So Kendrick Lamar dropped his album a week early on iTunes and Spotify, whether or not it was intentional. It was eventually taken off of iTunes, but it is still on Spotify, and IT IS AMAZING – at least in terms of lyrics and message. I have to say, I haven’t been impressed by the collective presence of one of Lamar’s albums since his first studio album, Section.80. Although, I may be comparing two completely different works of art there since To Pimp A Butterfly is a prominently funk and jazz style album with the most emphasis on the lyrics and the use of multiple rhetorical devices, while Section.80 is much more modern and doesn’t incorporate jazz as much.
This album portrays a very deep part of Kendrick Lamar that we haven’t seen as much of; or at least not to this extent. This is evident when you look at the production of the album since it was handled mainly by four producers that Lamar has long been working with, and the only featured rappers were Snoop Doggy Dogg and Rapsody. The album is about black empowerment and may send the general message that many other rappers have sent in the past, but what makes this album different is that it is for the new generation, and it is an album that was released by a mainstream artist. While many don’t necessarily like the new album, it is a classic in terms of its message and renewal of hip-hop’s roots and influence.
The track list consists of 16 songs:
1. Wesley’s Theory featuring George Clinton and Thundercat
2. For Free? – Interlude
3. King Kunta
4. Institutionalized featuring Bilal, Anna Wise, and Snoop Dogg
5. These Walls featuring Bilal, Anna Wise, and Thundercat
6. u
7. Alright
8. For Sale? – Interlude
9. Momma
10. Hood Politics
11. How Much A Dollar Cost featuring James Fauntleroy and Ronald Isley
12. Complexion (A Zulu Love) featuring Rapsody
14. You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Momma Said)
15. i
16. Mortal Man
To Pimp A Butterfly is a play on the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee because the album discusses racism and the struggle of black people to gain equal rights and opportunities through changing people’s mindset, not just the law. However, Lamar also says that the law still upholds some of its racist tendencies when he raps about actor Wesley Snipes in Wesley’s Theory and how the law works against him when prosecuting him and other black people. The law is still racist and people in general have stereotypes set up for other ethnic backgrounds, but those people also use those stereotypes to make others feel sorry for themselves and prevent themselves from getting to the top. These are two recurring themes in the album, with Lamar focusing on the journey of his fame and perseverance through the metaphor of the butterfly from the title.
One of the most important rhetorical devices used in TPAB is the extended metaphor of the caterpillar, its cocoon, the metamorphosis into the butterfly, and the pimping out of the evolved form that would otherwise be beautiful. The caterpillar represents Kendrick Lamar when he first started rapping, or when he wasn’t famous. The caterpillar eats and eats until it grows large enough to form its own cocoon, so Lamar fed on the prospects of fame, money, and women, which are continuing themes that affect Lamar in his journey throughout the album. This metaphor is the main theme of the album, since the album revolves around this journey, and on what the caterpillar feeds itself in order to grow, what the cocoon keeps with itself, and how the butterfly is changed by corporate America and label industries.
Another rhetorical device used are grammatical devices including asyndetons, polysyndetons, and anaphorae that are almost second nature when rapping, because they flow with the beat and help maintain rhyme and rhythm. Asyndetons help make the story flow and the artist describe their feelings in the song. An example of an asyndeton in the song, Wesley’s Theory:
[Verse 1: Kendrick Lamar]
When I get signed, homie I’mma act a fool
Hit the dance floor, strobe lights in the room
Snatch your little secretary b*tch for the homies
Blue eyed devil with a fat *ss smoking
I’mma buy a brand new Caddy on fours
Trunk the hood up, two times, deuce four
Platinum on everything, platinum on wedding ring
Married to the game, made a bad b*tch yours
When I get signed homie I’mma buy a strap
Straight from the CIA, said it on my life
Take a few M-16s to the hood
Pass ’em all out on the block, what’s good?
I’mma put the Compton swap meet by the White House
Republican, run up, get socked out
Hit the Pres with a Cuban link on my neck
Uneducated but I got a million-dollar cheque, like that
The first verse is fast-paced and shows the perspective of a black artist who has made it big or has become successful, and shows how life can be often viewed through their perspective. This perspective shows the fast-paced life of successful artists and how they often give in to vices of the world.
However, the second verse in Wesley’s Theory uses a polysyndeton to portray corporate America through Uncle Sam and slows down the beat a bit before picking it back up to emphasize the impact of economy and industry and capitalism and how it can slow down one’s life to keep everyone under control. Uncle Sam can control everyone’s life indirectly through life’s commodities and luxuries, and Uncle Sam pimped out the butterfly by “Wesley Snip[ing] your *ss by thirty-five”, referring to how the government still finds loopholes to confine blacks.
[Verse 2: Kendrick Lamar]
What you want you? A house or a car?
Forty acres and a mule, a piano, a guitar?
Anything, see, my name is Uncle Sam, I’m your dog
Motherf*cker you can live at the mall
I know your kind (That’s why I’m kind)
Don’t have receipts (Oh man, that’s fine)
Pay me later, wear those gators
Cliche and say, f*ck your haters
I can see the borrow in you
I can see the dollar in you
Little white lies, but it’s no white-collar in you
But it’s whatever though because I’m still followin’ you
Because you make me live forever baby, count it all together baby
Then hit the register and make me feel better baby
Your horoscope is a gemini, two sides
So you better cop everything two times
Two coupes, two chains, two c-notes
Too much ain’t enough both we know
Christmas, tell ’em what’s on your wish list
Get it all, you deserve it Kendrick
And when you get the White House, do you
But remember, you ain’t pass economics in school
And everything you buy, taxes will deny
I’ll Wesley Snipe your *ss before thirty-five
The third rhetorical device used is an anaphora, which is a repeated phrase and is one of the most commonly used devices in music since the chorus or hook to many songs repeats lines and provides the overlaying effect of a recurring theme throughout the song. However, TPAB includes an even larger anaphora that is presented throughout the entire album when Kendrick Lamar reads more and more lines of a poem at the end of each song. The poem grows longer and longer by the end of each song, until it it finally recited in its entirety in the last song, Mortal Man, which is an inspiration to the new generation by sharing an interview with Tupac Shakur, the late hip-hop legend, and incorporated Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X into its inspiration and message for the generation that didn’t get to experience them. This anaphora helps tie together all of the songs and lays out the overlaying theme for the entire album beautifully.
To Pimp A Butterfly is a classic due to its incorporation of jazzy and funky instrumentals as well as its renewal of the message of real hip-hop and its roots as well as its influences. The album incorporates many more rhetorical devices as well, and connects every song to every other in a story that could be read as a series of poems. You guys should definitely check this album out, maybe even buy it, it’s worth the money for the inspiration and deep message.
Hip-Hop Maharaj Signin’ Out
Hip-Hop Maharaj 
Looks like he dropped the mic.
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