“To Pimp A Butterfly” – 2015

Artist: Kendrick Lamar

Album: “To Pimp A Butterfly”

Jazziest Song: “These Walls”

Deepest Track Meaning: All Tracks; each song has a unique perspective

For most rappers, topping the commercial and critical success of Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” may have been seen as an impossible feat, yet Lamar is not most rappers.  Asserting the political messages to a much greater degree, Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” tackles the plight of African Americans and the institutional injustices they face. This album is more of an experience than simply a piece of music, as one goes through the act of listening to Lamar’s rave reviewed album. 

“To Pimp A Butterfly” has done the significant task of bridging itself from musical the musical sphere into the genuine politics as it became an anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement. With tracks such as “Alright”, “King Kunta”, and being prominent at BLM political rallies. Yet, those songs are not the extent of the political messages, each and every song plays a larger role in the activist narrative throughout “To Pimp A Butterfly”. Spearheading the issues, Lamar has made an enormous impact on what it means to indulge in a political statement through song.