May.

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Ugh, May? Section.80 looks so lonely without TPAB on my shelf ... but at least that's some kind of news.

And honestly, I think people heavily praising the record isn't a bad thing. It's an album that will surely stand the test of time, as his last two projects proved and TPAB is his most ambitious outing yet.

It may seem foolish to already rank it high on the AOTY list and claiming it's gonna be hard for other records to top it (or even calling it an 'instant classic') but I think by the end of the year, people are only gonna love it more.

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I mean, at this point, it doesn't have a whole lot of competition as AOTY. Sure, it's early, but what's wrong with starting your running list on Jan 1st?

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I mean, at this point, it doesn't have a whole lot of competition as AOTY. Sure, it's early, but what's wrong with starting your running list on Jan 1st?

 

Agreed.  I keep a running list starting Jan 1st every year.  Kendrick is #1 right now.  As long as people aren't going too overboard and recognizing that there's no way to tell what other awesome albums will come out this year and maybe be better than this (like Kanye), it's all in good fun. (So saying it's the album of the decade miiight be a little too far.)

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"Album of the year thus far" should be emphasized more often, I agree.

 

I missed a lot in this thread.  But basically, I think the record is pretty solid.  I'm not feeling the 10/10 hype, nor do I think it's the best hip-hop record I've heard in the last decade, but I enjoy it well enough.  It's still going to take me some time to digest.

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