{"id":6294,"date":"2025-03-03T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=6294"},"modified":"2025-02-17T12:12:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T17:12:38","slug":"arachnophonia-kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2025\/03\/arachnophonia-kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: Kendrick Lamar “To Pimp A Butterfly”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student assistant Susanne (class of 2026) and features Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly<\/strong><\/a>. Thanks, Susanne!<\/em><\/p>\n

Kendrick Lamar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

To Pimp A Butterfly<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Kendrick<\/a><\/p>\n

Celebrating 10 Years of To Pimp A Butterfly<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Released almost 10 years ago on March 15, 2015, To Pimp A Butterfly<\/a><\/em> is American rapper Kendrick Lamar\u2019s third studio album. To Pimp A Butterfly<\/a><\/em> blends numerous genres rooted in African American music styles, including hip-hop, jazz, funk, and soul. <\/p>\n

The album centers political commentary surrounding racial violence and institutional discrimination, gaining widespread recognition for the artistry and social impact of the lyricism. Lamar drew inspiration from his travels to South Africa<\/a> where he was able to draw connections between their racial and social landscape and Black communities of the U.S. <\/p>\n

To Pimp A Butterfly<\/a><\/em> centers Black memory and tradition while still focusing on contemporary social issues. Lamar\u2019s song \u201cAlright,\u201d for example, came to be used in the Black Lives Matter<\/a> movement as a call to action. Lamar received eleven total nominations at the 2016 Grammy Awards<\/a>, seven just for To Pimp A Butterfly<\/a><\/em>, and won Best Rap Album of the Year. <\/p>\n

At a time of growing Black activism throughout the country, To Pimp A Butterfly<\/a><\/em> had a tremendous impact on the hip-hop and rap industry. Many artists and fans alike cite Lamar\u2019s album as a moment of empowerment to create pieces that express their cultural experiences and speak out against critical social inequalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Arachnophonia (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library\u2018s collection. All links included in these … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[231704,15223,15242],"tags":[61217,231411,231738,231730,231737,76079,38104,231068,13996,231731,230957,231736,231729],"class_list":["post-6294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arachnophonia-arachnophonia","category-collection","category-promotional","tag-arachnophonia","tag-arachnophonia-24-25","tag-composer","tag-conscious-hip-hop","tag-contemporary-rap","tag-kendrick-lamar","tag-neo-soul","tag-progressive-rap","tag-rap","tag-songwriter","tag-susanne","tag-to-pimp-a-butterfly","tag-west-coast-rap"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgMV3E-1Dw","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6294"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6299,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294\/revisions\/6299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}