Courtesy of L.A. Times.
Kendrick Lamar’s much anticipated third album, second under a major label, was released last Sunday night, a full week before the scheduled release date of March 23rd. While it’s unclear whether the moved up release was intentional or a leak I’m not complaining and neither was most of America; the album entitled To Pimp a Butterfly has already set a Spotify streaming record after being streamed 9.6 million times the day of its release.
These numbers are not altogether surprising considering fans had been waiting over two years for the follow-up to the classic good kid, m.A.A.d city. Lamar had already released two singles off the new album, “i” and “The Blacker The BerryÛ, which hinted at a duality of thinking and an exploration of blackness that came to fruition in To Pimp a Butterfly. However, even these two singles and all the hype surrounding the release could not possibly have encompassed the entire conceptual project that To Pimp a Butterfly is. Almost impossibly, yet expectedly, Kendrick Lamar has outdone himself.
While good kid, m.A.A.d city was Kendrick’s story of growing up in Compton, facing poverty and gang violence, To Pimp a Butterfly comes from a Kendrick who has already achieved fame and wealth. His struggle to balance his origin with what he is now resonates in much of the album and manifests into blatant self-loathing on tracks like “u” and “How Much a Dollar Cost.” On the former Lamar provides a narrative to the depression he has expressed feeling after releasing good kid and his subsequent fame. In stark contrast to the album’s first single “i” with a hook of “I love myself,” the hook in “u” is similarly structured but repeats “loving you is complicated.Û
In “How Much a Dollar Cost” Kendrick tells a story of coming across God, disguised as a homeless man begging for money. He rhymes “He looked at me and said, Your potential is bittersweet’/ I looked at him and said, Every nickel is mines to keep’.” The song functions as a larger metaphor for not only greed, but the guilt he harbors for not doing enough with the platform he has been given from success.
These personal demons are a large part of To Pimp a Butterfly’s narrative but certainly not the only theme explored. While Kendrick has had a hard time adjusting to fame after good kid, m.A.A.d city, he has inevitably gained a newer, more complex understanding of the world. Now, with this second album, Kendrick addresses topics more broadly then he did or even could have in good kid. Most notably and prominently of these themes is Kendrick’s exploration of blackness.
The first song of the album, “Wesley’s Theory,” immediately provides an explanation to the title of the album. It suggests that Kendrick (the butterfly) is being pimped by the predominantly white music industry, who are trying to get him caught up in a life of luxury and forget where he came from and what his message really is.
As the album progresses, Kendrick provides multiple meanings of what it is to be black. In the album version of “i” the song has been extended with a live performance. This verse is interrupted by a fight breaking out which Lamar subsequently breaks up, and, addressing the perpetrators, expresses a desire to see black people stop dividing themselves and fighting one another, and instead unite against oppression.
Another track “Complexion (A Zulu Love)” addresses colorism in black culture. Both Kendrick and Rapsody, who lands the only full verse feature on To Pimp a Butterfly, touch on a need to end this division in the black community as well because color or shade defines neither beauty nor worth. Rapsody raps “Black as brown, hazelnut, cinnamon, black tea. And it’s all beautiful to me.Û
With so many different themes and narratives interwoven into 16 cohesive songs, Kendrick Lamar has delivered an awe-inspiring project. The album is not one for the radio nor a compilation of hits as is so often the case with hip hop albums, but rather a detailed, insightful and expertly crafted album that needs to be listened to in full to be truly appreciated. With To Pimp a Butterfly Kendrick seems to have secured his throne as the reigning king of hip hop, and on his own terms.