Bad Break For LeBron The Great - Chris "Preach" Smith

That collective groan you heard from the Midwest and other places 
around the nation around 5 PM Eastern Standard Time? That may
have been the death knell for Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers’
season. 

The season-ending fractured kneecap injury of point guard Kyrie Irving
in Thursday night’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals agains the Golden State Warriors
is yet another bad break for this team, and one they won’t overcome. This
fact is all the more glaring given that the decision by ABC to air Game 2 
on Sunday and thus drag out what could potentially be a sweep hurts
the NBA. You can’t have your best player go out in rough fashion two Finals
years in a row. To quote the New York Yankees great Yogi Berra, “it’s deja
vu all over again.” This was supposed to be a feel-good situation for King
James. Going back home to the graces of Ohio after his stint on South Beach
with the Miami Heat, taking the team to a guaranteed championship, which
would be the first in some 50-odd years for the city of Cleveland? It was the
stuff that Disney scripts are made of. But the beginnings of this bad break
were in the offing from the regular season, and we all knew it or pretended
not to. 

I had been asked by a few people who I thought would win these Finals. My
answer? Golden State in 7. I felt that way not solely because of the supreme
season that Stephen Curry has had, earning him the MVP award. I felt that way
because Cleveland just seemed to be missing something that had you solidly in
their corner to me. LeBron James, whether you want to admit it or not, had a
squad that was going to be just like the squad he last had in Cleveland. And we
all saw how that worked out. The world’s greatest basketball player at this time
was in effect, doing it all by himself. Again. To the tune of 44 points and six 
assists. A mighty effort that wound up falling short when Cleveland went as
cold as a penguin’s belly in overtime. Add Kyrie’s 23 points before his departure
and a short-lived flurry from J.R. Smith and that was the Cavs’ offense. A good
formula, only if all parts click consistently. Not good eough against a Golden State
squad that’s not only loaded for bear, but for the entire damn forest. Consider
this: at one point, the Warriors had Andrew Bogut, Mareese Speights, David Lee,
Festus Ezeli and Stephen Curry. By all accounts, that’s an insane amount of depth
that a team hasn’t fielded since the ‘86 Boston Celtics. When you compare that
bench to Cleveland’s, which is front loaded and now slim with Anderson Varejao
and Kevin Love both out due to injury with Irving, it’s daunting. More on that in
a few.

This is a case of when too many bad breaks happen. This was supposed to be the
new ‘Big Three’: James, Irving and Love. The talk about that obscured certain things.
For one, a rookie head coach who while he handled the role as best as possible,
made some gaffes at the most inconceivable of times. Take Game 1 - Kendrick Perkins,
Shawn Marion and Mike Miller were DNP’s. So David Blatt basically hampered his team’s
depth with that move, which hurt when he had to put James Jones on the floor.
Granted all three of those guys had their prime 3 or 4 years ago. But bodies are
bodies. It’s a problem that Cleveland tried to gloss over, even with the acquisition
of J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert from the woeful New York Knicks. And both of
those guys have inspired a slew of memes, and J.R. even got in on the act taking
shots at the Knicks. For all of their promise, the Cavs just had questionable depth
and had suspicious tendencies on defense in addition to fighting off injuries for most
of this season. Look no further than the Eastern Conference Second Round tilt against the
Chicago Bulls. They should’ve lost in that round. The fact that they didn’t is part of
the reason why Tom Thibodeux was fired by the Bulls weeks after. Want more reasons?
They had to get Timofey Mozgov from Denver to shore up that front line as Tristan
Thompson started to rev it up. Kevin Love hasn’t been the impactful player many 
expected as the wear & tear in Minnesota caught up with him. And remember LeBron’s
‘vacation’ because he was fed up, even though he won’t publicly admit it?

There is no joy when a great competition gets undercut by injuries out of people’s
control. You wonder if Kyrie, who had been battling tendinitis from the latter part
of the regular season, can recover properly from another serious injury involving his
legs. It wasn’t too long ago that people questioned his ability after he declared for the
NBA, leaving a career at Duke University only 11 games long due to injury. LeBron is
focused, only because he’s been here before. He’s going to give it his all no matter 
what just like he did Thursday night, no matter how it will be perceived. And in the
wake of the Game 1 loss, it’s all too apparent that once again, he has to.  

Pain On Pennsylvania Avenue - Chris "Preach" Smith

Photo Credit: WFFV TV

“Black people shout because they want the answers to questions that go unasked.
Like, who knocked the nose and lips off the Sphinx?” - Ralph Wiley

It’s become a bit too commonplace to be in a mode 
where you’re sorting out what exactly to say in the
wake of protest actions that have exploded like those
in Baltimore, Maryland yesterday. A bit too commonplace
to comment on violence, on riots - but when death, 
sanctioned by elements of the police force and paid for
by tax dollars and votes that place politicians with no
interest in things outside of their position comes a calling
at your door or that of your neighbor and THAT has been
common? You’re going to rebel against that being a routine
part of your life, or should rebel against it.

The senseless death of Freddie Gray, who’s spine was
severed while in police custody and who’s arrest was
captured on video, was a spark to the protests that got
ramped up into violence that injured police officers and
reporters and other citizens into last night. But let’s sit
and consider this: this was the final spark. Grey was 
arrested on April 12th, and died on April 19th due to the
injuries he sustained. Injuries we still have no real clue
as to HOW he got them, but we can guess. We can guess
with clarity when discussing Baltimore, a city that has
dealt with the sustained assault on its citizens of color
for years by police officers. It isn’t hard to fathom when
you have some throwing rocks at cops, despite the efforts
of local clergy and the Fruit Of Islam on the streets trying
to cool people down, shouting that they’re doing so because
the cops shot their cousin. Or roughed up someone they
know for no reason. We can guess when B-More is home
to the iconic HBO drama series ‘The Wire’ and also the
birthplace of the ‘Stop Snitching’ movement. The people out
there on the streets of Baltimore were fed up. Have been
fed up. And they do not trust the police to give them answers
to Freddie’s death. Yes, the destruction of property within 
the community is distressing. Distressing because it does lend
to the derailing of the discussions that need to continue as to
WHY people are upset, which is why a Black man in police 
custody is dead days later with a broken spine a la Steve Biko.

Photo Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP/Huffington Post


The property wreckage, the looting is what many will focus
on, especially among our community. It feeds into that talk
that runs in the background like an app we forgot to close on
our smartphones that we have, that talk ingrained within us
about how ‘Black people always mess things up’ or ‘our people
don’t know how to act.’ That embedded language that is both
parts institutionalized and justified to a scant degree as a result
of the former. In this case, it will make you forget the events
of the days leading up to Gray’s funeral. Events like the 10,000
who marched in peace throughout the city. Events like the local
clergy of all faiths joining with the Nation of Islam in getting the
word out to maintain cool in the streets. Events like the Bloods
and Crips, the notorious street gangs actually meeting to declare
a public truce in solidarity with those seeking justice. Events like
mothers and fathers grabbing rock-throwing teens from the crowd
and beating them. It will even make you forget or not notice little
items that aren’t getting a lot of coverage. Items like members of  
the police force throwing rocks at students to ramp up the tension,
caught on video and in pictures. Items like public transportation being
shut down across the city, leaving many stranded out there. All of
those situations do not get obliterated because of the actions of some
who let their anger get the best of them, or those few who simply
don’t give a damn about anything but themselves. The people who 
want answers from their police department, the citizens of Baltimore
who want to believe that their police officers on the whole aren’t all
abusive and oppressive, matter. And their voices shouldn’t be neglected
at all. 

Thing is, Baltimore is a tough city. A city that breeds tough people,
people with heart. I know this thanks to a few that I have had the
chance to build with from there, most notably the talented educators
and musicians Sean Toure’-Thames and Substantial. Tough enough
to know when to speak up. If MLK is being used by those who look
to pacify and make the people of B-More docile, you’ll have to forgive
them if they are only in line with one of his lesser-known statements:
‘A riot is at best, the language of the unheard.’ And in a nation that
was born of riots dating back to the Boston Tea Party, born in violent
uprising, while the events of yesterday are shocking, they should not
take centerstage. In a nation that has seen whites riot for the most
inane events that are sports or shopping related, who still see revolt
either through the rosy view they have of the ‘60’s or in romanticized
dystopian science fiction like ‘The Hunger Games’. it shouldnt be a shock.
But they will. Because news networks need ratings, commercials need
airing, analysts with no common sense(looking at you, Don Lemon) need
to pay for their suits and all that jazz. The folks of B-More are making sure
that the mayor, the police force and others are more careful. If they have
to fully expose that pain on Pennsylvania Avenue, throwing rocks in response
to the cops throwing rocks and other things, we need to pay consistent
attention. Generations of us, need to pay attention. Even if it hurts
worse than a rubber bullet. 

'Friday' And Its Cultural Impact On America- Chris "Preach" Smith

Photo Credit: New Line Cinema

No, that title isn’t an attempt at clickbait. 

It isn’t because when you think of what the 1995 film has
become in the twenty years since it’s release, how ingrained
it has been into the psyche of folks across the nation and
across generations…it’s more than justified. And by the time
you finish this article, we’ll have detailed exactly why Friday
has become so ingrained in American culture to the point 
where it’s now mainstream.

When Friday was released by New Line Cinema back then, I
was about to graduate high school. It had gotten some press,
but not a whole lot was expected of it off the bat. Mainly due
to the fact that the mainstream press looked at Friday as a
‘Black film’ and therefore in the way that they can, treated it
with an air of slight dismissal. In hindsight, it was a curious
move given that hip-hop combined with cinema had gained a
certain appeal with Ernest Dickinson’s Juice, and the two major
hits by John Singleton, Boyz N The Hood and Poetic Justice.
But this film was different, in that Ice Cube wrote the screenplay
at the suggestive influence of Singleton along with DJ Pooh. After
shopping it around, New Line Cinema picked it up and ran with it.
Looking at the original ad in The Source now, with Cube & comedian
Chris Tucker softly scowling out at you from Craig’s porch, you
didn’t know what to expect. But the moment the first weekend
ended, I swear to you that it seemed like EVERYBODY was talking
about Friday. Bootleggers were making money hand over fist with
sales of it wherever you went. The flick, done on a three and a
half million dollar budget, would go on to gross close to three
times that amount by the end of its theatrical release. That’s a
staggering amount of money for a ‘hood’ flick. 

I guarantee you any amount of money that people who haven’t
even seen the film can utter lines from Friday at the drop of a
dime. Take “Bye Felicia” for example. Craig & Smokey’s casual
dismissal of one of the local dopefiends, played by Angela Means,
is so much a part of American vernacular thanks to it being a 
key weapon used by well-renowned news analyst and ESPN host
Keith Olbermann. And in a funny twist, Means reached out to
Olbermann via Twitter - to connect and talk about her son, now
playing for the University of Miami. I remember being out in
Tulum, Mexico years ago and hearing one of the tour bus drivers
repeating one of Smokey’s classic lines - ‘it’s made from the earth,
for you and me!’. And of course: ‘you got knocked THE FUCK OUT!!’
The entire movie is quotable. You don’t find that too often with
films, even with the  more celebrated films of John Huston and
other celebrated American filmmakers. From bodega owners to
cabbies to even the most saintly of older ladies(let’s not even lie
on that one), lines from the movie have become ingrained in our
popular vocabulary. It’s a testament to how magnetic Friday was
and is. Try dropping one of those lines today - although if you’re
at work, use discretion because I don’t want to be the reason you
get fired.

 
Of course, every great film has a good or equally great soundtrack. 
Friday’s soundtrack fits the bill with a fine selection of tracks that 
mostly speak to the love of marijuana. Rick James’ iconic ‘Mary Jane’
on the soundtrack? Check. Dr. Dre stepping in with a new head-nodding
entry, ‘Keep Their Heads Ringin’? Check. Cypress Hill, Mack 10, and 
even Southern California soul band Rose Royce? Double check. It 
continued that tradition that dated back to Gordon Parks & Issac Hayes’
Shaft of making sure you were satiated with the visuals and the audio
backdrop. It also ensured that there was going to be some major dollars
rolling in since Dre and Cube were at their prime in the rap game during
this time and building their respective empires. The other aspect of this ties
into the next point - the ‘stoner buddy’ genre. Friday is that bridge that
ties the legendary Cheech & Chong’s Up In Smoke to this generation’s
versions found in flicks like ‘Pineapple Express’. Stoner comedies, the
mere fact that weed consumption is accepted in movies without any 
heavy stigma these days is because of how palatable Friday made it to
folks. It wasn’t just the domain of white people toking up in an element
that was counter-culture. Look at Bernie Mac’s pastor character reaching
for Smokey’s joint saying ‘lemme have some of that for my cataract.’
Faizon Love as Big Worm making transactions from the ice cream truck.
Friday transmitted these day-to-day situations involving weed without it
taking on any left-field plot progressions. It also took elements found in
the ‘hood that we’ve had issues with, like Eziel and Felicia the dopefiends
and looked at their comedic angles. Serious messages are embedded in 
the flick like stray seeds within a spliff, like drug addiction, drug dealing 
and violence in the community. But it does give Friday a special weight
in how each situation gets handled. I still say that one of the great John
Weatherspoon’s scenes is when he finds Craig with the gun and sheds
the comedy for an instant to basically tell him that all you need to be a
man to protect yourself is your fists. It might be simplistic to some,
but for all the weed-induced moments of hilarity, there’s at least those
scenes that tie it all together to make another day in the ‘hood that more
real to whoever’s watching.

I can’t finish this article without commenting on the fact that the cast
of Friday is another reason for this film being a vertiable classic. It’s a 
perfect blend of personas and everyone brought their A-game to the 
set. Take Craig’s mom, played by Anna Marie Horsford. She was a veteran
actress to this point, most known for her role as Thelma on NBC’s ‘Amen’.
Look at the late Bernie Mac - he had ONE real scene and made that whole
scene memorable, line for line, with his banter with Smokey and his 
seduction of Ms. Parker. And you remember Ms. Parker. Sweet Jesus,
Kathleen Bradley. Thank you for inspiring more appreciation for mature
Black women.  The point being, Friday was also a benchmark in comedies
like this being a blueprint on how casting can make or break a Black film.
And Nia Long as Debbie? Regina King as Craig’s sister? FOINE AND DOUBLE
FOINE. (Plus Paula Jai Parker as Craig’s hoodrat girlfriend, nails and all.)
I can assure you that Tyler Perry took notes on that as evidenced by his
film casts. You also have to give F.Gary Gray major props - this was the first
film for for the music video director, and he knocked it out of the park to build 
a solid career in Hollywood including ‘Set It Off.‘ 

Friday is getting the love and respect it deserves from the mainstream
now, and it’s about time it did. One supreme example will take place
today as the film will be shown again in 400 theaters nationwide. On
4/20. Heh. Friday went on to have two sequels, Next Friday and Friday
After Next which were decent. But the magic found in the first film is 
hard to replicate. Which is why Friday deserves a spot in American cinema
on the same plane as Up In Smoke and other counter-culture comedies
that film critics fawn over. And if there is going to be a fourth film, the 
only thing I(and many of us) need to see is for F.Gary Gray and Chris
Tucker to be back in the fold. 

The TIDAL Wave Crash - Chris "Preach" Smith

Once again, we had a Sunday pass this year with the leak
of something major in the world of music. But, this leak that
looked to be a massive movement has lost some strength.

I’m referring to Tidal, the (somewhat)spanking brand-new
music streaming service put forth by Jay-Z and a slew of
other notable music artists that made its debut in grand
fashion this past Monday, with the slogan ‘TIDALForAll’ as
a rallying cry on social media. The highlight was a full-blown
press conference that had many music artists on stage with
Jay-Z including his wife, Beyonce and Kanye West and Rihanna.
In a show of support on Twitter, these artists changed their
avatars to a blue square. There was even a document that
artists signed onstage in a show that some likened to the
signing of the Declaration of Independence, and others wound
up making Illuminati jokes about. But Tidal, and Jay-Z have
come under heavy fire over the launch and it doesn’t seem
like it will let up.

I’d be the last person to question Jay-Z’s business drive and
acumen. Let’s face it, the MC has made some moves, with
the 40/40 Club and his partnership with the Brooklyn Nets
as a prime example. I can see why he’d look to make this
entry into the competitive world of music streaming. But
this launch has backfired for a couple of key reasons. First,
the presentation. If you’ve seen the commercials, it seems
like all of these artists are banding together to fight against
the common foes of streaming services and the labels that
limit the output of good music and creativity. It’s trying to 
place Tidal as a revolutionary weapon for the people, and it
rings hollow. Granted, the reasoning for a move like this is
based in part on Spotify’s lackluster royalty payments for
streaming music (and the infamous Aloe Blacc example)
which has led to the notable situation of Taylor Swift pulling
all of her music from the service and joining…Tidal. But each
of these artists are wealthy, some very much so. And since
they’re partners in this enterprise, to the reported stake of
3.5% for some, they’d want this to succeed. Which brings
us to the second point: pricing. The company caught a lot of
flack for the cost of the subscription service, which is $19.99.
A month. Which means on a yearly basis, it will run you $240.
In response to the vitriol, Tidal now offers a subscription package
that runs you $9.99. The difference? The twenty buck package
gets you high-quality FLAC sound. That’s.It.

Now the rebuttal that has been issued by Tidal execs has been
that for those who love audio, the 19 dollar package is ideal
because it gets you CD-quality sound. It doesn’t sound that
appealing in an age where CD’s still teeter on the brink of being
decorative coasters. In fact, at a recent talk held at NYU with
Jay-Z and the chief investment officer Vania Schlogel, there
seemed to still be a cloud of vagueness as to what Tidal will
really offer consumers mixed with an air of ‘but, don’t you
see who’s attached to this?!!’ There’s also questions as the
current subscriber list that was part of the deal Hov made, at
$56 million dollars. Now, it’s understandable that Hov wants
this to pop off seeing the 3 billion dollar deal Dr.Dre had in
line with Apple and Beats Music. But it would’ve been wise to
also look at their overall strategy. They had a defined approach,
and products that they turned into status symbols based on
that approach and the products’ performance. It’s easier to do
that with tactile products instead of a streaming music service
that is going up against proven outlets like Spotify, Rdio and
Pandora not to mention other brands like Soundcloud and
Audiomack.

The other element that seems to be missed is the golden
opportunity to include independent musicians. If you’re a
service that looks to give back to the artist their due, why
not launch with a definitive appeal to them in mind? Again,
services like Soundcloud and Bandcamp stand out here for that
reason - leveling the playing field against artists with major
corporate backing. That’s how labels like Jamla and Mello Music
Group are making strides. Not in a ‘manifesto’ delivered by
an artist on stage who 11 years before was touting iTunes as
the last word in streaming music. That’s not to say indie
artists may be ignored, but it begs the question - who is
Tidal really for? What will it ultimately be? Jay-Z got miffed
when the moderator at NYU made a simple follow-up question
about it possibly taking the place of a label, claiming ‘they
have more ambition than that.’ The world is waiting to see
what that ambition really is, and I suspect they are as well. 

Kendrick Lamar And The Platinum Cocoon - Chris "Preach" Smith

“I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.”

 - John Coltrane

It’s been only six days since the surprising early release of Kendrick
Lamar’s highly anticipated third album, To Pimp A Butterfly. And in
that six days, the world has been flipped over on its natural behind.
Don’t believe me? Take a quick search in your Internet browser and
tell me how many results you get when you type the album title in.
Six days. You’d figure on day seven, you’d get a rest to fully digest
as the Good Book says. But, that’s not the times we live in. And the
album isn’t intended for you to slumber. Not at all. I’m going to give
you my take on this album, knowing that as time goes on, what we
all will get from it will shift like sand on the beach.

To Pimp A Butterfly, at an initial listen, is both cosmology and also
a chronological piece. You don’t really comprehend how much of both
it is, until your second or eighth spin. That’s how layered this album
truly is. It’s not the first album this year that has come to the public
with profound depth - that goes to Lupe Fiasco’s Tetsuo & Youth, which
was released in January and has its own striking appeal - but it is the
first rap album in a good while that has hit folks on so many levels in
so many different ways. K-Dot kicks off the journey right from the
opening of ‘Wesley’s Theory’, which begins with the sample of Jamaican
toaster Boris Gardiner. And if you even asked that of most music heads
in ‘Jeopardy’ format, there’d be a lot of blank faces. From there, you
are baptised in the journey. The track itself is a funk gospel spurred
on by the Funk God himself, George Clinton as well as a proverb of 
just how hyper-materialism is both dream and curse. The money chase
gets likened to the pursuit of a lover, underscored by Dr. Dre’s guest
interlude that leads into Kendrick’s bars that take on a malevolent
but persuading tone. Mind you, this is the FIRST track on the album.
I had to pause for a minute to let all of that sit. That happened quite
a bit as I listened.

The soul singer Bilal, who turns in stellar work on this album, speaks of
it as jazz. It IS jazz, but it is also funk, soul - To Pimp A Butterfly is one
of the most comprehensive collages of the Black musical experience that’s
ever been released. Kendrick, through his artistry, shares everything that
has touched him and that has moved us. It’s not just the samples. The
MC as griot and trickster figure lives on this album. Br’er Rabbit bossin’ up
on the mic.(More on that later.)I mean, look at ‘For Free(Interlude)’. As
a standalone track, it smacks of Rudy Ray Moore mixed with The Last
Poets in terms of standing a conversation about a woman not digging
Kendrick because he’s not flush with cash on its head. If it was the
Brooklyn Moon Cafe, some fingers could be snapping heavily. To Pimp A
Butterfly does that vividly - you find yourself taking chunks from his lyrics
to the production that provoke memories of other efforts. Kendrick covers
as much of it as he can. Afrobeat for the very last stunner of a song,
‘Mortal Man’ which deftly uses the Fela Kuti sample and a piece of a famed
Tupac Shakur interview and in doing so, evokes how Fela further shaped
his incredible music during his time in Los Angeles jamming with fellow
musical expatriate Hugh Masakela. ‘Institutionalized’, one of my favorite
tracks on here, hits you with a drop not unlike those heard on Pharcyde
songs and even hints at some inspiration from Andre 3000’s cartoon series
‘Class Of 3000’. That’s part of the chronological journey - Kendrick not only
makes this album a look at his journey to this point, it’s a depiction of how
Los Angeles has influenced him. How Compton made him. Going back to
‘Institutionalized’, it’s remarkable how the song basically speaks about being
the struggle of fighting against what the ‘hood has instilled in him as he 
navigates an awards show and his present superstar status. Bilal’s hook is
hypnotic AND true, and Snoop Dogg’s guest drop as seasoned narrator?
GENIUS.  

Photo Credit: EveryDejaVu.com

Remember what I said about Kendrick using this album to be an MC 
in the role of Br’er Rabbit? Okay. Think of what Br’er Rabbit represents.
Strip away the Disney-fied feel-good ethos for a sec. Kendrick styles 
himself as the trickster figure that has been a part us for centuries. 
While it’s a confident stance, it’s not without its admission of vulnerability.
It differs from, say, how Drake expresses his vulnerabiity. Or J.Cole. It
doesn’t invalidate their expressions, it’s just that next step that they 
are approaching in their own music. It’s also both unapologetic and raw.
One example? ‘u’. The dark, twisting track is like a stomach churning on
itself. It aint hard to tell that the attacks on him over comments that 
led to him being covered in the air of touting ‘respectability politics’ in the
midst of the turmoil in Ferguson, Missouri after the murder of Mike 
Brown hit him. And hard. But it’s also hard not to see how he also made
that another way to view himself in the prism. The result is an honest,
unfiltered look at all of his Blackness. And ours too. A Blackness that 
always survives, by the smile and by guile when fists and bricks can’t
cut it. Br’er Rabbit always a step ahead of Br’er Fox, even when it seems
like it’s not the case. The story of us, in America. Another example? The
recent picture from a magazine story that seemingly has a white woman
braiding his hair. How many digital daggers were thrown at him then?
Then he goes and makes ‘Complexion’, a stirring song featuring Rapsody,
a seriously slept on woman MC who has the potential to eat him alive on
his own track. Think about how deep that song is. And she closes it out.
It brings home the point that sometimes gets lost in the overall discussion
of us that we have amongst us - we’re not a monolith, we are a diverse
and beautiful Black body of realness. So much so that it flusters the status
quo(looking at you, Slate).


Kendrick, if anything, has made this album a partial think-piece(ha)on
the fickleness we’ve gotten too used to overall, and not just in contemporary
rap. Ponder this: he smashed the Spotify streaming record not once, but
TWICE. On consecutive days, with a figure over nine million. Drake’s own
surprise album, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, which had everyone
buzzing once it dropped only four weeks ago? Barely getting a mention 
except in memes evoking the cover art. That’s power. To Pimp A Butterfly
is going to be examined like newly-discovered mummies for quite some 
time. It proves Kendrick has broken out of his platinum cocoon, more theW
wiser. Still complex. Still finding and expressing himself. And we’re all
the beneficiaries of the flight.