Kendrick Lamar Interpretation

Throughout the song, Tupac gives an inside look on the social problems affecting African-Americans and suggests possible solutions. In the first stanza of the song, Tupac first talks about how certain social issues are linked together; he makes a correlation between his skin color and being poor. Tupac says “I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.” Then he explains how poverty causes crime by saying “My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.” And finally, he demonstrates the relationship between police brutality and race by saying “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.”

The song’s overall message is to emphasize the absurdity of belief that African-American people are predisposed to a criminal way of life due to their race, or, in other words - because of their DNA. The second line of the song goes “Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA” (Lamar), where loyalty means being loyal to the African-American community, and royalty stays for the proud of being a representative of this community. In the next lines, Kendrick states that he is predisposed to violence and evil as they are encoded in his DNA: “Realness, I just kill shit ’cause it's in my DNA; I got dark, I got evil, that rot inside my DNA” (Lamar). Once again, it is needed to understand that these words are used with double meaning. Saying so, Lamar depicts the

He makes many references to the south and shout outs to his home state Georgia, “Overall Georgia, Overall Clean,” a feature and act common in southern rappers and southern rap to do as well as, “Dirty South mind blown, Dirty South bread,”. Ludacris takes his listeners on a trip to the south with his imagery of staple food and drink of the south, “catfish fried up, Dirty South fed,” catfish being a popular south plate and, “sweat for the lemonade, sweat for the tea,” lemonade and sweet tea also being staples of the south. Ludacris also HINTS to African Americans and slave culture in his song. While talking about the south ludacris states, “sleep in a cot pickin Dirty South bed,” referencing to the cotton picking slaves of the south and then continues through alliteration, “Afro picks, Afro chicks,” and “Afro-American, Afro thick,” the later verse being more emphasized as Ludacris strategically had some of the music and beats fade as he rapped it. Another southern factor Ludacris shows his listeners is the mean thuggish ways in which he has to and can be, “Southern Hospitality or overall mean,” as well imagery of threats and violence. Coming from the street and struggle, one must establish not to be messed with as Ludacris does, “Forty Glock cal’ keep your mouth on hold,” with threats of guns and threats to a snitch, “rip ya tongue ‘cause of what your mouth told,” ending with, “DTP stay doing thugged

The song expresses how people are not living up to society's values and norms. It suggest that the socialization is at fault and that they contribute to improvement of self being. The song implies the way society goes against values and norms by one of the very first lyrics in the song. The lyric goes, “What’s wrong with the world, mama, People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas…” (lines 1-2). This makes one aware of the lack of values in one's family. Values is the belief or an idea that a person or group has to determine is correct or not. Another verse of how the band shows one disobedience of the values and norms comes toward the middle of the song. “People killin', people dyin’, Children hurt and you hear them cryin, Can you practice what you preach, And would you turn the other cheek…” (lines 50-53). These verses show of society has failed to act stable and logical way that society once viewed as correct living. These actions show that citizens have not lived up to the expectations of society. Social norms are likes the laws of society. Laws are things that are illegal behaviour and norms are like behaving in a way society wouldn’t like. For example being in gangs, like the bloods, or the crips, or a big group that goes against society's norms like racial groups. An example of a racial group would be the KKK.

He explains on how violent his life was and how he had to survive. In the song he mentions “ The projects is full of bullets, the bodies is droppin” showing that where he

In recent months, a new song has surfaced, “Everybody”; the composer, Logic, is a well know biracial rapper whose song are typically based on politics or social issues happening presently; this new song is not any different. The basic concept of the song is about how neither “whites” nor “blacks” consider him part of their culture, and he counters this with the chorus that generally says people are people and when broken down cry, bleed, and want the same things (Logic). Many allusions and references are made throughout the piece; for example, “Now picture little Bobby just a youngin’ runnin’ round with his mans, hammer in his hands, feelin’ like a man…before the popo get the gun, put it to your brain,” (Logic). These lines speak about recent police brutality against young black men and especially the Trayvon Martin case. The first line of verse two uses imagery as well as simile to convey that he is like a Jehovah witness trying to spread his truth and beliefs (Logic). He thinks that society does not want to “face facts” and admit the injustices that going on all around, so he is here to educate and enlighten (Logic). Logic also references his

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.

Independently, Shakur’s lyrics suggest the inequalities he has experienced throughout his life and of his race in general. In the first verse, Shakur expresses his upbringing without a father and the struggles with the racial tension in his neighborhood. He implies that he has been pushed into a world of violence and crime because of his low socioeconomic status. He states that peace can only be attained if the African Americans are offered a place in the society. The second verse focuses upon the broader oppression of the black body where he addresses the police violence and inequalities of the system. His lyric analyzes the violence in the streets and the fear of police officers that are willing to shoot him because he appears threatening. Finally, the third verse expresses that he is still waiting on things to change, yet the answer is not present. The greater meaning to his

The lyrics are also notions of white supremacy and the consciousness of that idea that the white community is actively isolating black people to steal their identities and cultures by the overbearing obsession to their culture. In this case, “stay woke” is a signifier that black communities need to be aware that their racial identity is being consumed by the constant attempts to racially stereotype.

The context and setting of this rap is American in the 1970’s. Historically, this period came after the Civil Rights Movement, during the start of the Nixon era. The Vietnam War was dividing the nation’s population into anti-war protestors and those that supported the war effort. It was an era of recession and continued change for minorities. One of the issues was enforced racial integration after the Civil Rights Movement, which many institutions had still not complied with. The struggle to find equality even after the movement was something African Americans at the time had to deal with. The support for the black power movement was one of many results of this struggle. The media and press largely did not report on the alienation that was still present. This was an inspiration for Scott-Heron and this song in particular.

In “Alright” Kendrick Lamar is speaking to the public about police brutality, or is he sending a deeper message to the people of minority. Kendrick Lamar released the song titled “Alright” in 2015. Upon release the song instantly blew up. It 's catchy and even though people got tongue tied trying to recite the song everyone knew the hook of the song which stated “We gon be alright do you hear me do you feel me we gon be alright.” I wonder did anyone catch the poetic verses Kendrick was saying before the hook. By simply watching the video you instantly think oh police brutality but I recieved a deeper message. I believe Kendrick wanted the song to inform the public about the brutality that seemed to be continuous at the time; and offer a bit of hope to those who didn’t feel there was any. That’s why the song was so famous, Kendrick performed this song on numerous award shows and talk shows because the people needed to hear it. Though some believe the song is in protest against cops or sending a bad message others believe it is an anthem for african americans.

An another example representing a character in this song would be “You don't know what it's like to mind your business,And get stopped by the cops and not know if you 'bout to die or not ,You worry 'bout your life, so you take mine”(Joyner Lucas) which represents black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people, and in 2015, 30% of black people who were shot were

He does so in several ways. The first, is that hip-hop fans immediately recognize the name “Kendrick Lamar” due to his major influence on rap over the last decade, so just by putting his name on the song, he has already established credibility withhis audience. There is also a great deal of ethos used in the song itself. This song is written from Lamar’s perspective while he’s having a conversation with another man. Since the song is written from the perspective of Kendrick Lamar, the audience gets to hear all of his inner thoughts and feelings. This helps Lamar establish even more credibility with his audience,because not only is his name on the song, but the audience experiences everything from Kendrick’s own perspective, making the message of the song seem more heart-felt. In otherwords, since Kendrick is speaking from his own perspective, the audience is led to think thatLamar truly believes the message he is delivering, and therefore dismisses any speculation that Lamar either didn’t write his own lyrics or doesn’t believe in the purpose and message of the song. Establishing credibility with the audience was crucial because it helped to enhance the overall message as well as strengthen the other rhetorical appeals used throughout the song.Kendrick Lamar has been notorious for being very open about his religion, and that aspect of his life shines bright in the lyrics of “How Much a Dollar Cost.”

Kendrick’s song expresses the continued struggle faced by African Americans in modern society. The first couple lines of his song truly display how he feels about the mistreatment of African Americans:

Kendrick Lamar is famous for his unique West Coast style and dynamic rhymes that unapologetically discuss “political issues”. In his song, “The Blacker The Berry”, Lamar uses a striking amount of end rhyme and metaphors to deliver his message to listeners. As Lamar begins to tell how others view him, or the black body, he maintains a flow using multiple lines with end rhyme. Areas in the song, such as lines 13 and 14, provide an example of keeping the flow throughout the song by using