To Pimp a Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar’s third studio album earned him seven nominations at the 2016 Grammy awards, which included a win for Best Rap Album. To Pimp a Butterfly incorporates other musical styles, primarily jazz, funk and soul. This album received acclaim for its social relevance and unapologetic Blackness.

Major thematic elements: race, culture, discrimination, politics, Black history

IB Literature and IB Language and Literature Connections

Place of publication: United States
Language: English
Era: 21st Century
Genre: Poetry/Music
Author: Male

Readers, writers and texts | Time and space | Intertextuality: Connecting texts

Identity | Culture | Creativity | Communication
Perspective | Transformation | Representation

“Why I Dropped Everything and Started Teaching Kendrick Lamar’s New Album | Brian Mooney | March 2015
This article does it all: background on the album, connections to other works of literature, suggestions for outside resources, and reflection on how to approach teaching Lamar’s work to high school students.
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Watch NPR Music’s Documentary on Lamar’s visit to Mooney’s classroom

Album Overviews

The Narrative Guide to Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” | Vice.com | Ryan Bassil | 2015
This article gives an overview of the album and then goes through song by song explaining thematic connections.
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Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’: A Track-by-Track Guide | Rolling Stone | 2015
This article includes about a paragraph for each song that includes notes about the song, influences or collaborators, and context.
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9 Kendrick Lamar songs that show his genius | GQ Magazine | Anleflok Ekpoudom | June 2022
This article covers many Kendrick Lamar albums. Songs from To Pimp a Butterfly are “Alright,” “i,” and “Complexion.”
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South Africa’s Influence on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ | OkayAfrica | Killakam
This article pulls quotes from an interview with the Grammy Awards that is no longer available online.
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To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar | A Retrospective Look | Medium.com | Mark Chinapen | 2021, 2018
First-person reflection on the album, three years after its release date.
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Kendrick Lamar Breaks Down the Making of “To Pimp a Butterfly” | Complex | Jesse Morris | 2016
This short article summarizes some of the inspirations for the album ahead of the 2016 Grammy Awards.
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Dissect Season 1 | Podcast
Season 1 of the Podcast Dissect is all about “To Pimp a Butterfly.” Episodes connecting to songs are linked below, but full playlist does include three extra episodes—two at the beginning and one at the end.
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“To Pimp a Butterfly: Kendrick Lamar’s unapologetic black American dream | Salon.com | Priscilla Ward | March 2015
This article discusses the Blackness of To Pimp a Butterfly, including the album’s cover, word choice in song lyrics, and emotional impact.
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Watch Kendrick Lamar Win Best Rap Album for “To Pimp a Butterfly”| Grammy Rewind
Watch here

To Pimp a Butterfly - Playlist
Explicit Album
Clean (Edited) Album

Songs

About Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar: ‘I Can’t Change The World Until I Change Myself First’ | NPR | December 29, 2015 | 7-minute listen
This article originally appeared on Morning Edition and is part biography, part interview, part commentary on Lamar’s 2015.
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Kendrick Lamar on the Grammys, Black Lives Matter and His Big 2015 | The New York Times | Joe Coscarelli | December 2015
This interview with Lamar was conducted after To Pimp A Butterfly received 11 Grammy nominations and spans a variety of topics.
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Kendrick Lamar: ‘I am Trayvon Martin. I’m all of these kids’ | The Guardian | Dorian Lynskey | June 2015
This lengthy article includes details of Kendrick’s childhood, his lifestyle, and his music.
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The Gospel According to Kendrick Lamar | Vanity Fair | Lisa Robinson | June 28, 2018
”Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘poet laureate of hip-hop’ Kendrick Lamar has made history with his music. As Compton’s favorite son headlines this summer’s blockbuster Top Dawg Entertainment tour, he grants an intimate look at what drives him.”
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Kendrick Lamar | Wikipedia
This classic biography includes Kendrick’s early life, career, artistry, controversies, impact, achievements, and more.
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Articles, essays, and videos about To Pimp a Butterfly

The Big Hit Show: Season 2: Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” | Podcast | 5 episodes, 43-53 minutes each
”In hip-hop, one hit can make you a star and one perfect album can make you an icon. But what do you do for an encore? In Season 2 of The Big Hit Show, the best rapper alive tries to figure out what to do next, channeling the pressures of fame and the pain of a generation into a career-defining masterwork, To Pimp a Butterfly.”
E1: Hello Kendrick | E2: Bigger than Compton | E3: Mr. Andrews’ Memory | E4: Alright | E5: Spirits

Promise That You Will Sing About Me: Kendrick Lamar in Posterity | Brandon Apol, Cedarville University | April 2017
Part biography, part analysis, and part call to include Kendrick Lamar in the academia of music.
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Loving You Is Complicated: The Aesthetics of Personal and Political Tension in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly | Senior thesis | Jacob Sillyman, University of South Carolina | December 2017
”This paper explores the aesthetic and lyrical achievements of musician Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 To Pimp a Butterfly, the political context of these achievements, and the manner in which the critical discourse surrounding the work has handled the artistic and political tensions within the work of [Kendrick] Lamar.”
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The Power in Kendrick Lamar’s Complexity | The Atlantic | Spencer Kornhaber | March 17, 2015
”To Pimp a Butterfly is challenging, but that’s because it reflects a challenging world.”
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Loving U Is Complicated | Slate.com | Carl Wilson | March 19, 2015
”How should white listeners approach the ‘overwhelming blackness’ of Kendrick Lamar’s brilliant new album?”
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Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly album cover: an incendiary classic | The Guardian | Ashley Clark | March 2015
”The sleeve of the rapper’s forthcoming album, which shows the aftermath of a black revolution on the White House lawn, is in good company.”
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Things we learned from Kendrick Lamar’s new To Pimp A Butterfly podcast | ABC | Al Newstead | February 2022
This article is about the podcast linked at the top of this section: The Big Hit Show.
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Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ Turns 5 | Tidal | Kassa Overall | March 2020
”Musician, lyricist and producer Kassa Overall on the genre-obliterating influence of a modern masterpiece.”
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5 Facts About Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ Album are Revealed in New Podcast | Vibe | Preezy Brown | February 2022
”After listening to the “Hello Kendrick” episode of ‘The Big Hit Show’ podcast, VIBE highlights five interesting facts we learned about TPAB.
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Butterfly Flow: Tupac, Kendrick Lamar, and the Resurrection of New Black Godz | JSTOR Daily | Monica Miller | April 2015
”A look at mythic themes in Kendrick Lamar’s recent #1 album To Pimp a Butterfly.”
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Molding of Identity and Community Responsibility in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly | Lyric Whitner | Spring 2018 | Senior Paper
This essay looks at survivors guilt and redemption, diaspora and identity issues, and racial neglect/disparity as themes within the album.
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The (To Pimp A) Butterfly Effect - How Kendrick’s Masterpiece Changed Culture, Lives and Careers | Highsnobiety | Robert Blair
This article examines the influences on the album and the impact those influences had on the broader music community.
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Lesson plans and other teaching resources

Full disclosure: there aren’t a lot of ready-to-go lesson plans for Kendrick Lamar’s work online yet. We’re including what we found below, which includes some articles written by teachers about their experience teaching Kendrick Lamar. We’ll keep an eye out for new materials and add them here when we find them.

Lesson Plan | Teaching with Protest Music | The New York Times | Michael Gonchar and Katherine Schulten | February 4, 2016
This ready-to-go lesson plan includes plenty of extension activities and connections to protest music from the 1960s to today.
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“Alright” and the History of Black Protest Songs | TeachRock | High School Social Studies/History Lesson
This lesson is ready to go with an essential question, objectives, videos, procedures, discussion questions and more. You may need to create a free account with TeachRock to access all of the resources.
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To Pimp a Mockingbird: A Lesson Plan | The Rumpus | Sean Enfield | March 2020
This teaching narrative/lesson connects To Kill a Mockingbird to Drake and Kendrick Lamar music.
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Kendrick Lamar Music Analysis | Teachers Pay Teachers | CoffeeWithMissMac | FREE Lesson Plan
This lesson plan uses The Blacker The Berry by Wallace Thurman, Roots by Alex Haley, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. Not all texts need to be used for the lesson.
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Kendrick Lamar in the Classroom | Rachel Kessler
This lesson focuses on the extended metaphor in “Mortal Man” and “The Carpenter Ant” by Terrance Hayes.
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Kendrick Lamar lesson at Westerville South explores poetry, music and social movement
This article is about how an IB English class brought Kendrick Lamar’s texts into the classroom.
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Feel: Exploring Emotion in Poetry with Kendrick Lamar | Teachers and Writers Magazine | Andrew DeBella | October 29, 2020
Mr. DeBella’s lesson plan is embedded in his narrative of teaching Kendrick Lamar’s work to his students.
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Shopping List

Texts and other resources you may find helpful.

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To Pimp a Butterfly 
Audio CD on Amazon.com 
Vinyl on Amazon.com
 
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers 
Audio CD on Amazon.com
Vinyl on Amazon.com
 
Good Kid: M.A.A.D. City 
Audio CD on Amazon.com
Vinyl on Amazon.com
DAMN.
Audio CD on Amazon.com
Vinyl on Amazon.com
Promise That You Will Sing About Me 
Hardcover on Amazon.com
Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly 
Paperback on Amazon.com
The History of Gangster Rap: From Schoolly D to Kendrick Lamar, The Rise of a Great American Art Form  
Paperback on Amazon.com
Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning: Routledge Studies in Hip Hop and Religion 
Paperback on Amazon.com
The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America
Hardcover on Amazon.com