A lot can happen in a decade. In the music world alone, we saw significant sonic shifts in genres, artists rise and fall, and thousands of trends filtered in and out of the culture. Change is a welcomed inevitability in life, and some of the most drastic and unpredictable changes end up being for the better. There is a lot of uncertainty that comes with the passing of time, which is why albums that stick in your mind and hold such a timeless grip on the listener should be cherished and given credit when credit is due. Albums that withstand the ever-changing atmosphere of popular music don’t come around too often, but ten years ago, Kendrick Lamar delivered a Hip-hop classic.
To Pimp A Butterfly was released on March 15, 2015. Lamar’s exploration of the history of Black American music was a culture-shifting phenomenon, immediately racking up critical and commercial acclaim across the board. The release of Lamar’s sophomore album bridges the gap between funk, jazz, and Hip-hop in a way that hadn’t sounded this fresh since the Native Tongues movement, giving To Pimp A Butterfly its alluring and hard-to-define sonic landscape. Lyrically, Lamar balanced his struggles with fame and power while addressing systemic oppression, discrimination, and stereotypes. Lamar walks a thin line between self-reflection and cultural observations, capturing a challenging moment in the artist’s life while diving deep into the political atmosphere of the time, making To Pimp A Butterfly an essential snapshot of both Lamar and the state of the world at the time.
There was no shortage of pressure on Lamar’s shoulders while recording his sophomore album. With the runaway success of his 2012 studio debut, Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, and the radio hits it produced, Lamar opened himself up to a world outside Hip-hop. Not only were Hip-hop heads waiting to see if Dr. Dre’s protege could live up to the explosive hype of his debut album. While the dust settled and Lamar began brainstorming his next move, he traveled to South Africa. Lamar was inspired by the sights and sounds he experienced during this visit. According to legend, this is where To Pimp A Butterfly started. Lamar allegedly scrapped several nearly complete albums after his trip to South Africa, adding another layer to the mystique of the LP.
Upon his return, Lamar assembled a team of producers and musicians to help carry out his vision. Among them were some modern jazz giants such as Thundercat, Robert Glasper, and Terrace Martin, to name a few. Lamar also worked with Pharrell Williams, long-time collaborator Sounwave, and Kamasi Washington. Vocally, artists like SZA, Rhapsody, and James Fauntleroy added flair to these timeless tracks, but could an artist’s sophomore album really contain zero sonic misses?
The simple answer? Yes, if you’re on the same level as Lamar. From the free-wheeling funk of the intro, “Wesley’s Theory,” to the abstract jazz of “u,” and down to the poem that Lamar weaves throughout the album’s 16 songs, every breath and chord is struck with urgency. Perfection is subjective, but if there were one word to sum up To Pimp A Butterfly, you’d be hard pressed to think of a more appropriate one. Even ten years later, moments like the danceable hit “King Kunta” and the uplifting complexity of “Complexion (A Zulu Love)” hit even harder with the context of the political unrest in the U.S. since the album’s 2015 release.
A retrospective on To Pimp A Butterfly could take up a college semester if you attempt to understand every nuance of Lamar’s sophomore effort. On the underrated stand-out from the album, “Hood Politics,” Lamar’s animated flows bellow out the quotable lyric, “Critics want to mention when they miss when Hip-hop was rappin’. Motherfucker, if you did, then Killer Mike would be platinum.” While this line doubles as an appropriate nod to Mike, it also hints at the madness after the album’s release. On paper, there is no way Lamar’s experimentation should’ve garnered the attention and praise it received. Multiple Grammy Awards and almost universal praise as being the most significant album released in 2015 usually isn’t reserved for spiritual jazz tropes that clash with funk fusion and thought-provoking lyricism; Kendrick Lamar made an album that couldn’t be denied.
Ten years, a Super Bowl Halftime performance, and a public battle with Drake later, To Pimp A Butterfly still stands as a testament to Lamar’s influence as an artist. The artist’s sophomore release broke a mold that should never be repaired. He broke down boundaries between eras and genres in such a poetic way that it made the world stop and listen, and Lamar wasn’t about to blow his opportunity to present new ideas to the general public. To Pimp A Butterfly is a modern Hip-hop classic, the type of album that, even in fifty years, will still have long think pieces written in hopes of better understanding every intricate detail of Lamar’s opus.
