Why do a lot of y'all hate To Pimp A Butterfly?

[TheDarceKnight]

I love it and think it's a masterpiece, but I get it if people don't warm to it. It's not the first album I put on when I want to listen to Kenny. But the wholesale effort that went into making art like it, music that goes above the fray instead of just following trends, I respect it immensely.

Bingo.

It’s kind if like jazz in that it’s an acquired taste. And it’s not easy listening.

I think it’s a great album but I just don’t listen to it very often.

 

[RennisDeynolds]

To Pimp a Butterfly is a Great album, Good Kid mad city is the overrated project .

 

[Estarossa]

I've tried to like Kendrick Lamar several times... I don't.

 

[NoHalfWay]

TPAB was a good album. It’s not an all-time classic. Like how publications were pushing it to be Thriller, Songs in the Key of Life tier in the upper echelon of music history so it rubbed people the wrong way.

 

[Billy Ocean]

I don't hate it at all but it's overrated.



It's way better than TPAB.

No, it's not.

 

[Billy Ocean]

Cuz a lot of these weirdos only like 808s and ignorance.

Also there's this weird contrarianism this place has with anything that white critics praise. We had people here using that same logic with the fukking Wu-Tang Clan

Like they think if something gets praised by whites then clearly it's watered down safe negro c00n shyt.

Thank you. It always made me laugh how people on here had the gall to say only white people like Wu. Their music encapsulates every NYC pissy hallway filled with 5 percenters selling crack, fukking nikkas up, drinking 40s, holding guns and smoking blunts perfectly. Their music was a major part of the soundscape of impoverished Blacks from the Eastcoast in the early and mid 90s. To even entertain the thought that their music was cac music is fukking dumb as fukk. If white people started fukking with it, then it is what is. Same thing goes for TPAB. Ain't a damn thing cac about it. That's music that every person calling themselves pro-Black should be proud of. If white people fukk with it, then it is what it is.

 

[Formerly Black Trash]

I think it’s the opposite. I think white people praise it more than black people.

I honestly haven’t met too many black people that enjoys it. There’s a few but other than that I remember when I was in college (HBCU) a lot of people were complaining about it being a jazz album.

I didnt really like it either

But the hate for it is ignorant

Hip hop should really have sub genres at this point

 

[Chip Skylark]

I didnt really like it either

But the hate for it is ignorant

Hip hop should really have sub genres at this point

I agree.

 

[FeverPitch2]

Any serious hip-hop fan who doesn't like TPAB is because they don't want to and they hating.
I didnt get into GKMC because I didnt want to and blocked it out whenever somebody played it
i was that guy. I was wrong, I dont know what snapped me out of it. Probably Blacker The Berry.
I will admit that the album is hella deep and if you're not on a certain level of intellect a ton of shyt on there wont make any sense to you.
Some ppl STILL dont know that Luci = Lucifer
Both GKMC and TPAB are rare mainstream albums that blur the line between entertainment and bonafide art
Some pick GKMC because it's a simpler narrative to follow. TPAB is also a linear narrative but multi layered
Even if you cant follow, the music and the rhymes are quality enough that you dont have to.
Anyone who cant enjoy the music on TPAB alone, is hating.
Anyone who calls it a jazz album, is an idiot or doesn't know what jazz is.

 

[Shadow King]

Id say the opposite, it’s overrated. GKMC and Section 80 >> TPAB

I prefer overly dedicated over TPAB as well.

What type of Black people you hanging around?

Every Black person I've been around likes the album.

c00n shyt right here. smh. we made jazz and muhfukkas hating on it

He said it was an HBCU. That's 18-23 year olds in the South. That doesn't surprise me.

 

[Billy Ocean]

Any serious hip-hop fan who doesn't like TPAB is because they don't want to and they hating.

 

[Billy Ocean]

He said it was an HBCU. That's 18-23 year olds in the South. That doesn't surprise me.

He said not only these supposed Black people didn't like it but that they were complaining about it as well. He capping. I told y'all Lupe stans are the biggest Kendrick haters on here and @Chip Skylark is one of the biggest Lupe stans on here.

 

[Shadow King]

He said not only these supposed Black people didn't like it but that they were complaining about it as well. He capping. I told y'all Lupe stans are the biggest Kendrick haters on here and @Chip Skylark is one of the biggest Lupe stans on here.

The age group and region doesn't give me the impression that he's lying. Lyrically dense jazz/funk-driven rap isn't hitting them.

I'm of dual citizenship of Fiasconia and Kennyland so

 

[Majestic]

Thank you. It always made me laugh how people on here had the gall to say only white people like Wu. Their music encapsulates every NYC pissy hallway filled with 5 percenters selling crack, fukking nikkas up, drinking 40s, holding guns and smoking blunts perfectly. Their music was a major part of the soundscape of impoverished Blacks from the Eastcoast in the early and mid 90s. To even entertain the thought that their music was cac music is fukking dumb as fukk. If white people started fukking with it, then it is what is. Same thing goes for TPAB. Ain't a damn thing cac about it. That's music that every person calling themselves pro-Black should be proud of. If white people fukk with it, then it is what it is.

this major capping leaning towards shytty trolling, they not even trying no more

 

[Conan]

I don't think there is much objectivity in placing Section 80 or GKMC above TPAB. In most aspects you rate an album

The lyrics are more intricate and complex (without sounding rappety rap rap). The storytelling is better. He went into more concepts and themes. As a hit, Alright > Swimming Pools or Poetic Justice (yuck) or HiiPower. The production while more expansive is done at a high level. And find me a stretch of 3 songs on GKMC/Section 80 that match Momma > Hood Politics > How Much a Dollar Cost (personal metric of mine, don't take this too serious)

You can say that you sense Kendrick trying too hard on TPAB... duh that's the pitfall of trying to evolve, and any classic left-of-center Hip-Hop album will have those moments (Mamacita on Aquemini comes to mind) but I was just glad someone, in this sterile music scene, was willing to take an artistic leap and push themselves beyond their comfort zone (shoutout to Da Baby and Drake). Wish more artists actually did this.

That said, there are legitimate reasons for liking Section 80 or GKMC more. Those are more conventionally produced, the concepts/themes are tighter, the storytelling is more linear, and of course Poetic Justice (yuck) appeals more to the casual crowd. There is little in TPAB for the casual.

Side note: Section 80 doesn't get enough credit... if ever there was an album that captured the angst of the 80s generation in a bottle... another topic for another day

I personally have TPAB > Section 80 > GKMC. Case can be made for all of these being legitimate classics in their own right.