Kendrick Lamar’s artistic drive and vision is bold beyond belief. He shows no fear or hesitation as he uses his platform to touch upon the social issues that the black community faces. “He doesn’t whisper, stutter or stammer. Kendrick Lamar yells.” The visual masterpiece “Alright,” is a iconic music video with a critical message. The six minute video is rich with symbolism, filled with question raising imagery that demands attention from its audience.
Kendrick’s main focus throughout the video “Alright” is his experience growing up in America as a black man who has continuously been oppressed by the system. When analyzing his struggles it is important to put this in conversation with the concept of whiteness. Whiteness is not concerned primarily with race, whiteness is an idealism so to speak. It pertains to the notion of putting others down for your individual success. It includes the exploitation of
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As he travels down the road, kids acknowledge him as if he is a hero. Any scene that includes Kendrick and his community is shown with pure joy and happiness. They are celebrating. You get filled with a sense of sincere optimism. He’s like their guardian angel, watching from above. In many of his videos he is surrounded by the people, his people. No famous friends been used as extras but the normal men, women, and children you see daily. He is claiming his city, and encouraging others to do the same. Kendrick travels throughout L.A. inhabiting spaces physically and culturally. Spacial entitlement is the “occupying, inhabiting, and transforming physical places, while envisioning and enacting spaces that make room for new affiliations and identifications.” African Americans and Mexican Americans have been kicked out of their communities by aggressive segregation, locked out of jobs and schools, etc- and are finding ways to come together and stand in solidarity. This idea of celebratory congregating is shown throughout the video in all of
... song entitled “Formation”. The filming took place in Los Angeles, but features references to Hurricane Katrina, with Beyoncé on top of a police car in a flooded street and later cuts to a man holding a newspaper with Martin Luther King Jr.’s face on it with the title “The Truth”. Later a young hooded boy dances in front of a line of police officers with their hands up before the video cuts to a graffitied wall with the words “stop shooting us “ tagged on it, at the end of the video the police car sunk with her on top. Not only did this song, bring awareness to the 10th anniversary of hurricane Katrina it also brought awareness to police brutality, racism, and the “black lives matter movement”. I stand with Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, the people of New Orleans and the countless others who are pushing for a change in the way minorities and the lower class citizen are treated.
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) is a 1 hour and 40 minute documentary that observes the black power movement in American history. This film is directed by Swedish director Goran Hugo Olson and has detailed footage that was shot during the 1960s and 1970s by Swedish journalists. The footage largely focuses on the black power movements. The film allows viewers to not only grasp a better understanding of this movement but allows us to understand why this movement appealed to Swedish journalists. The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 includes vintage interviews with Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, and other prominent leaders during the Black Power Movement. The documentary also contains contemporary audio interviews and commentaries from various entertainers, artists, activists, and scholars, including but not limited to: Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, Melvin Van Peebles, Erykah Badu, Abiodun Oyewele, and Questlove from The Roots.
I say this because it better informed me on issues that I have known were present in the hip hop/rap culture. One of the main points in the film was the manhood in hip-hop culture. Before I dig into this topic one thing to understand is that hip-hop was created in the slums of New York. People grew up in very tough times; poverty was the norm, violence was high, and drugs influenced people’s lives. As you watch the film you can clearly see that all of the artists portray a tough “don’t mess with me” image. When asked why Hip-Hop promotes these images artists responded almost unanimously. They said that when you grow up in tough conditions you can’t be a punk. People see anything that’s not toughness weak. Anybody who isn’t perceived as tough is looked at like a bitch. Another big topic in the film was the way hip-hop victimizes women, and African American women in particular. The culture of Hip-Hop reduces women to sex objects. They’re half naked or more in the music videos and dancing explicitly. An issue in the film was when popular rapper Nelly swiped his credit card down a woman’s butt cheeks in a music video. This lead Nelly to cancel a bone marrow donation event at Spellman College after students said they were going to protest. Another issue in the film was homophobia. When a rapper named of Busta Rhymes was asked about homophobia he didn’t even respond to the question he completely walked off set. That
His analysis of the video and song seem more akin to a movie critic’s review of the next Quentin Tarantino film. He comments, “the video...is daring, provocative, traumatizing, cynical,... and to many, a work of genius.” This jarring examination seems relatively out of place for a song in the number one spot on the radio. One could attribute this simply to shock value, but Molanphy sees (or hears) something more when he acknowledges, “When you focus on [the] music, you gradually adjust to what initially makes it so jarring, particularly the lurch from the the sweet, acoustic Afrobeat intro to the droning, brooding chorus.” Incidentally, the song is much more than Gambino’s “cri de coeur” as Molanphy puts it, as it stands alone as a legitimate piece of hip-hop music. Paired with the video, the dark commentary does not seem so out of place when you recognize the history of rap music and its influences. He recognizes this best when he uses ethos to increase his
On a lighter note, he explains his inspirations for his dream of making music in the song ‘Juicy.’ Biggie’s writing went in depth to show his audience where he came from and to also inspire other artists working their way up in the music industry. Lastly, Kendrick Lamar’s piece Good Kid m.A.A.d City is a coming of age story from the perspective of teenage Kendrick living in Compton, California. This album shows the dark side of Kendrick’s life, as well as his lighter moments of aspiration. There are vivid depictions of violence that he endured as a teen, as well as the influence of money and power.
“You Was Right” by Lil Uzi Vert is fairly easy to understand lyrically. The essence of the song deals with unfaithfulness in a relationship as well as the aftermath. Lil Uzi Vert spends a large portion of the song admitting his mistakes to his presumed girlfriend in hopes of making things right between them. The song starts off with the hook, which rests upon the premise of how Lil Uzi Vert should have stayed loyal rather than taking another girl home with him. For example, he says, “You was right, I was wrong” (6) in an attempt to console his girlfriend and apologize. Following the hook, the first verse centers on Lil Uzi Vert’s riches due to his success as a rapper. He ties that in to his relationship by expressing how he wants to share his wealth with his girlfriend. At this stage in the song, Lil Uzi Vert is attempting to win his girlfriend back with his money and general success as a rapper. The hook then repeats itself to indicate that the argument between Lil Uzi Vert and his girlfriend is still continuing. The second verse signifies an escalation in their conflict, as he says, “You just locked the door, so I gotta text you” (42). His girlfriend is refusing to even listen
History is full of great figures whose influence shaped the world we live in today. However, such great figures are kept on books, and people know little or nothing about them. Usually, people do not like to read history books because they provide bleak information. Although Alexander Hamilton is one of the most influential founding fathers of the United States of America, having an insight about him through history books can be a hard process. Therefore, The Hamilton Mixtape by Lin-Manual Miranda offers an interesting and concise alternative to history books. It gives a holistic view on Alexander Hamilton and the founding fathers of the United States in terms of both personal and political lives. The work consists of forty six songs, each
Macklemore begins with “When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay, / 'Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight. / I told my mom, tears rushing down my face.” In just these first couple of lines, the listener is easily able to understand what the song is about, and also comprehend the stereotype that is associated with gays and lesbians. The listener is given the equation that Macklemore made up when he was younger; he added the stereotypes that were given to gays: being artistic, having a gay relative, and being tidy. By following these fashions, he assumed that he was gay as well. When Macklemore states that tears were rushing down his face, it gives even more awareness to the negative connotation that gays
Most rap songs about relationships are used as a way to preach about power, money and status. What makes Lamar’s video LOYALTY unique is that he took a different approach on the overused narrative. Kendrick Lamar’s video LOYALTY is a creative platform which uses movement through visual effects and camera angles to demonstrate hypermasculinity and active female roles through the scenes which together, tell a story of power and loyalty within a
Hip-Hop’s criticism of George W. Bush is a good example of hip-hop’s reflection of Black public opinion. The Republican candidate who already had a low approval rating of 57% amongst African-Americans received an even lower approval rating after his lackluster efforts to support Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (Jones, 2003; Cillizza & Sullivan 2013).
Reality melted around me as I poured through album reviews and rankings, seeing the amount of praise and reverence his work holds, I was blown away. I watched interviews from artists I’d been a fan of for years, claiming that Kanye was their inspiration. I read analysis pinpointing how each of his albums opened up new sub genres in hip hop, how he completely changed the stigmatism of the art, allowing for new creative freedom, opening the doors for artists like Drake, Tyler the Creator and Chance the Rapper just to name a few. He had been right under the surface all along. He paved the way for my generation of artists to walk on, and I had been blissfully ignorant, skipping along his path.
As Kendrick entered the stage shackled to his black comrades with a soulful saxophone playing in the background, it is obvious that the imagery of imprisonment was a commentary on incarceration in America and its similarities with slavery. By amplifying this modern twist on slavery, Kendrick provokes American viewers to reflect on the struggles that black Americans still go through today. At the start of his performance he goes on to rap “I’m African-American — I’m African” as if he was correcting himself. This isn’t surprising as black identity is hard to establish in a country that implicitly detests you, but explicitly fetishizes your culture. Stuart Hall discusses this in his text when he states, “’the primitive is a modern problem, a crisis in cultural identity’…the modernist construction of primitivism, the fetishistic recognition and disavowal of the primitive difference” (Hall 125). There is no wonder why Kendrick, like many African-Americans, finds comfort in placing his identity with the mother land rather than his true country of origin. How can the black multitude stand in solidarity with a country who will continuously praise black culture but refuse to recognize the black struggle? Kendrick Lamar then conjures imagery of Africa, where he danced and rapped in front of a raging bonfire, one of the most powerful imagery included in his entire performance. One can interpret
Accommodating for lost time can be a struggle, however education is the perfect key to allow a human a better diagram for survival in this world. Mortal Man is full of the reality that is blinded to society, because they have been confused by the experience of the struggle. Comparing two poems written within the song titled Mortal Man by the rap artist/ poet, Kendrick Lamar, provides an opportunity to engage in the Burkean Parlor; discussing the experience of the struggle and the proper way to survive through it. There is credibility of the struggle without mistakes of not knowing how to deal with the initial interaction; mistakes do not always lead to success; it is just an excuse to repeat history. Kendrick Lamar’s work provides evidence
In conclusion, these theorists who explore hip hop all have generalized ideas of what hip hop represents. Johnson is more oriented towards the female side of hip hop, whereas Jeffries is focused on the unity side of what it offers and Smitherman thinks that it is a black CNN. Although each scholar focuses on different aspects of hip hop, it is evident to point out that all these aspects correlate with one another. Hip hop is a cultural tool formed out of a need to take a stance on the issues that relate to the black community. And that it’s a voice to relate and unite people who share the same struggles on which to advocate change.
Rap music has given me personally something to look up to. Not a role model but hope of continuing my dreams because rappers successfully made it. “For what’s money without happiness, or hard times without the people you love” is from a song called “Love Yourz” by J. Cole. He clearly understands how there is “beauty in the struggle and ugliness in the success” because he’s lived that life. Other songs such as “2Face” or “The Autograph” were instantly relatable to me because he has been through several struggles from the beginning of his childhood. Cole’s father left when he was six leaving his mother and younger brother alone. Cole became “the man of the house” but becoming a rapper is not as easy as it seems. Cole’s messages in these two songs are relative because I too, have had several issues with my mother and father creating a sense of lonesome. Hearing music like Coles helped me overcome my