Cool it with your Monday griping, there was a reason to wake up today and you didn’t even know it – Kendrick Lamar’s new album, To Pimp a Butterfly, was released a week ahead of schedule and is now available on iTunes and Spotify.
After postponed production and near-frantically high expectations, Lamar surprised fans in a way one only can in the digital age, and the fruits of his labor proved well worth the nearly three year wait after the 2012 contemporary classic good kid, m.A.A.d city.
With guests like Snoop Dogg, George Clinton and Thundercat on retainer, the artist’s third album runs at a generous eighty minutes and pulls inspiration from everything from ’70s funk, jazz and insistent harmonies. Politically charged and deeply personal in spite of the styles it employs, Lamar’s album is an accomplishment to say the least, and the only thing you should be listening to this Monday.
Here’s the track list for To Pimp a Butterfly:
1) Wesley’s Theory (ft. George Clinton & Thundercat)
2) For Free? (Interlude)
3) King Kunta
4) Institutionalized (ft. Bilal, Anna Wise & Snoop Dogg)
5) These Walls (ft. Bilal, Anna Wise & Snoop Dogg)
6) U
7) Alright
8) For Sale? (Interlude)
9) Momma
10) Hood Politics
11) How Much A Dollar Cost (ft. James Fauntleroy & Ronald Isley)
12) Complexion (A Zulu Love) (ft. Rapsody)
13) The Blacker The Berry
14) You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Momma Said)
15) i
16) Mortal Man
If you still need convincing (what’s wrong with you) then here’s a peek at “The Blacker the Berry,” released last month:
Everything is great.
[h/t Pitchfork]
