Kendrick Lamar releases 'To Pimp a Butterfly'
Top Dawg / Aftermath / Interscope issues the follow-up to *good kid, m.A.A.d city* — a 16-track LP that integrates free jazz, funk, P-Funk, and spoken-word poetry into a sustained meditation on Black America, depression, and the costs of fame. Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, and Flying Lotus are central collaborators. 'Alright' becomes the de facto anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Why it matters
*To Pimp a Butterfly* is the album that fully separates Kendrick from the genre's commercial center of gravity and credentials him as a Generationally Important American Artist in the sense the broader culture (Pulitzer board included) reserves for very few musicians. The Pulitzer Prize for Music — awarded three years later for *DAMN.* — is foreseeable from the day this album drops.
Branches
Citations 2
- B
- B
Nearby in time
- 2015The Jacka is killed in East Oakland
- 2015Kanye West launches Yeezy with Adidas at New York Fashion Week
- 2015To Pimp a Butterfly is released
- 2015Jay-Z and 15 artist-owners launch Tidal
- 2015Chinx is shot and killed in Queens
- 2015Kendrick Lamar's 'Alright' becomes the de facto Black Lives Matter anthem