These Musicians Risked It All For Social Change

Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly Sparked A New Social Rights Movement

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Kendrick Lamar has never been one to shy away from politics, and his 2015 album helped launch a new civil rights movement. To Pimp a Butterfly advocates for often overlooked issues in the black community. Songs like “Alright” and “The Blacker the Berry” have become rallying cries for Black Lives Matter. The latter speaks out against the often looked issue of black on black crime: “So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street? When gang banging make me kill a[n expletive] blacker than me?” He even touched on the subject of systemic economic inequality regarding Wesley Snipes’ tax evasion charges.

He explained the song in an interview: “No one teaches poor black males how to manage money or celebrity, so if they do achieve success, the powers that be can take it from right under them.” Lamar later delivered his politically charged tunes to the Black Panther soundtrack.