To Pimp A Butterfly Pt. 3

This is my LAST To Pimp A Butterfly blog, and I’m so excited about it. These songs mean so much to me, and Kendrick is a HUGE inspiration. I couldn’t get to into the other two songs because the last on is so long, but so important, and I actually want people to read this… Anyways, 

14. You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Momma said) = 4:01

“It’s all in your head, homie”

This whole song is practically based on not being your true self. The song starts with Kendrick telling us what his mama said. “I could spot you a mile away/I could see your insecurities written all over your face…Who you foolin’? Oh, you assuming you can just come and hang with the homies but your level of realness ain’t the same.” This is a play on a “mother intuition”. Being able to know things without being told it, and she knows that lies are being told. This song was inspired by Tupac Shakur’s song “Lie to kick it” which means that you don’t have to make up things to seem cool just so you can hang out. Kendrick even says, “You ain’t gotta lie to kick it” after naming things being said to clearly impress him, saying, “You sound like the feds, homie.” Later in the song Kendrick says, “The loudest one in a room, that’s a complex” referring to people who make themselves seem like they’re better than everyone by boasting and bragging about things when they don’t even have to do all that.

15. i = 5:36

“I love myself”

In an earlier blog, I mention how later in the album Kendrick makes a song about self-love, well this is that song! Kendrick says it loud in proud in this song that he loves himself. He says he’s been through a lot, but he knows God, and he’s holding onto hope and life even when people wanna bring him down. He talks about bad things happening but trying to stay positive while not ignoring those things at the same time. At one point Kendrick says that this is the best song he’s ever written since he never thought he’d make a song this positive when he grew up around so much negativity.  Further into the song, there is an argument in the crowd, and Kendrick does his best to settle them down by talking about all the rough stuff that has happened, so we need to stop causing problems with one another when the world already gives us so many. When he begins to rap again, he talked about the N word. He says, “N-E-G-U-S, definition: royalty, king royalty. /N-E-G-U-S, description: black emperor, king, ruler.” He says that we’ve been using the word wrong after “The history books overlooked the word and hide it/America tried to make it a house divided.” He ends the song by saying, “Kendrick Lamar, by far, realest Negus alive.”

16. Mortal Man = 12:07

“Only hope that we kinda have left is music”

In this song, Kendrick asks a question, “When sh*t hit the fan, is you still a fan?” He referenced many important activists in history, starting with Nelson Mandela. Kendrick says, “The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows stay propellin’/Let these words be your Earth and moon, you consume every message/As I lead this army, make room for mistakes and depression/And with that being said let me ask you a question:” Kendrick understands that he is important to the Black community, and how he must use his voice for greater things. The meaning of his question that he asks throughout the song is if he makes a mistake, will we still be with him. He asks if we believe in him or are we deceiving him. He asks if he was framed for a crime, would we take up for him or turn against him. He knows he has had a big impact on his community saying, “You tell me my song is more than a song, it’s surely a blessing.” Kendrick talks about his flaws like how he has abandonment issues, and he holds grudges, and he wants to be important like Nelson Mandela, and he says, “Don’t let me resent you/That’s not Nelson-like.” He continues to question loyalty of the people around him, “family, friends, fans, cats, dogs/Trees, plants, grass, how the wind blow, Murphy’s Law.” He is questioning this due to another line where he says, “How many leaders you said you needed, then left ’em for dead.” He names off Moses, Huey Newton, Detroit Red, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and even Michael Jackson.

The song goes into an interview, and Kendrick gives us the whole poem continuing from where we left off from Hood Politics, “A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination/Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I had learned/The word was ‘respect’/Just because you wore a different gang color than mine’s/Doesn’t mean I can’t respect you as a black man/Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets/If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us/But I don’t know I’m no mortal man/Maybe I’m just another n-“

He begins speaking to the person he’s interviewing about a metaphor of the ground. The man talks about the ground being poor people, and that it will soon open up and swallow the rich people. The man calls himself a “natural-born hustler” who had nothing but opportunities to get him where he is today. He had a terrible job and a terrible life, but he did all of that to eventually be more than he ever imagined. He says, “I made millions for a lot of people/Now it’s time to make millions for myself.” He kept his sanity by having a faith in God and faith in the game. He says, “All good things come to those who stay true.” And he believed he was always true.  He says, “A Black man only have five years we can exhibit maximum strength.” He says as teens, they’re strong, “Once you turn thirty… they take the heart and soul out of a Black man in this country.” I could rant about this interview for much longer, but I’ll cut it short. The title of the album comes from something Kendrick said a good friend wrong for him, describing his world. There is a caterpillar who is prisoner to the streets. It can only eat to protect its city. The more it eats, the more it learns to survive. The world shuns the caterpillar but praises the butterfly. The butterfly is talent, thoughtfulness, and beauty within the caterpillar, but “having a harsh outlook on life, the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak/And figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits.” But soon, the caterpillar becomes institutionalized inside its cocoon. He’s trapped, and while he is, he has a revelation of going home and “bringing back new concepts to this mad city.” When the caterpillar grows mentally, it becomes a butterfly. He asks the man what’s his perspective on it, but with no answer he calls his name. “‘Pac?” Tupac!! Isn’t that crazy? 

In this song Kendrick used an old interview that Tupac was on in 1994. Kendrick takes a lot of inspiration from Tupac and even planned to name the album Tu Pimp A Caterpillar. This album had a heavy grasp on me last year and I lost that passion over the summer. Coming back to this blog was difficult, but when I began to listen and think once again, I remembered how much I loved it. Kendrick may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I do encourage you guys to listen to some of these songs, DEFINITELY this one. Thank you!