to pimp a butterfly ANALYSIS

Okay, deadass, my interpretation of this album as a message. Might review this album later. Scroll to the bottom of this for a dumb question.

TW: alcohol, depression, controversial opinions on racial inequality & institutional discrimination.

The album generally describes Kendrick's metaphorical transformation from a caterpillar into a butterfly. As the caterpillar, he's ignorant. He's easily tempted by materialistic things around him. He doesn't know himself, yet.

He's talking about doing all this crazy stuff when he gets signed. In Wesley's Theory he's constantly reminded that the higher he climbs, the harder he falls. The song title is referring to Welsey Snipes, the actor arrested for tax evasion, where the song also delves into the topic along the lines of taxes. The first verse pictures a young Kendrick deluded by money, whilst the second Uncle Sam is trying to charm him, symbolizing U.S Government and White America.

He hears the girl talking shit on him in For Free, trying into the idea that Kendrick is still falling victim to the pimps of the record industry. This is basically how America expects Kendrick to “make it” as a black man. But he doesn't wanna give into people taking advantage of him. Most men have to spend a lot of money to get in a girl’s pants, but most women don’t have to go through the same trouble for a man. In other words, he won’t give in to the temptations of success and confidently says how no one can manipulate him.

He has to remind everyone how hard he is on King Kunta. The idea behind him saying that he's THAT guy is basically the whole point of this song. He runs the game. Got the whole world talking. The name of the song is referring to Kunta Kinte, the protagonist in the book Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, is a character that Haley claimed to be his own great, great, great grandfather. Kinte refused to accept the name “Toby” that slave masters tried to give him and his right foot was cut off following his attempts to escape the plantation he was enslaved on. And, as a consequence of his escape attempts from the plantation where he was enslaved, his right foot was cut off. Guess where that little story ties into in this song?

Continuing off, Kendrick realizes institutionalization is very much real. You can take him out the hood, but you can't take the hood out of him. He struggles with being on these main stages when doing his performances. There's a dramatic realization that the murky past of the m.A.A.d. city still lurks within Lamar’s psyche. Kendrick covers money’s corruptible powers, and how many people are almost brainwashed by the idea of getting rich. We are all stuck with this problem, and every one of us at some level ‘institutionalized,’ where perspective is the only solution.

This is where the poem comes in. The poem is generally a roadmap that guides the album's narrative. "I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence. Sometimes I did the same. Abusing my power full of resentment"

In comes the song These Walls, where he literally misuses his influence and power to get revenge on a man who killed someone close to him. I ain't gonna be the one to tell you about this though, but if I had to give you a hint, NTR or netori creators would have a field day about this song, especially since (at the time of making this bot, at least) there's an event on janitor about making bots with a song tied to it.

He doesn't feel good about doing it though. That resentment begins to turn into a depression. He found himself screaming at himself through a mirror while in a hotel room, and we got to the lowest point on the album, U. Ironic title, however, because the song is all about himself. He tears himself apart as he looks into the mirror, yelling at his reflection as he absolutely despises himself. He nearly drinks himself to death, blaming himself for the death of someone who died back in Compton while he was on h