Compton’s prodigal son, Kendrick Lamar returns after the success of his 2012 debut epic, ‘Good Kid m.A.A.D. City’, with his socially conscious poetry in ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’.

“By the time you hear the next pop, the funk shall be within you.”

The first 40 seconds of the album pose as a funk album as opposed to a modern hip-hop record.

Incidentally, George Clinton, of Parliament Funkadelic fame, is featured on the opening track, ‘Wesley’s Theory’, which can be a modern roller-rink anthem.

The professed inspiration stemming from Miles Davis and Parliament while writing the album is deeply evident throughout the 16 tracks.

Songs like ‘For Free?’, ‘Institutionalized’, ‘Alright’, and ‘How Much A Dollar Cost’ all exhibit jazz influence.

True to Kendrick’s poetic-nature, each track is interweaved with a spoken word interlude that progressively builds on the same poem throughout the album culminating in a conversation with hip-hop legend, Tupac.

A hip-hop ‘War of the Worlds’, ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ plays out like a drama that the listener hears and visualizes, specifically in the moments where he douses the tracks with instances of real life moments in an album already full of reality.

Lamar narrates his fight against being ‘pimped’ by the music industry and living an ostentatious lifestyle personified as ‘Lucy’.

‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ is replete with social and political commentary.

‘The Blacker the Berry’, a track that grabs the listener by the shirt demanding attention, has Lamar spitting, “I mean its evident I’m irrelevant to society,” alluding to the disregard for black lives in The United States.

The rapper makes mention of colorism, a form of oppression by use of light skin vs dark skin in ‘Complexion (a Zulu Love)’.

In the electric guitar infused celebration track, ‘I’, which samples Isley Brother’s ‘That Lady’, the rapper cuts into the seemingly live track to have a conversation about embracing the much debated use of the N-word by explaining its origins.

‘Definition; royalty; King royalty.’

‘Description: Black emperor, King, ruler.’

Lamar’s genius continues to shine in ‘King Kunta’, a juxtaposition of the rapper’s status as a wealthy black man alongside historical figure Kunta Kinte, a rebellious black slave, showing his continued oppression.

The epic roller coaster tosses amid lines of self-confessed insecurities and swishes by poor mental health, at the time of writing and a culmination that leaves the listener wondering just what they were hit with.

The chilling final track, ‘Mortal Man’, showcases Tupac having a conversation on current race relations and the voices who empowered a generation, leaving Lamar to realize that he is now the one who carries the torch.

‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ is a theatrical ride through juxtapositions and metaphors for low points, insecurities, realizations, and self-growth.

An instant classic, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ is essentially, the sophomore album that comes back very much alive to tell the tale of survival.