Classical Composer Analyzes Kendrick Lamar 

Drake aint never have a composer analyzing his shit lol

I love it when professionals take rap music seriously. It's so weird to me that some people think rap music isn't music.

This algorithm working on overtime right now.

Its absolutely crazy people think Drake can come anywhere close to f'n with Kendrick

Me watching this as a kendrick fan with zero knowledge of music theory: “ ahhh… yes, yes the half time back beat” 🤓

Love how you turned the traditional elitist narrative of classical vs rap music on it's head with "if you want violence, knife crime, and mysogyny you'll have to wait for my video on Berg's Opera"

To Pimp A Butterfly is not only an unbelievably musical statement but it describes the black experience which elevates it far beyond hip hop or rap. A well deserved Pulitzer Prize winner.

As a music student, I had a talk today with my vocal teacher about how music itself is a language that speaks to all of us through lyrics and through music itself conveying emotions and feelings any and everyone can feel. This lead to a conversation about lyricism which lead to talking about Kendrick Lamar and his Pulitzer and how much of a true accomplishment in modern music this is. Mind you this woman is an opera teacher and she smiles at me and says “I just love Kendrick so much” when i asked her if she had heard of the beef she had no idea about it but when I summed it all up and how he called Drake a PDF file she laughed and said “good for him! Someone needed to do that!” This thing is bigger than rap if you’ve got the entire classical and operatic communities talking about this and taking Kendrick’s side. Makes me appreciate music even more. And let’s be real K dot danced on drakes headstone after this latest diss.

The graphics while you’re explaining time signatures are literally phenomenal. It makes it super easy to follow. Thank you for this great video

TPAB pretty much changed my musical life. I'm a metal head and had to work pretty hard to get out of thinking that rap wasn't music (or at least not music worth anything). Kendrick completely turned that on its head and blew me away. It was also the album that finally got me to start understanding and accept the reality of racism. So thanks Kendrick for a monumentally good and important album.

I love both Beethoven and Kendrick Lamar. There's music for every mood and situation! Sometimes I want to blast Pavarotti in my car, and when I'm at the gym or dancing, I'll listen to the Outkast or Doja Cat. I'm glad for all the diversity of music we get to experience today!

Hip hop has so much more to offer than what people give it credit for.

I absolutely loved this and learned a great deal. Thank you

As a Kendrick fan seeing professional musicians and composers give him (and by extension the genre) a real critical look is quite inspiring and welcomed.

To Pimp A Butterfly is a CLASSIC, will forever stand on its own pedestal aside from every other hip hop album ever made..

Everybody in the comments talking about how insightful u are on a musical level (I definitely agree), but I wanna mention that u are a top notch RU-vidr as well. Ppl don’t think it’s a skill, but the attention-keeping style of fast but clean edits, obvious background research/preparation, nicely broken up commentary, etc. Shits dope, I’m impressed someone as skilled in a specific field like classical music composition AND well rounded enough to enjoy other genres is ALSO a very skilled youruber

I know of Kendrick now with his songs. If anyone deserves a Pulitzer, it is him. Perfect choice.

I am not a musician and have absolutely no knowledge of composition but this was so interesting and easy to follow. Down the rabbit hole I go!

i think TPAB is an album everyone can agree is amazing. Even my dad who is known to dislike 90% of rap music greatly enjoys the jazz elements of the album. Its got something for everyone

I think Anderson paak would have a couple of songs in 3/4, he has an elite drumming background too

"Music is music" I totally agree with this, and being a person who listens to most genre of music. I've learnt that it is a beautiful art and is truly a universal language. Although, I have come across people who are into one genre and won't listen to anything else. Ive come to the conclusion as a parent, that letting my children listen to all genre of music is best. As it gives them the freedom for choice, whether they like a particular song in one genre, or they love a whole genre altogether. In the end, music is music and it should be enjoyed by the many.

He is EXTREMELY GIFTED AND TALENTED IN STORYTELLING AND WRITING! He can be extremely deep but can lighten it up and party with the best of them.

I love the way he talks about Kendricks music with so much appreciation

Drake and J cole have no chance

Kanye West’s ‘Spaceship’ is in 6/8 if you’re still looking for a rap song that’s not in 4/4. There’s also Clipping’s ‘Story 2’ which changes time signature every couple of bars. That one is especially cool since he shows off a bunch of flow patterns that could never work in 4/4.

I feel validated. Never understood why people only listen to particular genres. I love most music I hear.

My father is a jazz musician. I started classical piano training at 5, and jazz training at 9, and grew up with music as an inseparable part of my life. All genres. All aged of music. Music is just as essential to my life as water. And this video is so timely as yesterday listening to Mr. Morale I was doing a rhythmic analysis in my head and thinking over how the production team so seemingly effortlessly brings forth the music behind the spoken word, which is a rare quality outside of conscious rap it feels like.

I feel like if you listen to Alright from more the perspective of a DAW using midi notes, you can understand the 4/4 and the chord change choices. When you can visualize rhythms in a DAW and move chords/samples in terms of semitones you can really start to understand Pharrell's process in terms of his musical choices. It may seem crazy and weird from a classical music "transcribe everything" point of view, but IMO as someone who is more familiar with tinkering around in DAWs rather than technical music theory, his choices don't seem all that weird. Pharrell himself has talked about how he doesn't think about music in terms of time signatures and technical terms, he just goes more for emotion and feeling. I personally think that's what hip hop really is all about, it's not so much about how this would look transcribed on manuscript paper, hip hop is more about the feeling it evokes. It's interesting to see modern Hip Hop analyzed this way, but I also think its sort of a misinterpretation entirely to try to explain "Alright" this way.

The praise and importance heaped on TPAB is a great thing, but something about it always rubbed me the wrong way as a long time hip hop fan. It's not that the hype was wrong, but I feel like there were a lot of new fans of hip hop going nuts over well-established techniques and influences as if Kendrick introduced them. That this album was a brilliant exception in an overall simple, shallow genre. On the contrary, Kendrick was able to put that album together only because of a lifetime immersed in hip hop music and culture. To me, all the things people point out as novel were always things I saw as fundamental elements of hip hop. Jazz influence, spoken word, emphasis on half time beats, unusual syncopation, minimizing parts of the rhythm section to make room for the rapper... That's like what hip hop has been about. Kendrick just knows his shit. Subtle changes in vocal rhythm patterns, timing, emphasis, playing past the bar line, swing, even the use of certain phonemes for their rhythmic elements, that's all just flow. It's like the most important part of a rapper's performance. In some cases it feels like like hearing someone go wild if a jazz musician played an arpeggio or played with swing. Those are just the fundamentals, bro. So people might have all the academic training in the world, but if they haven't even listened to Biggie, for example, they really don't have the grounding in this unique genre to appreciate Kendrick's work in context. Also lyrics, individual words, and vocal sounds are really really really important in quite a lot of hip hop, and I think they're often overlooked by academics or misidentified as shallow by people who don't understand how they are used in the genre. Unlike in other genres, in my opinion, they're really inseparable from the composition. To be clear, none of my rant is a criticism of your video. I think you're doing something great shedding some light on the cleverness and subtlety that goes into making good hip hop. And you seem very straightforward in your approach. I'm more pointing out there is another side of the coin in terms of that "classical music nerd" trope that's also annoying: people just dipping their toes in the genre thinking they're seeing the reinvention of the wheel just because it's not what they're used to. Academic analysis of hip hop is a good thing (and I have to shout out Martin at rapanalysis.com who has been doing it for years), but I think any worthwhile approach has to involve asking the experts first (and more importantly listening to them), which is why it's always good to have a ?uestlove reference. Just because hip hop hasn't been codified on paper doesn't mean it doesn't take years of specific study to get right, and I do think there are some significant barriers between it and other genres. So I think it's good when people approach it with the proper humility, and I think you're someone who always does this. To sum it all up, I feel like hip hop needs it's own version of "The Simpsons did it" meme. If you hear something that sounds new, The Roots probably did it 20 years ago. Thanks for the video. Well done.

This is sooooo dope!! Musicians taking hip-hop seriously... Breath of fresh air.

I fucking love your view on music. It's lame how many people nowadays dismiss a potential work of art just because its belongs to a certain genre

What's funny to me is that because I was trained in classical Indian music and because I've been an Indian classical percussionist for the past 20+ years, the beat was actually extremely straightforward to me - even with the lack of emphasis on the 1 beat, which is actually not uncommon in both singing and percussion as a way of using silence to build tension. Polyrhythms FTW!

You just earned a subscriber. As a longtime fan of hip hop (and really, most genres of music) it feels so nice to see someone analyze this genre with the respect and care that "traditionally" classic or popular genres would get. Too often I've witnessed people dismiss rap because of the blackness associated with it. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Pharrell is a brilliant producer. The amount of thought and craftsmanship put into this track is amazing, creating this huge musically heavy production, yet leaving just enough room for Kendricks lyrics is just a work of art.

I really admire the fact classical composers are analyzing Kendrick Lamar. Overall, Kendrick did make a huge impact on musicians worldwide.

Now if you could breakdown "not like us" by Kendrick, that would be awesome

As an black operatic musician I was stunned hearing your rhythmic analysis. I genuinely can’t comprehend how you heard the downbeat any other way.

As Duke Ellington said, _"There's only two types of music: that's Good music, and Bad."_

Holy crap i just realized how often pharrell used that type of intro

Man this is F and crazy I had no idea that his music was this complex I'm just a casual listener and I would have never known that this masterpiece was constructed like this. It just shows the levels Kendricks music is on. Just WoW I'm blown away.

Kendrick's discography is... so good. sum like TPAB is a MASTERCLASS of an album. "Alright" is one of the best rap songs ever. hes so good at his art.

for rhythmically complex hip-hop, you might find clipping to be interesting! story 2 in particular travels through like four different time signatures

Don't show this to Ben Shapiro

E U P H O R I A

I love how you mentioned Alban Berg's Wozzeck and connected everything with the notion of "music is music". Funnily enough, Berg himself said this to George Gershwin as well. When Gershwin visited Europe to meet Berg in the spring of 1928, he went to the piano to play some of his songs but he hesitated because Berg's "serious" classical work left him awestruck. At that time, Berg looked at him and said: "Mr. Gershwin, music is music." Amazing video as usual David! Kudos to your enthusiasm!

I felt the 1 where Questlove felt it the first time I heard it, but that might be because I play jazz and make hip hop. To me it was obvious and the place you were counting the 1 felt really odd. It might be because we're taught in jazz to only count the 2 and 4 and not the 1 and 3 when practicing, and when programming drums in drum and bass or hip hop you learn that the groove actually comes from leaving bits OUT. Funk drummers know this better than anyone, and the heavy funk influence on the album might also contribute to that. Often times omitting a kick or snare on a beat where you expect it makes it groove way harder.

I think it's awesome that the newest generation of music academics seem to be so enthusiastic about fixing a lot of the issues that have plagued music academia. It's often so underequipped to analyse anything outside of classical and jazz music that it'd be easy to just write off the whole field, but it's commendable to see all these people working hard to expand the tools and methods available to better discuss and understand music.

I would love to hear your take on "Not Like Us". In Kendrick Lamar vs Drake feud, Kendrick released a West Coast bop that ultimately won the beef. It was instantly dubbed a classic. He even allowed others to monetize their reactions. Upon its release it was dubbed an instant classic.

David you gotta list to some clipping if you want to hear hip hop in different time signatures. They’ve got a bunch of really off the wall stuff

It's always interesting to see people not from a hiphop background struggle to hear a 4:4 backbeat with a little syncopation.

This is so crazy because traditional rap has alot of artists who never go this deep in detail about the process

To put it another way, Kendrick and Pharrell are composing fractically precise, ever evolving poems.. Others call it Rap, some even look down on it. The main point is that he is lyrically composing the life of the individual. That is why so many people resonate with this form of music. Kendrick and Pharrell are the Mozarts of our contemporary era.

Omg… my blood pressure went up when you were trying to identify the 1. 🤣 I’m a musician but also a Latin dancer and we can often tell where you come from based on ability to identify timing (although this is changing). Timing creates flexibility (or restrains it) in both music and dance. It’s one of my favorite topics to hear a discussion on. To pimp a butterfly truly deserves this kind of attention. Great analysis! Ps… I’m trying to put my finger on it, but I believe there might have been some late 80’s hip hop on 3/4, but I’ll have to think about it. 🤔🤔

I think that bass hit at 4 as you've identified is part of an extremely common rhythmic clave in rap and particularly trap, where the bass sound is like an 808 bass where you can't tell if it's percussion or not. Like it hits but it also sustains a pitch. anyway in the half-time feel it's 1..... 4.... 2... and-of-3... It's so common I'll turn to my buddies at like sports stadiums where a bunch of rap bangers get played and move on those hits, even in songs I've never heard before. I think if you had been more exposed to this, you wouldn't get thrown hearing that bass hit on 4 as the downbeat, because it's like THE groove in a lot of hip hop now

Having musicians from different genres studying or analyzing your music, means you're the G.O.A.T

As someone who obsesses over time signatures and chord progressions, but who just does not listen to much rap, "Alright" immediately caught my attention. There are two chords in the song. This, in and of itself, would have been a challenge for most producers in this world, but not for Pharell and Sears, clearly. The semitone m9 drop is legendary. I noticed the offbeat 3/16ths as well! Although I didn't think the 3-5 offbeat was as elusive as you made it out to be. The song is replete with verbal syncopation, and I think this is why Kendrick stands out from the rest of the hip hop crowd. Note, also, the more "rustic"/"tribal" (IMO) vocals at "Tell the world I know it's too late" which is based on the Phrygian 7th scale at the backdrop of the more cosmopolitan/contemporary semitone m9 drop. Also, the cosmopolitan/sophisticated flavour of the m9 drop contrasts the dystopian, hopeless theme of the lyrics of the song. The semitone drop is colorful and ornate, but the video is black-and-white and the characters in it basic. Overall, to me, this song is rhythmically, tonally, and thematically unique.

Man this is amazing. Kendrick is one of the first rappers I listened too, and his stuff just hits different. Thanks for the vid.

I'm noticing that the "ghost notes" on the snare (as Questlove called it) is just an 808 snare, and the snare hit on the downbeat (aside from being programmed with a higher velocity than the other "softer" snare sounds) is layered with a clap in order to accentuate it. I'm mainly a rock musician, I don't usually work with samples, so these subtle production tricks in pop and hip hop fascinate me.

A very rare 3 bar hip-hop track (the first if not mistaken) is 'Electric relaxation' by A tribe calle quest. I learned a lot here🙏

What an amazing in-depth breakdown of a musical genius. Sometimes I think even Kendrick doesn't realise how much he pushes the boundaries, it's just innate to him. Great video!

Hell yes, HELL YES! This is the eclectic approach that we need! As an Italian boy who was brought up by classical music (my father works in this field) and then has discovered everything else, I really appreciate the positive message of this video. My experience has taught me how beautiful is variation: there are so many colours in music out there, and being snob or pretending that good music has vanished years ago is just lazy and detrimental. Whoever believes in this rubbish isn't aware that this approach damages music itself. Therefore thanks again for this video!

tyler the creator’s “garden shed” seems to me to be in 3/4, and its flow is also in triplets which just sounds incredible. what meter would that be, 9/16 or something? anyways, good song

analyse ‘not like us’ now 😈

As a Hip Hop artist from a family of classical musicians, I particularly appreciate this. You put so much of what I've struggled to impart to both my Hip Hop peers and my classical music relations into an eloquent and entertaining format. Thank you.

Idk about 3/4 but “Your Prime” is a phenomenal track by Anderson .Paak in 9/8. Definitely the most natural and yet funky 9/8 I’ve heard

Bro I almost broke out a notebook for notes 😭 felt like I was back in college I love videos like these

the anthony fantano reference was slept on~ so good!

I am glad I found this channel. I LOVE your perspective 💛

Just started listening to Kendrick's stuff, your video couldn't be more on point! Always love to see the nice positive looking icons in your videos (kick, hihat, snare...) They help me focus when I'm not sightreading. Thank you!

Having my muso brother play me alright on his car speakers was the most influential musical experience I've ever had. All the subconscious stigma about rap that I'd inherited from my parents was gone the moment that groove hit me. My brother later gave me a USB of the entire album, and it's probably still my most listened album of all time 6 years later.

The information you gave was fantastic. The editing in the video reinforced it so well. The presentation here is high quality, and the edit stands out.

To Pimp A Butterfly is a strong contender for greatest hip hop album of all time.

the editing in this video is really clean and dynamic! perfect for emphasizing and illustrating what you were saying

I love how you taught yourself something about rhythmic cadence through analyzing this song. Good on you Dave, the genuine interest and respect is lovely to see.

Love that you can actually see and breakdown the art impressive.. crazy that you can put it in a digestible vid

This video got me thinking about something I think Kendrick should do a Red Bull Symphonic show like Metro Boomin where his music will be orchestrated.

This was truly incredible! I don't know how or why this video came up in my "feed" but I'm so thankful that it did. Many blessing to you and yours, in all your future endeavors.

The lesson learned from the creative process really is open ended on this one. There's certainly more I could open my mind to on this! Thank you David 👍

Thank you David! This analysis is absolutely blow me out!!!

Phenomenal breakdown. Loved it. Well done.

Incredible stuff, David. I love how you were able to talk about so many different things in a single very well-paced, fun, and informative video. I know I'll be watching this a few more times :)

I really like the way your content is evolving, the editing, diversity of topics and level of research you put into is making me feel like I should be paying for this kind of videos. Please do keep 'em coming. On an unrelated note I'd also love your take on Death Grips' music. Cheers

Great break down, I normally don’t watch a video longer than 5min long but u kept me engaged the whole 20min from start to ending and I hung in there with u. bravo on this breakdown of a wonderful work of art.

This is really great work Vic. Incredible content.

Not sure how this ended up on my TL either, but I stayed for this whole episode. Loved it. Could you do more videos like this please?!

This video was beautifully created! Thank you. New subscriber🙌🏾

As a classical violinist and lover of many different musical genres I appreciate your work and the depth of your analysis. Thank you for a brilliantly constructed video.

it’s amazing to me how this is far from his best song (lyrically or musically) but is still so dense with so much to analyze.

As a drummer, I found it Interesting to see you interpret it as ambiguous. I really found it hard to hear it the way you did! I appreciate your explanations :)

This was one of the best dissections of Kendricks music I've ever seen. Very well done!!

Very well said!!! Great analysis definitely opened up and got a deep understanding it makes you appreciate the production in its totality!!

dude this video is so great i never thought id get to use my classical training to analyze one of my favorite tracks like this absolute outstanding work and mindset when approaching all forms of music

This analysis is super interesting because I've always subconsciously counted 'Alright' the way that Questlove counted it. Idk if it's because I've been a fan of Kendrick for so long, or because I'm not a classically trained musician (it's probably both), but hearing a different perspective on the song like this is really cool.

Clipping uses a lot of odd time for a hip hop group. Story 2 uses an incrementing meter, and Break The Glass is mostly in 11/8. EDIT: There's also story 7 which is... complex to say the least

Music is so complex and awesome ... I love it when it's all broken down ... And the reason I love rap and hip hop is the huge amount of sampling that is done that can lead you down a huge rabbit hole through other genres ❤️❤️

wow, I am stunned by your way of approaching to explain the whole ordeal of this song! You are a wonderful teacher! Ok now I need more of this stuff!

As a classical musician raised in a non classical music large family I appreciate the crossover here very much. IMO there is much to be inspired by the process of pop and contemporary production moving forward in classical composition and how it might inform some quality innovation in the 'classical' composition world. It's there to inspire if we want to see and if we are creative enough to render it into something new. Plus David, nice amp on your hairstyle and production values!!

Very cool breakdown. Thanks for bringing these worlds together. More like this, please!

Man i love the way you've presented all this through the video❤️

Visuals of this video are great! Nice work!