Dr. Sequoia Maner, Author of “Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly (33 1/3)”

Dr. Sequoia Maner is a poet and scholar who centers African American writers and performers in her work, examining themes of justice and selfhood through literature and performance. She is chair to the executive board for Torch Literary Arts, a nonprofit for black women writers. She also works with incarcerated writers via PenAmerica. She is author of the prize-winnng poetry collection Little Girl Blue (2021). Released in 2022, her latest book is titled Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly and is part of the acclaimed Bloomsbury 33 1/3 series. She is also the co-editor of book Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era (2020).  Her poem "upon reading the autopsy of Sandra Bland" was a finalist for the 2017 Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize and her poem “until you come back to Me” was a finalist for the 2023 Furious Flower Prize. Her essays, poems, and reviews have appeared in Meridians, Obsidian, The Langston Hughes Review, The Feminist Wire, and Auburn Avenue, among other publications. 

Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly (33 1/3)

Breaking the global record for streams in a single day, nearly 10 million people around the world tuned in to hear Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album in the hours after its release. To Pimp a Butterfly was widely hailed as an instant classic, garnering laudatory album reviews, many awards, and even a canonized place in Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois archive. Why did this strangely compelling record stimulate the emotions and imaginations of listeners?
This book takes a deep dive into the sounds, images, and lyrics of To Pimp a Butterfly to suggest that Kendrick appeals to the psyche of a nation in crisis and embraces the development of a radical political conscience. Kendrick breathes fresh life into the Black musical protest tradition and cultivates a platform for loving resistance. Combining funk, jazz, and spoken word, To Pimp a Butterfly's expansive sonic and lyrical geography brings a high level of innovation to rap music. More importantly, Kendrick's introspective and philosophical songs compel us to believe in a future where, perhaps, we gon' be alright.