Unfamiliar Genre: Kendrick Lamar

Project 4: Unfamiliar Genre
In the biography of "Kendrick Lamar biography," published by A&E Television Networks says Kendrick Lamar's full name is Kendrick Lamar Duckworth but his performed as just Kendrick Lamar. He was born in Compton, California, on June 17, 1987. His parents had moved from Chicago to stay away from gang activities even though his father was in a gang. Kendrick had been interested and involved in street activity and has been influenced by it. He attended Centennial high school and was a good student that loved writing poems, and lyrics. Kendrick's family had been directed by the violence of the streets and he had been an observer his whole life. He first started off with the name K-Dot and started to perform his own lyrics. When he had turned sixteen, he dropped a mixtape called Youngest Head Nigga in Charge and he drew a lot of attention in his local area of California. And from there he had begun his legacy.
In April 2017 Lamar released the album Damn which had the popular songs
of “Humble,” “loyalty,” and “DNA”. This album had achieved a double-platinum status and was named by BBC news the critic's favorite album of 2017. In his album every song had a meaning behind it. According to Genius, in the song “Blood” Lamar talks about a story of when he was walking in the street and sees a blind woman that seems frustrated and looks like she lost something. He then approaches her and tells her she looks like she lost something and asks for her help, then she replies and says "Oh yes, you have lost something/ you’ve lost... your life" with a sound of a gun shot at the end. The women represent the penalties that lead to damnation from the bible book of Deuteronomy. The gunshots in “Blood” and “Duckworth” have a theory where Lamar is shot because in “Blood” he had “lost his way and became damned, and in “Duckworth” it is backwards and Lamar lives because he breakdowns the sequence of his individuals being cursed because of the actions of his dad.
In the song “DNA” in his first lyrics they say, “I got, I got, I got, I got-/ Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA.” In his old album the song “Cut you off (to grow closer),” Lamar describes that his mom taught him the value of loyalty.
He had spoken about his loyalty in an interview with the breakfast club and said, “I’m loyal to the soil. At the end of the day, you want to always have real people around you. Period. Whether it’s male or female. Everybody that’s been around me, they’ve been around since day one.” And in his song “I” from his album To pimp a butterfly, he says “Well, this is my explanation straight from Ethiopia/N-E-G-U-S definition: royalty; King royalty – wait listen/N-E-G-U-S description: Black emperor, King, ruler, now let me finish/the history books overlook the word and hide It.” Some of his fans think the album “DAMN” is a continuation of To pimp a butterfly and he explains shallower of the meaning of loyalty with Rihanna in the song
“ROYALTY.”
In his song “ELEMENT,” he says in one of his lyrics talking about wack artists. In an interview with rolling stone, Lamar was asked to describe a wack artist and said “How would I define a wack artist? A wack artist uses other people’s music for their approval. We’re talking about someone that is scared to make their own voice, chases somebody else’s success and their thing, but runs away from their own thing. That’s what keeps the game watered-down. Everybody’s not going to be able to be a Kendrick Lamar. I’m not telling you to rap like me. Be you. Simple as that. I watch a lot of good artists go down like that because you’re so focused on what numbers this guy has done, and it dampers your own creativity. Which ultimately dampers the listener, because at the end of the day, it’s not for us. It’s for the person driving to their 9-to-5 that don’t feel like they wanna go to work that morning.” And in his album To pimp a butterfly he explained some topics like loving yourself and black empowerment. In another lyric he says, “Mr. one through Five, that’s the only logic.” in one of his songs he had said Yellin', ‘One, two, three, four, five/I am the greatest rapper alive!’/So damn great, motherfucker, I’ve died.” Which means what it says. Ad in another lyric he says, “Fake my death, go to Cuba, that’s my only option.” Saying when 2Pac died there had been some theories suggesting that he faked his death and moved to Cuba to escape his fame because he became depressed. Lamar may be saying that he might be in same boat as 2Pac was.
In his other song “Loyalty” featuring Rihanna there are many metaphors used for being fake and disloyal. One was when they said “10-4, no switchin’ sides.” 10-4 means in police code “understand,” and Lamar asks his wife if she understands that she can’t switch sides once she’s with him. Furthermore, 10 and 4 are on opposite sides of the clock and like the numbers on the clock he warns her not to switch sides. Another lyric they say is “You actin shifty you don’t ride” meaning to not have your heart all the way acting fake and disloyal. And he word “ride” means to be with someone or be there for someone no matter what happens.
Lastly, “Humble” was the most popular of all the songs on the album. In a lyric when Kendrick said, “I’m so fuckin sick and tired of the Photoshop/ Show me something natural life afro on Richard Pryor/ Show me something natural like ass with some stretch marks,” he means due to expectations on beauty on social media, black people will so much to straighten their hair instead on wearing their natural look. He is asking for natural and black beauty. He also talks about Obama saying how he met Obama and that he has been open of how much of a fan he is to Kendrick.