Kendrick Lamar Complex: "To p---- A Butterfly isn't a conventionally enjoyable record"

boyz n the suburbs · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
Complex question why everyone claimed to have enjoyed Kendrick's jazz album.

http://uk.complex.com/music/2015/11/kendrick-lamar-to-p-----a-butterfly-overwhelming-blackness

And, finally, I’ll note that, for such an instantly classic record, To p---- a Butterfly buckles without “King Kunta” and “Alright.”
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Thoughts?

Narsh · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
really great piece

Lil Squeed · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
Sounds about right

Astro · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
His next album should be a blend of GKMC, TPAB and a bit of Section80

WPG · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
before people sensationalize this more than it asks to be, it's more about the media's echo chamber than about the album itself. but it's true: the record is admirable, but not that good, and certainly not enjoyable.

Narsh · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
^basically. i still personally love this album. but agree with this article as well. and although my initial praise of TPAB was high, i also distinctly remember not even rating the album etc for like a month down the line despite everyone else losing their mind lol

Jehovah · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
The most interesting thing about this review was the review they linked on it

He did it! On Sunday night, Kendrick Lamar released To p---- A Butterfly on Spotify, becoming the first artist to successfully pull off a prog-rap concept album: his version of There's A Riot Goin' On, The Wall, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I would be shocked if he wasn't a theatre kid in high school. Check for him performing in a flower suit at Bonnaroo this summer.

The most useless writing of the year will be To p---- A Butterfly reviews. They were superfluous from the get-go, since anyone who cared dialed up the ol' Spotify as soon as they heard news of its leak. I expected to hate this album in all its AOR excess, but after a few listens I at least have to respect the hard work that went into its making. Respecting it doesn't necessarily mean I like it, but it's sad that a lot of reviews read like Adderall term papers from someone who didn't finish the book. "On To p---- A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar explores many difficult themes. Posing challenging questions on race, paranoia and identity, he refuses to offer easy answers and instead forces the listener to confront the disquieting issues of our time. Through the personal narrative of a young black man, he says something about what it is to be American in the 21st century--indeed, on what it is to be human." Everyone's talkin, but no one's saying anything.

Some very talented and ambitious people worked on this album for over a year. A "this is gay" Tweet would be more profound than some platitudes and reductive abstractions cobbled together over a 24-hour period. Reminds me of the time my lil homie and I went to Art Basel and eyeballed everything for five seconds before moving on and announcing, "I get it."

To p---- A Butterfly's early reviews have the unique quality of being fawning and disrespectful at the same time. The universal critical acclaim says less about its success than critics' laziness and failure to engage deeply with the "difficult" themes alluded to only vaguely. Maybe it's because the album dropped less than a day before they reviewed it, and they don't really know what those themes are quite yet, hence the eternal cop-out: "This album is dense." No s---, B. For an album that clearly intends to provoke conversation and make its listeners uncomfortable, it's ironic that TPAB has so far inspired only consensus and applause.

For better or worse, these surprise releases put fan and critic on equal footing. At one point in my life I was naive enough to believe critics labored over advance copies for at least a week, really marinating in the nuances of a record instead of rushing to a snap judgement. Maybe it was like that at one time, but as the ingenious gonzo-satire of Thought Catalog shows, "New Media" is increasingly an opinion factory that runs on ad revenue, f--- integrity. Traffic don't wait for considered analysis.

PS
Can we all agree he's not making rap anymore? This is not a rap album. Not a bad thing, it justissss...ya dig?
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Lamont · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
its really not something i would ever put on to be entertained. its borderline garbage imo. coming from a huge Kendrick stan here.

Goku187 · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
Swiss feeling extremely vindicated right about now!!

Jehovah · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
For the people that didn't read the review above

TDLR: Album is great but boring.

I don't know what to say about this. I will say that TPAB just isn't a album you revisit every day or you can put on repeat.
I mean I certainly wasn't bored on the first listen. The few listens after that I slowly started to lose interest. ( but to be honest I was at my 7th listen and I haven't played anything else) The thing with this replay value and 'enjoyable' thing is that everyone has a different sense of what is enjoyable and what is not, some people may actually find the album entertaining and have kept it on rotation since it dropped. I mean I definitely think that Kendrick didn't aim for this album to BE enjoyable to most listeners, It's like he constructed the album as a book. A classic one. But once you finish reading it, are you going to pick it back up and re-read it immediately? Nah son. You just gotta let that s--- sit in your library and wait a few months before diving back in.
Is Kendrick wrong for constructing his album this way? Maybe I mean not many people are into reading books tbh. Maybe Kendrick's album was a one time experience type of things and as that review pointed out. must critics reviewed that s--- after first listen.
I still think this is a great album tho the word 'boring' and 'replay value' aint gonna change my score

EDIT:

The article is almost as trash as the tittle itself

Writer should have just said:
People reviewed the album to early
I think the album is good but boring

Why he had to write all that block of text for? The article is more about shi--ing on critics then actually taking about the album

WPG · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015

Jehovah said

The article is almost as trash as the tittle itself

Writer should have just said:
People reviewed the album to early
I think the album is good but boring

Why he had to write all that block of text for? The article is more about shi--ing on critics then actually taking about the album
Click to expand...

because the article is about the critical reaction, not about the album itself. smarten up.

Boos · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
Had Kendrick on shuffle the other day, found myself skipping nearly all of TPAB. Definitely his worst album to date even though I do like it.

Jehovah · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015

WPG said

because the article is about the critical reaction, not about the album itself. smarten up.
Click to expand...

I don't know. For a writer to write a tittle stating that it isn't a enjoyable record, I guess I expected the writer to actually tell us why he/she thought that. Such as the production and going in-depth on it, as some people thought that harmed the album.
Article just seems like clickbait

Flacko · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
Facts only. Good article.

WPG · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015

Jehovah said

I don't know. For a writer to write a tittle stating that it isn't a enjoyable record, I guess I expected the writer to actually tell us why he/she thought that. Such as the production and going in-depth on it, as some people thought that harmed the album.
Article just seems like clickbait
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writers don't pick headlines. but if you read through the article, you see that it's simply about the reaction. what he writes about the album is to further the idea that it was complex and misunderstood, and to pinpoint the characteristics it had that precipitated the widespread, unquestioning acclaim.

Narsh · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015

Jehovah said

For the people that didn't read the review above

TDLR: Album is great but boring.

I don't know what to say about this. I will say that TPAB just isn't a album you revisit every day or you can put on repeat.
I mean I certainly wasn't bored on the first listen. The few listens after that I slowly started to lose interest. ( but to be honest I was at my 7th listen and I haven't played anything else) The thing with this replay value and 'enjoyable' thing is that everyone has a different sense of what is enjoyable and what is not, some people may actually find the album entertaining and have kept it on rotation since it dropped. I mean I definitely think that Kendrick didn't aim for this album to BE enjoyable to most listeners, It's like he constructed the album as a book. A classic one. But once you finish reading it, are you going to pick it back up and re-read it immediately? Nah son. You just gotta let that s--- sit in your library and wait a few months before diving back in.
Is Kendrick wrong for constructing his album this way? Maybe I mean not many people are into reading books tbh. Maybe Kendrick's album was a one time experience type of things and as that review pointed out. must critics reviewed that s--- after first listen.
I still think this is a great album tho the word 'boring' and 'replay value' aint gonna change my score

EDIT:

The article is almost as trash as the tittle itself

Writer should have just said:
People reviewed the album to early
I think the album is good but boring

Why he had to write all that block of text for? The article is more about shi--ing on critics then actually taking about the album
Click to expand...

point

head

Jehovah · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015

WPG said

writers don't pick headlines. but if you read through the article, you see that it's simply about the reaction. what he writes about the album is to further the idea that it was complex and misunderstood, and to pinpoint the characteristics it had that precipitated the widespread, unquestioning acclaim.
Click to expand...

Makes a lot more sense. I guess I was just completely phased by the title that I just didn't pay attention to the point the writer was trying to make

My bad b

Pixel · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
I still don't understand how people class tpab as a 'boring' listen,
What i hear is great melodic flows and instrumentals with catchy rhythms, there are more then a couple of catchy a--- hooks and danceable beats,

Is it just the fact that it has a jazz sound to it? You could argue that unlike S80 it's too dense, but that just adds enjoyability and replay ability to it imo and i dont see why it wouldnt... What makes this album different to gkmc? Because personally i still spin this about once every week or two

Proto · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015
haven't enjoyed kendrick's music since Section 80 so this sounds about right

Flacko · Nov 3, 2015

Nov 3, 2015

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