TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY(1009) - KENDRICK LAMAR

King Kendrick holds the throne. Gonna keep this short and sweet.

This album is EVERYTHING Hip Hop should be in 2015. Conscious but not boring, style but not swaggy, fresh ideas but not some futuristic bullshit... basically take what Outkast / Dungeon Family was doing the last 20 years and expand upon that. The black man's struggle is still very real and Kendrick's poetic visions offer the posturing of what it is like to be a 20 something black man growing up in these terrible times. Beats by Taz Arnold, Flying Lotus, Boi-1da, Pharrell + others. Features from Bilal, Thundercat, James Fauntelroy, Anne Wise + others flesh out the album with nearly a gospel like experience that can only be felt upon a full sit down listen, none of this song here song there BS... this is an album, not a collection of singles under the guise of one. A modern masterpiece.

1. Wesley's Theory

2. For Free? (Interlude)

3. King Kunta

4. Institutionalized

5. These Walls

6. U

7. Alright

8. For Sale? (Interlude)

9. Momma

10. Hood Politics

11. How Much A Dollar Cost

12. Complexion (A Zulu Love)

13. The Blacker The Berry

14. You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)

15. I

16. Mortal Man