Throughout the past year, I have explored hip-hop artists as I have grown a fascination for the genre—Tyler, Kanye, and most importantly, Kendrick Lamar.

A sudden scream woke up the song named “u.” This song is a mental breakdown, full of self-loathing and hatred. It is messy and has no order to be found, only chaos. 

After much of him saying the same line over and over, the audio breaks up on both sides of the headphones as housekeeping arrives with a Spanish conversation until the audio finally fixes, hearing Kendrick with saxophones continuing to loathe over himself in a drunken breakdown, ending with him chugging alcohol. 

A crowd is heard until Kendrick could be heard in the crowd booming over the others as the song “i” begins. This is vastly different from “u” as they have now learned about his struggles, but found his peace and now embraces himself. 

As it continues, the song suddenly stops, and the crowd can be heard again. He started to give a speech in front of the crowd, saying that they rule the world, history always changed when they stood up, to stand up for their community that has fallen, as he defines himself as the realest ruler alive.

“To Pimp a Butterfly,” represents the struggle in finding who you are in the world, when the world around you is giving you other struggles causing a war with your community and yourself.

 I still believe that this is the Magnum Opus of his discography for many reasons. The production, the collaborations, and the music, especially, are phenomenal. The feedback from this album is spectacular, as this is mainly known as one of the best works of art to come out of the 2010s and one of the best albums regarded in history.

The album is a great time. You have to think quite a bit when you listen to the album, and I highly recommend reading the lyrics a few times. 

Some of my honorable mentions for my favorite songs are “King Kunta”, “Wesley’s Theory”, “U”, “Alright”, “I”, “These Walls”, “Complexion”, and “The Blacker The Berry”.

As I continue exploring the world of music, this is going to be one of my milestones as it has shed a huge light on how society has been affected in the past, leading to the harmful effects and views of others.