DAVID MAIR
Staff Writer
The second album of rapper Kendrick Lamar is just as politically driven as his first, though this time with a stronger jazz/funk influence.
âTo Pimp a Butterflyâ is the follow up album to Lamarâs 2012 album âGood Kid, Mad City.â
âTo Pimp a Butterflyâ is a fluid story of how Lamar views the way blacks struggle in America today and how he, as a black artist from Compton, Calif., fits into it all. In contrast, his previous album was a snapshot of a night from Lamarâs childhood.
He acknowledges that the issue of race is not because of any one person or group. Itâs a collective issue.
For example, in âuâ he takes a look at himself practically screaming, âYou ainât no brother, you ainât no disciple, you ainât no friend / A friend never leaves Compton for profit or leaves his best friend.â
His response to this comes in a later track titled âi,â where he builds on the mantra of âI love myself.â
The theme of the album is incredibly important because of the recent shootings of black men by police officers.
Lamar points to the government in âHood Politics,â rapping, âFrom Compton to Congress / Set trippin all around / Ainât nothing new but flu of man DemoCrips and ReBloodicans / Red State versus a Blue State, which one your given? They give us guns and drugs, call us thugs.”
The cleverness in his writing is shown through poem he reads one line at a time following each song, culminating in the last track, âMortal Man,â where he reads the poem in full.
One metaphor Lamar uses is that of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
Lamar then proceeds to discuss the poem with legendary rapper Tupac Shakur by using old interviews that applied to his poem and questions he asks of Tupac.
Lamar explains that a caterpillar is âprisoner to the streets that conceived itâ and the way for it to survive is to âconsume everything around it.â
As the caterpillar enters its cocoon itâs trapped, âno longer [able] to see past his own thoughts.â
When the butterfly finally emerges it âsheds light on situations never considered before by the caterpillar.â
Itâs clear by the end, the album was Lamar reading Tupac a poem, explaining why he wrote the poem, and hoping that Tupac could give him perspective on his position in the music industry.
The musicality of the album is a 180 of what Lamar did in âGood Kid, Mad City,â in addition to being different than the beats used by many popular rappers today.
Lamar approached âTo Pimp a Butterflyâ from a completely different angle musically. He took it back to the first days of hip-hop using free jazz and funk.
During a Rolling Stone interview, he said that he had been listening to a lot of Miles Davis, along with Parliament.
In the same interview, his producer and long time friend Mark âSoundwaveâ Seals said that â[Lamar] talks in colors all the time: Make it sound purple! Make it sound light green!â
The artistic decision Lamar made to have a large jazz influence sets the album apart from other rap albums produced today. It also created a chill, funky feel that complements the politically driven story.
The album presents a political message in such a poetic manner with music that makes any listener want to groove.
