CD reviews: Kendrick Lamar

Effortlessly fusing the personal and political, Kendrick Lamar's third album is an audacious state-of-the-nation address, rife with righteous declamations concerning American apartheid, ''Democrips and Rebloodicans'' and the price of fame.

Likewise, the gut-wrenching parable of How Much a Dollar Costs carries the air of an elite storyteller.

Yet all would be mere grandstanding without guest spots from George Clinton and Ron Isley, Blaxploitation sax, King Kunta's imperious funk strut, and the freeform scat freakout of the truly astonishing For Free? (Interlude).

•  Kendrick Lamar. To Pimp a Butterfly. Interscope

•  Five stars (out of five) 

Single download: For Free? (Interlude)
For those who like: The Roots, D'Angelo, Kanye West- John Hayden