Kendrick Lamar has a pretty good track record. Section 80 was enough to build some buzz, not only in Los Angeles but around the world, it was good enough to have the world eagerly awaiting the arrival of his first album, which happened to come with a certain Dr Dre on board. Good Kid Mad City is widely known as a classic, such is Kendrick's skill on the mic whether spitting fire or telling stories. You get a bit of everything with Lamar but unlike those Jack-of-All-Trades/Masters-of-None types, Lamar is an actual master in every aspect of hip hop poetry.

To Pimp A Butterfly takes that to a whole new level. Many times we see artists try to expand creatively and miss the mark, but such is Kendrick's ability as an artist that he can rise to a new level of music that has many layers, ideas, meanings and inspirations.

I listened to this latest album a few times itself, but I also let all the songs under 'Kendrick Lamar' on my iPod breathe. I don't really know why I did so, but when I did, I had a bit of an epiphany. All three projects and their respective songs represent a different time, they capture a different moment and sound different but I never skipped anything, not a song, not a minute of a song, not a few seconds at the end of a song. There's no need.

Kendrick Lamar has dropped three projects that all stand alone as being fucking awesome. He, along with a few other artists, has really brought back the Concept Album. To Pimp A Butterfly has two interludes as well as dialogue throughout following the end of a song, if you listen to this album by just jamming a few songs, you're missing the point. I heard 'King Kunta' on the radio the other day and besides the lack of 'swear' words (fuck censorship) it felt odd. There's nothing about this album that is made for radio, which made me so happy because the album is put together with every song having its place. There's a cohesion that comes with the desire to put together a body of work that as a whole represents the artist at that time and Lamar has given us another album that can be left alone from track 1 to 16, bless him.

Fuck radio.

There's a joy that comes with honesty and Lamar in no way, shape or form is subtle in his intentions. To Pimp A Butterfly is unashamedly black, with Lamar dropping wisdom on the origins of the naughty N word which stems from 'Negus' which is loosely translated to king. Lamar is very upfront about these messages but also flips the script on 'Blacker The Berry' where the line 'I'm the biggest hypocrite in 2015' kicks off every verse, while it finishes with Lamar highlighting that gangbanging sees copious amounts of black on black murder.

"Or try to celebrate February like it's my B-Day
Or eat watermelon, chicken, and Kool-Aid on weekdays
Or jump high enough to get Michael Jordan endorsements
Or watch BET cause urban support is important
So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street?
When gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me?"

There are a whole bunch of layers to this album with a range of matters touched upon, but I'll leave that up to your own perception. The key for Lamar is how in your face he is, that honesty is powerful and it's hard to ignore any vibe you get from Lamar because you can feel his passion. One aspect of this is his standing in the hip hop game, which for me epitomises his upfront attitude which can be seen in different ideas that are presented in the album, but this is the clearest example.

Think of why that 'Control' verse caught fire. Lamar simply doesn't give a fuck, he dropped names and he states his intentions loud and clear. It's the same on this album with one of my favourite lines of the album, from 'King Kunta' highlighting the fact that no one in hip hop is really on Lamar's level.

"Ya'll sharing bars like you've got the bottom bunk of a two man cell"

It's easy to see the Tupac in Lamar, he reckons that Tupac came to him in a dream and there's the much talked about Tupac interview which has been perfectly chopped and flipped. This is where I feel comfortable in saying that we are witnessing greatness because Lamar is very aware of the message he's exuding. Music is his platform to spread his gospel and he takes it very seriously, which when you see how passionate someone is and how serious they take their message, you feel compelled to oblige.

Muscially, it's very funky. Whether you wanted hard beats or the jazz/funky hip hop infused musical goodness that's served up doesn't really matter because the album reflects where Lamar was during that period. Lamar's longtime in house producer Sounwave, who helped produce seven of the 16 songs, said that he and Lamar were listening to a lot of funk/jazz at the time and that's what influenced them. What I love about the sound of this album is how creatively free it is. It's impossible not to nod your head or move your body and for me personally, it's the first time my ears have been graced with a group of songs that sound like this. The mix of sounds and vibes is perfect.

To raise the bar even further, Lamar spits fire throughout the album. It's a given these does that Lamar spits fire, but he does so over production that would test many rappers. It reminds me of Madlib and all the little nooks and corridors that rappers can find in his production. Lamar doesn't follow any set formula in terms of how music should be packaged, he just does what he wants which also keeps you constantly engaged. You can never really predict what he's going to serve up next, even in how he uses his voice. On a track like 'u' he's able to share his pain through the strain in his voice, there's many examples like this throughout the album and they serve their purpose expertly.

I mean who else can repeat 'boo boo' over and over again like Lamar does on 'Hood Politcs'. Somehow he makes all this obscurity work and fit seamlessly.

To Pimp A Butterfly is an album that you can put on regardless of the mood or situation you're in. Lamar is pretty much 3-0, he hasn't missed the mark yet musically which when you combine that with his mission and intentions leaves you with the complete package. Depending on your personal taste, you now have musicians who are leaders of our generation, they represent us and they're doing a damn fine job of doing that. They have little regard for how their song performs on radio and are more focused on expressing themselves freely in their music. Kendrick Lamar is not only a leader and inspiration for our generation, but he's the leader of the pack in hip hop who are on a mission.

The beauty is, that if you can't dive deep into the music and really break it down with messages, themes and ideas, at the very least you can vibe on out to it. In that sense, all the bases are covered and a fantastic album is what you have.