The music of To Pimp a Butterfly incorporates a variety of styles from traditional African-American music, including jazz, funk, soul, spoken word, and avant-garde. Lyrically, it features political commentary and personal themes concerning African-American culture, racial inequality, depression, and institutional discrimination. This thematic direction was inspired by Lamar's tour of historic sites during his visit to South Africa, such as Nelson Mandela's jail cell on Robben Island.
To Pimp a Butterfly sold 324,000 copies in the US in its first week of release, earning a chart debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, while also becoming Lamar's first number-one album in the UK. It was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and sold one million copies in the US by 2017. Five singles were released in promotion of the album, including the top 40 hit "I". Lamar also supported the album with the Kunta's Groove Sessions Tour from late 2015 to early 2016.
The album received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its musical scope and the social relevance of Lamar's lyrics. It earned Lamar seven nominations at the 2016 Grammy Awards, including a win for Best Rap Album and an Album of the Year nomination. He received four additional nominations for other collaborations from that year, receiving a total of 11 Grammy nominations, which was the most nominations for any rapper in a single night. The most acclaimed album of 2015 and the 2010s, it topped The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll of American critics nationwide, and was also ranked as the best album of 2015 by many other publications. In the years following its release, several publications named To Pimp a Butterfly one of the best albums of the decade; in 2020, the album was ranked 19th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Sample credits
- "Wesley's Theory" contains elements of "Every Nigger is a Star", written and performed by Boris Gardiner.
- "King Kunta" contains interpolations of "Get Nekkid", written by Johnny Burns; resung lyrics from "Smooth Criminal", written by Michael Jackson; elements from "The Payback", written by James Brown, Fred Wesley and John Starks; and samples from "We Want the Funk", written by Ahmad Lewis.
- "Momma" contains elements of "Wishful Thinking" written by Sylvester Stewart and performed by Sly and the Family Stone; and elements of "On Your Own", written by Lalah Hathaway, Rahsaan Patterson and Rex Rideout; and samples from "On Your Own", performed by Lalah Hathaway.
- "Hood Politics" contains a sample of "All for Myself", written and performed by Sufjan Stevens.
- "I" contains portions of "That Lady", written by Ronald Isley, Christopher Jasper, O'Kelly Isley, Jr., Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley and Rudolph Isley.
- "Mortal Man" contains excerpts from "I No Get Eye for Back", written by Fela Anikulapo Kuti and performed by Houston Person; and featuring parts from the music journalist Mats Nileskar's November 1994 interview with Tupac Shakur for P3 Soul Broadcasting Corporation.
- Kendrick Lamar – vocals; art direction
- George Clinton – vocals (track 1)
- Thundercat – vocals (tracks 1, 5); background vocals (tracks 7, 12, 14); bass (tracks 3, 13, 15, 16); additional bass (track 5); producer (tracks 10, 12); additional production (track 1)
- Anna Wise – vocals (tracks 4, 5); backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 10)
- Bilal – vocals (tracks 4, 5); backing vocals (6, 8–10)
- Snoop Dogg – vocals (track 4)
- James Fauntleroy – vocals (track 11); background vocals (track 16)
- Ronald Isley – vocals (track 11); additional vocals (track 15)
- Rapsody – vocals (track 12)
- Flying Lotus – producer (track 1)
- Ronald "Flippa" Colson – producer (track 1)
- Sounwave – producer (tracks 3, 7, 10, 12, 16); additional production (tracks 1, 5, 6, 8, 10); keyboards (track 14); string arrangements
- Terrace Martin – alto saxophone (tracks 1, 2, 6–9, 11, 13, 14, 16); horns (track 1); keyboards (tracks 5, 6, 8–12); producer (tracks 2, 5); additional production (tracks 3, 8, 12, 13); vocoder (tracks 9, 14); string arrangements
- Rahki – producer (tracks 4, 15); percussion (track 15)
- Fredrik "Tommy Black" Halldin – producer (track 4)
- Larrance Dopson – percussion (tracks 5, 11–14); keyboards, producer (track 5)
- Taz Arnold aka Tisa – background vocals (tracks 4, 8, 9, 15); producer (tracks 6, 8)
- Whoarei – producer (track 6)
- Pharrell Williams – producer, vocals (track 7)
- Knxwledge – producer (track 9)
- Tae Beast – producer (track 10)
- Lovedragon – producer (tracks 11, 14)
- Boi-1da – producer (track 13)
- KOZ – producer (track 13)
- Dr. Dre – executive producer; background vocals (track 1)
- James Hunt – engineer (tracks 1–7, 13–16); mix assistant
- Derek "MixedByAli" Ali – engineer (tracks 1–6, 8–16), mixer
- Katalyst – additional drum programming, additional engineering (track 13)
- Mike Bozzi – mastering engineer
- Ash Riser – background vocals (track 1)
- Josef Leimberg – trumpet (tracks 1, 5, 8, 11, 12, 14, 16), vocals (track 1)
- Whitney Alford – background vocals (tracks 1, 3)
- Robert Sput Searight – drums (track 2); keyboards (track 10)
- Robert Glasper – piano (track 2); keyboards (tracks 5, 12, 13, 16)
- Brandon Owens – bass (tracks 2, 16)
- Craig Brockman – organ (track 2)
- Marlon Williams – guitar (tracks 2, 5, 6, 11, 14, 16); additional guitar (track 3)
- Darlene Tibbs – background vocals (track 2)
- Matt Schaeffer – additional guitar (track 3); engineer (tracks 3, 6, 11–16)
- Sam Barsh – keyboards (tracks 4, 15)
- Pedro Castro – clarinet (track 4)
- Gabriel Noel – cello (track 4), upright bass (track 11)
- Paul Cartwright – violin (tracks 4, 11, 16)
- Gregory Moore – guitar (track 5)
- Kamasi Washington – tenor saxophone (track 6); string arrangements
- Adam Turchan – baritone saxophone (track 6)
- Jessica Vielmas – background vocals (track 6)
- SZA – background vocals (tracks 6, 8)
- Candace Wakefield – background vocals (tracks 7, 15)
- Preston Harris – background vocals (tracks 8, 10, 14)
- Lalah Hathaway – background vocals (tracks 9, 12, 13)
- Dion Friley – background vocals (tracks 10, 15)
- Talkbox Monte – background vocals (track 12)
- JaVonté – background vocals (tracks 12, 14, 16)
- Pete Rock – background vocals/scratches (track 12)
- Ronald Bruner Jr. – drums (track 13)
- Wyann Vaughn – background vocals (track 14)
- Keith Askey – guitar (track 15)
- Kendall Lewis – drums (track 15)
- Chris Smith – bass (track 15)
- William Sweat – background vocals (track 15)
- Devon Downing – background vocals (track 15)
- Edwin Orellana – background vocals (track 15)
- Dave Free – background vocals (track 15)
- Junius Bervine – keyboards (track 16)
- Ambrose Akinmusire – trumpet (track 16)
No comments:
Post a Comment