So finally, just two weeks before the scheduled release date, Kendrick Lamar has decided to reveal the title of his upcoming album. And it’s called ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’. Last week King Kendrick tweeted a link to the iTunes page of the album and it was ‘untitled’, and we thought the album’s title was ‘Untitled’. But boy, we were wrong. The newly revealed album title is a wordplay on ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ classic book by Harper Lee. How he got the inspiration is yet to be revealed.
Album Cover for ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ by Kendrick Lamar
Well, this is a thought-provoking art work. It could be interpreted in so many ways. There’s the White House in the background and a group of African American men in the foreground, holding cash and liquor bottles. It is a definite signal towards the gang wars Kendrick tries to address in the new album. At the very bottom of the picture is a person who looks to be a judge (man holding a gavel). He appears to be dead (cross marks on his eyes), overrun by the group of people. Kendrick is clearly saying the justice system or even the law is completely helpless/useless when it comes to gang wars. In the album art, even the little babies and teens are seen holding cash, which is an indication towards what kind of society/environment the children are born into in these gang territories. They are born into and grown in a society of violence. It’s an endless cycle–specially when the ‘law’ is dead. And all of this happens under the American flag (on top of the building), right in front of the ‘authorities’ (White House) who are supposed to take action towards it.
If you think there is more to it, please do leave a comment with your thoughts.
I’m not sure exactly what Kendrick tries to say with the album title ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’. But in a Rolling Stone interview he said;
“Just putting the word ‘pimp’ next to ‘butterfly’.. It’s a trip. That’s something that will be a phrase forever. It’ll be taught in college courses–I truly believe that,.”
King Kendrick sounds confident. And so are we. His latest release from the album, “The Blacker The Berry” is an anthem for drug and gang wars in America. And we get a feeling that the new album will consist more tracks on the same theme.
Kendrick Lamar Shares The Second Picture on Instagram
https://instagram.com/p/0EwnbSlecE/
The caption is what interests us. It looks like a lyric line from a song from ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’. The phrase could be a reference to the corruption going on in the world. Take an innocent butterfly and turn it into a pimp. Until Kendrick Lamar speaks out, we will only be guessing what all of this means. Kendrick is a genius at wordplay and for all we know, all of this could mean something entirely different.
But one thing we know for sure–and that is, this new album is probably going to be the best album of this year–and we are not even fangirling. This is Kendrick’s take on ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’;
“You take a black kid out of Compton and put him in the limelight, and you find answers about yourself you never knew you were searching for. There’s some stuff in there, man. It’s a roller coaster. It builds.”
Read the full Rolling Stone interview here.
The album hits stores on March 23.
In the meantime let us know of your own interpretations of the album title and cover.