Full metadata
Title
The Philosophy of Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly"
Description
It is my position that Kendrick Lamar takes a journey over the course of his album “To Pimp a Butterfly” (TPAB) that is similar to the journey taken by the prisoner up and out of the cave described by Socrates in the Republic. Using the structure and ideas of the Republic, I will provide a novel interpretation of the album that highlights Lamar’s transformation and development. The general lesson that I have learned by connecting these two works is that becoming a better person is a difficult and continuous process but also a fulfilling one.
First, I will provide some points of context from the Republic and TPAB that are relevant to my argument. Second, I will identify the three stages of the cave prisoner’s ascent out of the cave and Lamar’s escape from Compton together. Third, I will split up the three stages into their own three chapters and show how Lamar’s three-staged journey is similar to the cave prisoner’s. To do this, I will propose shadows, statues, and forms present in TPAB. In each chapter, I will demonstrate using Plato’s tripartite model of the soul how each stage corresponds to one of the three stages of Lamar’s metaphorical metamorphosis on TPAB: caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly. In the third chapter, I will bring everything together to show how a Platonic understanding of TPAB allows us to better understand the process of Lamar’s self-realization. In my conclusion, I will end with summary of what I have accomplished and the personal thoughts and lessons I have learned from assembling all of this.
Date Created
2024-05
Contributors
- Donovan, Jaxon (Author)
- Klein, Shawn (Thesis director)
- de Marneffe, Peter (Committee member)
- Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
- Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
- School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
72 pages
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Series
Academic Year 2023-2024
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.192140
System Created
- 2024-04-09 02:01:06
System Modified
- 2024-04-10 04:22:46
- 6 months 4 weeks ago
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