To Pimp a Butterfly

Racism in 20th century America is the main topic of Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye. Though the book is able to depict the scene of racism in the 20th century very well, the book was written over 40 years ago. In 2015, 45 years after Morrison wrote her book, Kendrick Lamar released his second studio album "To Pimp a Butterfly", which was incredibly successful. Much like in Morrison's novel, one can coast through the album, listening to the words, but not really thinking about them and trying to figure out what they mean (as I did my first time listening to it). After deeper analysis into both, it is clear that both works are centered around the common theme of racism in America from the perspective of a black person. The idea, of "pimping a butterfly" is that Kendrick was a caterpillar in Compton, as he was looked at as just another ugly, poor, black man, who was able to turn into a butterfly and become a world famous hip-hop artist. Now that he is the butterfly, the industry is trying to "pimp" him, or make it look like he beautiful now that he has money and material things, to satisfy the standard that a black man cannot be appealing unless they have money and success. In the novel, the most detrimental part of racism to young Pecola is the fact that she feels like she is ugly, and can never be beautiful because she is black, "they stayed there because they believed they were ugly", while in Lamar's album, his friends hate themselves because they think that because they don't have money like Kendrick, they are looked down upon by society. (Morrison 38). At the end of the track "u", Kendrick pretends to be one of his friends from back in the ghetto, who is drunk and telling Kendrick how mad he is that he left behind all his friends in Compton to be rich and successful. This album contrasts a new kind of money driven racism, to the old kind of racism in The Bluest Eye.