The Blacker The Berry By Kendrick Lamar

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.”

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.

On April 14th, 2017, proclaimed artist, Kendrick Lamar, released his fourth studio album, titled Damn. This fourteen track album was possibly Lamar’s most personal and most in-depth project yet. However, no song on this album, perhaps, reaches the personal level of the fifth track titled “FEEL.” In this song Lamar gives a super in-depth look at what he believes his biggest issues are and allows the listener to realize your own by confessing his. The purpose of this essay is to conduct a rhetorical analysis of Kendrick Lamar’s “FEEL.” and his effective use of the rhetorical devices ethos, pathos, and logos.

West is trying to elaborate on how buying their way out of jail, suggests that they are free from any restraints. But they still cannot experience absolute freedom as they continue to face harassment by the police. Throughout the song, West brings forward key issues regarding the "black bling" aesthetic. A recurring motif in many hip hop songs today. West in his song "All Falls Down" points out that Material aspirations and such worldly possession are just another way to heal the inner void within people. This void can take place through insecurities or any form of traumatic experiences. Every person has such a void within themselves Therefore a person will interpret this song from their different standpoint which will come from the listener's background of

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 lyrics along with listening to the song I was quick to realize how creative, witty and almost unintentional the rapping’s of Kendrick Lamar are. Another reason I decided on this song is because he raps about current violence of high profile crimes

Long before the 90s, race and ethnicity have been a controversial issue all over the world, particularly in the United States. In sociology, the concepts of race and ethnicity is connected to the concept of minority and majority groups, with the social structures of stratification, power, and of course inequality. Race is a term that describes the physical differences that are considered socially critical to cultures and groups, while ethnicity is a term that describes the shared culture, like beliefs, language, practices, and ancestry. Agitation for equality has been seen in the music world, particularly among the blacks in the United States, the majority of black musical artistes have written songs relating to how black lives matter. This paper will analyze an old rap lyrics of the 90s titled as “Erase Racism” in relation to race and ethnicity.

Wanda Coleman’s Angel Baby Blues highlights the black experience in Southern California. She talks about the struggles of African Americans and how and where they endure discrimination. In the short story, Coleman explores discrimination in and outside of the classroom. Her story can be linked to Kendrick Lamar’s The Blacker the Berry. In this song, Lamar also talks about the black experience but goes deeper into discrimination. He goes into detail about the struggles that the black community goes through as well as himself being an African American man. His lyrics are very strong, creating images of discrimination while cursing and highlighting the same themes presented in Coleman’s story. Angel Baby Blues and The Blacker the Berry are very

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.

Many contradicting views surround rap music’s controversial subjects and use of language. While some consider it highly offensive, there is some validity to the rhetoric applied in political rap. In the 1990’s racial inequality is rampant with uprisings and segregated neighborhoods that condemn minorities and lower socioeconomic classes to inhumane living conditions. Specifically, Tupac Shakur’s posthumous song “I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto” combines an emancipatory lyric with a hopeful and upbeat instrumental to assess the racial inequality in society and the possibility of a better future.

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.

Black single mothers have overall negative stereotypes linked to them, their children, and their financial situation. Single black mothers are getting labeled as Gold diggers, lazy, con-artist, non-supportive, emotionally unstable, and uneducated. To make their reputation even worse most of the songs in the Hip Hop community make hypocritical songs that generalize all single black mothers based on their particular experience. Hip Hop narratives such as “Faith” by Kendrick lamar and “Baby Mama” by Fantaisa, challenges the race stereotypes about co-parenting. Not all Hip Hop songs reinforce the negative stereotypes about single black mothers. Songs like “Faith” by Kendrick Lamar is a great song that represents the struggle single mothers go through.

On verse one, Kendrick is speaking about someone, which I will explain further, whom is mistreating him and his family, on how this person was filled with arrogance and even dared to chase a better life than what he ever had. He also rants on how he never needed him and he will never need him. Kendrick was extremely mad at this individual and the amount of pain in his voice, you can sense the hatred he carried inside him. He quotes, “The world don’t need you, don’t let them deceive you. Numbers lie too, f*ck your pride too, that’s for dedication. Thought money would change you. Made you more complacent. I f*ckin’ hate you, I hope you embrace it.” This is a message from Kendrick to K. dots actions, which he fights a difficult battle in his

From it's inception, rap indured a lot of hostility from listeners--many, but not all, White--who found the music too harsh, monotonous, and lacking in traditional melodic values. However, millions of others--often, though not always, young African-Americans from underprivileged inner city backgrounds--found and immediate connection with the style. Here was poetry of the

On February 15, 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 keeping hope towards better days with song “Alright”. The elaborate performance on February 15, 2016 would be a performance that will go down in history. An artist used his platform to discuss important issues in the United States to a diverse audience. With so much passion invested into the song, it was almost impossible to pick any other song besides “The Blacker the Berry”, as it discusses a wide range of issues within the United States, especially related to the black body.