To Pimp a Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar's sophomore effort, To Pimp a Butterfly, is the number 1 album in the country right now, having moved some 363,000 copies in its first week. This is the first time he's topped the Billboard charts--the Compton rapper's acclaimed 2012 debut, good kid, m.A.A....

Sole authorship may not be entirely mythical, but its prevalence is exaggerated. Not every rapper has ghostwriters, but the odds are that even the most hallowed names in the genre's history have had aides in the studio with them, tossing out lines, contributing hooks, changing words, generally rearranging things...

One of the defining characteristics of Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album, To Pimp A Butterfly, is a running poem that builds and unfolds as the album progresses, with K.Dot sharing more and more of the piece song by song. The piece culminates after the music fades out during the album's final track, "Mortal Man," and as Kendrick finishes he asks a question, answered by the voice of Tupac

Related: Sounwave Says Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly Went Through Three Phases Rapsody Says Kendrick Lamar Has the Same Energy as Lauryn Hill Bilal Explains His Role in Making Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly Kendrick Lamar Says He’s a Vessel for God’s Work Listen to the Full 2Pac Interview Kendrick Lamar Samples on To Pimp A Butterfly

Taylor Swift is a fan of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly album. The country/pop singer took to Twitter this morning to share her thoughts about the new album. Swift summed it up in one picture, posting a photo from her Vogue cover shoot with Karlie Kloss. When th...

TDE in-house producer and A&R Sounwave has been working with the West Coast crew since 2009's Kendrick Lamar EP and has been steadily building his portfolio ever since. Over the years he's boasted credits on Ab-Soul's Control System ("Double Standards") and These Days... ("Closure"); Sc...

Kendrick Lamar has proven over and over again that he's not afraid to stand up against the best rappers in the business, having included Drake, TDE label mate Jay Rock and West Coast legend MC Eiht on his Interscope debut good kid, m.A.A...

Though it feel victim to a convoluted half-release on the iTunes store, Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album, To Pimp a Butterfly, has distinguished itself as the high-water mark for digital music fervor. On March 16) the LP set a single-day album streaming record for the digital music provider Spotify, who report that the album was listened to over 9...

Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album, To Pimp A Butterfly, has been all the talk since its unexpected release last Sunday night. The album, which has been well received by fans of the T.D.E. rapper, is also being highly praised by Kendrick's peers in the music industry...

When Kendrick Lamar released his sophomore LP To Pimp A Butterfly Sunday night a week before its scheduled March 23 release date, the hip-hop world collectively lost its mind sifting through the LP to attempt to uncover its secrets. Wit...

Kendrick Lamar's second major label album, To Pimp a Butterfly, is officially out March 23, but has been available intermittently on iTunes for the last day or so. In interviews for a New York Times profile, he recounts being baptized following the release of his 2012 debut, good kid, m...

Related: Listen to the Full 2Pac Interview Kendrick Lamar Samples on ‘Mortal Man’ Hip-Hop Reacts to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ Killer Mike and Rapsody Thank Kendrick Lamar on Social Media Funk Legend Steve Arrington On Being Sampled By Dr. Dre And Q-Tip...