He’s telling us where he’s from and where he’s been. He exposes his wounds so that we’ll believe him. I thought the American Dream was going to be enough too.” By taking this tone, he aligns himself with us. But instead, he essentially says, “I know all of this is true because I have the same problem. It could’ve easily been a #HotepTwitter, “I’m-super-deep-and-wear-bow-ties” type of verse. Kendrick does an amazing job not talking down to us on this. Or hating the fact none of that shit make me real.”

Should I hate living my life inside the club? …Hating all money, power, respect in my will.

You love handbag on the waist of your jean.” In the second verse, we see a man in love with street life and everything that comes with it: “You love fast cars and dead presidents owed/ You love fast women, you love keeping control/ Of everything that you love, you love beef/ You love streets, you love running, ducking police.” And in the final verse, we have Kendrick asking himself, and us, what’s the point? I should hate everything I do love. The first is a woman obsessed with material things: “You love red bottoms and gold that say ‘Queen’. It’s of my highest recommendation that you stop reading and just vibe out while that plays.Įach verse on “Real” has Kendrick detailing how we’ve negatively internalized the American Dream by viewing the wrong things as proof of our self-worth. The hook on this song is a mantra repeated over and over: I’m real. The introduction to Kendrick’s thesis on the State of Black America, “Wesley’s Theory,” picks up exactly where Kendrick’s debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city left off with “Real.” The final track of gkmc calls into question everything Kendrick once viewed as self-affirmative. Kendrick recorded the 2015 State of Black America for posterity. Finally, it gives us a plan for looking forward. He paints a vivid picture of the depression that comes from being black in America, and then journeys back to self-discovery. Kendrick then takes us through a journey of trying to find happiness and failing. It highlights how Black America internalized capitalism as self-worth and instead bred self-hatred. To Pimp a Butterfly opens with Kendrick laying the historical context of the American Dream.

To Pimp a Butterfly isn’t an album you’re going to want to just throw on. Or at least not in the traditional sense.

Kendrick lamar voice change