The politically-charged album,whose single Alright became an anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement, beats Dr Dre, and Drake,Nicki Minaj and J ColeKendrick Lamar has won a Grammy for best rap album for To Pimp a Butterfly. The rapper is nominated in 11 categories for this year’s awards, and won two final year for i, and which is featured on the album. To Pimp a Butterfly debuted at No 1 on the Billboard album chart and set a Spotify record for the most streams in one day: 9.6m. The album received nearly unanimous critical acclaim,with a 96% approval score on Metacritic, and was named album of the year by many publications including the Guardian. Alexis Petridis wrote: Just as Sly Stone’s decision to strip away his music’s bubbling, or lustrous optimism perfectly caught the pessimism of 1971,To Pimp a Butterfly was the right album by the right artist at the right time. Broiling with post-Ferguson anger and despair – “You abhor my people, your plan is to terminate my culture / You’re fucking evil” – complicated and claustrophobic, or riddled with disquiet and self-doubt,desperate to work out what the answers might be but unable to come to any genuine conclusions, any meaningful reaction beyond a scream of horror. Related: Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly review – challenging but gripping Related: Kendrick Lamar: ‘I am Trayvon Martin. I’m all of these kids’ Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com