Album Review: To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
Elena Willems
Vol 11, Issue 1 · pp. 159–168 · 2025 · DOI https://doi.org/10.63961/2025.206
Excerpt
Album Review of To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, Top Dawg Entertainment/ Aftermath Entertainment/ Interscope Records, 2015
'The album’s central theme is the systematic oppression experienced by Black people in America. Kendrick Lamar raps about racism, and the violence associated with it. He focuses on different kinds of violence, such as police brutality, gang violence and discrimination. He also raps about the economic disparities that affect the lives of Black people in America. Throughout the album, Lamar shows us the harsh realities of racial injustice. By doing so, he also critiques the structures and institutions that perpetuate oppression. Thus, he focuses attention on the power relations influencing racism, poverty and marginalization.'
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