The Blacker The Berry, By Kendrick Lamar

“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

society that sometimes plagues our country, rappers and music artists such as Kendrick Lamar have been using their lyrics in order to battle racism. Lamar is an African American music artist from Compton, California who has created many projects based on the idea of fighting inequality and degradation against the black population. Through his lyrics in the songs “Vanity Slaves,” and The “Blacker the Berry,” Kendrick Lamar explains the roots of the troubles in the black community, but also cultivates

Kendrick Lamar raps about that he believes how his race is being viewed and treated. Furthermore how the word black is identified in our society whether it’s cultural stereotypes that are not true and the negative that tags along with the word black. In Kendrick Lamar song “ The blacker the Berry” he states, “Been feeling this way since I was 16, came to my senses, You never liked us anyway, fuck your friendship, I meant it”. With these words, I think he is saying how he can to a realization at

remarks someone makes of their race or ethnicity they are considered someone without humor. We are to blame for the everyday racism we see in the music, television, posters, etc because we see it as something normal. In the song “The Blacker the Berry” by Kendrick Lamar, Lamar calls himself the biggest hypocrite of 2015. I believe he himself is realizing that he is also at fault for the everyday racism we seem to face. In the poem “Power” by Audre Lorde we also see a black woman described to be 4’10” being

As the title of the paper suggests, I chose Kendrick Lamar’s song “Blacker the Berry” off the To Pimp A Butterfly album. When selecting a song, I actually took to Twitter to ask my followers what song I should write about. I personally do not listen to Kendrick Lamar so I decided to ask people who enjoy his music to recommend songs that an analysis should be written over. Several people mentioned “Blacker The Berry”. Although I did not hear the many rhymes and metaphors at first, after reading the

is the nation, black is my home Black is our hatred, hidden but still shown The inspiration for this poem came from "Blacker the Berry" by Kendrick Lamar. The song speaks about the current state of the stereotypical black man or woman; the idea that they are repressed by institutionalized racism. The song also comments on the hypocrisy of this mindset. In the song Kendrick kills some one darker than him:

2016, Kendrick Lamar took the stage at the 2016 Grammy Awards show. Shackled in chains, he moved lethargically across the stage in a prison uniform. Words began to stream out of his mouth and I imagined the elephant that filled the room as an unapologetically black male made a statement to the world about African American oppression in the United States. Kendrick Lamar’s showcase included an intricate set that addressed social issues such as mass incarceration with song, “The Blacker the Berry”, while

In today’s society, culture is constantly flowing and changing from and within every community. As such, this clashing and intermingling of lifestyles have come to greatly impact postmodern America in terms of politics and economics. As America shifted towards a better understanding and implementation of multiculturalism, the era of post nationalism enabled different cultures to spread and surpass traditional geological boundaries. Multiculturalism as defined today is the proper way of dealing

“I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015”: Kendrick Lamar’s 2016 Grammy performance Well-known American rapper and songwriter, Kendrick Lamar, in his influential performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards while singing "Blacker the Berry" off his 11 time nominated album "To Pimp a Butterfly," recounts issues of racism in society, however, conveys a deeper meaning of hypocrisy towards the end of the song. In this essay, I will be doing a contextual analysis of Kendrick Lamar 's 2016 Grammy performance. I argue

took on many new forms, such as hip hop and rap. Poetry, whether it be rap or poems seemed to have a big boost during times of prejudice and racism. Two big poets known as Kendrick Lamar and Maya Angelou during their times have been very successful in bringing light to these situations with their poetry. Maya Angelou and Kendrick have both become social icons because of how they made racism clear to all the people who were willing to listen. For Maya Angelou two pieces of hers come to mind when