To Pimp a Butterfly Tracklist
To Pimp a Butterfly is Kendrick Lamar’s second major label studio album, and third full-length project. It was released via Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. It followed his critically-acclaimed 2012 debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city. The album was very well-received upon release, eventually earning 11 Grammy nominations, and it has gone on to be hailed as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.
In contrast to Lamar’s previous projects, TPAB took more heavily from jazz, soul, and funk influences, with such contributors as Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Kamasi Washington, and Flying Lotus providing instrumentation and production. Other noteworthy credits include vocals from Anna Wise, Bilal, George Clinton, James Fauntleroy, Rapsody, Ronald Isley of the The Isley Brothers, Snoop Dogg, and a posthumous appearance from 2Pac.
This album’s concept explores themes of self-love and hate, fame, depression, violence, race, and politics through a spoken-word poem that interweaves between songs, leading up to the climax. The poem is wrapped up on the final track, “Mortal Man,” where it is revealed that Kendrick was reading the poem to 2Pac all along. In an interview with MTV, Kendrick explained that the working title for the album was ‘Tu Pimp a Caterpillar,’ which spells out ‘TuPAC’ when abbreviated. It was changed to ‘butterfly’ in order to symbolize Kendrick’s personal character growth and his overall resiliency following success within the music industry.
The leading singles from this album were the studio version of “i” and “The Blacker the Berry.”
The album was heavily inspired by Lamar’s trip to South Africa in 2014, where he visited historical sites such as Nelson Mandela’s jail cell, birthing recurring motifs like Apartheid, distinctions between African and American culture, or institutionalization, among many others. Kendrick creates many allegorical comparisons between Compton and South Africa, especially on the song “Momma.”
All of Lamar’s efforts, touring, and accolades culminated in a powerful 2016 Grammy Awards performance, featuring “The Blacker The Berry” and “Alright,” for which he famously received undue criticism from FOX News.
“To Pimp a Butterfly” Q&A
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Translations
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Why did he name the album 'To Pimp a Butterfly' ?
Kendrick broke down the album title in his interview with Rob Markman (watch below).
Kendrick also explains its significance in the ending track “Mortal Man.”
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Is there a video of his performance at the Grammys?
Kendrick’s 2016 Grammy performance can be viewed here.
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Has this album received any certifications?
To Pimp a Butterfly was certified platinum by the RIAA on February 1, 2016.
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What score does this album have on metacritic?
To Pimp a Butterfly has a user score of 8.9 and a metascore of 96.
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How did this album perform commercially?
To Pimp a Butterfly debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 for the chart week ending April 4, 2015 with first-week sales of 324,000 copies, marking K-Dot’s first number-one album. The album was streamed 9.6 million times in its first day on Spotify, setting a global first-day streaming record on the platform.
Additionally, To Pimp a Butterfly spent two weeks at number-one, charted at #16 on the 2015 Billboard 200 year-end chart, and has remained on the charts for a total of 154 weeks.
