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In 2012, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was at the top of the world. He had just released his sophomore studio album, good kid, m.A.A.d city and it had done incredibly well, both commercially and critically. Debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, it sold 242,000 copies in its first week. Additionally, it topped many critics’ year-end lists and was hailed as one of the most well-crafted West Coast hip-hop albums of all time. The lyrics were intensely personal, with the production focused on deeply introspective beats.
In To Pimp A Butterfly, Lamar lays out his conflict with all of the success that he gained with good kid, m.A.A.d city. He had nearly everything he had wanted as a young boy; fame, wealth, and power. On the other hand, he felt intense guilt. While he was enjoying his newfound influence, his family was still living in poor conditions in Compton. He was torn apart by his mind and heart’s conflicting desires. Lamar explores these emotions and ideas in his third studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly.
“Wesley’s Theory,” the opening track, is a chaotic funk-rap track with a virtuosic bassline from Thundercat. It features a young Lamar listing his indulgent wishes for when he attains success. The second verse is rapped from the perspective of a greedy and manipulative Uncle Sam, who asks him, “What you want you? A house or a car?/Forty acres and a mule, a piano, a guitar?” America makes the music industry seem appealing to Lamar, offering him “forty acres and a mule,” which is what was given to some freed families of slaves during the civil war. In this way, Lamar compares his relationship with the music industry to that between a slave and master.
After a jazzy interlude, “King Kunta” starts as Lamar crowns himself king. The title is an allusion to the main character of Alex Haley’s 1976 novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Kunta Kinte is a slave who, after attempting to escape the plantation he was enslaved on, had a foot cut off. Lamar juxtaposes a king and a slave in this track to exemplify the difference between the life of a king promised by record labels, and the life of passivity that Lamar believes is expected of black rappers once they attain success. Despite his growing concerns with the industry, Lamar still uses boastful language to assert his dominance amongst other rappers. At the end of the track, Lamar recites a line of a poem: “I remember you was conflicted/Misusing your influence.” Throughout To Pimp A Butterfly, this poem is repeatedly recited, adding new lines every time which reflect the themes of the surrounding tracks. These lines highlight the power Lamar holds and his growing internal suspicion that he may be “misusing [his] influence.”
This conflict arises even further on the following track, “Institutionalized”. In an attempt to ease his guilt concerning his family, he brings a couple of old friends to an awards show; however, to Lamar’s dismay, his friends are angered by the opulence of the celebrities present. Lamar concludes that his friends have become institutionalized by life in Compton and, in Lamar’s eyes, have been conditioned to be complacent with submissiveness. In the next track, “These Walls,” he details a story of using his power to take revenge on a man who wronged him, causing others’ emotional damage in the process. He realizes that he has been trapped in “these walls,” a metaphor for the mental block he has placed himself in; guilt leads to indulgence, indulgence to bad decisions, and bad decisions to guilt. At the end of the track, he adds two more lines to the growing poem: “Resentment that turned into a deep depression/Found myself screaming in the hotel room.”
The next track, “u,” opens with a literal interpretation of those lines. Lamar has come to a full realization of his indulgence and recklessness, sending him into a depression. Lamar berates himself for all his shortcomings, shouting, “I never liked you, forever despise you – I don’t need ya!/The world don’t need ya, don’t let them deceive ya.” He continues to tear himself apart for leaving Compton, rapping, “You ain’t no brother, you ain’t no disciple, you ain’t no friend/A friend never leave Compton for profit, or leave his best friend, little brother,/You promised you’d watch him before they shot him.” Lamar blames himself for the shooting of a friend’s younger brother and believes he isn’t a worthy person anymore because of this. Lamar has hit rock bottom.
The next morning, he wakes up with a refreshed outlook in “Alright”. Lamar has decided to embark on a journey of self-improvement, which is reflected in the chorus, as Pharell chants, “we gon’ be alright.” Another antagonist, Lucy (short for Lucifer), is introduced in the second verse as she tries to lure Lamar back to a life of sin.
After another interlude, “Momma” begins and Lamar travels to Africa to gain perspective on his life. He encounters a younger version of himself here, who tells him, “But if you pick destiny over rest in peace/Then be an advocate, tell your homies especially/To come back home.” This is followed by an abrupt beat shift, reflecting this sudden realization as Lamar raps, “I been lookin’ for you my whole life.” Lamar has finally found his purpose, but he still has a form of survivor’s guilt from Compton. Lamar reflects on this on the next track, “Hood Politics”. He still puts up a defensive front against criticisms, bragging, “I been A-1 since day one.”
Despite coming to the conclusion of leaving these ideas behind, Lamar still holds onto some of his ego, until the next track: “How Much A Dollar Cost”. Lamar encounters a vagrant who asks him for a dollar. Lamar refuses, believing that he will go spend it on drugs. The man asks, “Have you ever opened up Exodus 14?/A humble man is all that we ever need.” Lamar grows angry at the man, shouting, “I’ma tell you like I told the last bum/Crumbs and pennies, I need all of mine.” The man speaks back to him, answering the titular question: “I’ll tell you just how much a dollar cost/The price of having a spot in Heaven, embrace your loss – I am God.” Lamar’s selfishness and ego have cost him the eternal afterlife of his religion. Lamar has entirely changed his ways now and decides to use his platform to better the world around him.
The following four tracks demonstrate Lamar’s newfound purpose of improving the world. “Complexion (A Zulu Love)” addresses the effects of colorism in the black community over a neo-soul beat. “The Blacker The Berry,” the most aggressive track on the album, is a fiery protest song against police brutality and racial profiling.
Next, “You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Momma Said)” preaches authenticity and being your true self. The final track in this quartet, “i,” is a live-recorded funk-rap anthem of self-love. It reminds the audience that one can endure anything with self-acceptance.
In the final track, “Mortal Man,” Lamar restates his goal to improve the world. He also asks his fans to stay with him, despite his flaws. As the track fades out, Lamar completes the motific poem. The audience then finds out who Lamar has been reciting this poem to the entire time: Tupac Shakur. Using audio clips, Lamar constructs a conversation with Tupac. The two discuss the results of having a platform to speak on and how one can stay level-headed with fame as a jazz track rises in the background. Lamar later reads Tupac another poem – one about a butterfly. He notices that caterpillars are ignored, but butterflies are praised. The caterpillar despises the butterfly and encloses itself within the walls of a cocoon. Soon, the new butterfly’s wings emerge from the cocoon, and it flies away. The caterpillar and butterfly are at once the same and different. Lamar views himself as the butterfly after realizing that he needs to use his platform to spread goodwill across the world and feels that he is being “pimped,” or taken advantage of, by the record labels. This gives rise to the title: To Pimp A Butterfly. Lamar asks Tupac what he thinks of the poem, but Tupac is gone. It’s Lamar’s turn to carry his own torch.
Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly is a lushly orchestrated exploration of what it means to be famous and the responsibilities that come with fame. It features Lamar at his most vulnerable as he lays out his insecurities over the dense eighty-minute runtime. Few albums manage to deliver such a powerful message without feeling preachy, but To Pimp A Butterfly is one of them. Despite being only five years old, this album has already cemented itself as one of the most complicated albums of all time. Lamar’s message of self-love, goodwill, humility, and responsibility will ring true for generations to come.
Listen: To Pimp A Butterfly
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Kid,_M.A.A.D_City
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-backseat-freestyle-lyrics
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-mortal-man-lyrics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_acres_and_a_mule
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-institutionalized-lyrics
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-these-walls-lyrics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alright_(Kendrick_Lamar_song)#cite_note-3
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-complexion-a-zulu-love-lyrics