Kendrick Lamar Duckworth once beautifully said ¨My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, thing that we call hip hop¨. Kendrick is a 27-year-old African American man who is considered to be not only the greatest artist in the rap industry but the music industry itself. He was raised in the brutal streets of Compton, California, a city known for its gang culture, crime, poverty, and unemployment. After releasing his first mixtape, at just 16 years old Kendrick was signed to a record label known as Top Dawg Entertainment. Ever since then Kendrick has won 7 Grammy awards, regularly topped Billboard’s charts, became a multi-platinum music artist and one of the most well respected and …show more content…
He grew up in an environment where, as Michelle Obama once said in a speech about growing up a minority, “you have to work twice as hard to get half as far.” That undoubtedly applied to Kendrick and his family who could barely provide subsistence for theirself. Growing up as a black man is never a walk in the park, no matter who it is. Not to mention growing up in a neighborhood where poverty, jobless parents, violent gangs, brutal crime, and drugs are the things found in that park. However, Kendrick was never involved in these things, he just observed. Additionally, he had an ardor for poetry as a young teen and began writing about these experiences he went through. He was like camera man of a movie and the world was his footage. He worked with his English teacher to emend his writing and poems as much as he could. Eventually, he began turning it into music which he also had a passion for. He made and released his first mixtape at 16 that was recognized by the notorious owner of Top Dawg Entertainment, an indie hip-hop record label, who gave the teenage boy a record label. Shortly after that his first studio album released under TDE, known as ‘Section.80’, was about things he and the rest of his city went through on a daily basis. Racism, domestic abuse, and poverty were sensitive topics he went over through brilliant lyrics he wrote. Hereafter, Kendrick’s hard work as a teenager toward his …show more content…
As mentioned before, Kendrick had a longing passion for poetry and music. His mother always had hip-hop, indie, and rock records playing that inspired Kendrick to keep going through life. Thereafter, Kendrick wanted to teach people and help others through music and his words just like music had to him. Through writing and music, Kendrick realized he wanted to let people know they’re not alone and to keep going through life. In a BET interview he says, ¨From Compton, I could’ve easily said I did this I did that. I killed a whole bunch of people. That’s not me. I’d rather talk about my reality. I’d rather talk about something a little more deeper than that. The reasons and the problems and the solutions behind it. Let me tell my story, let me tell the other stories that’s out here that want to do something different, but can’t because you’re in an environment where you just got to adapt.” Not to mention Kendrick even has gone to schools to talk to students about how he got into poetry and illustrates how his life was affected by following his passion. A high school class that broke down Kendrick’s complex lyrics and themes was honored by Kendrick when he came to their school to recognize their work and talk to them about passion for music and writing. While following his own passion, Kendrick is inspiring so many other people to follow
There are a lot of Epic Poems written in Literature that intrigue, and capture reader’s attention like; The Iliad, The Odyssey, Beowulf, and the Divine Comedy. Never had the Hip-Hop culture had an epic story of its own until Lupe Fiasco came along. Lupe created a 17 song saga Called “Michael Young History (MYH) also known as The Cool” spread throughout his first two albums, and a few mixtapes. MYH is a frictional rap character who was raised by a single hard-working mother who struggle to raise Michael and his loving sister. With the lack of parental guidance the promising, intelligent young Michael turn into a drug deal. Michaels love for the street, and fame sent him to a road of greed, deception. In no time Michael had control of his neighborhood making money, bribing dirty cops to look away from his crimes. As Michael unethical fame rise his friends get jealous, setting Michael to end his life. Unless a music listener is not a Lupe Fiasco fan they will not be aware of this
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.
Kanye Omari West, rapper, producer, professional celebrity, and with an ego to match, has forced himself into the limelight of the music industry. Kanye West has made a lasting impression on all of those around him, whether it be a good one or bad. With seven full length albums, a multimillion record label company, and a successful fashion business all under his belt, it’s fair to say that Kanye has done his fair share of creating. Over the last twelve years Kanye went from a young Chicago kid just trying to get his flows off, to one of the most decorated musicians of all time. With over 20 Grammy’s and 3 of his albums ending up on the Rolling stones “500 greatest albums of all time”. He has continuously created, entertained, and spoken his mind for years. Whether it be “George Bush does not care about black people” or “Taylor imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had
When he was growing up he stayed with his grandparents a lot , his grandmother had 5 daughters . Then they all had kids. So Gates was always around family as a young boy . His influences progressively started here. Kevin Gates say “ i remember not knowing what music was , and chasing my cousins into the living room to watch tv”. “I can't even remember the first time i bought a rap tape”. Back the Gates was to young and it was explicit so he had his cousins swipe them for him. Gates was inspired by some of the greatest storyteller rap artist of his generation , like “Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre”. Now lets remember Gates was young at the time and he also was in with lil “Kriss Kross”, because he always like to “ Jump Jump”. Never did he think it would lead him to making music. The first time Gates had the vision he was in the 7th grade and he wrote his 1st rap . Persuaded by the emotion he was giving off . Based on everything he was seeing and that was going on around him. He picked up a couple more educators that helped inspire his direction that he had for music. “Master P” i was probably listening to his work at the time . “No Limit” 9 out of 10 times Gates says in an interview. He never really knew what his calling was , but rapping was like his hidden talent. . It was the start of prosperity that belongs to him in the process of progressing in the field he was in. He envisioned eventual triumph. He started by writing in a
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.
Raised as an only child, Dwayne Micheal Carter Jr or more commonly referred to as Lil Wayne, was born September 27th, 1982, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Carter’s mother was only 19 years old when he was first born. He was being raised by both his mother and father until his father abandoned them while Dwayne Jr. was only two years old. After being abandoned by his biological father, his mother was forced to take care of him on her own and survive in the crime infested community of Holly grove, New Orleans. Even though he divorced his mother and remarried, his father forced the two live with his own mother and came by to abuse Lil Wayne’s mother on a consistent basis.This situation went on for three years until Lil Wayne’s mother eventually remarried and relocated to a different part of town. Growing up he did very well in school. He was actually enrolled in his school’s gifted program at a point and received top grades. He got into music at a very young age and wrote his first rap song at the age of eight. Lil Wayne had the drive to be the best and successful at his craft since he first began. At the age of nine he was challenging others twice his age and older at rapping. He would consistently go to neighborhood parties or events to rap and most of the time he was better then whatever adult he was going against. As a testament to this, at the age of nine he start receiving attention from one of the two co-founders of his future label, Slim Williams. From Slim, he then received other co-founder, Bryan Williams, phone number and what he did with it after that was truly caught the Bryan’s attention. He continuously called the number over and over leaving rap songs on the voicemail of Williams until he agreed to meet him in person...
In one of the chapters, ‘Where Did Our Love Go?’ the author reveals how blacks in America use the music to express their anger and commitment to emerge as great people in an unfair community. Most songs are written to educate the society on the negative effects of racism. They encourage the society to love one another and embrace unity. The human nature is founded through a social platform where philosophers claim that people were created to love one another and live with peace and unity. Through this book, it is clear that the blacks in the hip-hop generation are money minded. However, this is expected in a world where the economy is tough. The author claims that the youth are the people who are majorly affected by racism. Many of them have been arrested for pity mistakes which are magnified in the courts due to the impression that the society has on the black people. They engage in dirty activities like drug dealings that that put them on the wrong side of the
His upbringing is one of an average american citizen. Being raised by his mother Donda West was a English professor lead to him living an average life. His parents divorced when he was very young. Showing interests in the ars at a very young age is something that kept promise. He took under the wing of DJ No I,D at the young age of 15, here is where he learned how to sample and mix beats.Kanye Graduated High School with decent grades and was off to Chicago State University.. He began dropped out of College at the age of 20 to focus on his music as opposed to what he was majoring which was English. He made it big by producing a majority of the songs on rapper Jay Z’s “The Blueprint”. He was still looked down upon as only a producer and not a artist. This was because he came from an a middle class upbringing. The Industry did not see him to fit in with Gangster Rap during that time period. While making his first debut album he Kanye West fell asleep behind the wheel and got into a serious car crash on which he almost died.Kanye West still worked on the album in the hospital, requesting a drum machine to be brought to the hospital. Here he recorded his his single on his First album “Through the Wire” rapping with his mouth wired shut from surgery, From his Debut album “The College Dropout” Kanye West changed the innovated the style of Hip-Hop. As stated before Gangster rap wasn't the only thing
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
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
Rap is about giving voice to a black community otherwise underrepresented, if not silent, in the mass media. It has always been and remains … directly connected to the streets from which it came. (144)
Since hip-hop has expanded from the undergrounds in Bronx in the 70’s it has grew into a popular accepted music genre. Consequently, as it progressed from the golden age it gradually grew away from its original roots. If one were to evaluate the change of lyrics in hip-hop, they would see a difference between early hip-hop and today’s hip-hop. The current state of hip-hop is in a stage where things like hey young world are outdated. Instead of broadcasting out a positive message, hip-hop sends out a message of sex, drug, and violence. The early musicians who helped solidify hip-hop, by producing music that told stories on subjects of race, respect, or even music that had a positive message.
Kanye West has been an icon in American hip-hop culture for over a decade. His music, fashion line, producing skills, and flamboyant personality has influenced many people for generations to come. Coming out of Chicago, many people in the music industry didn't even think Kanye had a chance to become a figure in hip-hop, but his hard work and persistence paid off. Kanye started off his music career as a producer. He produced music for the likes of major artists such as Common and Jay-Z. His first major breakthrough came from producing Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint”— which is certified 2x platinum. Kanye believed he could be a successful rapper as well, but music executives didn't believe he had it in him. That all changed when Roc-A-Fella records signed Kanye to their label, and gave him a chance to shine as a rapper. Kanye’s background, critical analysis, and importance all shows that he has become one of the most important characters in American hip-hop culture to this day.
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
Kendrick Lamar has changed his audiences and society in a worldwide level. His actions and behaviors change the thinking behavior and culture through African Americans. Obamas love for Lamar and his music have been well - documented. In December, Obama revealed that “How Much A Dollar Cost” was his favorite song of 2015. Obama stated that Kendrick has much love for his culture, he raised more than 1 million dollars to schools in Africa to pay for books and netbooks, it’s just not a onetime thing he raises money, he sends money to all schools struggling in Africa I’m talking Kenya, South Africa.