20 Blackest Lines From Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly
Lyrics from "The Blacker the Berry," "Complexion" and more.
1 / 20
20 Blackest Lines From To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar’s second major label LP, To Pimp a Butterfly, was finally liberated for public consumption late last night (March 15), disrupting sleep schedules and prompting premature “classic” designations (it is very, very good). But whether the 27-year-old emcee has a[nother] flawless album under his belt or not, there’s no arguing that his lyrical latest is unapologetically Black. From the poetics to the production — a puree of P-Funk, jazz, hip hop, soul and rock — the pride is palpable.TPAB is so black, it was probably supposed to drop during Black History Month but was running on C.P. Time. TPAB is blacker than Luster’s Pink Hair Lotion. TPAB is blacker than your moms telling you to drink your saliva. TPAB is blacker than Don Cheadle’s shirt collars.Just how black is To Pimp a Butterfly, already the most important album to be re...
2 / 20
'King Kunta' - “Ah yeah, f**k the judge/I made it past 25 and there I was/A little nappy headed n***a with the world behind him”(Photo: Paras Griffin /Landov)
3 / 20
'Alright' - “When you know, we been hurt, been down before, n***a/When my pride was low, lookin’ at the world like, ‘Where do we go, n***a?’/And we hate po-po, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure, n***a/I'm at the preacher's door/My knees gettin' weak and my gun might blow but we gon' be alright”(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
4 / 20
'Complexion (A Zulu Love)' Feat. Rapsody - “The new James Bond gon’ be black as me/Black as brown, hazelnut, cinnamon, black tea/And it’s all beautiful to me/Call your brothers magnificent, call all the sisters queens”(Photo: Suzan/EMPICS Entertainment/PA Photos/Landov)
5 / 20
'The Blacker the Berry' Feat. Assassin - “And man a say they put me inna chains, cah' we black/Imagine now, big gold chains full of rocks/How you no see the whip, left scars pon' me back/But now we have a big whip parked pon' the block”(Photo: Yui Mok/PA Photos/Landov)
ADVERTISEMENT
6 / 20
'King Kunta' - “When you got the yams (What's the yams?)/The yam is the power that be/You can smell it when I'm walking down the street”(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for AEG)
7 / 20
'Momma' - “I met a little boy that resembled my features/Nappy afro, gap in his smile/Hand-me-down sneakers bounced through the crowd”(Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
8 / 20
'Complexion (A Zulu Love)' Feat. Rapsody - “Sneak me through the back window, I’m a good field n***a/I made a flower for you outta cotton just to chill with you/You know I'd go the distance, you know I'm ten toes down/Even if master listenin', cover your ears, he 'bout to mention”(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for BACARDI)
9 / 20
'Institutionalized' Feat. Snoop Lion - “You can take your boy out the hood but you can't take the hood out the homie”(Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
Photo By Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images for Clear Channel
10 / 20
'Hood Politics' - “They give us guns and drugs, call us thugs/Make it they promise to f**k with you/No condom they f**k with you, Obama say, ‘What it do?’”(Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
ADVERTISEMENT
11 / 20
'The Blacker the Berry' - “I'm African-American, I'm African/I'm black as the moon, heritage of a small village, pardon my residence/Came from the bottom of mankind/My hair is nappy, my d**k is big, my nose is round and wide”(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch)
12 / 20
'For Free' - “I need forty acres and a mule/Not a 40 ounce and a pitbull”(Photo: DFL / Splash News)
Photo By Photo: DFL / Splash News
13 / 20
'King Kunta' - “B***h where you when I was walkin'?/Now I run the game got the whole world talkin'/King Kunta/Everybody wanna cut the legs off him, Kunta/Black man taking no losses”(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
14 / 20
'Hood Politics' - “Call me on Shaniqua's phone”(Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images For ESPN)
15 / 20
'i' - “N-E-G-U-S definition: royalty, King royalty — wait listen/N-E-G-U-S description: Black emperor, King, ruler, now let me finish/The history books overlooked the word and hide it/America tried to make it to a house divided/The homies don't recognize we be using it wrong/So I'ma break it down and put my game in the song”(Photo: Angelo Merendino/Getty Images)
ADVERTISEMENT