When rapper Kendrick Lamar released his now critically acclaimed album To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, he shocked audiences with a fusion of genres, influences, and stories not seen before. In the years since we have come to appreciate this album as a Pan-African work of art. But what does this actually mean? Is Pan-Africanism a political project, an ideological framework, a specific movement, all of these combined, or something else entirely? How do we write a history of such a movement whilst grappling with its very nature? Most importantly, why does this matter today? Jack Bowman gives an overview of the movement from its origins to the modern-day, arguing that it is an ever-changing global project, and needs to be assessed by historians as such.