I've grown to hate the music of my generation. I'm tired of EDM, how it substituted emotion and meaning for the senseless thump of a bass. I'm tired of hearing the same four chords in every single Pop song, the constant crooning of falling in and out of love leaving me bored instead of inspired. Call me jaded, but what the hell happened? Where are the Billy Joels, the Elton Johns, the Beatles of my generation? Music is supposed to be an art form, one that makes you think, feel and explore. Kendrick Lamar's newest album “To Pimp a Butterfly” does exactly that, drawing you into a swirling miasma of personal despair, racial angst and confusion. While the album clocks in at roughly 80 minutes, each track will stay with you for much longer. So dense is this album that it becomes difficult to review and discuss every track - one could easily write a paper for each one. Based on the sheer scope of this album it seems more appropriate to bring it down and talk about three specific parts of the album that, to me, make it one of the best albums I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.

1. Its unlike anything you've every heard. Infused with jazz, rap, funk, hip hop and everything in between, TPaB sounds undeniably unique, deftly mixing numerous genres and styles into something varied and unified at the same time. Collaborators Anna Wise, Bilal, Thundercat and Terrance Martin help elevate the album with their own virtuosic musical skills into something truly special.
2. It has something to say. Bubblegum pop this is not - TPaB is not an easy listen. Exploring themes of police brutality, rampant consumerism, self-hate and the exploration of responsibility, Lamar's sole goal is enlightening his audience to very real and very difficult problems that plague our current society.
3. “u”. Perhaps the darkest song on the entire album, “u” also perfectly exemplifies Lamar's unbelievable lyrical and story telling capabilities. The tracks starts with Lamar's tortured screams, his descent into internal reflexion and self-hatred perfectly mirrored by an eclectic sax solo. With the hook “loving you is complicated” Lamar sets the tone for what will become a brutal self-evaluation with no one to hold him back. We hear a knock on a door. “Abre la puerta!” screams a maid. Lamar's voice cracks and breaks as he savagely tears into himself, venom dripping from his every word. “Little brother, you promised you'd watch him before they shot him/ You shoulda feeled that black revolver blast a long time ago”. We see Lamar's regrets and failures crystalize in front of us in frightening clarity.

After listening to Lamar's album, I couldn't help but think about the events in Ferguson, the state of modern music, my place in society and what I could do to change it. I felt amazed, bitter, uplifted, introspective, sad and angry. I contemplated my life, my failures and successes, my hopes and dreams. It is easy to turn off those feelings and thoughts, to drown yourself in alcohol and sex and money, especially at the young age of 21. It si easy to tune out all of these things, but after listening to TPaB, it was impossible not to think about them. Music is supposed to be an art form, one that makes you think, feel and explore. In that regard, “To Pimp a Butterfly” succeeds on every front.