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To Pip A Butterfly Analysis

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The strongest themes in To Pimp A Butterfly are black oppression and oppressive structures, which exist to create a glass ceiling for black people, stopping them from becoming as successful as their white counterparts. In this essay I will be discussing 3 of the tracks and whether or not they successfully convey the real situation of black oppression in America.
In the track King Kunta, Kendrick claims he is on top of the world, despite being a young black man he has made a big name for himself in a country where racism and white supremacism heavily exists. The name King Kunta refers to Kunta Kinte, an 18th century black slave whose right foot was cut off for trying to escape his plantation. Kinte is someone he can relate to as they both share a story of escaping the sad expectations society had of them. The use of King Kunta shows that Kendrick believes he is a King for escaping these expectations, becoming a successful black man. Kendrick feels like others are also trying to trap and enslave him, making him become a victim of the music industry. He refuses to let the industry change him …show more content…

The song title comes from the saying, ‘the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice’, and using it as his song title shows he is proud of his blackness. The song also tackles the theme of hatred of black people in American society. Kendrick angrily raps, ‘You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture’, showing his anger for the mistreatment of his people. He believes that anything which has not been created by white people are things that America hates and seeks to get rid of. America has always been a tough place for African Americans, from the past of slavery to the discrimination and racism that still exists there and Kendrick is showing through this song that no matter how much injustice black people face they will never stop loving themselves and their

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