Blacker The Berry

Kendrick Lamar’s February 2015 hit “The Blacker the Berry” was released in the wake of a slur of racial killings acted upon the black community. Most notable of these killings was the death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of George Zimmerman. This murder is seen as the catalyst for a number of movements aimed at that the goal of achieving justice and equality for the black community such as the social movement “Black Lives Matter.” In “The Blacker the Berry”, Lamar tackles topics such as racial hatred, cultural acceptance, and the hypocrisy present in his own outrage against the numerous murders of African-Americans.
Lamar’s primary argument throughout the song has to deal with his realization that while society has come a long way in terms
of its treatment of the African-American population, black people are still, in many cases, treated as second-class citizens and are being looked at through a lens of anger and hatred. In the opening lines, Lamar refers to his realization of the harsh treatment of blacks in his community, at the age of 16. With the death of Tupac and the L.A. riots still a hot topic in the media, Lamar was made aware of the cancer he was surrounded by. As both a reference to and argument against Tupac’s (and many rappers before him) label in the media as a violence-inciting artist, Lamar addresses the way black people are presented in the news and media and states that even his own image has been molded by the media. With the line “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,” Lamar rejects his image in the media as a “gangster rapper” and instead claims his position as a poet. Furthermore, the tone of the song as a whole works to evoke feelings of animosity and anger against the oppressors of the black community. Throughout the track, Lamar seems to be manifesting his anger by wielding this very throaty, almost yelling, kind of voice as he delivers his verses. One line of note that is used to kindle those feelings of anger and hate is “You sabotage my community, makin' a killin'./
You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga.” While not explicitly stated, this line refers to the introduction of crack-cocaine and multiple weapons into the black community – a subject also commented on by one of Lamar’s influences NWA.
As a resident of Compton, California, Lamar experienced first-hand the maltreatment of African-Americans. Lamar both comments on his Compton origin and introduces his secondary argument by drawing comparison between the warring Zulu and Xhosa African tribes and the Compton Crips and Pirus he grew up with. It is in this commentary that Lamar argues that problem of black oppression lies not only within societal and governmental injustice, but also within black on black crimes. Lamar states that no matter how much pride he holds for his roots and culture, the hypocrisy of gang violence and things of that nature are only a symptom of the overall cancer that is black oppression. He goes on to say that he has no right to be outraged over events such as Trayvon Martin’s death when his gang affiliations have led him to end another black man’s life. The song as a whole speaks to the overall message of the album which is a message of self-love, peace, and acceptance. It is an argument that calls for not only the fair treatment of African-Americans, but for humanity as a collective
unit.