Analysis Of Kendrick Lamar 's ' The Blacker The Berry ' Essay

Unlike many other mainstream artists, Kendrick Lamar attaches great importance to the lyrics of his songs. Lamar’s song “DNA”, released last April, became a real breakthrough in the world of hip-hop music. In this song, Lamar reflects on various social issues faced by the modern African-American community of the USA. The song’s lyrics, as well as the music video, portrays the most common stereotypes and biases labeled to the African-American community. The central aim of the song is to sarcastically demonstrate the image of African-Americans as they are viewed by biased media. By the use of symbolical sarcasm and double meanings, Lamar underlines the acuteness of the race inequality that remains existing in the modern America.

Cultural phenomenon, rapper Kendrick Lamar has embraced a growing minority centered culture in America through his album “To Pimp A butterfly” this album conveys themes of hardship for minorities and cultural uprising. One of the singles on this album “Alright” simply tells black audiences that with faith everything will be alright. He uses the Lyrics “Alls my life I has to fight, nigga .Alls my life I...Hard times like God. Bad trips like: ‘God!’ Nazareth, I 'm fucked up..Homie you fucked up..But if God got us then we gon ' be alright” These lyrics simply tell suppressed minorities that despite hardship there is hope within our communities. . Months prior to the release of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” several attacks from white police officers happened in the black community. A common case in this uproar was the “Mike Brown case”. In this case a black man was shot dead after allegedly robbing a local gas station. Kendrick simply responded to these seemingly racial attacks with his album to “Pimp a Butterfly”. To pimp a butterfly simply means to use your influence to the best of its ability to make a meaningful impact. With tracks like “Alright” Kendrick Lamar does just that. The Primary themes and issues conveyed in this song are white supremacy, racism and black uprising

Kendrick Lamar’s song “Alright” talks about race and how African Americans are being targeted and profiled. The song tells about the gun violence and police brutality that is effecting our community, “And we hate Popo, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure, n…” (Line 35). This quote out of his song is significant because in the world we live in someone gets killed every day for the color of their skin color or a profile that someone made off assumptions. As the song goes he tell about how African Americans were discriminated. “When you know, we been hurt, been down before, n… / When our pride was low, lookin' at the world like, "where do we go, n…?”’ (Line 33-34). Throughout the years African Americans are looked down on to the point where they do not know what their purpose is. For some, living in a world where people do not want them there hurts the pride of people.

Controversial themes have always been explored in popular Black music. Because Black experiences influence Black mainstream culture (as with any culture), the social climate of historical eras influence how these themes are explored in popular culture, specifically in the form of music. The presence of controversial themes like racisms, sex and violence in black forms of music like the Blues, R&B/ Soul, Disco, Funk, and Hip-Hop are shaped by the happenings in the Black community during the time periods that each form was popular. Thus, the presence of such themes can be used to compare today’s popular culture, through Hip Hop and Contemporary R&B, with past popular culture, through

Lamar’s specialty has always been narrating and rapping about racism, and the problems black people have to face in their everyday lives just to stay alive while being treated unethically, but his compositions have never explored themes outside this dilemma. This album gives a different feel from his previous albums due to this. ‘Damn’ illustrates Kendrick’s frustrations throughout the years that can only be described as a deep depression. Contradicting and complicated feelings that can never be expressed through words alone, which is ironic considering Lamar has been constantly cited as one of the greatest lyricists of his generation. These feelings have been built up as a result of his rising fame. In one song, Kendrick feels that nobody is looking out for him and his well-being and that his fans only care about his music and their perceived image or persona of him that they only see in the media, despite not being his true personality. He then mentions that he desires self-isolation because of this, and later contradicts himself in another song, expressing that he wants more attention and stating

In an industry, mainly controlled by high society white men, African-American musical artists are frequently regarded as commodities, not as artists. They must adjust a requirement for artistic control and "keeping" it real" with the impediments and weights from record organizations inspired by producing deals and massive appeal. Often the message and artistic integrity of rappers can be lost amidst national marketing campaigns and concern for approval by important commercial allies. Musicians have struggled to maintain rap's potency as a form of resistance and empowerment. It is doubly injuring for dark ladies who are now plagued by assaults from outside their groups to feel the push of musical knifes to their respect from inside. Apart

Kendrick Lamar and Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) are two very successful African American rap artists. Both have won many awards for their edgy lyrics and eye-opening videos. Lamar’s “The Blacker the Berry” and Glover’s “This is America”, are two very similar, but also different, pieces on racism in America. This essay will explore the similarities and differences in both works on the perceived racial issues in America.

An Ideological Exploration of Macklemore’s Racial Redemption As a musical genre and cultural movement, Hip Hop and Rap have been both cultural phenomena and musical genres within the United States that have reached internationally and driven conversations on sociopolitical troubles such as war, violence, and racism. Hip Hop and rap which at times have been used interchangeably, have seen drastic changes in both their reception as musical genres and have garnered vast visibility within the United States. Hip Hop and Rap artists have been integral to driving conversations that are often ignored. As musical genres, Hip Hop and Rap create a space of situated knowledge and reveal the underlying dominant hegemonic ideologies within society.

Kendrick Lamar’s recent win of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for music, is significant because he is the first rap artist ever to be nominated and receive an award in the history of Pulitzer Prizes. A win such a this is an insurmountable feat for him. His socially conscious lyrics are about empowerment and progress as well as being completely sincere about the everyday life of an African American person living in America. Being awarded the Pulitzer Prize is implies that the committee acknowledges, on a social and cultural level, the narrative of young Black Men in america and the issues that permeate American society. It brings attention to hip hop and validates the art that for so long others attempted to discredit to silence the voice and

John Noire believes that this song basically states no matter how much an African-American is well put together it seems as if they will always be judged by his or her skin color and features. He states, “If 2014 showed me anything, it was that no matter what I wore or how well I spoke, there was always the possibility I would be a victim of racial profiling and police brutality due to the color of my skin” (Noire), and this is exactly how Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar, an artist who had grown up in Compton, writes about his struggles of discrimination and growing up in a gang-filled city in the form of hip-hop. The mark of success of bearing witness through music is the inspiration of those listening

Racial Discrimination is dreadful. It’s a social conflict against those who are a slightly different based on appearance. It has indeed become a well-known issue, which has created problems throughout the world. This issue is so distributing that it has incredibility-impacted society, especially influenced artists to incorporate the current issue into their songs. For instance, artists like Kendrick Lamar have expressed the issue of racial discrimination. In his song “The Blacker the Berry” from his album To pimp a butterfly (2015), he speaks about the racism and stereotypes from his own experiences. The song is about the frustration with how African Americans are treated due to the racism. This hip-pop song enhances the message through the use of Lamar personal life experiences as well his way of rapping with the intense beats. This demonstrates the seriousness of his message he wants the listener to grasp. Bob Marley has a song dealing with racial discrimination called “War” from the album Rastaman Vibration (1976). The song heavily emphasis the overall issue that has to with racism and achieving peace in society. Bob Marley mainly focuses on the lyrical power that is expressed through melodic in “War”. These songs were initially made for the purpose to inform the listeners of their lifestyle through racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is a huge issue, which causes serious damage to the victims.

For example when Kendrick says“And I can see power steerin', sex drive when you swerve I want that interference, it's coherent, I can hear it, that's your heartbeat, it either caught me or it called me” (Lamar 3) he means his girl is in pain from situations in her life and finds a solution in alcohol, but endrick believes his love and affection is enough to fulfill her life needs. When he raps“it’s coherent i can hear it, that's your heartbeat, it either caught me or it called me” he means that his significant other caught him in a love at first sight trance. Kendrick also uses metaphors when he raps “read slow and you'll find gold mines in these lines” he is comparing the lyrics that are so precious to him to the rare metal gold, comparing them both in personal and monetary

After the performance, DeGeneres and Lamar had a conversation that was not hard to discern as scripted. DeGeneres points at Lamar and says, “It really is amazing that you’re from Compton, right?”, after bringing attention to the state of California’s recognition of Lamar as “a positive influence”. “Yeah,” he replies. “From Compton,” she reiterates. “You are…(proof)… that it’s possible to…more than possible, to get out, in a safe and sober way.” Lamar credits his parents, saying, “they put something in my heart to do something more than what I was raised around.” This conversation can be treated as a collaborative performance, as DeGeneres and Lamar are using their collective role of spectacle to manipulate an audience into shattering their two-dimensional view of Compton and its people. It is a step in the direction of America’s recognition of the violence that goes on in Compton, not as a disease that needs to be eradicated, but a wound that must be healed. In his song Ab-Soul’s Outro, Lamar raps, “We might not change the world, but we gon' manipulate it/I hope you participating…” The conversation will be shown on video as documentation of a performance, in one of the “rooms” created by temporary walls in Gallery 2, and an information panel in the room will suggest ways views can find out more about Kendrick Lamar and his current role in

“The Blacker the Berry” by Kendrick Lamar was released February 9th, 2015. This incredibly racially motivated song has created controversy throughout America because it tackles racism, hypocrisy, and hatred head on. Although Stephen Best argues that the past defines the present without question, and Hartman believes that many important African American stories have been silenced due to lack of evidence, Kendrick Lamar’s song “The Blacker the Berry” complicates and adds to their arguments by introducing a certain level of hypocrisy that forces the listener to understand a much more complicated moral position than is generally allowed, perhaps an inevitable one.