Kendrick can rhyme over a strange burbling Flying Lotus beat like it’s standard boom-bap and when, paired with the jitttery jazz beats of Rahki & Tommy Black, Lamar really comes into his own. Sonically To Pimp A Butterfly is also far stranger and more intriguing than 99% of major label rap. 'u', a song Lamar admits is "as depressing as a motherfucker" is a dark, troubling listen - the kind of track Eminem used to make before he put a bodyguard on stage and a steel vault around his emotions. Kendrick manages to address both problems with the industry ('Wesley's Theory') and give hope for a post-Ferguson future ('Alright'). There are elaborate lyrical concepts: at one point Kendrick answers the conundrum first posed by Joan Osborne over 20 years ago when God appears to him as a homeless man at a gas station (rather than a stranger on a bus trying to make his way home). Expect to see Taylor Swift lip-syncing along to it in the near future. It's a real delight to see Lamar outclass his competiton with such ease: to keep things simple he keeps most of the self aggrandisement to one track ‘Momma’ (that even references his own 'Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe'). It's the sort of track that Q-Tip has been threatening to make for the last decade or so - which is no bad thing. He can talk about the problems facing incarcerated black men and then, without missing a beat, call time on bottle service and Instagram boasting a few lines later. Tracks like 'Insitutionalised' also show quite how much ground Lamar can cover with such ease. "Critics want to mention that they miss when hip hop was rappin’ / Motherfucker if you did, then Killer Mike'd be platinum.” "Everybody want to talk about who this and who that / Who the realest and who wack, who white or who black" he raps on 'Hood Politics', before taking aim at nostalic reviewers. Unbelievably he has the audactiy to shut down not only comparison with other rappers but also the idea of dissecting hip-hop at alll.
Having given us an insight into his emotionally vulnerable moments, Lamar then proceeds to demonstrate why he is arguably the finest MC working today. The fact that Lamar throws in the sound of a Spanish maid tapping on his door brings it home - he wants you inside that rented room with him, defeating his demons, acknowledging the self-doubt he has experienced. It is as uncomfortably personal as it needs to be. Kendrick places this scene precisely, where he "found myself screaming in the hotel room" on the brink of self-destruction. It sees Lamar experience his own dark night of the soul, concerned about being "conflicted" and "misusing" his influence. The album is built around a central device that is revisited six times throughout the 16 tracks.
All of these topics will be tackled in various forms by hundreds of hip-hop albums and mixtapes this year: but one suspects no-one will manage it with such style.
Even the more precise details are familiar: an answer machine message from a famous friend, the allure of the Benjamins, the joys of a bottle of Crown Royal, the delights and perils of falling for the the wrong woman. The classics are all here: an MC’s own status as number one in their field, the dangers of fame, the trouble with police corruption, the struggles of race in America, the evils of conspicuous consumption. To Pimp A Butterfly is built around some of the oldest concepts of hip-hop but revisited in a bold new fashion. This is how you truly strive for greatness.” As southern rap spokesperson Bun B put it best: “Kendrick wins because there's no fear. Kendrick is also capable of taking huge artistic risks thanks to a combination of immense self belief and a healthy disregard for industry conventions.