By Shy’Ana Thomas
Ten years ago on March 15, 22-time Grammy award winner Kendrick Lamar dropped his third studio album “To Pimp A Butterfly” on all streaming platforms. Many regard this as his best album to date.
Leading up to the release of TPAB, Lamar took a four-year break after dropping his second album, “Good Kid, m.A.A.d city” with m.A.A.d meaning “My Angry Adolescence Divided” or “My Angels on Angel Dust.” The release of that album in 2011 cemented his name in the music world with the release of his most popular songs at the time. Those titles included, “B**** Don’t Kill My Vibe,””Backseat Freestyle,” “Money Trees,” “Poetic Justice,” “m.A.A.d city,” “Swimming Pools,” “Sing about me I’m dying of thirst” and “The Recipe.” His second studio album told a story about his life, ranging from growing up in Compton, California, to voice messages from his parents, Paula and Kenneth Duckworth. The “Good Kid, m.A.A.d City” album didn’t receive Grammys but secured seven nominations, including Album Of The Year.
In 2014, Lamar dropped the first single for TPAB titled “I,” which became the official song of the NBA that same year. Six months later in March, came the jazz, funk-infused hip-hop album “To Pimp A Butterfly.”
The 16-song album features Thundercat, George Clinton, Snoop Dogg, Bilal, Anna Wise, James Fauntleroy, Ronald Isley and Rapsody. The album features tracks that shaped 2015 such as “Wesley’s Theory,” “King Kunta,” “These Walls,” “Alright,” “The Blacker the Berry” and “I.”
Social impact from the album
The ratings on this album were just as good as ratings for “Good Kid, m.A.A.d City.” Pitchfork, a media outlet notorious for harsh ratings, gave TPAB a 9.3/10 and rated his first two projects “Section.80” an 8/10 and GKMAADC a 9.5/10. Some other ratings were from Theneedledrop, who gave the album a 10/10, AOTY 95/100, Metacritic 96/100 and Musicboard 4.7/5. All together, this is the 16th highest-rated album of all time.
TPAB was Lamar’s first number-one album, making its Billboard top 200 debut at No. 1 on April 4, 2015. Sales saw an increase from his previous album GKMAADC, which sold 242,000 in its first week. TPAB sold 324,000 copies in its first week, which is 82,000 more than his previous album. TPAB also sold 1.5 million physical copies across six countries, becoming a platinum album and rewarding Lamar with his first Grammy in 2015 for “I,” along with 11 other nominations in 2016 at the Grammys, making history for most nominations in a night.
This album was praised for its light on social relevance and beginning a conversation about oppression, race, identity of young Black people and becoming a product of your environment, being hailed as one of the greatest Hip-Hop albums of all time.
Topics on the album also expand into self-love and self-hate, mental health, guilt and fame. The name “To Pimp A Butterfly” stems from Lamar’s personal growth and his character development following his success from 2011 to 2015. The meaning of the album title is that a caterpillar and a butterfly are at a time the same, but also different.
Lamar made a poem to follow along with the album, with every song having a piece of the poem at the end. At the end of the album on the track “Mortal Man” the poem titled “Another N****” is read to late rapper Tupac Shakur telling him what his life was like to go from caterpillar to butterfly.
Awards for To Pimp A Butterfly
Before everyone knew it, TPAB started getting nominated for awards both in America and internationally, winning 16 total awards and being listed as one of the greatest albums ever.
TPAB and Lamar won:
- International Album of the Year – Danish Music Award
- Best urban international video for “Alright”- UK Music Video Awards (2015)
- Video Of The Year “Alright:- UK Music Video Awards (2015)
- Best Cinematography-UK Music Video Awards (2015)
- Best Hip-Hop Song Of The Year “Alright” -Soul Train Music Awards (2015)
- Best Album – NME/New Musical Express Awards (2016)
- Best Direction “Alright”-MTV Video Music Awards
- Best International Album- MOBO/Music Of Black Origin Awards
- “I” video of the year Hip-Hop Dx Year End Awards (2014)
- Album Of The Year-Hip-Hop Dx Year-End Awards
- Emcee Of The Year- Hip-Hop Dx Year End Awards
- “Alright” Video Of The Year-Hip-Hop Dx Year-End Awards
- “I” Best Rap Performance – Grammy Awards (2016)
- Best Rap Album- Grammy Awards (2016)
- “Alright” Best Music Video- Camerimage
- Best Cinematography- Camerimage
- “Alright” Best Hip-Hop Video-BET Hip-Hop Awards
- “Alright” Impact Track-BET Hip-Hop Awards
- “Alright” Best Direction- Berlin Music Video Awards
- TPAB 19th Place for 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time- Rolling Stones
- TPAB 5th Place for 200 Greatest Albums Of All Time- Rolling Stones
- TPAB 7th Place for 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time- Rolling Stones
- Kenrick Lamar 9th place for Top 10 Best Rappers – CNN
The impact of “Alright”
The seventh track on TPAB, “Alright” is regarded by some as one of the most important songs of the 2010s. “Alright” was shown so much love and praise from around the world, and won two Grammys. With the song focused on hope for the future of Black people and the justice system, it became the anthem for the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Even though the song has gathered so much praise from so many people, there was still social criticism on the song. Namely from Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro. Pirro criticized Lamar’s performance at the Super Bowl where he performed “Alright.” She claimed to not understand the point of his performance. Another Fox News host, Geraldo Rivera, also made comments about Lamar’s BET performance where he performed “Alright” saying, “This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years.”
Lamar responded to these claims on songs such as “BLOOD,” “DNA” and “YAH” on his fourth studio album “DAMN.”
Ultimately, despite criticism, the song saw a plethora of success and made it to the Top 10 on the Billboard 100, has been certified platinum and won Most Impactful Track at the BET Awards.
“To Pimp A Butterfly” is available on all music streaming platforms.
