To Pimp a Butterfly

TPAB needs no introduction, But funny enough, the first time I previewed this album, I thought it was lame. Back in 2015, I wasn’t nearly as into music as I am now. I judged Kendrick and his music by the hits on the radio he had, and I thought they were just okay.

My friend Kendal however was extremely into Kendrick, and I also think the song MAAD City got me more curious, as unlike the other singles I heard, it was unapologetically hard as fuck.

I dismissed TPAB at first due to it sounding nothing like GKMC’s Pop Rap style formulas, and I literally only heard the iTunes previews and left.... that was until I got Apple Music for free. This was the first time I had access to a streaming platform. This would change everything for me.

Out of random chance I decided to listen to TPAB one day as I was doing homework. I think I half payed attention to it up until I hear Mama, and all of a sudden I remember thinking to myself “wait a minute... this album is really good... like wow I really enjoy this a lot.”

It seems like the rest is history. I grew such an insane attachment to this album lasting a few years, and it is still the only album today I can almost quote word for word a huge chunk of it while it is playing, without ever looking at the lyrics online. This is a big deal considering at this point I didn’t care at all about lyrics in hip-hop. Tpab was special though

It was funny, I discovered by pure chance that other people liked this album as much as I did. The first Needle Drop video I saw was on TPAB, and in it he pretty much said he felt the same way as me. It was the gateway into music reviewing for me

That’s my personal attachment to this album, and even today the album is in my opinion, absolutely flawless. Every time it ends with the skit at the tail end, I get chills, and reflect on what I just listened to. The experience of this album feels larger than life, but yet so down to earth. It is easily the best rap album I’ve heard up to this point of my life still, and will remain to impress me for many years to come