Welcome to Dissect, Long Form Musical Analysis broken into short digestible episodes.

I'm your host Cole Kushna. Today we continue our serialized examination of Tepimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar.

In our last episode, Kendrick reached an emotional rock bottom in the song, You, and revealed

manic depression and suicidal thoughts caused by his new life outside of Compton.

In the context of the album's narrative,

you as an access point.

It's the conclusion of Act 2, which we've titled,

Co-Cocooned, displaying the various ways Kendrick was mentally and emotionally walled

as he attempted to reconcile his competent mentality

with his new life of fame.

On institutionalized, we saw

our systemic racism breeds an institutionalized mind state which manifested in Kendrick's

friend's desire to rob at the BET awards. On these walls Kendrick misused his influence to exact

revenge on an imprisoned Compton enemy by having sex with the mother of his child.

On you, Kendrick drunkenly confronts the hypocrisy of claiming to be an influence on a worldwide

fan base while failing to affect the people closest to him, his friends and his family in Compton.

The conclusion of you signals Act 3 of Tepimp a butterfly, which I've titled Emerging Wings.

After a song with so much vulnerability, honesty, self-analysis, pain, and therapeutic release,

Kendrick will begin searching for answers as the album progresses.

He's realized the success that he once

believed would unlock the world's treasures and bring him satisfaction as

backfired. After hitting rock bottom, Kendrick will begin a new, searching for meeting and purpose. That search begins with the next track the album smash single

...