Beyond The Visionary: To Pimp A Butterfly
Published: 21 March 2015 | by Dragg
Dragg - Lee Myers Photography
What's up good people, hope you all had a great week and a good start to the weekend! My week's been pretty hectic. Still working on the mix tape, as well as other ventures I got going on currently.
On last week's update, I spoke a lil' bit about the new music I got coming for Easter and onwards. If you missed the update you can still read it here: http://onevybe.com/index-id-blogs-zk-1100.html
Just to keep this as short as I can and concise, I'm gonna get into this week's topic I want to discuss. The subject at hand is ... ... wait for it ... ... Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp A Butterfly' album that just came out this week!
If you are a part time Hip Hop fan and you don't know who Kendrick Lamar is, well he is the new 'King of New York' as he claimed on his verse on the 'Control' song by Big Sean featuring J Electronica and Kendrick.
The funny thing about this is that he is not even from New York, matter of fact he is from Compton in Los Angeles lol.
This verse sparked all types of debates across the globe within the Hip Hop community, as many felt like Kendrick's verse was a breath of fresh air and injected life back into lyricism in Hip Hop music especially with all the 'bubble gum rap/Hip Pop songs that are polluting the charts right now being fed to the consumer as 'Hip Hop'.
Never the less many hard-core New Yorkers felt like it was disrespectful to their city for an outsider to claim their city like that! I'm not going to get too deep into that topic, if you want to check the song out and see what all the fuss was about just search for it!
I actually recorded my own response to that verse as a result of being inspired by Kendrick to write hard-core battle rhymes again, as this is what I grew up on and Hip Hop is a competitive sport where MCs always pride themselves in their lyrical abilities and strive to be the best!
Here's my "Control" freestyle
Anyways, my first impression when I listened to the entire 'To Pimp A Butterfly' album was simply 'incredible'. No lie, I am a fan of many artists out of the West Coast, but I've had to wait since the release of The Game's album 'LAX' to hear another classic West Coast Album like that one.
You can clearly hear why Kendrick would feel like he is the king of this Hip Hop ish from that one album, from the production, the orchestration, the lyricism, the structure, the concepts etc.
For me it is one of the top 4 most important albums for Hip Hop in the last 6 years! The other ones being J Cole's '2014 Forest Hills Drive', Drake's 'Nothing Was The Same' and 'Watch The Throne' by Jay Z and Kanye West.
Don't get me wrong, there are many artists who have made great albums in those years no doubt, but for me those albums were so different from the norm and more influential. They without a question have moved the culture forward sonically and stylistically.
They were not afraid to try new sounds which you would not associate usually with a typical Hip Hop song, and new flows that may be polarising and maybe take some time to resonate with the listeners.
These guys have no fear to try and possibly fail, it takes a lot for an established artist who has a lot to lose to want to experiment with music and take on the role of moving an entire culture forward because it could possibly go terribly wrong!
In this album, Kendrick most def took a risk, he went all the way left with it and for me it has worked! The song that captured my ear when I first listened to it was 'Mortal man'. This song asks a question which most of us should really ask the people around us ... 'When ish hit the fan is you still a fan?'
It touches a few subjects actually and loyalty is one of them from my perception. We should all be asking ourselves would the people around us really hold us down and ride with us when it really matters?
Now If I have to pick which album will win 'Best Hip Hop Album' this year between J Cole's '2014 Forest Hills Drive' and Kendrick, I really can't pick one! Both these albums are dope, now rather than have me go on about them here go check them out yourself and let's talk about it! Leave your comments on the section below people!
That's this week's update done! Till next week, keep it locked people and have a great weekend!
Disclaimer:
All articles and comments published on OneVybe Blogs have been written by independent bloggers. The views and opinions published belong to the author and are therefore not necessarily shared by OneVybe Magazine.
- Dragg
On last week's update, I spoke a lil' bit about the new music I got coming for Easter and onwards. If you missed the update you can still read it here: http://onevybe.com/index-id-blogs-zk-1100.html
Just to keep this as short as I can and concise, I'm gonna get into this week's topic I want to discuss. The subject at hand is ... ... wait for it ... ... Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp A Butterfly' album that just came out this week!
If you are a part time Hip Hop fan and you don't know who Kendrick Lamar is, well he is the new 'King of New York' as he claimed on his verse on the 'Control' song by Big Sean featuring J Electronica and Kendrick.
The funny thing about this is that he is not even from New York, matter of fact he is from Compton in Los Angeles lol.
This verse sparked all types of debates across the globe within the Hip Hop community, as many felt like Kendrick's verse was a breath of fresh air and injected life back into lyricism in Hip Hop music especially with all the 'bubble gum rap/Hip Pop songs that are polluting the charts right now being fed to the consumer as 'Hip Hop'.
Never the less many hard-core New Yorkers felt like it was disrespectful to their city for an outsider to claim their city like that! I'm not going to get too deep into that topic, if you want to check the song out and see what all the fuss was about just search for it!
I actually recorded my own response to that verse as a result of being inspired by Kendrick to write hard-core battle rhymes again, as this is what I grew up on and Hip Hop is a competitive sport where MCs always pride themselves in their lyrical abilities and strive to be the best!
Here's my "Control" freestyle
Anyways, my first impression when I listened to the entire 'To Pimp A Butterfly' album was simply 'incredible'. No lie, I am a fan of many artists out of the West Coast, but I've had to wait since the release of The Game's album 'LAX' to hear another classic West Coast Album like that one.
You can clearly hear why Kendrick would feel like he is the king of this Hip Hop ish from that one album, from the production, the orchestration, the lyricism, the structure, the concepts etc.
For me it is one of the top 4 most important albums for Hip Hop in the last 6 years! The other ones being J Cole's '2014 Forest Hills Drive', Drake's 'Nothing Was The Same' and 'Watch The Throne' by Jay Z and Kanye West.
Don't get me wrong, there are many artists who have made great albums in those years no doubt, but for me those albums were so different from the norm and more influential. They without a question have moved the culture forward sonically and stylistically.
They were not afraid to try new sounds which you would not associate usually with a typical Hip Hop song, and new flows that may be polarising and maybe take some time to resonate with the listeners.
These guys have no fear to try and possibly fail, it takes a lot for an established artist who has a lot to lose to want to experiment with music and take on the role of moving an entire culture forward because it could possibly go terribly wrong!
In this album, Kendrick most def took a risk, he went all the way left with it and for me it has worked! The song that captured my ear when I first listened to it was 'Mortal man'. This song asks a question which most of us should really ask the people around us ... 'When ish hit the fan is you still a fan?'
It touches a few subjects actually and loyalty is one of them from my perception. We should all be asking ourselves would the people around us really hold us down and ride with us when it really matters?
Now If I have to pick which album will win 'Best Hip Hop Album' this year between J Cole's '2014 Forest Hills Drive' and Kendrick, I really can't pick one! Both these albums are dope, now rather than have me go on about them here go check them out yourself and let's talk about it! Leave your comments on the section below people!
That's this week's update done! Till next week, keep it locked people and have a great weekend!
Disclaimer:
All articles and comments published on OneVybe Blogs have been written by independent bloggers. The views and opinions published belong to the author and are therefore not necessarily shared by OneVybe Magazine.
- Dragg
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