BLM: Critical Review of To Pimp a Butterfly

Yesterday, Tumblr acknowledged that it’s been two years since the Ferguson protests began, which had me start thinking of Black Lives Matter, a movement I stand by closely. Last semester, I wrote a critical review on my favourite album of 2015, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly for my pop culture class in reference to the current social turmoil. Here it is.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar’s third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly, was a favourite to win Album of the Year at the 58^th Annual Grammy Awards, topping many critics’ “Best Albums of 2015” lists, including Rolling Stones magazine’s (2015). Described as a “masterpiece of fiery outrage, deep jazz and ruthless self-critique” (Tate, 2015, n.p), To Pimp a Butterfly was released to widespread critical acclaim in March of 2015, at an appropriate time as any in terms of the album’s subject matter being an accurate and relevant reflection of current events, making it an essential part of pop culture in 2015. The main reason as to why the album is a good representation of pop culture for the year stems from its ability to function under two different definitions of popular culture as defined by scholar John Storey; pop culture as ‘political,’ and pop culture as ‘the people’s culture’.

The most overt category the album falls under is political, for Lamar’s album is rooted in current political context, specifically in the current “Black Lives Matter” movement. The album’s lyrics allude to prominent black cultural figures such as Nelson Mandela, Tupac Shakur, and Trayvon Martin. Scholar Francis Shor describes the “Black Lives Matter” movement as a “proliferation of new organizations and networks composed of engaged millennial activists of color” (2015, n.p). Storey describes this political approach to pop culture as seeing “popular culture as a site of struggle between the ‘resistance’ of subordinate groups and the forces of ‘incorporation’ operating in the interest of dominant groups” (2006, p.8).

In the specific case of the context of the album, many lyrics suggest that the “subordinate group” is black Americans, while the “dominant groups” vary from song to song, but are generally white authority. For example, the title of the opening song, “Wesley’s Theory” refers to actor Wesley Snipes’ three-year federal imprisonment over failing to pay taxes which sparked the debate on whether the sentence was too harsh for the crime and whether Snipes’ racial identity played a role in his sentence (CNN, 2013, n.p). Lyrics include “Straight from the CIA, set it on my lap / Take a few M-16s to the hood” and “Anythin’, see, my name is Uncle Sam, I’m your dog” (“Wesley’s Theory,” Lamar, 2015). Both of these lyrics are implying that manipulation is happening within the black community due to systematic oppression, therefore the “dominant group” in the context of this song is the United States government. Lamar’s lyrics are suggesting a lack of “incorporation” between the exchange of these two groups but is encouraging a dialogue to begin, just as Storey’s political definition states, “it is a terrain of exchange between [“the dominant group” and “the subordinate”] (2006, p. 8).

A second of Storey’s definitions that To Pimp a Butterfly falls under is “the people’s” culture, which, although Storey recognizes it as problematic, theoretically oppositions itself to “mass culture” (2006). Not only are the album’s sales for the year somewhat dull compared to the likes of Justin Bieber and Adele, To Pimp a Butterfly fails to be classified under “mass” culture because it would have to be a product produced for an audience of “non-discriminating consumers” and “consumed with brain-numbed and brain-numbing passivity” (Storey, 2006, p.6). It seems that it would be difficult to have a product of pop culture fit the definitions of “mass” as well as “political,” and the political connotation of the album is conspicuous. Storey claims that the term “the people’s culture” should only be used “to indicate an ‘authentic’ culture of ‘the people’” (2006, p.7).

Storey challenges this definition, however, by asking who are the people and who decides who they are (2006, p.7). The album can be classified under this definition with an almost clear perception of who “the people” are; Lamar’s fellow African Americans. Storey (2006), quoting Bennett, also makes the claim that this definition is “often equated with a highly romanticized concept of working-class culture construed as the major source of symbolic protest within contemporary capitalism” (p.7). In the lyrics to “Institutionalized,” Lamar states, “I’m trapped inside the ghetto and I ain’t proud to admit it / Institutionalized, I keep runnin’ back for a visit,” describing how he still feels inclined to go back to the ghetto, despite his success (Lamar, 2015). These lyrics are an example of how this album is not made for the mass, but rather for ‘the people’ who are able to rationalize with these lyrics due to their social position. It is implausible to make the statement that the mass consumers all live or associate a past part of their lives with the ghetto. These working class African Americans are the ones Lamar is attempting to evoke as needing to incite “a symbolic protest within contemporary capitalism” (Bennett, qtd. in Storey, 2006, p.7).

Another way this album is for “the people” is through the incorporation of traditional African American musical genres in the songs, giving the album a funk and jazz sound. On D’Angelo’s Black Messiah and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, scholar Will Fulton (2015) states, “the historical present offered on these recordings celebrates vibrant but often overlooked musical networks of African American church band, jazz, and rock musicians – communities of working musicians that are often invisible to mainstream culture” (p.9). For example, the song “i” samples the Isley’s Brothers’ song “That Lady.” Fulton (2015) explains that although a popular song, the guitar riff of “That Lady” was a nod to Jimi Hendrix’s style, who, although now considered one of the greatest guitarists to ever live, at the time was struggling to claim his spot in African American music, even though the rock genre was originally attributed to African Americans (p.15). This reclamation of the rock genre was another prominent ‘people’s’ pop culture phenomenon in 2015, with black guitarists such as D’Angelo and Miguel Pimentel releasing albums this past year that feature a rock sound while dealing with subject matter similar to To Pimp a Butterfly.

In conclusion, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly arose as one of the greatest pieces of pop culture to come out of 2015. This was not because of its mass popularity; in a list of the forty best-selling albums of 2015, it does not make the cut (officialcharts.com, 2016). Instead, its critical acclaim stemmed from its relevance to one of the most prominent current pop culture movements, Black Lives Matter. This all suggests that popular culture is not solely about popularity among the masses, but about relevance to a culture, especially in interacting with dominant ideologies.

Check out the video to my favourite song below.

References

CNN Staff (April 7 2013). Actor Wesley Snipes released from prison. cnn.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/05/showbiz/wesley-snipes-released/

Copsey, R (2016). The official top 40 biggest artist albums of 2015 revealed. officialcharts.com. Retrieved from http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-artist-albums-of-2015-revealed__13273/

Fulton, W (2015). The performer as historian: Black Messiah, To Pimp a Butterfly, and the matter of albums. American Music Review: The H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music, 44(2), 8-17. Retrieved from http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/aca_centers_hitchcock/AMR_44-2_Spring2015.pdf

Lamar, K (2015). To Pimp a Butterfly [CD]. Hollywood: Top Dawg Entertainement.

Rolling Stone Magazine (December 1 2015). 50 Best Albums of 2015. rollingstone.com. Retrieved from: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2015-20151201/adele-25-20151130

Shor, F (2015). ’Black Lives Matter:’ Constructing a New Civil Rights and Black Freedom Movement. New Politics, 15(3), n.p. Retrieved from http://newpol.org/content/%E2%80%9Cblack-lives-matter%E2%80%9D-constructing-new-civil-rights-and-black-freedom-movement

Storey, J. (2006). What is pop culture? Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. Retrieved from https://d2l.ucalgary.ca/d2l/le/content/123493/viewContent/1889424/View

Tate, G (March 19 2015). To Pimp a Butterfly. Rolling Stones Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly-20150319