How the Orlando Magic Lost Orlando

The Orlando Magic is in the past.



My past. And in Orlando’s past.



We are going on a personal level before branching out and explaining the issue currently plaguing this team. I have been broken-hearted many times while following this franchise. I have survived them all. Shaq leaving, Penny leaving, Brian Hill losing his job (twice), Tracy McGrady quitting, Steve Francis quitting, Nick Anderson’s free throw fiasco, our 2009 Finals Game 4 meltdown against the Lakers, the stupid trade of Mobley, Doug Christie not even trying are among the low points in the franchises’ history. And the less we talk about Grant Hill, the better. And I do this because there are plenty of wonderful moments in our history, like defeating the 95 Bulls, making the 1995 NBA Finals, having the incredible 95-96 team that won 60 games, Howard winning the Dunk Contest, defeating LeBron James, beating the Celtics in Game 7 IN Boston, and of course we have our 2009 NBA Finals appearance. Let’s also throw in defeating Shaq in Orlando on his first return trip after leaving the team.

Yet, right now I feel more separated from the Magic than ever before. And it’s not just the losing, it’s just the lack of light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the lack of good news. It’s the lack of faith that I have in the franchise. After the tanking (Which I am extremely against), after the dumb firings, I just don’t have anything invested in this team anymore. There’s nothing left to salvage from the falling out with Dwight Howard. Even the players that show some sign of potential comes with the side effect of potentially losing them in the near future.

I used to memorize the schedule of the Orlando Magic when I was growing up. I used to know the entire roster front and back. I had the t-shirts, I went to the games. I was there, 100% invested. And the investment remained long after Shaq was gone (As did the city of Orlando, and I have this clip as evidence), when we had the Heart and Hustle period, when McGrady infused some life to the team, and even during the this-eventually-will-fade Steve Francis days.

But after the free agency parade of will he/won’t he rumors and Dwight’s eventual departure, we are left with a team that did not have any sort of backup plan. And to this day, it still feels like there isn’t a backup plan. We have one of the best basketball arenas in the entire country but no team with a personality to prove it. There is no image the Magic portrays. There is no style, no gimmick, no leader, nothing. The Orlando Magic are just a handful of guys playing together. There is no pulse. We are 22-52, yet still feel like dozens of years away from being a contending team-----and we are in the pisspoor eastern conference.

We are instead inches away from becoming a soccer-only town, and this never would have been predicted five years ago. Attendance in the Amway Center is down over 2,000 people a game this season, and I am not including the season ticket holders that stopped showing up. We have slipped from 9th in attendance to 22nd in attendance---and this is with a city that has a metropolitan population of over 2 million and receive 50+ million visitors a year. Orlando and the Magic are no longer connected like before, the fanbase is tired of the losing and incoherent decisions, and is jumping ship at an alarming rate. Do we even have a true face of the franchise right now?

It is going to take a lot more than just winning to win the fans back. Orlando City drew 50,000+ on a night that the Magic were playing. This is a very ugly sign. We need assurance that there is a future. We need assurance that there is going to be a plan. And overall, we need assurance that we will reach into the free agency and try to draw in some good talent. Or, at the very least pull off the Atlanta Hawks strategy and build a system that allows everyone to play a part and contribute to a daily win. With that we need a new coach, we need a new GM, and we need to shake things up in the Magic organization.

The Orlando Magic may someday rise to its previous years of success and excitement. I just don’t see it now, nor do I see it in the near future. Right now, we are witnessing a mediocre team run by a mediocre franchise playing in a beautiful arena half-full of fans wanting at least some hope--in a city that is too vibrant and too alive to not sell-out a building that houses 18,000.

And that’s a terrible shame............

How My Disney's Hollywood [Insert Extra Word Later] Would Look Like

Alright, now that Disney pretty much admitted that there is a problem with Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it is my time to attempt to convince you all of the changes that should occur to this park for the future. It is time to bring out all the potential that was contained in this park that had not been realized since 1989. Now that Universal Studios Orlando has pretty much become the superior park thanks to its entourage of additions (Springfield from The Simpsons is my personal favorite), it is Hollywood Studios’ turn to make the epic comeback that the suffering guests and cast members deserve.

The name change should be Disney’s Hollywood Adventure. The park should be the stage, television, and movies of Disney (and other companies) brought to life through attractions, shows, and other methods. No more “live production” stuff, we are now at a point in the world in which it’s much easier to see how movies are done without forking over the money to see the techniques. The draw nowadays is the mix of great service and great attractions that deter your mind away from the problems that plague people outside the Disney Bubble.

The front of the park can represent Classic Hollywood, so most of it shall remain intact. The Citizens of Hollywood can continue bringing their fun magic to the entrance with their skits and presentations. As a matter of fact we should see more of these characters pop out more often to continue the fun well into the evening. Of course we can’t move Tower of Terror, we can’t move Rockin’ Roller Coaster, but we can update the Beauty and the Beast show.

The Beauty and the Beast building should become a theater that hosts all types of different musicals depending on the time period and depending on what the Imagineers want. One day it can be Tangled, one day it can be Hercules, one day it can be a total medley of different Disney songs. The goal of this (The Disney Musical Show) is to keep the locals and the cast members intrigued with the constant changes. We can dedicate one day to Disney sidekick songs, we can dedicate one day to classic Disney music (Very odd we don’t have an Alice in Wonderland musical anywhere yet), we can even do a Disney Renaissance day (From Beauty and the Beast all the way through Mulan). The possibilities are endless in that stage. All we need is a good deep staff and a very dedicated group of cast members to put up with the ongoing changes. I would love to see a Nightmare Before Christmas musical special in time for Christmas, or a villains medley during the Halloween season. And Hunchback of Notre Dame deserves a comeback...........


Fantasmic needs to also upgrade itself to include new scenes and a new soundtrack (The Peter Pan section, PLEASE!), and for goodness sakes make the climax just a little bit better…

The Great Movie Ride needs to be updated. It can start with the classics, but it needs to modernize itself a little with modern classics like Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and other movies that have made their mark in cinema history. The relationship with TCM was an awesome idea, so let’s keep it up by updating the repertoire. By the way, we need to throw in James Bond, a Hitchcock classic or two, and maybe even some Marvel. Lastly, let’s include many more songs from recent great musical scores in the background. When you have just two songs from the 21st century in the background---it’s an issue.

We are still in the Hollywood Classic section of the park. So with that, I would like to see the Frozen show moved (AGAIN, I know) to the Animation section of the park (more on that later). The Superstar Television Theater should become Hollywood Studios Live, which is an attraction I had discussed before on another article. Basically, guests throughout the day audition for the chance to perform their favorite song in front of a live audience with costumes and props. Age will not be an issue, as it would be fun to see 10-year-olds belt out Let it Go and potentially even some duets from older couples to classic Elton John. We can see people in need of courage to go up there and belt out their favorite empowering song. With an energetic host, we can see guests at their most talented, their most ambitious, and their most accessible. Each guest has a story, and Hollywood Studios Live can definitely bring this to life. Picture American Idol minus the competition and this time with less restrictions and a little more karaoke. But, if we don’t want to move Frozen, there’s always the smaller but more intimate ABC Sound Studio.

In front of the Chinese Theater we need more shows. Not just Mulch, Sweat, and Sheers, I would love to see the car from Grease make an appearance and we hear songs from that classic musical once in a while. I would also love to see some “flash mobs” in the same area as talented cast members can do music from classic Hollywood gems like Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, and maybe even some modern musicals like Chicago, A Hard Day’s Night, Hairspray, and Into the Woods.

I want to split the park into different genres and aspects of filmmaking and art creation. The Animation section will focus on Pixar and the Disney animated classics. Disney Junior needs to upgrade into that infamous Frozen show. From what it looks like, Frozen doesn’t need that much of a setting to pull off the performance—it’s a sing-along for crying out loud. The Disney Animation building should remain intact, but we need a wider variety of characters roaming this building. It can’t just be Mickey and Minnie, we need some unsung heroes in these parts.

Little Mermaid Show needs to be lengthier and bigger-scale, so gone are the continuous shows. We need more time in between presentations. The shows should be far longer, and should include all the songs, for it was a great soundtrack. Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream should remain intact but the building next door needs to be Art of Pixar. What better way to celebrate animation then to see all the early sketches of Pixar movies before they transition into the computer period?

Toy Story Mania of course has to stay, that and its upcoming extra track. Pixar Place does need to expand a bit though. Honey I shrunk the Kids should become A Bug’s Life (complete with character interaction), Pizza Planet needs to move to this side, we need another Pixar-based attraction put in here (Perhaps Monster’s Inc. roller coaster, a Ratatouille ride, or a slow-moving Up attraction). We need to start proving to the guests that Toy Story isn’t the only Pixar movie out there, and we can do this by updating the soundtrack to include other Pixar movies, do more meet-and-greets with other Pixar characters, and just basically expand the entire area.

Streets of America and Lights Motors Action both need to go, and Spectacle of Dancing Lights needs to move to Epcot (I can see those lights interact beautifully with Illuminations). This is where Star Wars and Toy Story meets. Wherever Toy Story ends, Star Wars can continue. Star Wars Land will start from Star Tours and stretch to include most of the Streets of America space. The Muppets area needs to go. Sorry. Backlot Express should become the Tatooine Bar (complete with the band and character interactions), Pizza Planet needs to be a cafeteria from the Death Star (with lots of Stormtroopers and Star Wars games), Mama Melrose should become dark-lit restaurant with a galaxy view setting, the Christmas Store should be where the Jedi Training Academy is held (Indoors, no weather affecting it, can hold more kids, and can include more effects). Muppets 3-D Vision should become a 3-D Star Wars symphony movie of some sort. In this space we could use a couple roller coasters: one for the kids and a massive one for the adults. I would love to see an outdoor roller coaster that resembles an aerial battle of some sort or potentially the speedbike scene from Return of the Jedi.

An indoor podracer ride definitely wouldn’t hurt either.

The Premiere Theater survives because we can use this movie screen for movie debuts and special screenings of classic movies when the time comes. Sci-Fi Diner survives because it remains intact with the science fiction/adventure scheme of Star Wars and Indiana Jones (more on THAT later) and ABC Commissary lives because it’s next to Great Movie Ride and Hollywood Studios Live. Now we can talk about Indiana Jones. It needs to upgrade itself from stunt show into an actual ride. Perhaps even two rides if you put them right next to each other. Something that resembles the Disneyland ride but with a new storyline and new effects. That or it can be the mine cart chase from Temple of Doom. Whatever is decided, Indiana Jones deserves a true ride right here, right now. Hollywood Studios has already been considered the park for the teenagers because it has back-to-back intense rides so it would beef up the Hollywood Adventure image a lot if we threw in an intense Indiana Jones ride and a few Star Wars rides as well.

So there you have it: Classic Hollywood, Animation Section, Pixar Place, and Epic Section (name pending, but basically Star Wars/Indiana Jones Land). We add variety to some of the shows, add a few intense roller coasters, upgrade some of the attractions already here, and lastly: turn Disney’s Hollywood Adventure into the premiere event park of the Big Four.


Yea, I had talked about this before..........

We are talking Disney Villain Weekends (all the villains are available here), Pixar Weekends (special Pixar parade and fireworks), 50 Days of Oscar (Special screenings of Academy Award-winning movies topped with a special event when Oscar Sunday occurs), Disney’s Halloween Weekends (more teenage version of Magic Kingdom’s Not-So-Scary), ESPN Weekends, and perhaps even expanded Star Wars Weekends, among others. To top it all off, Hollywood Adventure should become the only park open 24 hours on the last day of the year to complete the year in total style.

Hollywood Adventure will remain the smallest park with the least amount of available space to expand. So with that, we need more variety within the space already allowed. Beauty and the Beast, American Idol/Frozen, Fantasmic, Little Mermaid, and area in front of Great Movie Ride are all places that can host a multitude of thing and prevent the small park from being redundant. The Streets of America/Backlot space I far too big to seem so dead---throw in major Star Wars/Pixar material to breathe life into the left corner of the park.

We need more events, we need more live shows, and we need more guest interactions to maintain the unpredictability that would give this park a different flavor from the others. Magic Kingdom is the only park that essentially is allowed to stay the same. Epcot has the ishload of special events, and Animal Kingdom has the animals always surprising you.

Hollywood Adventure can become a ball of pure mayhem when given the opportunity. This park needs to have the best shows, and needs to have the most intense rides. Hollywood Studios/Adventure/MGM has suffered because it doesn’t have a reputation, it doesn’t really have a true image. With all these changes, it might become the impulsive thrill park that we all secretly crave out of this land.



Make it happen Disney. Now, if you want to hear how I would fix Epcot, let me know….

Fixing Baseball: 2015 Edition

It is that time once again, time for me to fix baseball. What I have been trying to make into a yearly tradition is come up with new ways to fix my all-time favorite sport, while reemphasizing certain points I have made throughout the years. Ever since I started this, some of the ideas I had suggested had actually gone through---maybe they actually read my blog…

The ideas range from simple to ridiculous, similar to my recent one about changing things in the NBA. The main points would be expanding the game to reach new audiences while also cutting corners to bring a better experience within a shorter timeframe. Baseball is the toughest sport to get into and get involved (yet the most rewarding once you are in) so there needs to be ways to not be so intimidating from the start. No more interruptions, here comes my suggestions.

For starters, the length of the season has remained a hot point, and our new commissioner has even considered scaling back into a 154 game season. Although the ownership would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever approve of this, 100 games is the absolutely perfect number. 20 games a month from April through August, with the playoffs starting at the end of August and the World Series making its way into September before the chill truly starts. Each team plays their division rivals 10 games a year, and then plays the other teams in their league 6 games. With the current 30-team format, that would equal an exact 100 games. Under a 4-man rotation, each pitcher would get 25 starts. Under a 5-man rotation, each pitcher would get 20 starts. This limits injuries, allows for each game (especially the divisional ones) to be much more important and crucial, and would allow for more days off and an easier schedule to follow.

You can allow for baseball to be mainly played on weekends, and give the players (and fans) Monday through Wednesday off. Increase the amount of doubleheaders over the weekend so that way more people have a legitimate shot at seeing a ballgame. Those Tuesday evening games are rather tough to attend because life just moves a lot faster compared to 100 years ago. But can you imagine 20-25 teams playing 40-50 games in the span of one lazy summer Saturday? Now of course with my current scheduling format, this leads to another major change:



No more interleague.



I know, I know. But its time….

Destroying interleague forever makes the schedules slightly fairer, and gives more weight to the All-Star Game as well as the World Series. And to an extent, even Spring Training (Which should hold more baseball games in the Caribbean and Mexico to spread baseball awareness) will benefit from this as that time period becomes a rarer and more valuable event. With the teams never seeing each other, you will see two different brands of baseball being played—allowing for newcomers and casual fans to pick two teams to root for. The NFL has a similar following simply because certain teams don’t get to play each other for years, allowing for the chance to pick multiple favorites without them clashing and making it awkward. Of course, you need less games in order to give more space for days off since both leagues have odd-numbered amount of teams. Adding two teams down the road would definitely fix this (which I will discuss a little later) but for now removing the amount of games and giving the scheduling more space to breathe would make eliminating interleague possible.

The All-Star Game will become a blessed must-see-TV event because this will be the first (and for most of the teams and players, only) time that the two leagues wind up in the same ballpark together. Now, this exhibition needs to remain an exhibition. So, we are eliminating the home field advantage to the winning league. It is not fair, and prevents the players from having fun and put on an entertaining show. These players already go through a tough, grueling season—don’t add any extra pressure by adding weight to the all-star game. Speaking of improving the all-star game…

We need a Rookies vs. Sophomores event, which would allow for two recent draft classes to go up against each other to see which batch is superior. This would also allow for young players to make their mark on baseball by impressing the television and home crowd. Baseball has dozens of underrated and understated talent; adding this event prior to the big game gives youngsters a chance to unleash their potential just for a weekend.

Home Run Derby needs to be smaller. Three rounds, 7 outs on the first round, 5 outs in the second round, 3 outs in the final round. 10 players total, 5 in each league. The top 4 players advance to the next round, and of course the final round consists of 2 players. What if there is a tie you ask? There will be a tiebreaking round in which it consists of just 1 out. Whomever hits the most before the 1 out continues. Limiting the number of outs allows for the event to be much faster, and would limit the potential for injuries with all that ferocious swinging.

Now let’s talk about what happens on the field. I don’t think a pitch clock is necessary, since baseball is a very chess-like game. That being said, umpires should have more power in dictating the pace of the game. They should be able to warn certain players that are taking too long to get the next sequence of events started. We need more threats of balks being called. Now, the playoffs should have a little more leverage, since every pitch is extremely important and could change the course of the entire playoffs. But we do indeed need to make sure we don’t have more of those 3-4 hour games that had only 2 or 3 runs of scoring.

Another way to speed up things is to speed up the challenge system. The manager should just have to be in front of his dugout and make a specific signal to challenge the call. There should be a fifth umpire in each baseball stadium watching the game from multiple angles with the scorekeeper (not sure why they don’t work together, I feel like this is a grand opportunity) so that way the call can be made much quicker. Usually by the time the challenge is issued the viewers can tell what the call should be. No challenge should ever take more than 2 minutes. We need to take more notes from the challenge crew in professional tennis.

Lastly, if you are warming up in the bullpen, you should not have to throw another 20-30 pitches when you get called to relieve someone. Make it like a basketball substitution, get in, and immediately start. The only exception is if there is an injury, then give the reliever the warm up pitches. There should only be one timeout per at bat, and only 3 timeouts per inning. You need to limit the interruptions.

Let’s talk playoffs, shall we? Baseball has the best playoff system amongst the four major sports, because with the way the Wild Card is set up you can have 15-18 teams in playoff contention even with just a month to go. In 2014, 17 of the 30 teams were whether in playoff territory or within 5 games of playoff territory. This is excellent because more fans remain invested in their squads while believing that they still have a good shot at sneaking in. We don’t need more playoff seeds at all. What we do need to fix is the Wild Card series just a little.

It should become a 3-game series, with all 3 home games belonging to the wild card team with the better record. The reason for this is because it allows for a heavier disadvantage against the team that wins here for when they take on the #1 seed. Although nobody wants to be in a lose-and-be-eliminated game, it’s not enough punishment because the wild card team only had to sacrifice their top pitcher in the rotation. With the 3-game format, there’s a chance the wild card team has to use their #4 and #5 starter to begin their series against the #1 seed. I think it’s much fairer for the team that had dominated the entire season to get some extra rest and take on a depleted wild card lineup in the opening round.

The rest of the playoffs don’t need changing, with the exception of two things: time of World Series games and the home field advantage situation. World Series games should be between 6 and 7 P.M. on weekdays (and potential championship clinchers), and should be even earlier on weekends. What the World Cup and NFL Playoffs have proven is that it doesn’t matter the time if the game is exciting and important people will definitely still watch it. And the World Series will never reach the ratings of the past, so why not allow for daytime World Series games to give kids a chance at home to see it? I know that because of television rights, this will never happen, but I think the idea of Game 2 or Game 3 being in the afternoon on a Saturday/Sunday would be quite entertaining. There’s something more special about daytime baseball.

The other throwaway idea would be to make the League that wins the World Series receive home field advantage for the next series. The goal here is to get non-fans more excited as their eliminated team automatically gets home field advantage if they ever went the distance the following year. It would be more bragging rights for the League that wins the Fall Classic. Of course, it’s much easier to hand home field advantage to the team with the better record---but baseball has never been one to do things the easy way.

So how do we make sure that the incredible parity currently plaguing the league continues? It is time for that salary cap, but then establish a salary base. No team should spend more than $150 million a year, but no team should be spending less than $50 million either. That would eliminate potential tanking, and would prevent teams from just nabbing the baseball profits without providing much of an effort. Players should not have contracts past $400 million, and no player should be paid more than $30 million a year. Simple as that.

Now, let’s discuss adding teams. The 30 teams we have now is fine, the only franchises in trouble are the Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics. Everyone else (barring some crazy conflict) should be fine where they are for the time being. If it were up to me, I would pretty much force St. Petersburg to come up with a deal within the next couple years or we move the team. The franchise has turned things around, has developed a winning culture, and a winning attitude. Unfortunately the fans still haven’t responded, and the city has pretty much been holding the team hostage without any sort of solution.

Montreal has been the popular solution. However, we shouldn’t look past San Antonio, Portland, or even Orlando. Orlando has the space, capacity, demographics, and tourism interest to draw a successful and popular baseball team. Especially if Disney gets involved and is willing to shell out some of its land. Of course, if the Rays are close by the chances of an Orlando team are slim. And we need to end the nonsense with Oakland, and allow the Athletics to search for a stadium in San Jose. No questions asked.

Now let’s talk about destinations for if we do expand the league to 32 teams. Mexico needs a team, baseball should be the first of the major sports to jump aboard this huge, huge market. Cuba (thanks Obama) can also be a magnificent market for a baseball team, as the only country in the Caribbean more in love with baseball is the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico should also be considered for a baseball team, look how well they treated the Expos. Montreal has earned the right for reconsideration. Lastly, I can see the Montana/Idaho/Wyoming area support a baseball team quite well since there are barely any professional teams out there in the first place.

One final change I would make would be to make a yearly commercial promoting the upcoming season to air on the Super Bowl. Air it sometime in the fourth quarter, and make it a symbolic passing of the torch from football season to baseball season. You can make it a sample to an eventual full music video that can be displayed on YouTube and/or the official MLB page. I can see songs like Boys Are Back in Town, The Final Countdown, Knights of Cydonia to create baseball montages with. With a Spring is Coming tagline, MLB can benefit greatly in nabbing some of the Fantasy Football and casual audience that watches the Super Bowl yearly. That being said I am not 100% sure if the NFL would be even willing to take the money to air the ads.

Like I always say, baseball is a beautiful, beautiful game and the bigger it expands, the better and healthier the league will become. The league isn’t broken at all, but can definitely benefit from shortening the games, making them more accessible (especially to the young crowd), and potentially moving some teams while making new ones. MLB’s biggest issue is that it loves the past so much it’s restricting itself from improving in certain important aspects. It needs to become a mix of the old-school and the new-school. With a better embrace of the present and the future, major league baseball can improve as a whole.







I am still ridiculously excited for 2015 though.



P.S. Pete Rose needs to be in the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame argument will be saved for another time---because that…..needs help.

The In Utero-ness of To Pimp a Butterfly

In every big movement in music, there is an antithesis that roams. There is always that outstanding act that wants to walk the off-beaten path, the unpopular road. From the 50s when Johnny Cash performed for prisoners through the early 90s when Nirvana battled the happy-go-lucky glam rock, we always have that musical artist that is a delight but obviously deviating from the norm.

Currently, there is this massive wave of clean-cut hip-hop and rap that is easy to the ears, easy to please, and easy to distribute to the masses. Whether it’s the emotional Drake, the how-is-she-getting-away-with-this Iggy Azalea, the new-era calmer Eminem, or the I-just-want-to-start-a-party Flo-Rida and Pitbull, the current headliners of these genres don’t have the sharp edges of your underground hip-hop and not even the trailblazing music of the 80s and 90s. The top rap song from 2014 was Fancy, the top rap song from 2013 was Thrift Shop from Macklemore. I really don’t want to continue this (Starships by Nikki Minaj for 2012). So who is the antithesis of all this bubble gum hip-hop?



Kendrick Lamar.



Kendrick Lamar is currently the answer to our prayers for a return to 90s rap. Lamar not only shuffled the industry with his breakout album Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City (The best rap album in a decade, by the way), but has also challenged the entire rap industry to step its game up. I wonder if its mere coincidence that Eminem’s next album after Good Kid shook the music world was named Marshall Mathers LP 2. Kendrick became the main rapper to debunk and deny the trend of the laid-back rap we have been treated to for years. Despite his long road to success and recognition, Lamar remained set on his style, and never once calmed his sound---unlike his contemporaries Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z (I have a soft spot for his music, but I will admit he’s not as hardcore as before), Eminem, Minaj, Lil’ Kim, and Kanye West.

Following up Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City is a very tough task. It is excruciatingly difficult to follow-up to a statement rap album. Just ask 50 Cent. Heck, any great album that comes out is usually followed by an album that disappoints. Just ask No Doubt, who needed 6 years to successfully pull off a good sequel to Tragic Kingdom, or Alanis Morisette who NEVER got to duplicate Jagged Little Pill.

But there is another option: go off your very own beaten path and do something totally different. My personal favorite example came from Nirvana’s follow-up album to megahit Nevermind.

In Utero was Nirvana challenging their fans to try a new sound, to try a new approach, to see if they can survive Nirvana flying far from how Nevermind sounded. The album was a major gamble and went through production hell because the studios knew that In Utero didn’t have a chance to become commercially successful or even commercially acceptable. Honestly, will any album with the song Rape Me survive the Billboard charts? Nonetheless, the fans responded and although it didn’t make Nevermind money, 15 million copies worldwide doesn’t hurt at all. And in retrospect, it’s a darn good album. And in more retrospect, those are darn good sales.

To Pimp a Butterfly is Kendrick Lamar’s In Utero rap album. It is different, from the lyrics to production to execution. Gone is all the layered storytime and gangsta rap of the 1990s, we now have an album heavy on jazz, heavy on funk, heavy on deep chaotic poetry. The songs don’t always gel together, as the album sounds like this was all recorded in a bebop jazz bar while Lamar was coasting through his fifth powerful shot of liquor. Remember those sharp edges missing in nearly all of modern hip-hop? To Pimp a Butterfly is essentially a rap flower with dozens of thorns.

The entire thing sounds like your typical lyrically-insane Lamar, but at the same time it doesn’t sound like him. While it is nowhere near as overproduced as Eminem’s second Marshall Mathers, it’s still an album that required much more editing and sound mixing than Lamar’s previous albums. More money definitely pumped through the veins of this collection of music. It can be a tough meal to chew on, and might require several more listens before coming to the correct conclusion as to whether or not it will survive in your IPod. But Lamar is the rapper’s rapper, a thinking man’s rapper. Similar to the best of Tarantino you need to be exposed to the art more than once to get the full picture.

This is not a bad album by any means, as a matter of fact this still certifies that Kendrick Lamar is the best in the business. It is just very different, very In Utero, and a very heavy shift away from M.A.A.D City. New fans might be turned off or might run away from all the jazz and the complexity of some of the lyrics. It definitely sounds a lot more South Side Chicago than Compton/Los Angeles. Your true dedicated fanbase however shouldn’t be disappointed. There is no half-assing here, Kendrick always throws haymakers at the microphone in all his albums. He has his fun at times (For Free), and then delivers powerful messages when you tread farther down the album (The Blacker the Berry, Mortal Man). And of course, what better way to end an album than a conversation with Tupac? I swear, Tupac is to rap what Michael Jordan is to the NBA—essential, influential, and always referenced long after leaving the game.

Kendrick Lamar currently is still the best rapper out there. This album, despite its unique mark in his career certifies his placement on top of the rap world.