#BestOf2015 – To Pimp a Butterfly

#WorstOf2015 – Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz 

Best:To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick LamarTo Pimp A Butterfly, which was released on March 15, 2015, gaining 9.8 million streams just after its release. The rapper’s 79 minute album has the freedom of a mixtape and amazing shape-shifting song structures that are so layered with meaning, all you can doing is sigh in awe at its greatness.  

The Compton kid Kendrick Lamar has done it once again with his latest album

It is one of those pieces of art that deserves to bought and really be listened to, not just downloaded.

All the black skin on To Pimp A Butterfly is incredible and no doubt will make an entire police department squirm. Kendrick expresses thoughts from life in Compton and all across the album there is nothing that stands out more than his urge for black Americans to rise up against racism. Songs such as The Blacker the Berry, featuring Jamaica’s very own Agent Sasco aka Assassin, with its bone-cracking drums give a deep pulse.

Enjoyment of the song takes a little thought to go down the palate, given all the anger. Nevertheless it is  one of the album’s most key and searing moments as Lamar discusses that despite his moral, politically and socially conscious stance on various issues, and justified fury at police brutality, he is still a contributor. “So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street, when gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me?  HYPOCRITE!”Mortal Man, Kendrick plays out a fantasy of a conversation between himself and Pac using Pac’s actual words in a 1994 interview. This in turns leads Lamar to reveal the central metaphor of the album. To Pimp a Butterfly is definitely an album that proves to be passionately alive, one that celebrates human achievements and slams the disfiguration left by American and maybe even West Indian history. Worst: Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz by Miley CyrusBangerz album, Miley Cyrus then went on to produce another album entitled Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz. And all we can think is, “What on earth were you thinking?”  

On an album crammed with unexpected twists and turns, nothing is more unexpected than the arrival of Tupac Shakur. On the last song entitled

Following the success of her 2013

At the 2015 MTV Video Music awards, of which Miley was the host because they wouldn’t allow her to perform, she announced the release of her new album which was streaming for free on Soundcloud.

The album was just as strange as the title itself. It boasts a total of 23 songs with collaborations from huge artists such as Big Sean and Pink. Sounds promising right? Wrong, it was just painful. It’s safe to say that Smiley Miley hit rock bottom. No, below that. From the first track Dooo it!, to the very last, every individual who has lost brain cells listening to the entire album – assuming you braved it that far – begins to question what goes on in Miley’s head. 

Overall the pop experimental album is a complete mess. The promising production of a few songs like Space Boots seemed they could have worked, but just when you thought it was looking up, the lyrics took the turn of seemingly substance-induced babbles. Surprise Surprise.

Cyrus continues to try to suck her fans into her world filled with glitter, wacky outfits (and a horrible album laced with sex and drug references). 

Do yourself and your eardrums a favour and don’t download this album. It’s not worth your iPhone storage space. No wonder it was free, because it would have been a crime to charge people for that. A crime punishable by having to listen to the Miley and her ‘dead petz’.