We Gon' Be Alright: Race, Representation and Jazz Rhetoric in Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly

Abstract

Hip-hop has become a massive phenomenon across the globe, and Kendrick Lamar is one of its biggest names. Of all his critically acclaimed work, his 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly is considered his greatest masterpiece. Here, I explore this album using a lens of critical race theory and musical analysis of jazz language to see how different narratives and musical personae are artistically constructed to be reflective of black identity, and representative of issues surrounding race and poverty. I use this to argue To Pimp A Butterfly is a seminal album of the 21st century. These personae and narratives represent a complex, non-limiting conception of black identity, pushing artistic discussions of racial identity and poverty into their 21st century iterations