I tried simply writing a paragraph on this album like all the other ones. Wrote, deleted, wrote deleted, so on. Until I decided that I am not a good enough writer, and that this album is too good for me to be able to condense into a few snippy sentences. So, anyway.

Is this OK? Can we all agree on this one? This is the greatest album of the year.

This album seems to secure Kendrick as the definitive voice for his race in the hip-hop community. Kendrick gives a beautiful, brutally honest depiction of what it means to be born black in this country. In an America where the identity of race seems to be more prevalent than ever, this album paints the whole picture, tells both sides of the story.

What's so special in "To Pimp a Butterfly" that I haven't seen in any of the multiple other albums that touch on African-American identity is that Kendrick seems to be working through this time in his life with us. This album is riddled with self-doubt and an identity crisis. It seems as though Kendrick never truly gets a grip on who he is in America. Throughout the album Kendrick recites his poem, "Another Nigga" to, as we find out after the final song "Mortal Man," passed rapper Tupac Shakur. Staying consistent with the rest of the album, Kendrick questions himself.

I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
I remember I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression

Kendrick knows his power. He knows in the past decade he has risen to be a spokesperson for his race. However he's not quite sure if he can even handle it yet. The only time he tries to pretend as if he has all the answers is on the song "Momma." On the second verse, Kendrick lists all the things he's learned on his rise to fame. However, the final lines contradict everything he believes, admitting, "Until I realized I didn't know sh*t, the day I came home." The last song that expresses this identity crisis Kendrick is going through is, in my opinion, perhaps the most powerful song of the year, "The Blacker the Berry." For three absolutely grueling verses, Kendrick lashes out against white society:

You hate me don't you?
You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture
You're f*ckin' evil, I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey...
You sabotage my community, makin' a killin'
You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga.

However, as Kendrick says at the start of each verse: he is the "biggest hypocrite of 2015." As he closes the third verse with one of the most profound lyrics on the album:

So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street?
When gang bangin' made me kill a nigga blacker than me?
Hypocrite!

"The Blacker the Berry" encompasses the double-consciousness that has become such a staple of the African-American culture. This theme is explored throughout the whole album, with much of it being a revealing depiction of the struggles Kendrick faces. On "For Free?" Kendrick metaphorically talks to America as if the country is a woman that's abused him for far too long. America rose to greatness on the backs of slaves. We became a world power by abusing an entire human race, capitalizing off them similar to a pimp making money off of his prostitutes. As Kendrick points out, what's worse is that it hasn't stopped. Rappers have long spoken out against the unfair treatment they suffer under record labels. It seems as though the rest of the country is perfectly OK letting police brutality, extreme income inequality, casual racism, and more slide as long as Fetty Wap still puts out songs for us to party too. However, Kendrick says no more. No longer will he let America use him for his entertainment and art without giving him what he deserves. He closes his incredible verse: "Oh American, you bad b*tch, I picked cotton and made you rich//now my dick ain't free." "For Free" is one side of "TPAB," in which Kendrick paints the plight of the African American. It's ugly, it's even saddening, and it's eye-opening. What's going on in America is far more than what we see on TV, it is not simply excessive police brutality in the streets. It is a myriad of issues that stem from racial identity. They are much too complex and daunting for me to talk about here in a mere Odyssey article, which is why Kendrick is the one who dropped the greatest album of 2015.

However, if you're looking for an album that cast the African American population as an oppressed, helpless group of people who have lost hope in America, this is not it. Kendrick's lasting message is always hope. The single "Alright" which boasts the chorus, "But if God got us then we gon' be alright!" has already become an anthem of positivity in the "Black Lives Matter" movement. Along with "Alright" comes the catchy, joyous counterpart to "u" (a song that features Kendrick almost drinking himself to death in self-loathing), "i." On "i" Kendrick walks through the streets of Compton, among gang violence and drug abuse and still manages to preach positivity.

They wanna say there's a war outside and a bomb in the street
And a gun in the hood and a mob of police
And a rock on the corner and a line full of fiends
And a bottle full of lean and a model on a scheme, yup
These days of frustration keep y'all on tucking rotation
I duck these gold faces, post up fee-fi-fo-fum bases
Dreams of realities peace
Blow steam in the face of the beast
The sky can fall down, the wind can cry now
The strong in me, I still smile

No matter how dark it looks for Kendrick—and as we see in other songs on the album, it's pretty dark—he never loses hope.

What may be most impressive about this album is not only that Kendrick dives into social consciousness at a whole new level, but also that he delivers it in such a, for lack of a better word, good album. It is one of the most enjoyable albums to listen to of 2015. Even a few songs such as "King Kunta" and "Alright" have achieved commercial success. This is all without mentioning the beautiful encompassing of jazz into a rap album better than anyone has ever done it before. This album is simply astonishing on multiple levels.

I know, as a white kid who can't relate to Kendrick's struggles, this album helped me begin to understand what certain Americans are faced with at birth. I'd imagine it would be efficacious for everyone, white or black, to listen to this album. Since the moment "To Pimp a Butterfly" dropped, there have been some incredible, perhaps exaggerated claims made in the hip-hop community. I have heard it referred to as an "instant classic," as well as one of the greatest rap albums of all time. While I think it's silly to put such labels on an album without the album even being one year old, I think it is almost definitively the album of 2015.