To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar released his second full-length commercial album, "To Pimp A Butterfly" recently, and I've been spending some quality time with it. 

There are many reviews of this album circulating the internet already, many saying that it's the new benchmark for works of art in the world of hiphop, so I won't be adding anything to that since I'm pretty much in agreement with it.

What I will say though is how I admire the vision Kendrick has in his works and he makes this vision just obvious enough for the listener to understand what he's trying to do with his pieces of work. It's tough to listen to only one song of Kendrick's. Yes, the individual singles are amazing as they are, but when one understands that it was made to fit into the bigger picture of the album, one can't help but feel an urgent need to listen to the album from front to back.

Whenever I listen to any of Kendrick joints, it's really tough for me to concentrate on anything else. His pieces of work have this affect on me that demands my attention, not allowing me to just have it playing in the background. It demands to be my main preoccupation. It could just be that I am terrible at multitasking (and I am), but I can put other albums on and be able to do other things at the same time (with some exceptions, of course). 

But up until now, any Kendrick album/song that reaches my ears will almost definitely make me sit down, drop everything else and listen. I don't know what it is about his work, but I hope to one day find out, and emulate. Hopefully.

I guess what I find most attractive about Kendrick's work is that it is so apparent that he is trying to make the world a better place using his art, without compromising on the art. The effort stands out and is undeniable, thus making it much easier to appreciate.

Of course, I won't be able to even get anywhere close to that if the effort I put into the craft is like it is now. I haven't written anything new in, like, two months now. And that's saddening. I can throw excuses such as being too busy or tired with school stuff and other preoccupations, but we all know it's because I don't want it enough. I'm not hungry enough when it comes to this path. I need to retain that hunger. Hopefully with this new Kendrick record dropping, it'll make me get back on the horse and start writing and recording again. Hopefully.