In this blog post, I just wanted to express my thoughts and revelations from listening to, reading, and analyzing Kendrick Lamar’s music. For anyone who doesn’t listen to hip-hop/rap, Kendrick is a Compton, CA-born famous rapper who is known for his incredible lyricism, flow, well produced tracks and powerful messages. Listening to his music is not an easy task, packed full of complex word play and metaphors, so I usually have to look up his lyrics and interpret (with Internet help usually) their meaning.
Anyways, what I wanted to express is the amount of current black issues and black history I have learned from listening to his music (in combination with the History of Black America class) But even before the class, I was able to learn about a perspective completely different from mine, with being able to hear emotional and articulate expressions that had me reflect on issues regarding America and blacks. You could say that I became more socially aware through the help of Kendrick Lamar’s music, and along with the help of this class. I wish I could do some in depth discussion of his songs, but I believe it would be too long a post.
In conclusion, I just think it is cool how powerfully music can influence social, political, economic and cultural views and thoughts in respect to black history and issues, and am curious if anyone has had a similar experience with a black artist?
Note: I am not saying other rappers/artists don’t express similar ideas as Kendrick, he is just one in particular who has influenced me more than others (due to his sound, flow, etc.)
Here is an article link analyzing one of his albums for those curious about his music.
I fully agree that Kendrick Lamar is not only a talented rapper, but also an activist in the black lives matter movement. I’ve too listened to Lamar’s music and tend to get lost in the actually beat of the song rather than the words. Your post inspired me to look at his recent DAMN album released in 2017. The record features 14 tracks that address empowerment, violence, and current socio-political realities. He tackles racism in majority of his songs on DAMN.
The article “5 Times Kendrick Lamar Kicked Racism’s A** on ‘DAMN’”, provides examples from Lamar’s songs. I will mention three here. In his song DNA, Lamar uses a Fox News segment where anchorman Geraldo Rivera insists that “hip-hop has done more damage to young African American’s than racism in recent years”, and Lamar responds with “I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA/I live a better life, I’m rollin’, several dice, fuck your life”. Basically Lamar is bashing Rivera’s disregard for the extreme inequalities racism has brought on black individuals. In Lamar’s song “Fear”, he addresses the effects of racial discrimination in examples of police violence, gang crime, and more that affect black communities. In his song he raps, “I’ll prolly die from one of these bats and blue badges, Body slammed on black and white paint, my bones snappin’”. The final example is Lamar’s “XXX (feat. U2), where Lamar claps back at Fox News and media bias against black individuals. Fox News has a tendency to frame black individuals in an image of violence, but what the news doesn’t acknowledge is how police brutality creates this violence.
I agree with you, and think Kendrick among other artists such as Gambino provide music that speaks the truth about America. Music is a fantastic way to broadcast a message.
This is the website for reference
https://www.colorlines.com/articles/5-times-kendrick-lamar-kicked-racisms-damn