>The word "hype" wasn't enough to describe the media assault on the sprawling 80-minute To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), another meticulously crafted album that employed legions of writers, producers and musicians (including jazz pianist Robert Glasper and jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington). Six people wrote Wesley's Theory, including George Clinton, and four produced it, including Flying Lotus. Nine people are credited as writers for the funk-fest King Kunta, making it de facto a collage. The producers threw in more live instruments, resulting in a sound that is more revivalist than innovative, but also a sound that helps the general theatrical atmosphere. For better and for worse, The Blacker the Berry is the epitome of this emphatically pointless but fashionable avant-jazz-rap music. I begins as an olf-fashioned synth-pop hit of the 1980s before it begins to sound like a James Brown parody (with the lyrics "the number one rapper in the world" and "i love myself") accented by a jovial piano figure. The best psychodrama is possibly one of the simplest songs, the melodic funk-soul These Walls, and the best political sermon the equally straightforward funk ditty Hood Politics. But the music is secondary to the histrionics and it doesn't matter that the catchy and danceable Alright stands in opposition of the industrial beat that derails Momma, a fact that could account for at least eclecticism. This is a superficial and, ultimately, middle-of-the-road album from an artist who lacks the visceral energy of Public Enemy and Tackhead while also lacking the poetic depth of Kanye West and the musical genius of El-P. He tries to be all of them at once, but maybe he would be most credible if he were just himself: a brilliant script-writer of fictionalized real-life stories: the Christian parable How Much a Dollar Cost presents God disguised as a homeless man, and Mortal Man interviews the ghost of dead rapper 2Pac.
>6.5/10
Was he right?
The word "hype" wasn't enough to describe the media assault on the sprawling 80-minute To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)...
Fuck off Piero go molest some African kids or something you homo
too high of a rating. 5/10 for me.
This. The review itself is generally accurate though.
>>the poetic depth of Kanye West
no, he wasn't right
>lacking the poetic depth of Kanye West
people give scaruffi shit for this line but it’s true, tpab is shallow
>lacking the poetic depth of Kanye West
Poor guy just doesn't have any fucking clue what he's talking about anymore.
based
>the sprawling 80-minute To Pimp a Butterfly
excuse me
damn, it actually is that long. been a while.
He gave it a 6 originally, as usual his opinion becomes worse when he changes his mind (e.g. changing Nevermind from 8 to 7)
When Kanye cares about lyricism his highs are far greater than Kendricks, fortunately, Kanye actually knows how to make memorable, good, timeless music.
Kanye is worse than Kendrick at lyricism, full stop
total opposite for me, he changes them for the better. Also Nevermind IS a 7, no more no less.
The fact that he referred to I as 80s synth pop is cringe when that song mostly samples an isley brothers funk classic
that's just your objectively wrong opinion.
That's because Scaruffi is legitimately retarded and people only like him for cheap jabs and the number at the end.
He's no better than your average pitchfork writer, but he's even more narcissistic.
nah, scaruffi has a far better grasp of aesthetics, and his music reviews are part of a larger comprehensive project on art itself. That being said, he possesses actual integrity unlike p4k.
wrong wrong wrong
>scaruffi has a far better grasp of aesthetics
No, he doesn't. It's actually astounding the amount of nonsensical comparisons I see in his reviews. A lot of his writings are adjective salads.
Yeezus> Kendrick's discography
>integrity
>obvious shitposting on chinese cartoon websites
> Yeezus
Spotted the Virgin