By Tim Gagnon

How do I begin to comment on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly at this mid-year juncture?

Beyond being one of my favorite LPs thus far of 2015, Butterfly could have, nay should’ve very easily been Kendrick’s coronation to mainstream radio. In blunter terms, the expectations were set for an “accessible album”, a set of turbo-charged, “Swimming Pools”-esque singles that are just friendly enough to cozy up on pop radio. Yes, Butterfly continues to slay charts and critics alike, but this is not that album. Butterfly‘s sixteen songs are not only the most brilliant, self-assured, culturally relevant, and socially significant songs of Kendrick’s career, but of the genre as it stands today. It’s ambitious, overloaded with ideas, and hard to swallow at times… but it’s damn near perfect. 

At the same time, though, my dad occupies the millions of white suburban parents who probably could quickly and bitterly answer to Butterfly with one look at its controversial cover. I accept him as the kind of dad who still intentionally miscalculates how many cents are in 50 Cent’s name (last check: “15 Cent”) and I understand he will likely never change. However, I tried to bring Butterfly and him together the best I could, so this week, I went with two songs instead of one. Yes, Kendrick is worth it, but more than that, I wanted to feel the chill of hell freezing over as my dad decided to like his first rap song…

Song #1: Kendrick Lamar’s “i”

Dad: It’s not bad! I don’t like his voice though. He sounds like he’s trying to be a baby. It’s almost as bad as his dancing.

Tim: That’s his move though! The arm up, hoppy thing! I’ve seen you do that move at weddings.

D: Whatever. He’s okay when it’s, like, half-rap, half-singing. I like the sound effects he puts in too. The car horns, weird synthesizers… there’s one that sounded like birds on crack.

T: So it’s no secret in this house that you hate rap. Was this too much for you already?

D: It wasn’t totally rap. If it was totally rap, they’d just be talking. This had the good music behind it; I like that chorus especially. The first part though… What was that?

T: The “piece of yours, piece of mine, one nation under a groove” bit?

D: Before that. It was like three people playing totally dissimilar music together. It didn’t mesh.

T: Sounds like you’re describing jazz. I’ll have to listen back. There’s a definite jazz influence throughout this LP, a lot of funk influence, too.

D: They probably started fighting because it was so terrible…

Song #2: “How Much A Dollar Cost?”

T: So this is a miracle; we’ve made it through two rap songs in a row. I don’t think you’ve ever done that.

D: And if it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have gotten through. [laughs] But seriously, how does he remember all of his lyrics?

T: It’s like spoken word, like a story. If you forget a part of the story, it just won’t make sense, y’know? I know you think rapping is just speaking, but there’s insane amounts of practice and skill to keep up with a beat, never mind establish a voice and make sure the story is conveyed as well as he does.

D: Alright, so… is this music you would dance to? I can’t see myself dancing to this.

T: Well, I wouldn’t dance to this song in particular, but I don’t think this song is meant for that. That’s why I showed you “i”, too. That’s a dance song. This is a narrative-based song, something with a bit more substance arguably.

D: I liked the second song’s story; got no enjoyment out of the music though. It reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, you know, where the witch came to the door and he refused… What, you don’t remember that?

T: Dad, I think I was, like, six when I last saw Beauty and The Beast.

D: It was in the beginning and a lady came in and she was actually a witch, but she just looked like a regular lady asking for help and he refused. So she cursed him and that’s how he became the Beast! In this story, Kendrick thinks this guy’s giving him shit, but he’s testing him to see if he’s being good to his fellow man.

T: I never imagined a day Kendrick Lamar would get compared to Beauty and the Beast. Holy shit. You’re kind of right, too.

D: I’m always right.

T: Kinda going off a previous point, though, do you see quality music solely as entertainment and for dancing and all of that? I get that vibe from you sometimes.

D: No! It can serve multiple purposes depending on who the person is and what situation they’re in at any point in time. I hear music and I like to hear pleasing melodies, harmonies, and hooks though. But people like rap and I will give it to the guy; he had a good story. It wasn’t about booty calls and drinking or anything.

T: Is that what rap lyricism amounts to for you?

D: Well, it’s like you say with country; it’s going out and grabbing a beer out of the back of a pickup truck. [both laugh] But with rap, it’s like “Let’s go out in the hood and drink some juice and chase women with big booties.”

T: You’re thinking, like, the “Shawty got them apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur” life.

D: Yeah, and cops antagonizing and all that. But he had a message here!

T: I think that’s why I withheld showing you the album art until the end, because of those preconceived notions. The album is called To Pimp A Butterfly, what are your thoughts on this album cover?

D: Yup, that title feeds into the stereotype of rap, definitely… Woah. All of his friends are there. They have stacks of money and… is that a bottle in his hand? Is that a dead judge on the bottom?

T: Yeah, a lot of mentions about judges being the masters of time for the black community. They make time, they take time away when his friends are put in jail.

D: The White House in the back too? [If you showed me this before], it wouldn’t have made me think more positive of it, that’s for sure. You know, with all my damn preconceived, conservative Christian values. [tries his best Ned Flanders-y impression here]

T: But isn’t this all you see with the news? You never hear positive stories from the black community on the news unless you’re famous or offering it in a dance song like Kendrick did. The news only show the riots, but there are lives affected and layers of stories in Baltimore or Ferguson or, in Kendrick’s case, Compton. It’s good that he’s calling that out and saying, “We should be spreading these stories,” since it isn’t just a lack of morality in these places.

D: But he doesn’t have to feed into the stereotype [with this cover].

T: I think it’s a “don’t judge a book by its cover” statement, which is all too forgotten today. You see a molotov cocktail being thrown on the news and you assume you know everything about what’s happening in Baltimore, which is so wrong. Can’t judge this album by a cover you don’t fully understand.

D: Very true. I mean, I just don’t put album art on my iPod. Doesn’t bother me.

T: Wait, what?! Really? I could never stand my iTunes without the artwork.

D: Yeah, doesn’t bother me at all. I’m not looking at my iPod when I listen, so why bother? But anyway, I’d be really curious to listen to this album one time through and see why all the critics are so excited about it.

T: Maybe I’ll just put it on your iPod without art or titles and tell you to listen.

D: Uh, maybe not that way, no.