To Pimp a Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 studio album blends hip-hop with jazz, funk, and spoken word to examine Black identity, fame, and systemic racism.
Kendrick Lamar: American rapper and songwriter known for albums including good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly. He wrote and performs the album’s songs, shaping its voices and central argument.
“The Blacker the Berry”: A song by Kendrick Lamar that confronts racism, Black identity, and contradictions within the speaker’s anger. Its forceful address gives the album’s critique of racial violence one of its starkest forms.
George Clinton: American singer and bandleader who helped shape funk through Parliament and Funkadelic. His voice and funk legacy connect the album to a tradition of Black musical experimentation.
Black Lives Matter: A decentralized movement opposing anti-Black racism and violence, founded in the United States in 2013. The album emerged amid renewed public protest over racialized police violence.
Jazz rap: A hip-hop style that incorporates jazz instrumentation, samples, rhythms, or improvisational practices. The album adapts jazz textures and performance traditions within contemporary hip-hop.
“i”: A Kendrick Lamar song about self-acceptance, released in album and single versions with different arrangements. Its affirmation of self-love counters the album’s depictions of violence and despair.
Thundercat: American bassist, singer, and songwriter known for virtuosic playing and work across jazz and popular music. His bass playing contributes to the album’s fluid jazz-funk arrangements.
2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music: The Pulitzer Prize for Music awarded to Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. in 2018, the first to honor a non-classical or jazz work. The later award marked a shift in institutional recognition of hip-hop, a context often discussed alongside this album.
Funk: A rhythm-centered music tradition built around syncopated bass, drums, and interlocking instrumental parts. Funk grooves underpin several tracks, including the album’s politically charged opening.
“u”: A song on To Pimp a Butterfly in which Lamar voices self-reproach over a sparse, anguished performance. It dramatizes the private guilt and emotional collapse behind the album’s public confidence.