To Pimp a Butterfly: A Retrospective

Kendrick Lamar’s award-winning album To Pimp a Butterfly changed the way music interacts with societal norms. I analyze this critical album to understand how music shapes public discourse, and vice-versa. I interpret the lyrical significance of each of the 16 tracks and study the interplay between Kendrick’s storytelling and rhythm. I link each track on this album to the cultural relevance in 2015, the album’s release year, and to cultural relevance today, a nearly decade later. Topics addressed in To Pimp a Butterfly include, but are not limited to, institutional racism, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and economic injustice.