The Music Video For Their Anthem

“All my life I want money and power/Respect my mind or die from lead shower/I pray my dick get as big as the Eiffel Tower/So I can fuck the world for 72 hours” echoes “Backseat Freestyle”, a true sing-a-long hook you’re likely to hear more than a few times as Compton’s latest hip-hop son Kendrick Lamar further accrues fame post-major debut studio release. The sad part is, anyone looking for more egregious grandiosity from Lamar will find themselves lost in nothing more than a song or two and a few verses.

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 grew up in the city of Compton. Lamar’s father was a member of a gang in Chicago before they moved to Compton. His mother’s brothers had ties to the notorious gang the Compton Crips. When Lamar was eight

In the introduction of the video to “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar, he uses footage of “the hood” or a rough neighborhood in California to expose the harsh conditions of income based housing in rough black

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.

You may know him from his Lisa Simpson haircut or his mouth full of 24-karat gold teeth; he is the 19-year-old rapper that is taking the music industry by storm. In the past, two years his music has gained national recognition and appealed to all types of fan bases. He is a force not to be reckoned with and his name is Kodak Black. He is the self-proclaimed “Project-Baby” from South Florida that is giving rapper a run for their money. Jon Caramanica, from the New York Times, described Black as “an unlikely savior for a hip-hop industry that has lately been preoccupied with melodic-minded Drake clones. Instead, he’s an old-fashioned literalist and represents the perennial power of grit even in a time that’s squeaky clean.” Kodak Black is an

The music industry has a huge effect on popular culture and people of today. Rappers especially can tell a story through their music, which is what Keith Cozart (Chief Keef) was hoping to bring awareness to with his rapping about Chicago. Since his career has progressed many younger generations have been informed of the violence and crime occurring there, and his most recent music talks about the dangers of it and the need for change. For older audiences, Spike Lee also brought awareness to the issue in his movie Chi-Raq, a movie about a girlfriend of a Chicago gang-leader who persuades other frustrated women to abstain from sex until their men agree to end the senseless cycle of violence. Most people today spend more time focusing on popular culture than they do on worldly issues, so it is important to make music, television, and cinema a platform for important information. Just as Walter Benjamin predicted, popular culture has become a “democratizing agent of society”. The products produced in popular culture have a major influence in showing us how we should think, feel, and act. Younger audiences are more influenced by Chief Keef considering that his music is considered “low art form”. The lyrics he writes and has younger audiences listen too certainly draws attention to older audiences for its negative messages and meaning. In the crisis of Chicago, any attention is good attention. There’s still so much work to do in order to get Chicago’s homicide and crime rates down. If a wider audience is turning in, hopefully more action will be taken before thousands of other men die from senseless

Lupe Fiasco was born in the crevice between the ghetto and the suburbs, his house on the border between them. His house was filled with modern art, books, music and culture, whereas the outside was right next door to a crack house, clustered with drug dealing and gang violence. Growing up in the hoods of Chicago around prostitutes, drug dealers, killers, and gangbangers, Lupe grew up juxtaposed as stated in an interview: “On the doorknob outside of our apartment, there was blood from some guy who got shot; but inside, there was National Geographic magazines and encyclopedias and a little library bookshelf situation. And we didn't have cable, so we didn't have the luxury of having our brains washed by MTV. We watched public television — cooking

“Unaffected by they threats than get busy on they ass, see that’s how that Chi-Town made me That’s how my daddy raised me.” (Fiasco). Lupe Fiasco was a kid growing up in gang affiliated areas of South-Side Chicago and was one of the few that made it out with no harm. Lupe now preaches for change of gang violence going on in his home. Lupe Fiasco grew up in poverty within the Chicago area and advocates for change in his lyrics. Fiasco advocates that there must be change in the gang areas for that the kids of today’s society do not fall into the trap of gang violence. Gang violence in Chicago is caused by poverty in inner-cities, climate change, and how gang members do not respect authorities. This problem can be fixed by investing more money into these urban areas, focusing in cities during warm months, and by government building positive relationships with the citizens.

Kendrick’s story originates in Compton, a jungle at its core, where he learned that survival depends on working with others and keeping intact with your roots. Because of the harsh living environment and unavoidable presence

And if I got a brown nose for some gold then I’d rather be a motherfuckin’ baller, Kendrick is a very modest rapper, he isn’t in the ‘game’ for the ‘gold’ (money). He does what he does to influence other people with his rap and change lives, as he understands the struggle for people of color to survive in a world where discrimination and racism exist. He does what he does in hope of bettering the world.

Rap music, also known as hip-hop, is a popular art form. Having risen from humble origins on the streets of New York City during the mid-1970s, hip-hop has since become a multifaceted cultural force. Indeed, observers say, hip-hop is more than just music. The culture that has blossomed around rap music in recent decades has influenced fashion, dance, television, film and—perhaps what has become the most controversially—the attitudes of American youth. For many rappers and rap fans during it’s early time, hip-hop provided an accurate, honest depiction of city life that had been considered conspicuously absent from other media sources, such as television. With a growing number of rap artists within this period, using hip-hop as a platform to call for social progress and impart positive messages to listeners, the genre entered a so-called Golden Age

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,

Rap and hip hop have been used as tools to explain the socioeconomic and political context of inner cities, as well as explore social and moral issues, and have done so with great success. However, critics have said that the recent commercialization of hip hop results in superficial rap. Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly pushes back against this idea, and explores complex themes. Kendrick explores how financial success has changed him, how US politics affects inner cities, and why the world needs racial harmony with three tracks on his album: “How much as dollar worth”, “Hood Politics” and “Complexion: A Zulu Love” respectively.

Injustice has plagued society for years. An injustice could be described as an unfair treatment usually racially motivated. As a black male in America, injustices are practically thrown my way. People that look like me long for justice. The book “Between the World & Me” and the song “Mortal Man” both show the side of injustice with a strong need for justice by proposing solutions. Specially written by the 7 time Grammy Award winning Hip Hop artist Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California and is currently residing there as an signed artist to Dr. Dre’s record label, Aftermath. Kendrick Lamar first went as his persona, K-Dot, but as time went by he soon changed his name from K-Dot to just his Middle name as Kendrick Lamar. In the song,