![]() A bit of a clunky reference to To Kill a Mockingbird, the album picks up where the title falls a little flat, exploring several motifs from the novel: personal growth and understanding the idea that to understand and empathise with someone you have to “climb into his skin and walk around in it” as Atticus Finch explains to his daughter Scout the way in which this idea links to current racial inequality maybe even how Tom Robinson is represented by Finch – that is, by the white man’s moral imperative to protect the vulnerable, in a way cementing a new kind of racial power-play fuelled by altruism. Kendrick’s butterfly, representing artistic purity, is exploited in pursuit of financial gain black cultural heritage, the evolution of racism and American political oppression melt into his personal reflection and inner conflict. ![]() In ‘Mortal Man’ Kendrick ponders on what fans would do “if I died in this next line,” and you expect a violent pop-pop-pop to cut him short as it did in the line “if I die before your album drop” in ‘Sing About Me’ – the recurring messages are reinforced and built upon.īut these recurring themes haven’t just resurfaced, they’re also evolving. The opening track of Section.80, ‘Fuck Your Ethnicity’, is echoed in ‘Complexion (A Zulu Love)’ – “complexion, it don’t mean a thing.” In ‘Momma’, the poem unfolding throughout the album reveals the line “until I go back home” – an answer to Kendrick’s mother’s appeal at the end of good kid – “tell your story to these black and brown kids in Compton” – but home could also refer to Africa, the motherland. Section.80 and good kid M.A.A.D city surfaced Kendrick’s consideration of race issues and a message of universal respect, and the campaign continues in this record. The closest the album comes to a kind of anthem are ‘i’ and ‘Alright’: taken alone these tracks sound upbeat, but in the context of the album they serve as halves of a duplicitous and conflicted inner relationship with money and what it means to be an African-American – particularly the American part. The album doesn’t feature the radio-friendly songs that graced previous releases, but when you’re zoning in on equality issues and mapping the dark side of fame this is entirely appropriate. ![]() It’s all set to a challenging sound bed featuring improvised jazz and bare spoken word passages, which demands some degree of listening effort, although this isn’t new territory – Section.80’s ‘Ab-Soul Outro’ features an extended jazz solo supporting a really excellent spoken word/half-rap section, mentioning Uncle Sam and including the line, “I am not the next popstar, I am not the next socially aware rapper.” Kendrick assumes a number of personas, and is joined by legends including Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ronald Isley and yes, 2Pac. ![]() The album can be challenging and maybe even overreaches a couple of times, but to dedicate an entire album to this level of depth is a bold move, and only Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (that’s right) could have ever pulled it off. Kendrick Lamar’s third album, To Pimp A Butterfly, commits to an intricate dialogue in which he plumbs the troubled depths of both his personal inner conflict, and a legacy of colonial race issues that bleed through to modern life. ![]()
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