To Pimp a Butterfly transcends being simply an album. The album encapsulates a relationship both personal and political between America and Kendrick, or poverty and the black community, or success and depression. There’s so many more discussions occurring throughout the album and around the album. 

The meaning of the title To Pimp a Butterfly, “A butterfly is beautiful, full of color. Butterflies are so beautiful that they can’t be anymore so. They can’t be manipulated, exploited, controlled or confined. So why does America keep trying to do the same to Black people? Why does America keep trying to pimp a butterfly?” -Mooney (2) In a more narrow perspective Kendrick is trying to avoid being ‘pimped’ by the industry. He chose the word pimp because it is violent and striking. It’s also accurate, the pimp controls his victims, making them feel as though there’s no means of escape. He takes any concept of home from them first, making him their home. In an interview with MTV Kendrick discusses how only when he went to Africa, visited Rikers Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned did he know his inspiration for the album. ‘King Kunta’ is Kendrick claiming his title as the savior of rap but more than that it’s him trying to tell the younger generation to respect their culture and what they come from. Kunta Kinte is a symbol for resisting the destruction of one’s own culture, he transcends the American conversation and is used as a global symbol for cultural preservation. Rap has changed from the days of Biggie, Pac and Rakim and though its not necessarily a bad thing rap needs to remember its home, in making statements not just perpetual parties and ghost writers but in a love of creativity. A pimp pits his girls against one another, having them compete for his affection by seeing who brings him the most money. Kendrick delves into black people’s conflict with each other on the album. On Blacker the Berry he discusses the ‘generational hatred’ between gangs in the same breath he talked about America’s contempt for its black population. The institutional racism and aren’t disjointed; they work in tandem. Kendrick writes about this not from a third person not from imagination but from his own experiences. He’s seen the violence in the streets and he’s dealt with losing close friends to it. The reason it resonates is because it’s not at all unfamiliar to many black americans. As much as institutional control affects lives daily it’s in our own communities where we look over our shoulder. 

In order for the pimp to retain control he must destroy his victim’s self worth. Kendrick at the time of the release of TPAB was only four or five years into the industry or removed from the streets of Compton. He was living big, touring and speaking to the masses on an international level as a voice of the people. As he’s touring with celebrities and having strangers approaching him about how his music saved their life, back in his home it’s the same old. He’s apparently saving everyone but the ones he’s closest to and with that comes survivors guilt which is the focal point of the song ‘u’ where he raps about his depression brought on by his success. Depression when the world is at your feet is a common trait shared amongst the famous. Anthony Bordain had the best job in the world until he killed himself now when looking back at his show it’s almost as if he was dropping hints the whole time. The idea money can’t buy you happiness is expounded on in the song ‘How much a dollar cost?’ where Kendrick raps from the perspective of a man trying to push away a panhandler. Kendrick in the MTV interview talks about his interaction at a gas station with a panhandler changed his perspective. When he actually engaged and the panhandler said “God bless you, this is your calling”. He had thought that panhandlers were begging to feed their addiction growing up where he did. The song explores if a panhandler turned out to be a higher life form, in this case Jesus. He denied Jesus a dollar because it was his, he lost a spot in heaven for a dollar.

Vandagriff describes the act of singing a freedom song as “premised upon the belief that music can be used as a tool to bind and bond a group into a collective voice.” Freedom songs have been an essential part of black Americans struggle from slavery to jim crow to today. Kendrick is far from the only black artist to make music that can be described as protest music (see. D’Angel’s album just a year earlier “Black Messiah”.) Kendrick however excels this by making meaningful statements while bringing people together. Vandagriff sites James Bladwin’s 1942 essay “Everybody’s protest novel” where he states that protest novels avoid “the disquieting complexities of ourselves”. The same can be said for many protest songs because nuances aren’t very catchy. The song “Alright” is testament to intricacy and listenability. With a choral synth reminiscent of Kanye and hard hitting drums Alright is a certified hit from the club to the car the song is mainstream palatable. Looking at the lyrics in the second verse especially but throughout the entire song Kendrick is talking about credit. The debt based economy where he asks “what you want you, a house, you a car? Forty acres and a mule? A piano, a guitar? … you can live at the mall”. The character he created for this is called Lucy or Lucifer tempting you with promises of anything you desire. Debt is something that keeps people of every creed in poverty but it’s essential to the system that’s been decided to be most effective. In the hook is where Alright earns its place alongside the greatest protest songs of all time. “Wouldn’t you know we been hurt, been down before? … when our pride was low lookin’ at the world like “where do we go?” … and we hate po-po wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho’ … I’m at the preacher’s door, my knees gettin’ weak and my gun might blow but we gon’ be alright”. It strikes a chord with me genuinely. It’s almost scary, it’s catchy. I want to believe that most people who sing this chorus know what it says but that probably isn’t true which is why this piece deserves a breakdown. Many people who’ve struggled with mental health and self worth issues know the feeling of hopelessness, being lost almost like being lost at sea, Kendrick encapsulates that feeling in just the first two lines of the hook.The second line though is for black America, the ever present fear of the police, in the music video once scene shows a man resisting arrest only to be shot in the back while running away. Reminiscent of Sean Bell and many others it’s almost always stressful being black in America and the mental toll can weaken us. In the final line we pray as we begin to give up, that’s what Kendrick meant by “my gun might blow”. It’s important to set the stage for this statement, in the background the drums have gone silent and the only accompaniment is an improved alto sax solo over a sample of simply angelic sounding chorus notes. The drums storm in at the ‘we gon’ be alright’ and suddenly I believe him. 

This Album is one that I hold dearly. Going into this project I was in awe of the scale of the album. The beats are timeless, jazzy and fluid. The lyrics are infinitely disectable. At first I almost considered looking at two songs, u and i. I felt they could be a project on their own but listening to the entirety of the album I knew that I wanted to try to understand as best I could the meaning behind this art. I knew that the album made a major impact when it first arrived but it wasn’t universally acclaimed. It’s political, it’s aggressive and there’s plenty of swears. But to limit it to just that should be a crime, it’s an insightful look into the reality of being black in American. Even if you don’t want to know that reality then it’s an insightful look into a person struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. These are things I realised after listening to the fantastic interview Kendrick did for this album with MTV. Brian Mooney’s article was what guided my interpretation of the title and the themes around the title. America being the pimp to black people is another narrative that runs through the album that once I realised more clearly it makes it that much more intense. I think the timelessness of this album will only become more apparent as it ages which in one way is sad. The album preaches pushing through the pain but the pain never seems to fade no matter how much we push. I hope that me calling this album timeless doesn’t age well in it of itself but for now I think To Pimp A Butterfly is the greatest musical mosaic of the issues of our past present and future.

MOONEY, BRIAN. “Chapter 9: PIMPING BUTTERFLIES AND TEACHING STARS.” Counterpoints, vol. 512, 2016, pp. 105–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/45136390. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.

This article discusses the relationship between Toni Morrison book The Bluest Eyes and Kendrick’s album. The author talks about teaching TPAB and Toni at the same time as the album came out. Drawing parallels between the two and how they carry over ideas from the ‘black is beautiful movement’ of the 1970s. He also writes about censorship of the language and how people often can’t see past the explicits to see the artistic intent in rap music but schools require authors like Vonnegut who use similar expletives but his work is considered high art. He references Kunta Kinte and how Kendrick uses the track ‘king kunta’ to harken back to the golden times of rap not in a nostalgic way but to ensure that the current generation shows respect for the OGs. 

Lamar, Kendrick, 1987- composer, performer. To Pimp a Butterfly. Santa Monica, CA :Aftermath Entertainment, 2015.

The album speaks for itself. From ‘Wesley’s Theory’ the first song Kendrick is writing about how so many black artists never learn to manage their money and get locked up or go broke because of it like Wesley Snipes. On ‘u’ Kendrick raps about his depression over swirling saxophones with a chaotic beat that just enthralls the listener with the hook being “loving you is complicated” repeated time and time again. ‘The Blacker the Berry’ delves into racism in the first two verses and on the third the generational hatred between black people. On ‘i’ Kendrick contrasts ‘u’ with an anthem to self love sampling ‘That Lady’ by the isleys brothers. Breaks down about his environment and delves into all the adversity he faced but how through that he returns to the chorus of “I love myself”. On the final track ‘Mortal Man’ Kendrick expounds on his insecurities about how every figure is now under a more intense microscope than ever. Wondering is when there is out rage and the public opinion turned against him, will you still be a fan. At the end of the track Kendrick does an interview with Tupac from a little known audio recording.

Singleton, Micah. “To Pimp a Butterfly: Kendrick Lamar’s New Album Is Perfect.” The Verge, 19 Mar. 2015, www.theverge.com/2015/3/19/8257319/kendrick-lamar-album-review-to-pimp-a-butterfly.

The Verge’s review of TPAB.

“There is no single definition of this album. There is no single genre. There is no single flow. It is unlike anything I’ve heard before.”

“With “u” and “i,” Kendrick depicts the struggle of expressing black self-love better than any artist has done in recent memory — the highs and lows, the inner joy, the self-hate, the bravado, the blame.”

The review describes the album as perfect. It’s an album beyond just rap and music it’s an album for people from struggle. Kendrick elevates himself beyond rap referencing his new power of influence and his guilt at his apparent selfishness. The author doesn’t compare Kendrick to other rappers rather he’s aspiring to be the next great black leader. The article was written for a listener who is perhaps debating whether or not to give the album the time of day. The author doesn’t find flaws with the record praising it on every level.

Vandagriff, Rachel S. “Talking about a Revolution: Protest Music and Popular Culture, from Selma, Alabama, to Ferguson, Missouri.” Lied Und Populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture, 60/61, 2015, pp. 333–350. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26538872. Accessed 10 Apr. 2020.

Vandagriff looks at the impact of protest music and how it has changed and is valuable to the modern musical and social landscape. The article starts with a look at literary protest novels and a James Baldwin article about criticising older popular protest novels Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Native Son. He criticised their one sided depiction of African American and for failing to connect the atrocities of racism to the ones who perpetuated them. He also forgives them for their good intentions. Similarly we don’t criticise protest music, the article relelates, because though lacking nuance often the effect it has on society is a powerful one. The article uses a scholarly tone to compare protest music of the past like during the civil right movement to the music of today with J. Cole, Alicia Keys, T.I., and Kxng Crooked. 

Markman, Rob. Youtube, MTV, 31 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4Pz9PjolI.

“A big theme from this album is leadership and using my celebrity and how can I pimp this message positively use my influence positively”

The album is revered for being a statement on being black in American and being intensely personal. The theme of survivors’ guilt where he feels shame for being on the tour bus when his homies are still in Compton being killed in the street. Or when his sister gets pregnant at home and he’s trying to preach to the world when he can save the people closest to him. The title TPAB is in reference both internally to himself where he doesn’t want the music industry to pimp him out but also to the black race where we’re being exploited even though individually we’re beautiful. On ‘Blacker the Berry’ Kendrick talks about the flack he received for the third verse. In the verse he critiques the generational hatred that stems from gangs and how he doesn’t have an answer to it. Each song is an internal experience not just music to be lived through vicariously.