10 Funk and Jazz Albums You Should Listen to if You Like Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly'

If you liked Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' listen to these other funk and jazz albums.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Kendrick Lamar’s much-praised 2012 major label debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, is a shotgun ride through the gang-, gun-, and drug-infested city of fallen angels alongside Denzel Washington’s Alonzo in Training Day. So when the conscious Compton criminal came back with a bitches brew of spoken word, jazz, and funk on follow-up album To Pimp a Butterfly, K-Dot shocked critics, fans, bandwagon riders, lovers, and haters alike and further expanded the parameters of the current state of hip-hop.

In the process, he introduced a new generation of listeners to the genres that made up the building blocks of rap music. For those feeling the hypnotizing musicianship and poetic prose on To Pimp, peep our 10-album primer of jazz/funk/spoken word projects that you should also check out.

Carlton Wade is a writer living in Mississippi. Follow him @Carlton_Wade.

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Moanin'

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Year: 1958

Some things are timeless. Such is the case with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ album Moanin'. Even though this hard bop jazz project was recorded more than a half a century ago, its musical mixture of thunderous drums, piercing piano chords, a howling saxophone competing with traditional gospel aura, blues influences, and sophisticated jazz create hybrid soundscapes that withstand the test of time.

Muddy Waters, Electric Mud

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Year: 1968

The Mississippi Delta region has been said to be the birthplace of American music. And legendary bluesman Muddy Waters is one of her many Magnolia State fathers. In polished-up, electric guitar-laden versions of dusty, dirt road cuts including “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Mannish Boy,” Mr. Waters lays his heartfelt, down-home hymnals of hard times, heartache, sex, lust, black magic, religion, and redemption in an eclectic mash-up of blues, soul, and hard rock.

The Watts Prophets, The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts

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Year: 1969

Often viewed as forerunners in contemporary rap music, Los Angeles-based spoken word trio the Watts Prophets recite radical messages of black empowerment, black pride, and black unity over a mixture of jazz and funk instrumentation. Balancing that same dynamic of social awareness and perceived social deviancy as Kendrick, The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts is the grassroots musical product of poverty, police brutality, political activism, and social unrest.

Miles Davis, Bitches Brew

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Year: 1970

A smorgasbord of sound, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew is arguably one of the greatest jazz albums ever recorded, a mash-up of sounds, styles, and genres via mellow bass lines, electric piano, and rock guitar riffs. It’s then evened out with traditional jazz a la pulsating rhythm and brass sections led by Davis’ scowling trumpet. Jam sessions on this two-record album can last up to 20 minutes with an organized confusion of various improvised instruments being thrown into the stew without notice.

Roy Ayers, Ubiquity

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Year: 1971

Dubbed by many as the “Godfather of Neosoul,” Los Angeles-born funk, soul and jazz composer Roy Ayers is one of the most sampled musicians in hip-hop and R&B. Containing classic cuts such as the jazz/funk fusion “Pretty Brown Skin” and “I Can’t Help Myself” as well as feel-good ditty “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” and earthy, smooth rhythm of “Hummin,” Ubiquity is a laid-back, easy Sunday morning medley of emotions.

Gil Scott-Heron, Pieces of a Man

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Year: 1971

Angry, confrontational, political, street smart, rebellious, and militant, Gil Scott-Heron’s seminal album Pieces of a Man was a heavy influence in the vocal-driven evolution of rap music. Jazz-fused instrumentals of butt-naked bass lines, bare-bones piano riffs, snazzy drum licks, and a fluttering flute accent Heron’s riveting recitals on the visually stunning “Home Is Where the Hatred Is” and on the politically empowering “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” where he paints a picture of the ultimate example of social unrest.

Funkadelic, America Eats Its Young

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Year: 1972

Funkadelic’s fourth album, America Eats Its Young, is a time capsule-like replication of the heroin epidemic that plagued black America (“Loose Booty”), street cries for social and political action (“Wake Up”), and woeful wails of being caught under the control of Satan’s spell (“Miss Lucifer’s Love”). Guided by sample-ready drum tracks, orchestral strings, harrowing horns, and menacing bass lines, America Eats Its Young is a funky, psychedelic trip into the neurotic nuances of sex, drugs, genocide, love, and lust.

Bootsy Collins and Bootsy's Rubber Band, Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!

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Year: 1977

If there were one man who could turn an already-phallic bass guitar into an even more erotic sweet thing, then that man would be psychedelic funk-a-teer Bootsy Collins. A precursor to West Coast and Down South hip-hop production, this funked-up disciple of James Brown pushes the right buttons to make his instrument of pleasure wine, moan, and climax with the same sexually stimulating undertones of his vocals on Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!

Cameo, Cameosis

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Year: 1980

By the time 13-member New York City-originated funk band Cameo dropped their fifth album, Cameosis, hip-hop was still just a newborn. Only a year after the Sugarhill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight,” Cameo infused elements of this native but burgeoning new genre with their trademark vocal range extremes and slinky guitar riffs. The result was a bevy of bedroom ballads (“Why Have I Lost You”) and dance floor hits (“Shake Your Pants”).

George Duke, The Essential George Duke

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Year: 2004

George Duke’s compilation album The Essential George Duke is a fun-filled frolic between contemporary jazz, disco, R&B, and futuristic funk. Complete with sleazy party themes, chunky bass lines, and smooth, carefree grooves, the album shows Duke’s wide range of talents including grimy funk favorites “Dukey Stick” and “Reach for It,” the jazzy, carefree cadence of “Brazilian Love Affair,” and disco dancefloor themes “Overture” and “Reach Out.” Blurring the lines between genres, Duke gives a brief urban music history of the 1960, 1970s, and 1980s.

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