BY CHEMELLE RICE
It Is the moment we have all been waiting for,.It took him two years but it’s nice to confirm that Kendrick Lamar’s new album is officially on the verge of arrival. His debut album “Good kid, m.A.A.d city” was without a shadow of a doubt the best album of 2013, in my view. I am still listening to “Money trees” and “B****, don’t kill my vibe” once a week at least! Not to mention the rest of the world. I would go as far to declare that it’s the best hip hop album I’ve heard in the past decade. We’ve all been eagerly awaiting the refreshing stars new material, his album is not called “Untitled”, and the cover is not all black, like insiders had initially reported.
A direct insider for Eye of Media can be positive that we now have the actual title and if that wasn’t enough we also have the exciting cover for the album, which is queued to drop on March 23rd. Compton born Kendrick which we so easily nicknamed “K. Dot” seemed to suggest that his new pride is labelled “To Pimp A Butterfly”, based on a revealing Instagram post he dropped early Wednesday morning (Mar. 11). We love the name Kendrick.
In the caption he shared: “‘don’t all dogs go to heaven? Don’t Gangsta’s boogie? Do owl sh-t stank? Lions, Tigers & Bears. But TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY. It’s the American dream n—a….’ – lil Homie.”
The potential title inspiringly evokes the Harper Lee’s classic novel from the 1960’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Back In 2006, British librarians ranked the novel, placing it ahead of the almighty “Bible” –quoting as one “every adult should read before they die”
After the book attained world wide recognition, it was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan. One of the major themes in the world wide known book reflects the Compton rapper’s music, making it highly appropriate for the 27 year old rapper to pick such a heart-felt title for his album, as both reflect and capture racial prejudice through-out America.
Kendrick is the beautiful butterfly to say the least, rebirthing hip hop in a sense. Making it fresh and current again, striping back the clutter and giving us what we once rocked too in the early 90’s. Certain aspects of the music industry, capitalism plus other system have shabbily tried to exploit and demean him, failing so worthlessly.
We can’t wait for the album launch in a few weeks, I can only ponder upon the parallels there may be in comparison to the book. Thankfully, we’re closer to hearing it today than we were yesterday, and we’ll be closer tomorrow than we are today. This is only good thing.Do you like the title? We do!