Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp A Butterfly

Without too many words, "To Pimp a Butterfly" could easily be the best (mainstream) album of the last 15 years.

In an increasingly saturated landscape of artists releasing more or less valid works like in the Hip-Hop world, this album by Kendrick Lamar represents the perfection with which every Rap artist, from 2015 onwards, inevitably has to confront themselves if they want to aspire to the throne of "King" (a term that often recurs in Lamar's lyrics). This album represents a vast cross-section of the entire Black African-American culture. From the sound that mixes Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Soul in a more than masterful way to the lyrics full of the author's social engagement and contradictions, who pauses to retrace the path of his life. From his first loves to his first musical influences (Michael Jackson first and foremost), to what will be his future... which turns out to be, at least from his point of view, extremely uncertain. But to explain this, let's take a step back. During the compositions of this album, Lamar took a trip to Africa in search of his "black" origins, and during this trip, he stopped in the legendary cell that held Nelson Mandela prisoner. And this is where all his questions come... Mandela, Malcolm X, Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson... Different people with in common the fact of being icons and reference points for an entire culture, a culture of which Lamar is a part and knows he has to succeed them. But when these people found themselves in trouble, their so-called followers backed away, pointed fingers at them. And this fear reflects on the Rapper from Compton ("If the government wanted to take me out and put cocaine in my car, would you see me as a drug addict or still call me K-Lamar?").

The lyrics of the entire album are a triumph of questions, uncertainties, contradictions, and fears about the future with an eye to the past... that past that saw Kendrick grow up in the Compton ghetto, amid revolutions against racial hatred and violence due to poverty. Kendrick emerged clean... Immaculate criminal record, he doesn't drink and doesn't act like a Gangster. These lyrics move between sounds that recall smoky old jazz pubs, with lavish use of the saxophone and hypnotic and relaxing bass lines.

Pharrell Williams, George Clinton, Dr. Dre, Thundercat, Snoop Dogg... these are just some of the legendary names that took part in the works of this total masterpiece of the Mainstream. I will not talk about the individual tracks; I want any potential reader of this my simple review to listen to each piece intrigued without knowing anything, just like every first time that must be respected. The fact is that Kendrick has hit the mark, the album is a masterpiece that could make many Hip-Hop detractors reconsider. A must-listen... at least once in a lifetime.

"I remember you was conflicted..."