To Pimp a Butterfly

1. 01Wesley's Theory4:47
2. 02For Free? (interlude)2:11
3. 03King Kunta3:55
4. 04Institutionalized4:32
5. 05These Walls5:01
6. 06u4:28

Thanks to multiple hit singles—and no shortage of critical acclaim—2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city propelled Kendrick Lamar into the hip-hop mainstream. His 2015 follow-up, To Pimp a Butterfly, served as a raised-fist rebuke to anyone who thought they had this Compton-born rapper figured out. Intertwining Afrocentric and Afrofuturist motifs with poetically personal themes and jazz-funk aesthetics, To Pimp A Butterfly expands beyond the gangsta rap preconceptions foisted upon Lamar’s earlier works. Even from the album’s first few seconds—which feature the sound of crackling vinyl and a faded Boris Gardiner soul sample—it’s clear To Pimp a Butterfly operates on an altogether different cosmic plane than its decidedly more commercial predecessor. The album’s Flying Lotus-produced opening track, “Wesley’s Theory”, includes a spoken-word invocation from musician Josef Leimberg and an appearance by Parliament-Funkadelic legend George Clinton—names that give To Pimp a Butterfly added atomic weight. Yet Lamar’s lustful and fantastical verses, which are as audacious as the squirmy Thundercat basslines underneath, never get lost in an album packed with huge names. Throughout To Pimp a Butterfl…