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First 'Intergalactic' Resistance Studies Conference

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

June 18-21, 2026 

Album Review: To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar

Elena Willems
Year of publication: 2025
DOI: 10.63961/2025.206

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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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