"Loving you is complicated,” Kendrick Lamar repeatedly screams on the track “u”. Lamar introduces his struggles on To Pimp a Butterfly (TPAB) with the track “u” by repeatedly screaming his self-hatred. However, this disgust doesn’t represent the overall theme of the album, rather the event creates a story of uplifting others. In fact, Lamar later unites and celebrates his city, Compton, on the track “i”–transcending the city’s violent past. The songs “u” and “i” on TPAB remain impactful as Lamar's efforts continuously inspire others to overcome trauma by utilizing the influence he gained from his previous album Good Kid m.A.A.d City (GKMC). Lamar effectively uplifts society by humanizing his experiences, with “u” urging individuals to confront their inner conflicts and “i” promoting a deeper sense of community and connection. 

In this digital portfolio, I present four unique arguments that connect “u” and “i” to explore how Lamar inspires communities. A video essay script will first contextualize the events that inspired Lamar to champion his community, an analysis of a critic’s commentary, a personal review of the two songs, and a catered album to build a greater picture of “u”. Each topic provides unique narratives, however they all meaningfully combine to illustrate how Lamar confronts perpetuated African American trauma.

In “How Kendrick Lamar Transformed Cultural Trauma Into To Pimp a Butterfly”, I contextualize the motivations and intentions Lamar had when creating TPAB by exploring the events that shaped him and the broader state of hip-hop. A video essay providing background information on Lamar’s experiences with black culture and mental health in America highlights why the two songs matter so much today (Hart 2019, 5). The video essay format best provides necessary background information since it features accompanying images and music to match the script and immerses viewers into the world Lamar experienced. Given this, extensive context will likely develop enhanced insights for viewers on Lamar’s intended message of uplifting individuals and communities through “u” and “i” when reading proceeding arguments.

Continuing with influences on black culture, “The Complex Representation of the African American Narrative” features the article “What Slaves We Are” by Natalie Graham which analyzes how Lamar spun the common narrative of black trauma that the show Roots set a standard for through TPAB (Haley 1977). The article explains how the show set a false narrative on black trauma by providing a simplified narrative on prejudice. However, Lamar urges others on TPAB to neglect this common belief and instead go beyond the limitations prejudiced norms place on black communities to foster growth (Graham 2017, 124-125). From his past experiences, Lamar recognizes how African Americans are marginalized and encourages others to find a way to break free of the cycle by transcending the expectations placed upon them(Itzkovitz 2013, 80-84). He uses his influence to combat inequality on “u” by emphasizing the necessity of overcoming individual insecurities and “i” by highlighting the need for communities to support each other in their collective growth.

On “The Duality of Vulnerability Between ‘u’ and ‘i’”, I expand on the ideas presented in Graham’s article through in-depth lyrical and thematic analysis. Here, I narrow down the focus from the entire album to specifically how Lamar forwards the idea of uplifting his community on the two connected tracks. My analysis ties how Lamar’s experiences are reflected in his outlook on himself on “u” and his commitment to his hometown on “i”. These experiences are especially reflected through his usage of jazz which symbolizes African American resilience and his desire to heal his community (Early 2019, 6-8). Emphasizing Jazz’s role builds off the previous two ideas and offers insights into how Lamar fully utilized his influence to advocate for the well-being of others and what resulted from his efforts. Lamar’s efforts on “u” and “i” continue to matter because he inspired many other individuals to take action in improving themselves or their communities as seen through his influence on music artists and the Black Lives Matter movement.

While Lamar significantly addresses social issues and the need for cooperation on the majority of TPAB and “i”, he hardly expands on the idea of individual growth beyond “u”. Thus, the curated album false dreams I organized highlights other songs that build a fleshed-out narrative that questions how to fulfill one’s sense of identity. It incorporates nine different songs from diverse genres and artists to complete the story “u” which inspired me to create a solid message that I hope can inspire people. However, this playlist is necessary for understanding “u” as mental health is never expanded on fully in an individual sense between both songs. When accounting for previous arguments, this playlist reinforces the notion that discovering individual healing is necessary before attempting to uplift society.

This digital portfolio will utilize distinct pieces of writing to generate a broader theme of Lamar attempting to uplift society through the songs “u” and “i”. The songs are a display of Lamar recognizing his ability to make tangible improvements in the damaged society he grew up in. These two songs remain an inspiration to artists, equity movements, and individuals of the importance of healing oneself before attempting to repair damaged communities.

Works Cited

Graham, Natalie. 2017. “What Slaves We Are.” Transition (122): 123–32. https://doi.org/10.2979/transition.122.1.18.

Hart, Rachel. 2019. “Man Down: The Evolution of Masculinity and Mental Health Narratives in Rap Music.” reinvention 12 (1): 1-17. https://reinventionjournal.org/index.php/reinvention/article/view/430.

Haley, Alex, writer. 1977. Roots. Season 1, episode 1, “Part I” Wolper Productions, January 23. TV Show, 97 min., 7 sec. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0MOGg8Pka8.

Early, Gerald., and Ingrid Monson. 2019. “Why Jazz Still Matters.” Daedalus 148 (2): 5-12. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_01738.