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Patrick Walsh
Dr. Langsdale
PHIL 1050
3 December 2015
The Allegory of the Hood
Plato, the great Greek philosopher, was one of the most remarkable minds in the world of
philosophy and his work is still analyzed by scholars to this day. His “Allegory of the Cave”
maps out the path to becoming a philosopher in search of the highest form of knowledge. The
allegory has inspired numerous creative minds to develop adaptations of the story such as The
Matrix Trilogy. In March of this year, Kendrick Lamar released his third studio album entitled,
To Pimp a Butterfly, setting the world of hip hop ablaze. The controversial collection of funk
flavored instrumentals and animated vocalizations touches on numerous relevant topics.
Underneath this smorgasbord of musical styles, there are clues that suggest Lamar had
philosophical motivation when developing this album. I speculate that To Pimp a Butterfly is an
adaptation of Plato’s most vital dialogue, “The Allegory of the Cave.”
Plato’s allegory begins with six prisoners chained to a cave floor as their restraints render
them unable to turn their heads around to face the other direction. Behind them lies a pathway
with a wall on one side behind which people walk, holding different objects above their heads.
Shadows of these objects are cast onto the wall by a fire. After seeing many different shadows,
the captives develop a game for naming the shapes and begin to believe the shadows are the
objects’ true nature. Due to their limitations, the prisoners possess a false sense of reality and are
unaware there is more to the objects. Eventually, one of the prisoners escapes from his chains
and turns around to see the fire for the first time. Dazed by it’s brightness, the escapee retreats

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back to the wall, but he is dragged out of the cave. As he approaches the exit, the illumination of
the sun becomes excruciating, blinding him. Before long, the deserter’s eyes adjust to the
sunlight and he can “feast his eyes on the heavenly bodies and the heavens themselves” (Plato
516a13-14). Shocked, the runaway hurries back to the cave to inform the remaining prisoners of
what he has discovered, but the prisoners don’t believe him, vowing to kill him if he frees them.
Representing the journey one takes to become a philosopher, the allegory has a real world
application. The cave is the visible world where people only gain knowledge through their
imagination of fantasy and the shadows are the false perceptions they call real. Attempting to
understand, the uneducated interpret the world without a full understanding and acquire
rhetorical belief. One who yearns for a greater understanding, a philosopher, removes himself
from the situation and commences his journey towards the Divided Line. Initially, it is difficult
to adjust to the real world because all he previously knew were the falsities. Once outside, he
enters into the intelligible world, obtaining a mathematical understanding. Ultimately, the
philosopher becomes a philosopher king after collecting the Form of the Good or dialectic
reasoning. Prompted by his knowledge, he returns to the cave to be turned away by those in the
visible realm as they are too stubborn to look past their sensory beliefs to receive the truth. In his
book, Plato on Music, Soul and Body, Francesco Pelosi suggests the allegory was written to
“draw the best people out of the cave” and into the light (116). Plato lays out a comprehensive
course that all philosophers must take to reach the light. The allegory contains so many relatable
aspects of everyday life, making the link between the story and art inevitable.
Unlike Plato’s allegory, To Pimp a Butterfly isn’t a linear story, however, it is based on a
metaphor like the allegory is. The metaphor is carried on by a passage Lamar reads throughout
the album, building onto it until it’s presented in full on the final song, “Mortal Man.” Lamar

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discusses the struggles that have come with his success and how they drove him suicidal.
Through his accomplishments and tribulations, he decides to go back to Compton to teach his
loved ones what he has learned. Lamar suggests the key to survival of his fellow black men is
respect saying “just because you wore a different gang color than mine’s, doesn’t mean I can’t
respect you as a black man” (Lamar, 2015). At the end of the album, a conversation with 2Pac
transpires in which he and Lamar share their visions of the future black community. Lamar used
audio clips from an interview recorded prior to 2Pac’s murder to create the illusion that he was
questioning him today. Pac believes the poor are going to consume the rich and a rebellion is in
store if disagreements continue. In conclusion, Lamar finally describes his metaphor and
explains the title of the album. The caterpillar is trapped inside the streets and his only job is to
ingest everything within his view. While finding ways to survive, the caterpillar realizes he is
rejected as the butterfly is celebrated and pimps the butterfly for his own betterment. The
caterpillar then builds the cocoon, trapping himself inside, making him unable to see past his
own perceptions. It is now left up to the butterfly to come back and share new ideas with him.
Eventually, the caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, breaking away from captivity. When
Lamar asks 2Pac how he feels about this metaphor he receives no answer, assuming he is left to
be the voice of his generation.
Similarities to the game in the cave appear in the first few tracks, “Wesley’s Theory”,
“For Free?” and “King Kunta”, with Lamar’s representation of the hood mentality. Furthermore,
on “Institutionalized”, he shares advice from his grandmother “shit don’t change ‘til you get up
and wash yo’ ass”, similar to how nothing changes for the man until he breaks out of the cave
walls (Lamar 2015). Lamar makes mention of the walls that close him off on the track
appropriately titled “Theses Walls.” On the track “u”, he beats himself up for failing to guide his

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sister away from teen pregnancy or protect his friend from being killed. Following this
realization, Lamar feels the obligation to help those he cares about, symbolizing how the
philosopher king feels it is his duty to do the same. He later gains his self confidence on the track
“i”, mirroring the knowledge the philosopher gains in the allegory. When Lamar goes home on
the track “Momma” he lists off all he has learned saying “I know everything” similar to the way
the philosopher returns to the prisoners (Lamar, 2015). He says “I know street shit, I know shit
that’s conscious” like the philosopher knows about the truth of the sun and lies of the cavern
(Lamar, 2015). Over the rest of the album Lamar shares his thoughts on gang violence,
generosity, colorism, self-hatred and popularity like the philosopher tries to share his knowledge
with the cave dwellers. After thoroughly investigating each piece, the similarities between the
two are ever so apparent.
Lamar’s journey as the caterpillar from the cocoon to becoming a butterfly and the
philosopher’s journey out of the cave onto becoming a philosopher king are quite comparable.
“Wesley’s Theory” lays down ideas similar to the imagination of fantasy inside Plato’s allegory
eventually arriving at “Institutionalized” and “These Walls” where the rhetorical belief comes
into play. At the conclusion of “u”, Lamar breaks out of his mental cocoon and moves toward the
Divided Line. This is equivalent to the philosopher’s mathematical understanding, which
eventually draws him back home to the cave. Finding the Form of the Good at the end of the
album, he goes “from a peasant, to a prince, to a motherfucking king” in “King Kunta” like the
philosopher becomes a king after finding the highest form of knowledge (Lamar, 2015). The
correlation between “The Allegory of the Cave” and To Pimp a Butterfly is indisputable, adding
validity to the contention that Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest artists of all time.

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Works Cited
Duckworth, Kendrick Lamar. To Pimp a Butterfly. Kendrick Lamar. Aftermath / Interscope
Records, 2015. MP3.
Pelosi, Francesco. Plato on Music, Soul and Body. Cambridge, GBR: Cambridge UP, 2010.
Web.
Plato “Republic,” Classics of Philosophy, 3rd ed., eds. Pojman, L. and Vaughn, L. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 112-201.