Kendrick Lamar was criticized by Geraldo Rivera for making a political statement by performing with vandalized police cars at this year’s BET Hip Hop Awards. The Compton, California emcee said that he was representing his people and did not mean any offense.
After that, Lamar released the video for “Alright,” in which he gets shot by a police officer.
“Any way you cut it, Kendrick Lamar is one of the most important voices in Hip Hop today,” XXL says. “And his last album, March’s To Pimp A Butterfly, might just be one of the most poignant socio/political records in recent memory.”
The magazine lists 21 of Kendrick Lamar’s Most Political Lyrics.
To Pimp a Butterfly has the most lyrics of all his projects with 11. “Blacker the Berry” has five of the top references, the most of any song.
“You hate me don’t you?/You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture/You’re fuckin’ evil I want you to recognize that I’m a proud monkey/You vandalize my perception but can’t take style from me/And this is more than confession/I mean I might press the button just so you know my discretion/I’m guardin’ my feelings, I know that you feel it/You sabotage my community, makin’ a killin’/You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga” one set of the lyrics reads.
Other tracks from To Pimp a Butterfly that get a nod are “i,” “Hood Politics” and “Wesley’s Theory.”
2011’s Section.80 is showcased with “HiiiPower”
“Who said a Black man in the Illuminati?/Last time I checked, that was the biggest racist party/So get up off that slave ship/Build your own pyramids, write your own hieroglyphs,” the song goes.
Lamar’s major label debut, good kid m.A.A.d. city, has three songs on the list.
“They say the Governor collect/All of our taxes except/When we in traffic and tragic happens/That shit ain’t no threat” is from “m.A.A.d. city.”
To read the entire list, visit XXL.
For additional Kendrick Lamar coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
Am I the only one who realizes that all of these lyrics are just extremely generalized, somewhat unfounded, political assumptions that hardly make any points?
He doesn’t say anything insightful about the government’s activities or how they impact things from the ground level to the top levels, he just says ‘they did this or that” and kind of leaves it there before jumping to his next point. An example of really good/ accurate political lyrics can be found in a song like “Blue Magic,” from Jay Z.
Blame Reagan for making me into a monster
Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra
I ran contraband that they sponsored
Before this rhymin stuff we was in concert
In the above sequence, Hov is saying that Reagan and the CIA”s documented/proven activity’s that lead to thousands of kilos of cocaine being imported into America led to him becoming a drug dealer.
He mentions Iran Contra (its called the “iran contra affair”) and turns it into a play on words by saying “I ran contraband that they sponsored” and ends it with “before this rhyming stuff we was in concert” which is another clever bit of wordplay because being in concert = performing in a show is the first meaning but the double meaning comes from “we were concert” meaning they were collaborating.
THAT is an example social commentary that is actually founded in something legitimate AND clever.
But XXL, Complex and ESPECIALLY Hip Hop DX just love to dickride anyone who’s ostensibly deep. Garbage.
As much as I disagree with the foundation of your argument I’m loving that example from Hov
I agree. I like what he’s trying to do but I feel like it can be better executed . And it has by other artists but because Kendrick is hot now this is what they choose to write articles about.
Art. Art is not suppose to be confined to one subject. If you look at a collage everyone will see something different in it. There may not be that aha moment when you first look at it but if you can see beauty in it then there is nothing wrong with it. Kendrick is expressing what he sees. He’s not a politician he is a rapper. Jay-Z may be more direct but that doesn’t take away from kendrick’s spurts of truth.
@Roger- lol yeah man and people were already saying Jay Z wasn’t as “lyrical” in 2007, but American Gangster has a bunch of stanzas like that.
As for the foundation of my argument … which part do you disagree with? I kind of feel like the jay lyrics kind of illuminate a lot of the things wrong w. K.Dot’s lyrics just by making the comparison. But i do feel like i was a bit vague. Here’s a better summation of my opinion on his political lyrics:
K. Dot’s lyrics aren’t clever, they’re clumsily phrased and don’t contain good comparisons to other things. If verses were arguments, K.Dot’s wouldn’t have enough examples to win. People like Lupe, Hov, Mos Def and others have “arguments” with all sorts of allusions to other things while also rhyming better.
I don’t see anything wrong about K-Dot’s lyrics. They are clever and legit since they get to the point with no sugarcoating. Don’t contain good comparisons? What does that even mean? It seems like you just don’t like him because he’s popular. That doesn’t take away his skills or social commentary.
We gonna be alright Kendrick
ain’t worry ’bout that #shit..
Bagon Dray is killin’ those m#therf*ckers f*ckin’ with Lamar..
U know it ,,,the best rapper of all time..
shoutout to Kendrick
shoutout to Bagon Dray
If you want to know real knowledge about why our society is the way it is, and want real truthful answers check out. Merkabah on youtube. He breaks everything down in a way that makes absolute sense!
youtube.com/user/woogam215
To some it all up it is fact that social media Hollywood and politics are not meant for black people. We live in a industrialized complex which means it is profitable to go to war.. The system is built to put most of the wealth into the hands of a few. Capitalism is what this society it and always has been ran by capital is the portion of a nations wealth that is man mad and therefore reporducible.this means for that few they can profit by personal gain and it is legal. To the few that control most of the wealth governs wages and the distributions of resources. Not only that but they found a way to profit from resources that aren’t man made things that are natural such as food and water AMERIKKKA is horrible and if I could I would take my family and get on the first plane far away from here. All this false advertisement about AMERIKKKA being the land of the free and one can make a living foreigners only see how bad it is we’re there from and think feels its better here but it truly is horrible especially if your black native American or hispanic
Kendrick is wack. streets dont listen to his bulshit cuz streets fucks with meek mill, migos and future. Kendrick is wanna be Outkast with 2Pac swag but he wack as fuck.
R.escobar why are you hating on k.dot success,k.dot is real in reality he is the epitome of black success he reps the street and the game.He got control over hiphop.y’all bunch of illiterates should go back to the sketch board and read the script…go to school and understand poetry because that’s the reason y’all making erroneous write up.escobar the fucktard
Rick Escobar, you just went full retard. Never go full retard.
Of course it’s wack to you because you are ignorant I can tell you don’t even have a G.E.D. peace to all my people with knowledge and are smart and not stupid taking up space in the world with ignorance. GO TO SCHOOL AND GET A EDUCATION SO YOU DONT END UP A 40 YEAR OLD RETARD
Unreasonable
The blacker the berry the sweeter the best juiced juice Shoutout to all Nigerians living and loving real hiphop,KING K.dot,be the leader, Myself and my crew are getting schooled by Lamars inspiration…I do call him the BLACK EMINEM bcuz ma niqqur don’t give a single fuck bout y’all hating ass niggaz. He gat d dough,he gat talent,and he gat real shit served on the hiphop table,he is hardworking,and he is keeping it 1000 my even 100 1luv KENDRICK LAMAR,1luv BLACK HIPPY,1luv my NAIJA homeboys…✌️G-city repping.”real doesn’t recognise real until fakes showed up” shut tha hell up Escobar or whatever the fvck ya name is,fvck what you represent,✊
Exactly Kendrick’s insight on politics is very deep, realistic and comprehendible. Nowadays rappers do not make sense lyrically and their stands on artistry is crap. A normal human listens to hip hop to get something useful and making sense and also informational out of it, if you’re not listen to Young Thug!
#HUGO
loving the beat and the tempo. the beat make me feel free and its very joyful when you listen to it. changes your mood to happy.see below
https://soundcloud.com/listen2benp/america