To Pimp A Butterfly, By Kendrick Lamar

Leonel Chavez Prof. Maeck English 101 Section #10565 July 2, 2024 New Slaves Kendrick Lamar is the greatest rapper of the 20th century. His ability to fuse his songwriting and social commentary with jazz undertones makes him the best lyrical rap artist. He became the first hip-hop artist to win a Pulitzer Prize, has won 17 Grammy awards and 29 BET Awards(Cohn, 2019) And most importantly he wrote To Pimp a Butterfly. Born June 17, 1987, his early life consisted of Section 8 housing, food stamps, and welfare. At age five he had to witness a killing in front of his apartment, having to grow up much sooner than any kid should have (Bauer, et al.2024). Three years later, Kendrick Lamar and his father would watch as West Coast legends, Dr. Dre and Tupac recorded their music video for “California Love” in the

So many emotions. Full of excitement. Full of joy and eagerness. 20 years later, I understand exactly what that feeling was: inspired. The people that you touched on that small intersection changed lives forever. I told myself I wanted to be a voice for men one day. Whoever knew I was speaking out loud for you to listen”(Ekpo, 2024). Lamar began poet-writing and rapping soon after, falling in love with songwriting, metaphors and double entendres. After a trip to South Africa, Lamar would begin writing his third studio album To Pimp A Butterfly. March 15, 2015, Pimp a Butterfly (T.P.AB. was released in the year 2000. An album so well thought through, the title and artwork has double meanings. Originally named To Pimp a Caterpillar (To. P.A.C. as a homage to Tupac, an artist Lamar highly looks up to. The Guardian writer, Ashley Clarks compares the LP’s title to To Kill a Mockingbird, how could anyone kill anything as beautiful as a mockingbird, how could anyone pimp anything as beautiful as a butterfly (Black culture). The artwork features Lamar and a large group in front of the White House with a judge presumably