Personal Narrative: Kendrick Lamar

All he does throughout the track is provide reasoning as to why he is feeling the emotions he has been forced to feel. Lamar is facing inner demons and confusion, he states, “I feel like I’m boxing demons, monsters, false prophets, scheming sponsors … church, religion.” At no point in this track is this shown more than towards the end of Lamar’s second verse. Though the beat remains the same, Lamar’s rapping style speeds up so he can say more in the same amount of time. He speaks of losing family and friends, people in his immediate circle being more focused on making money on the street than helping their community, and he is tired of this sentiment which so many people from his hometown seem to

Kendrick Lamar’s third studio album, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” sheds light on the struggle of achieving rich and fame and the trials that come with. Rolling Stone and Billboard praised the album awarding it the best album of 2015. The album depicts the difficulties of fame by putting the trials and tribulations on display; the inability for those to adjust to their new lifestyle and the potential temptations that creep in. “To Pimp a Butterfly” has been both a divisive and uniting factor in its emergence in popular culture.

Think of a poet. Who came to mind? Was it Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Ralph Waldo Emerson? What about Eminem or Jay-Z? They are both poets too, but in a different way. They go by the title “rapper”, basically a synonym for poet, and Hip-Hop is their form of poetry is. Kevin Coval amusingly says that rap “dusted poetry off, took it out the closet, put Js on its feet, and told it to speak to the people, all the people,” and that hip-hop saved poetry from becoming “classical music,” meaning that rap prevented poetry from becoming an old, out-dated art form and renovated it for the next generation (20). Coval’s book, The BreakBeat Poets, says the creation of hip-hop music was by “latchkey kids in the crack era, left to their own devices to experiment wildly and make language and art new and meaningful,” and goes on to say its purpose is to, “move the crowd, relate to the crowd, and save the crowd,” and Kendrick Lamar does these things perfectly (18). Through the use of clever wordplay and rhyming skills mixed with great story telling, Kendrick is bringing rap music back to its “roots” while introducing a “style” of his own, which is why one can argue that Kendrick Lamar is the “savior” of the rap game and its listeners.

In today’s society, African Americans have faced vast amounts of stereotypes and hatred. In particular, the media portrays the rapper Kanye West as a ‘typical’ black African American who’s only good at rapping. Instead, Kanye is actually highly refined and can hold his own in many aspects, including politics as well as fashion. Kanye West is an American hip-hop recording artist, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer from Chicago, Illinois. When Kanye was just 3, his parents Ray West and Donda west divorced.

The author of this piece played an essential role in the progression and evolution of the hip-hop genre of music. He was an actor, poet, rapper, and political activist (CITE). This poem along with many of Shakur’s other poetic works was written during the time span from 1989 to 1991 and was later made into an anthology and subsequent record album performed by various celebrities (CITE).

Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man is a fascinating novel about a nameless black man and his struggle to become successful and find his true identity in a predominantly white society that refuses to see him as person. Taking place in Harlem in the 1930’s, the story accurately depicts the life of a black man and the many injustices he faces nearly every day. More than eighty-seven years later, African-Americans still encounter numerous challenges similar to the ones the Invisible man experienced. Today, many hip-hop artists bring awareness to these problems through their songs. Most notably, Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly (March 15, 2015) deals with the topics of black oppression, institutionalized racism, and an American system designed to destroy African Americans. Despite genre and time differences, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and The Invisible Man are essential works of art in order to inspire, educate, empower, and promote social and political changes.

Hip-hop has been a part of African-American culture since it’s inception. Amir “Questlove” Thompson’s memoir Mo’ Meta Blues, co-written by Ben Greenman, shows the evolution of hip-hop from it’s early beginnings through 2013, as well as tells the story of one of the genre’s best musicians childhood in Philadelphia. Quest love grew up in Philadelphia and was raised by his father, a doo-wop singer, and mother, a singer/dancer who also ran a clothing store. From an early age Questlove was exposed to music, but only the music his parents wanted to hear. Questlove even tells of how he had to hide Prince albums in his drums set so his parents wouldn’t take him

Kendrick Lamar and his works were prominent at the 58th Grammy Awards, as he was a part of 5 Grammy Awards. Lamar’s greatest accomplishment was winning the “Best Rap Album” category, as he was awarded this for To Pimp a Butterfly. Songs off of the album To Pimp a Butterfly were awarded as well, as his songs “Alright” and “These Walls” earned a combined three Grammy awards. By gaining these awards, Lamar added accomplishments to his already successful career. This article relates to Invisible Man because of the messages and themes discussed on the album To Pimp a Butterfly. While Lamar’s work is primarily hip hop, it contains

Before becoming famous Kendrick was writing stories as a child, he put to music some lyrics about the rough Compton streets he grew up on. He rapped under the name K Dot. Lamar didn’t just stop there the excite lyrics on his debut album, caught and had the attention of hip-hop critics. As well, with MTV naming, him the "Hottest MC" of 2012 also putting him in the company of other rappers. Who have earned the title, including Lil Wayne,

Artists sometimes visit schools across the states to talk to students about exploring their own situations and provide them with some strategies to help them towards their personal goal. Artist, Kendrick Lamar, always visits schools and communities and try to give people advice on how to overcome problems and help them make plans to achieve their goal in life ("Kendrick Lamar and Hip-Hop as a Medium for Social Change").

In my opinion, Kendrick Lamar, an award-winning rapper and songwriter, has one of the best abilities to describe his distressed and abused lifestyle in Compton, California. He is not your original cliché artist who does not speak about anything meaningful. Kendrick, also known as K. Dot, is one of the most well known and most respected rappers in this era. Not only does he speak about his gloomy past, but he also speaks about his fortunate future. His ability to give detailed representations of his struggles and his story telling allows me to, metaphorically, enter the mind of Kendrick Lamar.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The sound of the bass bumping in my headphones, while listening to the clever word scheme of Kendrick Lamar. Although the beat and instrumental are needed to be a successful rapper, Kendrick Lamar exceeds the expectation of a common rapper. Instead of rapping about drugs, gangs, and females, his main focus is about equality for blacks and how unfair

As I entered my teen years, my father expected more out of me than just being a good student. Dad always seemed to have projects going on around the house, and I became his helper. It did not matter what the project was, he always seemed to need my help and I was not happy about that. I had better things to do than wasting a weekend working around the house. Somehow my dad knew how to do everything and felt it was his job to teach all of it to me. I was a teenager and had all of the knowledge I would ever need, so I thought. As it turned out, most of the skills I obtained helping my father led me to a rather lucrative career in manufacturing a few years later.

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

After all, my father is an inspiring person to me, he loves me for who I am and what I do, but he wants me to be a successful man in the future life. He is trying to use his knowledge to make my knowledge better and make it easier on me with school. What he does for me I respect it fully. The things he does for me, as in like loving, caring, and helping my feature, I respect it so much. My father always tells me that “If you stay on task, keep safe, and have fun on something you like or even love, keep on going for it and you will be able to accomplish anything and will be able to do and it will be able to help your future family, your family now, people who you love, and others that need you when they need you. Do what you want to and be happy of what you have and you might get