To Pimp A Butterfly Explained

On this album, Kendrick Lamar takes heavy influence from soul, jazz, and funk and explores themes of self love, hate, race, violence, and more.

Wesley’s Theory introduces the idea of the metaphorical butterfly being pimped. It serves as a metaphor for how black artists are “pimped” by the music industry. The first verse can be from the perspective of any black entertainer, while the second verse is told by “Uncle Sam”

This song is widely regarded as one of the greatest introductory tracks to any album. Kendrick perfectly introduces the reoccurring themes he will discuss throughout the album.

For Free? Continues to build this metaphor of a “butterfly” being pimped by the pimps in the music industry. He draws many metaphors, with one being him watching porn and seeing the actors in a desirable position drawing similarities between wanting to chase the American Dream.

King Kunta takes negative things and turning them into positives. Kunta Kinte is a fictional slave that cut his foot off trying to escape his plantation. The title “King Kunta” is a title he gives Kunta Kinte to contrast the low and high levels and claims he is the King of rap.

Institutionalized focuses on the lows as opposed to King Kunta. Every person is institutionalized to a certain extent, rich or poor. The poor are institutionalized by prison, racism and classism while the rich are institutionalized by wealth and fear.

Kendrick uses this song to claim that while the institutionalized are taught there is something wrong with them, the institution itself is wrong.

These Walls is a play on words with “if these walls could talk” and the “walls” of a woman’s vagina, of a prison cell, and of his mind. The song narrates the event of Kendrick having sex with a women that is the mother the of kids of a man in prison he is enemies with.

While he is doing this to seek revenge, he also feels bad for using his power and fame to take advantage of her. The walls are imprisoning Kendrick.

U is a contrast to the later track “i” and it visits the insecurities and negative thoughts in Kendricks heart. He has claimed that this song was incredibly hard to record due to its deep meaning. He even refers to himself as a “fucking failure”

Alright comes after a really dark track with a sign of hope. While the message of the track is optimistic, it is driven by pain and struggle. The song is used as light that guides the way for those asking if police brutality against black people will continue to get worse.

For Sale? Provides a deeper look into the character of Lucy (Lucifer) and works in tandem with For Free? He talks about temptation and signing contracts. The topic of contracts is mentioned when Lucy attempts to seduce Kendrick into signing them and getting his struggles to end.

As the song progresses, so does the voice within it. It goes from the voice of Lucy to the voice of Kendrick letting the listener know that Lucy is actually the evils of Kendrick within himself.

Momma is the tale of personal growth Kendrick has experienced after resisting his inner temptations. He mentions returning home which can mean returning to Compton, returning to Africa, and returning to his pre-fame persona.

Hood Politics is Kendrick saying that he earned his success to combat survivors guilt. He transports us to his life as a child when he had less knowledge. As opposed to the last song about forgetting what the hood life was like, this song is from when Hood life is all he knew.

How Much a Dollar Cost is a storytelling feat that introduces a homeless man asking Kendrick for a dollar at a gas station. At first Kendrick says no, “crumbs and pennies I need all of mine”. As soon as the man asks Kendrick if he’s read Exodus 14, he feels sympathetic toward him

Kendrick is being selfish, and he believes the “bum” wants the money for drugs. The man reveals that he is actually God and that the dollar cost him his spot in heaven. In the outro Kendrick then repents and has now fully been freed from Lucy and Uncle Sam. He has been humbled.

Complexion is about educating society on beauty standards and how colorism affects black people. He states the importance of loving all people no matter how light or dark.

The Blacker The Berry draws similarities with Keep Ya Head Up by Tupac. It’s a song where Kendrick speaks against black on black crime, but calls himself a hypocrite and at the explains that with this line at the end:

You Ain’t Gotta Lie is a song that tells the listener they don’t have to lie to impress anybody. The song has racial undertones and paints Kendrick as someone from the hood, but the overall message can apply to people from any background.

i is the polar opposite of the earlier track “U”. This song is about self expression and redemption from negative thoughts. This demonstrates growth in the person we’ve seen throughout the course of the album. This has more upbeat and happy sounding production.

Mortal Man is Kendrick essentially asking “do you have faith in me?” And features a conversation between him and Tupac. They discuss racism, black culture, fame, and image. Kendrick has a realization he’s the new leader in this long path to get young people to change the world.

The original name to this album was Tu Pimp A Caterpillar, or Tu.P.A.C. For short showing his deep connection with Tupac especially after having dreamt that Tupac told him he needed to keep rap alive.

Thank you all so much for reading this thread. TPAB is one of the greatest albums to come out in recent years and @kendricklamar delivered one of the greatest listens to me personally.