But it didn't. Jazz/Funk and this social commentary have litereally been the DNA of rap. There is nothing new here.

But it kinda did - it's a valid opinion at least. Kendrick's body of work is beginning to look like an effort to go back, embrace rap's origins and stretch those original parameters. In doing so, I think he's changing the boundaries and perhaps the depth of musicality in rap music. Rather than just go along with current or traditional pop rap elements (chord progressions, scales, time signatures.) a lot of his music thus far really makes you wonder for a while if it's really working. I think Fantano mentioned asking himself if this is crap or genius.

Listen to For Free? The first few listens had me uncomfortable. It wasn't only that matching the rapper to the beat was tough, but he's rapping/reciting in a scale that my ear wasn't comfortable with. I knew what notes I wanted to hear to make the song gel better, but Kendrick wasn't giving me the easy way out. After a few listens, I was like "wait, not only should be listening to this like spoken word but maybe there's a Jazz vocalist kinda thing going on here." I then started to think in terms of scatting (what little I know of it) and all of a sudden Kendrick's approach started to feel better.

Now the song hangs together for me. The process described above changed my idea of what a rapper (or even a Jazz vocalist) should/could do. So it's fusion I guess but definitely not like anything I've heard. I'm sure there's some underground guy in NY or some critically acclaimed, low-selling artist with a name like Saul or Pharoah that has done stuff like this but I haven't heard it.

I think to say, there's nothing new here comes a cross as a little disingenuous. Even if you can honestly say there's nothing new here for you, it would at least be a challenge to show and prove that you've heard work like this before.

Sorry for the tome.