To Pimp A Butterfly: Analyzing How Kendrick Lamar Gained His Wings (Part 1)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I hope you are ready to dive into one of
the best albums of Kendrick Lamar's stack discography, which you
could say he metaphorically guides us through that evolution of
a butterfly from the cocoon to the caterpillar and to
the glorious, graceful, unique butterfly. It showed just how much
he tapped into the performance side of hip hop. Hip

(00:20):
Hop has always been a voice for the voiceless, and
Kendrick has carried that baton in an honorable way. Welcome
to Hip to the Games, the podcast for you the
basketball junkie and the hip hop hit. I'm your host,
Desmond and I too have had hoop dreams and enjoy
the beautiful genre of hip hop and its history. Together
we will enjoy some of the greatest albums, songs, artists, players, moments, teams,

(00:43):
and so much more, while even mixing the two on occasion.
All in my hope that you remember why you love
both or either of these to begin with. You'll soon
understand that Hip to the Games is more than just
a podcast. It's a lifestyle. And if you were looking
for a platform that combines both basketball and hip hop,
you've come to the right place. They play my kind

(01:03):
of basketball and a lot of layers to this song.
If you're really paying attention, there's a huge shout out
to you for being Hip to the Games. Welcome to
a new episode of Hip to the Games. Whether you
are new to the H two DG family or a
Day one supporter, I sincerely thank you for listening or

(01:25):
watching today's show. All praise to be creative director of
Jesus Christ, as it's always a blessing to get in
front of this microphone and share what he's putting my
heart with you. And a special shout out to the
home Team nineteen Media group for the opportunity to represent
a network filled with passionate independent podcasters. If you consider
yourself Hip to the Games, I would really appreciate it

(01:46):
if you took a few seconds to give the show
an honest rating and review on audio platforms like Apple
Podcasts or Spotify so we can continue to grow the
H two DG family. As I tip off today's episode,
I hope you are ready to dive into one of
the best albums of Kendrick Lamar's Stack discography. It's an
album that came out during my junior year of high

(02:06):
school and one that hit its ten year anniversary back
in March and to this day has been a beloved
project to many hip hop fans worldwide. To Pimp a
Butterfly coming off a very successful sophomore album, Good Kid,
Mad City. It's jazz influenced instrumentals allowed Kung Fu Kenny
to not just continue to shed light on his Compton background,

(02:27):
but now share how that story can be seen in
other parts of the world. And as I always say,
hip hop music, whether dirty or clean, always has a
story and was always meant to bring positive impact to
the world, and Kendrick Lamar successfully accomplished that with this album. Now,
if you've been around over the years or remember recent
breakdowns of mine, you know that, yes, we will nerd

(02:50):
about the bars, punchlines, themes, messages, but I do keep
it clean so you will hear me censor curse words
and try my best to avoid sexual innuendosty and even
reword those lines. However, you best believe I still keep
it hip hop and you will walk away learning something new,
sharing a laugh, or simply being reminded why you love

(03:11):
this beautiful thing we call hip hop and another thing
to keep in mind as you're listening or watching, is
that no longer do I break down every single line
of every single verse every single song. Only the songs
included in my top three will be fully broken down.
But again, this doesn't just mean that we rush through
all the other songs. In fact, I actually love going
into detail with every song obviously, but as a line

(03:34):
by line kind of basis. It's only my top three
favorite songs. But of course that just helps me maintain
a detailed review while orchestrating an efficient show. So all
that said, we are certainly in for another great review
and it starts with some personal and artists background for
To Pimp a Butterfly. So, like I said earlier, To
Pimp a Butterfly came out when I was in high school,
and when I look back at that time, a couple

(03:56):
things come to mind. Number One, to me, this was
just about out that time in hip hop where j
Cole and Kendrick Lamar solidified themselves as my generations Tupac
and Biggie if you will, in the sense that these
are the two mcs that came in the game generally
at the same time and emerged as the two best
rappers that checked every box, whether it's radio hits, deep cuts, relatability, lyricism, storytelling, impact,

(04:23):
It didn't matter. There was something for everybody with these two.
And if I really had to compare it to something
around this time, the Hip to the Games comparison would
be that, how around twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, when people
were subtly already calling Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson the
greatest shooters of all time, you knew that they were

(04:44):
still young, and you knew that they weren't as revered
and as successful yet as a Larry Bird or Reggie Miller,
or a Drozen Petrovic or a Ray Allen. Right, but
when you really looked at their games, you could see
what people meant. It wasn't just it just wasn't cool
to be loud about it yet, right, And I felt
the same way about Cole and Kendrick. You know, Okay, Drake,
he has the minus touch, He's top dog, He's always

(05:06):
gonna be top dog. But it was getting to a
point where if you ask somebody who their favorite rapper was,
you were gonna hear either two answers, J Cole or
Kendrick Lamar and with Cole dropping his best album in
twenty fourteen and then Kendrick following it up with arguably
his best work in twenty fifteen. I believe that this
was the point where they truly stamped themselves as the

(05:28):
ones who were gonna be hip hop's torch bears for
the next decade plus. Now. Secondly, the very next thing
that comes to mind when I think about to Pimper
Butterfly is what was going on in the world at
that time. I had entered my formative years, so it
was really the first time that I was able to
not just be aware of, but understand police brutality. The

(05:50):
social and political climate we were in at that time
was rough. In twenty twelve, Trayvon Martin was killed twenty
fourteen Michael Brown, which led to protests in Fuson, Missouri
and eventually national protests. Later that year was Tamir Rice
twenty fifteen. Sandra Bland again. J Cole expressed our sadness
and plea for peace in the midst of the unrest

(06:12):
with his song Be Free, while Kendrick ended up using
all Right to give black folks the rally cry that
we needed to not just believe in a better, safer future,
but fight for it however we can. And for me,
those two details stand out personally anytime I think of
to Pinper Butterfly. As for Kendrick, though, like I said,
I would say he was coming off of two albums

(06:32):
that really established who he was, where he's from, and
what his world views were and what his dreams were.
So for this third album, you can imagine that he
wanted to expand the direction of bit and said, Okay,
how can I continue to speak to Compton, La, you know,
California as a whole, but also let my fans in Chicago,
New York, Atlanta, Missouri, wherever know that I see them

(06:54):
and relate to their stories too. How can I broaden
my impact even more? And I felt like he answered
that with the Pimper Butterfly and please, by all means,
don't get me wrong, don't miss what I'm saying. I'm
not saying that Kendrick failed to do that on Section
eighty or he failed to do that on Good Kid,
Mad City. I just believe that it became more of
a focal point when you consider the timing of the

(07:15):
album and the fact that he had that challenge of
following up Good Kid with an even better album. And
this actually becomes prevalent when you look at the cover art. Right.
So again, given it was twenty fifteen and we still
had the first black president in office in Barack Obama,
on the surface, there was just something powerful about a
bunch of black folks posted up in front of the

(07:35):
White House, right, But then you zoom in and these
ain't black folks. In the Sunday Best. Almost everybody is shirtless,
and you see faces of all ages, bodies of every size,
A couple of women are in there, and everybody is
holding money, and you get so caught up in the
facial expressions of everyone that you almost miss that the
only non black figure in the picture is a judge

(07:57):
at the bottom of the pile dead. And three words
that came to mind when I looked at this cover
again were joy, freedom, and rebellion. Now that's my version
of what you might take away from the cover art,
but Kendrick actually talked about it with mass appeal and
said that all of the individuals featured on the cover
were people he knew from as far back as elementary school,

(08:20):
and that it was his way of sharing the opportunity
to see what he was able to see what his
success with them. Furthermore, Kendrick elaborated on this aspect, saying,
you look at these individuals and you look at them
as bad people or a menace to society, but they
are actually good people, just the product of their environment.
And the one person that always represents them negatively is

(08:40):
the judge. Only God can judge these individuals, not one
with the gavel handing out football numbers of years and
not giving these kids a chance at life. Hip hop
has always been a voice for the voiceless, and Kendrick
has carried that baton in an honorable way. Now. Additionally,
Kendrick has always been open about his spiritual journey in
his music and still is to this and as somebody

(09:01):
who values faith in Jesus myself, I always pay attention
to that stuff, and it's a huge part of why
I'm such an advocate for hip hop because if you
know Jesus's story, you know he uprightly held the Father's
love and the command to love thy neighbor as thyself,
which requires grace, sympathy, empathy, patience, kindness, forgiveness, qualities that

(09:23):
the pain from a fallen world can snatch from you
and I And the word says we will know followers
of Jesus by their fruits. So, yes, Kendrick Lamar might
curse in his music. Yes, Kendrick Lamar might passionately express
anger in some of his songs. Kendrick Lamar has made mistakes, absolutely,
And when I look at the substance and the root

(09:44):
of his contributions as a musician, I see the connections.
Kendrick Lamar really just cares for the people in his
community that often gets stepped over and forgotten about. Jesus
did the same thing. Why are you talking to a
tax collector? Why are you inviting prostitutes and sinners to dinner?
Because it's the sick who need healing, not the healthy.

(10:06):
It's the laws who needs saving, not the found In America,
we've been met with the reality that the rich get
richer and the poor get poor. But it is Jesus
who says those that are last will become first. And
while I use it as an example or a reference point,
if you think that's about financial gain solely, I would
encourage you to look deeper. Case in point to pimp

(10:28):
a butterflies cover alone is Kendrick's way of being a
voice for the voiceless without saying a word. But still,
how the heck do we learn all this? And yet
the title of this album is to Pimp a Butterfly. Well,
as many of us learned, Kendrick initially went with to
Pimp a Caterpillar, revealing an acronym that pays how much
to his longtime inspiration to pak Shakur, but he then

(10:49):
changed it to butterfly to, in his words, show the
brightness of life, while flipping the often strong word of
pimp to a more positive side, as it represented using
his celebrity for good and not being pimped or exploited
by the music industry. But if you don't mind, I
actually thought about this tide a little bit deeper and
with a little extra inspiration from Tupac, and I want

(11:09):
to share it with you. Now, we know that Tupac
once wrote a poem called the Rose that Grew from Concrete.
Excuse me, the Rose that Grew from Concrete, right, and
it eventually became a metaphor for his life and the
lives of many around the world who grew up with
a similar upbringing as him. His main idea was that
if you saw rose that grew straight out of a
crack in the concrete, as opposed to its ideal conditions

(11:31):
of good soil, sunlight, and a healthy thriving environment, you
wouldn't point out its flaws. You wouldn't point out its
damage pedals, or its thorns. You would simply be amazed
that a flower as lovely as a rose found a
way to grow from mere concrete. Just like people, we
shouldn't look at success. We shouldn't look at a success

(11:52):
who came out of harsher conditions or a rougher background
and point out their flaws. We should be amazed and
inspired that they still persevere and achieve their goals. Like YO,
how did you do that? I can learn from you?
Like YO, that's dope. That should be the energy towards it.
And I would venture to believe that Kendrick Lamar wanted
that same transcendent inspirational value inside to pimp a butterfly.

(12:13):
When you look at the music industry, it's very give
and take. They'll they'll take what's beautiful about an artist
and seek to enhance it or drop and change what
they feel won't sell records. But why can't the gift
that got the industry's attention in the first place be
just as valuable? Why can't that be enough? Think about
the uniqueness of butterflies? Right? Butterflies are some of the

(12:37):
most unique animals in the world, and it seems like
anytime you see one you stop to appreciate its beauty.
Your first thought isn't to pimp it and give it
a makeover, right, It's more like, dang, look at that butterfly.
And so as I sat with the title in preparation
for today's show, that that came to mind. You know,
Kendrick uses the beauty of his gifts to point the

(12:57):
beauty of a side of the world that often gets
over looked, while staying true to who he is as
an artist. Though that was my personal takeaway, I thought
it was too good to not share with you now.
As far as album content, it's sixteen tracks with a
wide range of standout producers like phar Real, Flying Lotus,
flipp A, Thundercat, Terris Martin, Taz Arnold, and of course

(13:18):
tde Faithful, sound Wave and Tommy Black, to name most
of them. Furthermore, one of the themes of the project
deals with the idea of what it means to be rich.
In the same Mass Appeal interview, Kendrick admits that the
first half of this album is a bit more ignorant
compared to the second half of the album, as he
gradually stresses the importance of being rich in spirit and
not just rich in finances. We get that in songs

(13:40):
like Wesley's Theory and how Much a Dollar Costs. But
that said, there are still themes of around the reality
of being black in America with songs like all Right
and the Black of the Barry, themes of evolution in
hood politics and Mortal Man, and plenty of more as
Kendrick Lamarshall's every layer of the ups and downs and
learning experiences that come as a black person in America,

(14:03):
which you could say he metaphorically guides us through that
evolution of a butterfly from the cocoon to the caterpillar
and to the glorious, graceful, unique butterfly. So I think
that set the same pretty well. I think it's about
time that we get out of the background now and
officially get into the breakdown of Kendrick Lamar's third studio album,
to pinp A Butterfly I mean, if you take those

(14:24):
lyrics and you pull them away from the music and
you put them up on the wall and someone had
to look at them, they would say, this is genius.
This is genius work. The album tips off with the
aforementioned track, Wesley's Theory, featuring George Clinton and Thundercat, and
we later realized that this is a bit of a
humorous jab at Wesley Snipes, who is known for facing

(14:46):
legal troubles in regard to tax evasion off rip. You
see that Parliament and Funkadelic funk legend George Clinton is
featured on this song. Like I said, so that tells
you instantly anytime you see George Clinton, you know that
song is gonna be funky and groovy. And I think
the same goes for the talented Thundercat. Now, once the
song starts, though, we hear a sample that fades in,
which is Jamaican singer Boris Gardner repeating the phrase every

(15:10):
never ignorant getting goals accomplished is a star, right before
asking who will deny that you and I and every
never ignorant getting goals accomplished is a star. Not only
does this point to the overall message Kendrick aims to
convey promoting the overall beauty of black people, but it
also is a great way to tip off an album
that explores how Black people are often treated as less

(15:33):
than in society. Who would deny that we are all stars?
Unfortunately plenty of people in prominent spaces that don't look
like us. Then there is an intro that more directly
nods to the album title, where we hear lyrics from
Joseph Weinberg. When the four corners of this cocoon collide,
You'll slip through the cracks, hoping that you'll survive. Gather
you're with, take a deep look inside? Are you really

(15:56):
who they idolize? To pimp a butterfly again? Other explores
that idea of black people as butterflies, referencing the period
of the life cycle right before the butterfly blossoms into
an adult. But notice how even the idea of slipping
through the cracks lines up with what I said about
the similarities with Tupac's rolls from Concrete Imagery. And then
the intro ends with yet another interesting question, are you

(16:19):
really who they idolize? And we can infer that the
answer is no, because the way black people are treated
often shows otherwise. Yet at the same time we could
say the answer is yes, because Black people have for
a long time been seen as threats or competition. They
want to pimp us because deep down they know how
valuable we are and how much influence we have, and

(16:39):
even with the subject of Wesley's theory in mind, one
way they can do that is by influencing us to
make bad financial decisions. So before we hear any lyrics
from any artist, Kendrick Lamar makes us ponder on two
questions out the Gate to keep us thinking now. Throughout
the song, Kendrick's underlying messages the importance of financial literacy,
especially for those that come from nothing. It can be

(17:00):
very easy to make plans on how to spend large
amounts of money as if there's no such thing as taxes.
Of course, those who make more money are the ones
that have to pay more in taxes, so both of
these factors upbringing lack of financial literacy become key reasons
why we've often seen many celebrities and athletes struggle with
the balance of saving and spending. After the first rendition

(17:23):
of the Hook, where Kendrick compares his relationship with music
to a lustful relationship that leads him empty. In the
first verse, we get a glimpse of the ignorance Kendrick
Lamar referred to in the Mass Appeal interview, where you
can essentially picture a young Kendrick wide eyed and anxious
to get his first taste of financial riches. As the
first line goes, when I get signed, Homie, I'm gonna

(17:45):
act a fool. Funny enough, notice, Kendrick says, when I
get signed, not when I get my first hit, not
when I drop my first album, not when I sell
out shows. He said when he gets signed, right, reflecting
that youthful eagerness that comes with realizing one's dream. And
it's understandable, right, we all have visions of what we

(18:05):
would do if we want a lot of red or
received a certain amount of money right now. Furthermore, Kendrick
lets us in on those visions throughout the verse in
lines like I'm gonna buy a brand new Caddy on Vogues,
trunk the Hood Up two times, duced Fae platinum on Everything,
Platinum on wedding ring right, skipping the line when I
get signed home, I'm gonna buy a strap straight from

(18:26):
the CIA. Set it on my lap, take a few
sixteen's to the hood, pass them all out on the block.
Was good. I'm gonna put the Compton swap meet by
the House, Republican run up, get socked out, hit the
press with a Cuban link on my neck. Uneducated, but
I got a million dollar check like that. So even
in just the first verse, that last line is everything uneducated,

(18:48):
but I got a million dollar check like that. When
you think about any celebrity that faced financial issues, most
of the time it was due to being uneducated on
their finances and whether they did a lot of loose
spending or we're doing dirty by a shady financial advisor.
It reveals a bigger issue of they themselves not being
educated or familiar with what was going on with their

(19:09):
finances how to manage their money, especially if they earn
more than the average person. And it's not their fault
because it isn't necessarily something that is consistently taught in schools.
You know, few people that come from the lower middle
class even and suddenly rise into a different tax bracket
are gonna immediately become and adapt to the responsibility of

(19:30):
managing a lot of money, right it's not all the
way their fault. You know. The education often comes by experience,
but unfortunately the lack of education forces a lot of
us to learn the hard way. And after Kendrick's first verse,
we hear the refrain from George Clinton and Thundercat for
the first time. We should never gave. We should never
gave Ninja's money, go back home, money, go back home.

(19:54):
We should never gave we should never gave Ninja's money.
Go back home, money, go back home. So a few
things with these lines. First, there's a nod to the
classic Chappelle's Show Rick James skit right, where we should
have never gave Ninja's money is derived from. Secondly, though,
there is money, as in someone being called money right
as a nickname, which we can apply that whoever we

(20:17):
is telling money or the rich individual to go back home,
a derogatory threat often said towards black people, right, go
back to Africa. So there's some connections there. But on
a deeper level, this refrain starts with we should have
never gave money. Not they like the Chappelle skit, So
it begs the question who is we? Given the context,

(20:40):
we is very likely the government, as opposed to the
music industry, though I can definitely see why you might
include the industry as an antagonist if you will. But
that theme actually shows up more in track two of
the album. But for now, As I was sitting with
Wesley's theory, I couldn't help but make the connection that
it's all fun and games until a brother or a
sister gets even a little bit of financial literacy. Right,

(21:01):
we have a long history of hurdling obstacles meant to
destroy us. Once we understood how much more important it
is that we take care of our bread, and we
became even bigger threats to the world because it would
rather see us use our money to hinder ourselves, not
be of positive influence. And after hearing Kendrick Lamar depict
the initial excitement that comes with earning a large amount

(21:23):
of money, he uses the second verse to address the
reality of having that much money, where he wraps from
the perspective of Uncle Sam aka as we know the
United States because they have the same initials, right, and
Uncle Sam tempts Kendrick or really anyone who earns a
lot of money to spend it. But first as a
break in the song and a segue into the second verse,

(21:45):
Doctor Dre has an appearance via cell phone audio where
he says, Yo, what's up is Dre? Remember the first
time you came out to the house, you said you
wanted a spot like mine. But remember, anybody can get it.
The hard part is keeping it. Body can get it,
But the hard part is keeping it. Funny enough, Dre
is talking about his house, but really you could say

(22:06):
the same about money. Earning money is great and fun
until you see everything you ever wanted. Then it becomes
harder to save it and invest it right, which Uncle
Sam expands on in verse two, where these are some
of the highlights that I took away. Were you want
you a house or a car for the acres? And
a mule, a piano or guitar anything. See my name
is Uncle Sam, I'm your dog. You can live at

(22:28):
the mall. So you'll notice that these lines are nearly
identical to what we later hear in the second verse
of all Right, which we'll get to later. But in
Wesley's theory, we hear Uncle Sam's temptation tactics as he
immediately lures Kendrick into believing two things. Number One, he
is his friend and two, he can get him anything
he wants. Of course, we are wise enough to know

(22:51):
that ain't true. In fact, peep how similar Uncle Sam
is to the devil in the Bible who tempted Jesus
in the wilderness, offering food when he was hungry fame
in the midst of the difficult circumstance and his isolation.
But towards the end of the verse, the temptation continues,
featuring a cool rhyme scheme from Kendrick before Uncle Sam

(23:12):
warns of what can happen when one is irresponsible with
their finances. Your horoscope is a Gemini two sides, so
you better cop everything two times, two coops, two chains,
two c notes. Too much ain't enough both we know Christmas.
Tell them what's on your wish list? Get it all
you deserve it, Kendrick. And when you hit the White
House do you But remember you ain't past economics in school,

(23:34):
and everything you buy taxes will deny. I'll Wesley snipe
you before thirty five. I know we haven't analyzed much
lyrically yet, but that changes now because I love the
jay Z twenty two to two's esque rhyme scheme right
from Kendrick there playing on the often double personality trait
that's associated with geminis, but of course it features homophones

(23:58):
of the number two and two as in addition to
More importantly, though, while it scratches the itch of the
inner bar nerve that's in both you and I, it
further elaborates on the encouragement and temptation Uncle Sam is
using to keep Kendrick in the trap. Get all the
luxuries you want, get to even it's no problem, But
keep in mind you aren't that financially literate. So the

(24:21):
more you buy and the more you own as a
businessman or a business woman, the more you'll owe me,
because if you can't keep up and pay your property
taxes on time, before you know it, you'll end up
like Wesley Snipes. Right also and even then right also
a clever way for Kendrick to illustrate the demise of
financial irresponsibility by using Wesley Snipe's name as an adjective

(24:42):
and a verb. Right, I'll Wesley Snipe you like yeah, yeah, man,
classic right there. But from Uncle Sam's perspective, the only
loser in this is you, and the longer I make
you feel like a winner, the quicker you lose, and
this is reflected in the bridge after this verse, where
I want to highlight two lines from Kendrick and George Clinton. Yeah,

(25:02):
looking down is quite a drop. Looking good when you're
on top. As I said earlier, it's all fun and
games at first until you realize how much you have
to lose. And then the song ends with the refrain
and outro, where we hear vocals from Anna Wise and
Kendrick's wife Whitney, who repeats the phrase tax man coming,
tax man coming, tax man coming. There's a lot in

(25:24):
this song funk, hip hop, education, warnings, bridges, intros, breaks, hooks,
outros like It's a very involved song, but one that
tips off the album in a strong way, and one
of those songs that uses good catching music to balance
out a more serious message. So there's my not so
brief summary of track one, Wesley's Theory, where out the

(25:45):
Gate Kendrick Lamar gives listeners a glimpse into the reality
of having the amount of money we often idolized, and
educate us on the importance of managing it. Wisely. The
relationship with money and even Uncle Sam actually continues into
the next track for Free but it's told through a
relationship between a man and a woman, yet another example

(26:05):
of Kendrick Lamar's storytelling genius. A large part of Kendrick's
genius comes in the title of this song, which I
can't say was intentional or not, but there's the theme
of being pimped, which follows the album's theme and yet
quite literally. This song in particular is free, not free
of charge per se, but free as in free time jazz.

(26:26):
Kendrick flawlessly replicates the signature no beat style of jazz
music heard back in the day with uptempo raps that
I believe perfectly suited his skill level. Now check it.
I had to explore to YouTube comments for this song,
and all you see is how fans believe that this
is one of his most underrated songs, largely because it's
an interlude, but also because of the depth it carries

(26:46):
in just a two minute song. It's definitely one of
those songs that you literally have to listen to over
and over and over and over again to try to
fully grasp the story being told. I know that was
my experience, and especially because I was trying to recap
an entire album and not just listen for entertainment. I
was struggling myself to connect the dots all on my own,

(27:08):
and I think that's the beauty of music and especially
hip hop. Though right, like, this album is ten years old,
and I still found myself like, what did he mean there?
What could this mean? What does that represent? How does
that fit with the album's theme? And after further research
and peeping all the theories and takeaways out there, it
seems as if the woman credited to Darlene Tibbs berating

(27:30):
Kendrick in the beginning and the end of the song
represents the music industry with lines like I don't know
why you trying to go big? You ain't nothing right.
Others believe that she could represent America's perspective on black people,
particularly particularly those that are music in sports right with
high pain careers, with lines like you ain't even buying

(27:50):
me no outfit for the fourth right the fourth as
in for the July Independence Day. So there's the Uncle
Sam connection. And you know, she also says I shouldn't
be messing with you anyway. I need a baller boss
type of dude. On the surface, when you listen to this,
her character reminds you of Yavette and baby Boy or
insert other character of a different Black hood classic movie

(28:12):
or show like that. But of course that's far from
the point for hip hop's playwright. All Right after repeatedly
telling him that he isn't just the type of dude
she should be with, Kendrick uses his verse to stand
up for himself. Throughout the song, he repeats a phrase
that because this is a family show, let's just say.
Kendrick makes it plain that, contrary to popular belief, he

(28:34):
has value and he isn't worthless. He refuses to be
pimped by whoever his antagonist is, America or the record industry.
In fact, he's looking at America like, my people have
paid our dues in this country and still get the
short end of the stick. Or say it's the music
side of the things right all this time, energy, creativity,
and y'all want to act like we as artists are

(28:54):
doing y'all a favor. So here's how Kendrick expressed these
ideas and or themes in the opening lines of his verse.
You're looking at me like it ain't a receipt, Like
I never made ends meat, eating your leftovers and raw
meat now similar to what I mentioned earlier. As you
listen to this song, you will catch the surface level
connections to what you would hear a pimp say. But
again he's confronting America slash the music industry. And it

(29:17):
continues with another extremely clever set of bars from Kendrick
living in captivity, raise my cap salary salary, telling me
green is all I need. Evidently all I seen was
spam and rossardines. Okay, okay, now off the bat, I
caught a couple connections. Number one, raise my cap salary.

(29:38):
I knew it was a play on salary cap in
professional sports, with Kendrick essentially saying, rather than having a
limit on his finances, he now has the money to spend.
And of course, matching the words salary and celery right
because they sound similar. Along with the color green, it
further emphasizes the idea of finances that he's talking about

(29:58):
money without directly saying money. And lastly, there's the food connection,
mentioning spam and ross sardines, alluding to his come up
to more healthier food like salary or more salary right
to come up in money. Awesome penmanship from Compton's own,
but of course, there's still a little bit more to this.
What I'm about to tell you is one of the

(30:19):
many times I almost stress myself out preparing this album review,
solely because of the overwhelming brilliance of Kendrick Lamar aka
mister Dougworth, or as I like to say, mister dug Worth.
You know, there is a verified annotator for this song
named James Dean Hickman on Genius, who is a poetry
editor editor. He's got a lot of great annotations for

(30:41):
this song in particular, but during this part he pointed
out the word captivity, to which most of us would
immediately think prisoner incarceration. Cool, But while referencing the idea
of salary cap in sports, he took it to another
level by mentioning how athletes that go to college and
become high draft picks see more money than their peers,
and Kendrick says, living in captivity raise my caps salary.

(31:04):
He may very well be saying that prison has a
similar effect on criminals and even rappers. For Hickman, the
better the reputation of a criminal, the better they faire
in the streets, the same way as entertainers are often
more marketable for having a rags to riches story to
show for themselves. Rappers often get increased publicity just from

(31:25):
going to prison. Think of all the countless mugshots that
became iconic in the culture, right Snoop, poc, left Eye,
ODB fifty cent. So when I read that, I was like, yo, Like,
just when I thought I caught the gist of the rhymes,
there was still more to be decoded. You know, just
incredible work from Kendrick and you know, shout out dope

(31:46):
analyzation from poets and fans like James Dean Hickman as
always feel free to share any of your thoughts as
well on the socials or in the comments if you're
watching on YouTube. While I understand a lot of people
like to reach for ideas that may not necessarily be
there in hip hop, and you know, we do gotta
nib stuff in the bud sometimes and help protect the artistry,
but I always wanted my platform to be more welcoming

(32:08):
and a little bit more of a safe space for
discussion and to allow fans like us to think out
loud and just process what we're listening to and share
what comes to our minds with our different world views
and things of that nature and process things together. So
you are absolutely more than welcome throughout this episode to
comment memories or lines that catch your ears. But moving forward,
I mean, there's just so many lines where Kendrick exposes

(32:30):
America and the music industry for their tactics on for Free,
I need forty acres and a mule, not a forty
ounce and a pit bull pity to food that made
the pretty and you prosper. First off, Kendrick does a
great job executing alliteration in his lyrics, especially fitting in
this jazz inspired song and album like he does that
a lot and I love that. And he just has

(32:51):
plenty of more lines that combine the life of a pimp,
the life of a black person in America, and an
artist in the music industry. Eventually, though, we get to
the end of the song where Kendrick lays the hammer
down and directly reveals his primary antagonists throughout the song,
Oh America, you bad blank, I picked Cotton and Mage Rich.
Now my tip ain't free. But of course he doesn't

(33:14):
get the last word, as the song ends with one
final statement from the woman in the beginning, I'm gonna
get my uncle Sam to beat you up. You ain't
no king. Even as Kendrick defends his worth, it seems
to mean nothing. It seems to me nothing to America,
which is what we unfortunately empathize with as black folks
in this country. We get the Uncle Sam reference yet again,
which is shared in the previous track. As I stated

(33:36):
at Wesley's theory, but you should also catch that the
very last line she says you ain't no King, which
leads right into track three, King Kunta. So already in
just the first three songs, we're getting tons of cohesion.
As I always say, concept albums used to be the
norm in music, and anybody that still reduces hip hop

(33:57):
to meaningless or purposeless music is just missing out genius work.
In just two songs so far, Kendrick has explored themes
around financial literacy, capitalism, the music industry, reparations, and more.
Let's see how the journey continues with King Kunta for
track three. Now, the title sticks out instantly because of
the name Kunta, which we know is in reference to
Kunta Kente from Alex Haley's groundbreaking novel Roots The Saga

(34:20):
of an American Family, which even became a TV mini
series A year later in nineteen seventy seven. From the
novel to film adaptations, Roots is a chilling story that
chronicles the life of hybrid fact and fictional character Kunta
Kente and his journey to freedom from slavery across the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Alex Haley actually based the character

(34:42):
on the life of one of his ancestors, as told
through family stories. One of the more chilling scenes in
the series is when Kunta gets half his foot chopped
off by slave catchers after an attempt to escape, an
event that Kendrick Lamar references in the chorus of this
song where you When I was walking? Now I run
the game, Got the whole world talking King Kunta. Everybody

(35:03):
want to cut the legs off of Kunta black Man
taking no losses? Oh yeah, where you and I was walking?
Now run the game, got the whole world talking King Kunta.
Everybody want to cut the legs off of When you
got the yams? What's the yams? So when you think
back to the end of the previous track for Free,
you realize Kendrick continues to claim his worth and success

(35:24):
and understands how he's at the point where people want
to bring him down. Now that he's on top. We
can observe how he paints the picture of this by
asking where you was when I was walking? You know
now that I run the game right run as in
he's in charge, top dog pun intended, and of course
using the word run to say that he's in full
stride in his career. Nobody cared as much when he

(35:46):
was still on the come up, but now he's found
a greater level of success. Everyone seems to have something
to say about it. Additionally, that's where the king part
of the title comes in, because Kendrick compares people wanting
to stop the black man's success to the slave ketcher
seeking to stop Kunta Kine from freedom, and he affirms
victory by saying, black man taking no losses. Furthermore, when

(36:08):
Kendrick says everybody want to cut the legs off him,
when you got the yams, he uses the first verse
to answer the question what's the yams? The yam is
the power that be. You can smell it when I'm
walking down the street. Now, context can reveal that Kendrick
must be talking about juice, or respect or authenticity. Kendrick
is so sure of himself it shows in his aura.

(36:29):
That theme of authenticity further reveals itself in the rest
of the verse as he calls out inauthenticity and rap
slash hip hop. I can dig rapping, but a rapper
with a ghostwriter, What the heck happened? I swore I
wouldn't tell. But most of y'all sharing bars like you
got the bottom bunk and a two man cell. Something's
in the water. And if I got a brown nose
for some gold, then I'd rather be a bum than

(36:51):
a baller. Okay, So a few things I want to
highlight here. First off, Amen Kendrick, Amen, brother, I understand
the idea that if authors and journalists have collaborators and editors,
why can't rappers do the same thing at the same time.
I've always been of the notion that there is just
something about crafting bars by yourself, performing those lines, perfecting

(37:16):
those lines by yourself because you wrote them, and being
able to say, yeah, I came up with that. That
was my imagination. That was me and God working together.
I wrote them, I put in the work, I perfected
the delivery. I came up with the scheme that came
from my brain. That's what makes the uniqueness of hip
hop so special, knowing that I use what God gave

(37:38):
me to create something nobody can duplicate. Kendrick addresses that
idea before delivering a dope punch line of most of
y'all sharing bars like You've got the bottom bunk and
a two man cell, as he compares having a ghostwriter
to having a salemate. Right, in particular, having the bottom
bunk and a sale is seen as more convenient. Kendrick
calls out rappers who are taking easy route in their music.

(38:02):
Then he doubles down by playing on colors, saying, if
I got a brown nose for some gold, then I'd
rather be a bum than a baller. So basically, Kendrick
ain't trying to buck his for success, contrary to some
of his peers. You know, gold could mean a gold record,
a gold chain, you know, rewards often associated among rappers,
or could generally just mean success. Right. Either way, it

(38:24):
fits with the word choice of brown nose. Kendrick's just
got too much respect for himself to take the elevator
to the top floor. You know, Homie is down to
take the stairs now. Later on in verse two, Kendrick
continues building off that idea of having yams, mentioning how
he desires to go back to his hood and specifically
look for his enemies and kind of flaunt and you know,

(38:47):
show up in front of his haters and flecks a
little bit. Then in the longer verse three, he continues
to proclaim his spot as king of the proverbial hip
hop throne before ending it reflecting on his journey and
stamping his success Limo tenant with the gold plates straight
from the bottom. This the belly of the beast, from
a peasant to a prince to a blank king. So again,

(39:08):
Kendrick Lamar uses a funky instrumental, this time to relay
a message of dominance while affirming not just himself, but
Black people as a whole. One of the first instances
of Kendrick detailing how we are seen in America and
attaching positive affirmations to combat that. While we will eventually
hear similar themes and affirmations once we get further into
the album, Kendrick uses the next song, track four, Institutionalized,

(39:32):
to address his feelings balancing his fame and success with
the poverty he remembers experiencing as a youth. So you'll
realize how much Kendrick plays with metaphorical song titles right
Wesley's theory King Kunta Institutionalized and the next track actually
track five these walls. Wesley's theory was more about financial literacy.

(39:53):
A takeaway from King Kunta could be not letting anyone
prevent you from achieving your goals. And now we have
institutionalized where There can be many perspectives on this, like
how Kendrick compares being trapped in the prison system to
being trapped in Compton despite the success he at this
time has started to amass. We hear Kendrick battling with
this in the intro of the song, as heard through

(40:14):
the first four lines, What money got to do with it?
When I don't know the full definition of a rap image,
I'm trapped inside the ghetto and I ain't proud to
admit it. Institutionalized, I keep running back for a visit,
hold up, And after he repeats those last two lines,
he says this, I could still kill me A never
ignorant getting goals accomplished? So what so at least for me,

(40:36):
there are four lines that stuck out the most. What
money got to do with it? I'm trapped inside the ghetto.
I keep running back for a visit, and I could
still kill me A never ignorant getting goals accomplished. I
think Theeds all connect the dots to the story Kendrick
is trying to tell. It's a classic case of you
can take him out the hood, but you can't take
the hood out him. It's not about the money, and

(40:58):
it's not really about the location. Even mentally, Kendrick struggles
to let go of the mindset he adopted in his youth,
as revealed with the very last line, and you have
to think when you feel trapped, your mind starts to wander,
dreaming of a future freedom. So while this next part
of the song features vocals from Anna Whys and Blau,
which really reminds me of the kind of vocals you'd

(41:18):
hear from Prince, I thought for like sonically, if that's
the word, this part seems to further reflect the thoughts
and ideas of either Kendrick or a character who feels trapped.
If I was the President, I'd pay my mama's rent,
free my homies in them, bulletproof my Chevy doors, lay
in the White House, and get high lord whoever thought
master take the chains off me. So you'll notice that

(41:39):
these are more personal matters as opposed to global ones
when you think of presidency right. Usually when we think
of what we would do if we had this kind
of power, we tend to think of bigger societal issues
like homelessness, prison reform, access to healthcare right. But these
are a lot more personal. And at first what came
to mind from me was the aspect of of the

(42:00):
American dream. Hence the last line, master take the chains
off me. I felt like it kind of served as
a plea to say, let me be free so I
can do these things. It shouldn't have to take me
being president for my mom to pay her rent to
free my homies from jail to live in a safer environment.
But then, after sitting with the song some more, I
started to think that this entire song is really about

(42:23):
being trapped in a poverty mindset. Again, this is my opinion,
This is my takeaway that mindset has a grip on
the character he describes in this song, and that's really
what Kendrick urges listeners to be free from. Again, I
do think there's room for a lot of interpretations here,
so let me know what you think as well. But
after plenty of thoughts, that's the overarching theme that I

(42:43):
ended with, how to escape the poverty mindset where even
at your best or most successful, you can't seem to
shake the mindset you developed before that point. And part
of the reason why one may not be able to
shake that mindset is because they may still be even
within close proximity of the people who still have it.
And I think in the end, that's the story being told,

(43:04):
you know. Verse one gradually reveals a conversation between Kendrick
and a friend he took to the BT Awards, and
verse two we get more of the friends thought process
throughout the interaction. Instead of being inspired in the midst
of all the stars and the fame that's happening at
the BET Awards, the friend is strongly tempted to steal
valuables like jewelry and things from the celebrities, revealing the

(43:27):
mindset his environment has programmed him to have. So let's
get into some of those highlights, and verse one Kendrick
wraps be all you can be true. But the problem
is dream only a dream if work don't follow it.
This is why I've had thoughts of the American dream
because Kendrick kind of alludes to the fact that America
has often sold black people the idea of the American dream,

(43:49):
only to keep them in systems or thought patterns meant
to keep us down. Kendrick calls it out by saying, yes,
it's true that we should aim to be our best sales.
We should reach for the sky, so to speak. But
if if we blindly dream and fail to put in
the work to see them come to fruition, they won't manifest.
Then at the end of the verse, he says the
scene to eventually usher in the secondary character in the story.

(44:11):
But something came over you once I took you to
the BET Awards. You're looking at artists like they harvested
so many rollies around you, and you want all of them.
Somebody told me you think about snatching jewelry again. Because
the friend has suddenly entered an environment that once seemed
unattainable for him, his response to it reflects the mindset
he carried leading up to the event. His default setting

(44:33):
is to take what he wants, not work for it,
because the idea of having those luxuries has been glorified,
and this idea is further reflected in the chorus from Blau,
who repeats this don't change until you get up and
wash you hotail homie. This simply means that you can't
expect your circumstances to change if you are unwilling to
do the work necessary to change them, which we covered earlier,

(44:55):
and it eventually leads to the second verse, which details
the friend's point of view, who starts out describing the
surrounding temptation. What am I supposed to do when I'm
looking at walking licks, the constant big money talk about
the mansion and foreign whips, obviously stemming from the term
hit a lick. The friend describes the celebrities not as people,
but as walking targets. After further description, the last chunk

(45:18):
of the verse reveals his motives and thought process behind
his urge to steal from the rich. One more sucker
waving with a flashy wrist. My defense mechanism tell me
to get him quickly because he got it. It's a recession,
then why the heck? He had? King of diamonds, No
more living poor meet my faux fo when I see him,
put the per diem on the floor. Now, Kendrick, no,

(45:39):
they you're coworkers, But it's gonna take a lot for
this pistol. Go to cold Turkey. Now I can watch
his watch on the TV and be okay, but see
I'm on the clock once that watch landed in La.
Remember steal from the rich and giving it back to
the poor. Well that's me at these awards. Ooh, so
a few lines to impact here, Okay, the first one.
It's a recession, then why the heck? At King of Diamonds,

(46:02):
the friend is justifying his actions by presuming that if
a potential target is rich enough to go to a
popular strip club in the middle of a recession, it
must mean he's got plenty of money to spare. Additionally,
there were some clever lines from Kendrick that featured wordplay
around the word watch. Right. I'm sure you caught that
where he says, now I can watch his watch on
the TV and be okay, but see I'm on the

(46:24):
clock once that watch landing in La. Sneaky crafty worked
from Kendrick there, But of course, in the end, the
friend straight up declares his motive, once again justifying his
actions by saying he's merely trying to quote unquote eat
the rich. A revolutionary message to combat capitalism, And after
another rendition of the chorus from Belaal, we hear an

(46:45):
outro from Snoop Dogg, who gives an extended version of
his bridge from earlier in the song. And once upon
a time, in a city so divine called Westside Compton,
there stood a little never ignorant getting goals accomplished. He
was five foot something, dazed in confused, talented, but still
under the neighborhood rules. You could take your boy out
the hood, but you can't take the hood out. The

(47:06):
homie took his show money, stash it into mosy wosey,
Hollywood's nervous forget you good night, Thank you much for
your service. So Snoop reiterates the same idea I mentioned earlier. Right,
he was five foot something, dazed and confused, talented, but
still under the neighborhood ruse. You can't take your boy
out the hood, but you can take the hood out
the homie. At the end of the day, the love

(47:27):
of luxury, the love of money, got the best of
the kid, and despite using his gifts to earn the
same rewards he coveted, he did what he saw growing
up and stole it. And this is ultimately what Kendrick
is talking about and institutionalized how folks can get trapped
under a mindset and the thought patterns that do more
harm than good. This song almost made my top three.

(47:49):
It was close, almost made my top three. I might
put it at like five as I speak right now,
but because I love how it sounds, and I love
the more unique rapping style that Kendrick display and of
course the depth that it carries. It took me a
little bit longer to take notes on this song because
there was just so much to grasp, and quite honestly,
like I said, I was fighting the process of giving

(48:10):
you something authentic and insightful at the same time. Again,
this comes with the kind of hip hop we enjoy, right,
This comes with what I've established with this podcast. I
can't always give my insight squeaky clean. Sometimes I struggle sometimes,
you know, I take notes and realize halfway through that
there's a different meaning than I initially thought. So I'm
thinking with you right in real time. So rather than

(48:31):
dust the process, I try to be authentic and you
be like, you know what, let me show that this
is every every side of hip hop. You know, I
could easily sit up here and act like I'm an expert,
but no, like life is about learning and hip hop
is a great tool to do that. So and I
think it's a reminder too right to for you and
I that it's important to absorb the music and not

(48:53):
just rush through it. But moving on, we go from
one metaphorical track and concept right into another with track five,
These Walls Now once again. This track features an a
wise bellile and thundercat as Kendrick uses the classic expression
of if these Walls could talk to tell the story
of how he became intimate with a woman who had

(49:13):
a relationship with a man who's in jail for killing
Kendrick's friend. Yes, you heard that right. Kendrick is seeking
revenge through his intimacy with the woman, knowing that inmate
won't be thrilled to see his girl with Kendrick lamar
and throughout the song, These Walls has several meanings, a
primary one being the female anatomy, another one being a

(49:33):
prison sale, and the third one being the human brain
or conscience. If you're a visual learner like me, I
highly recommend watching the video for this song. Kendrick and
Tde made a comedic short film for this song. I'm
sure you remember where you can see how everything plays out.
It's yet another example of how strong Kendrick's use of
imagery is, not just with his words, but when it

(49:54):
comes to the music videos as well. Again, while I
prefer to tread lightly on these subjects, they are part
of the human experience, and I think these are some
classic Kendrick bars that showcase the skill, the imagery, and
the metaphors that exist in his arsenal. For example, Kendrick
actually describes his feelings while with the woman as well

(50:16):
as what she is feeling, despite not saying a word.
These walls are vulnerable exclamation, interior, pink color coordinated. I
interrogated every nook and cranny. I mean, it's still amazing.
Before they couldn't stand me. These walls want to cry tears.
These walls happier when I'm here. So as you can hear,
there is some specific word choice that describes the setting,

(50:38):
words that describe the feelings, and the last line actually
further revealing the situation at hand, as Kendrick says, the
woman seems to be more at ease, more at relief,
more happy with Kendrick than her baby. Daddy right. Furthermore,
Kendrick uses his fourth verse to speak more on the
perspective of the inmate and how his mind is on revenge,

(50:58):
with lines such as if your walls could talk, they
tell you is too late your destiny, accepted your faith
while telling you that commissary is low. Race wars happening,
no calling Coeo, no calling your mother to save you
killed my homeboy and God spared your life. Dumb criminal
got indicted the same night. So when you play this song,
rewind the first verse about me abusing my power so

(51:20):
you can hurt about me and her in the shower
whenever she aroused, about me and her in the after
hours of the morning, about her baby daddy currently serving life,
and how she think about you until we meet up
at night. Oooh. So again, playing with the ideas of
walls and unspoken situations, Kendrick tells a very detailed story
in an extremely creative way, one of his biggest strengths

(51:42):
as a songwriter and why I always address him as
hip hop's playwright because his gift to show and tell
at elite levels is off the charts, off the charts.
But once again, this is another one of those songs
where the surface level music and the descriptive lyrics are
two totally different experiences. Like this is easily one of
those songs that can hit at a party or club,

(52:03):
but once you really listen, there is a bigger story
being told. It's versatile in that way. The best musicians
are able to do this. I've said this before. I
immediately think of Missy Elliott, obviously, Kendrick Lamar outside of
hip hop, Michael Jackson, Prince, they were masters at that
and hopefully I was able to highlight that ability with
this song. But that brings us to track number six You.

(52:27):
So another detail you'll notice on this album is that
Kendrick plays with a lot of opposites. We had the
for Free interlude and in a couple songs we'll hear
for sale. We have the track you right Now, which
is the opposite to one of his biggest singles, I,
where in that song we hear Kendrick repeat I love Myself. So,
as you can imagine, if thinking opposites, Kendrick uses you

(52:50):
to express the more negative side of the human experience
with themes of insecurity and low confidence, much like how
he affirms himself on I he's talking to himself on
you before it eventually became a popular meme to use
on social media. The song starts with Kendrick screaming, which
we can look at as the moment when those inner
feelings that often get suppressed for so long finally come

(53:12):
to the surface. After this, Kendrick repeats the phrase loving
you is complicated. We always hear about the importance of
self love, but especially back then, it was just starting
to become socially acceptable for people to talk about the
other side of that journey. Kendrick uses this song to
go into that darker side that we often pretend isn't there.
Here's a section of the first verse that really stuck

(53:34):
out to me. But you ain't nothing. I'm convinced your
tolerance nothing special. What can I blame you for? Man?
I can name several situations. I'll start with your little
sister Bacon, a baby inside just a teenager? Where your patience?
Where was your antennas? Where was the influence you speak of?
You preached in front of one hundred thousand, but never
reached her. I tell you a failure. You ain't no leader.

(53:56):
I never liked you. Forever despise you. I don't need you,
the world don't need you. Don't let them deceive you.
It's important to note that as Kendrick raps this, he's
more aggressive, even raising his voice at some points, and
especially around the mid twenty tens, and sometimes even still
to this day. I remember there was always critique about
Kendrick's voice. There have been some peers of mine I

(54:18):
can say from personal experience who I noticed didn't really
gravitate towards Kendrick simply because of his voice, essentially eluding
that he was extra I feel like, but I always
appreciated it because it showed just how much he tapped
into the performance side of hip hop. Like I say,
hip hop's playwright man, Kendrick Lamar recognizes every single detail,

(54:41):
big and small, of what it means to be successful
and what it means to be an impactful musician. Forget
just hip hop, just a musician period. So a lot
of the music he makes, especially songs like this, you're
supposed to feel the emotions. If he wrapped it regular,
it wouldn't necessarily bring the impact he's trying to bring
into the world. As a performer. He has always understood

(55:04):
that assignment and that is what has separated him from
his peers. Now, looking at the lyrics, we can understand
how loud the critic is inside Kendrick right, how he
blames himself for his sister being pregnant as a teen,
How he manages to influence thousands of fans, but somehow
Someway didn't seem to reach her, couldn't manage to reach
his sister in the same way, and so he beats

(55:26):
himself up about it, even to the point of convincing
himself that he doesn't have a place in this world.
And then after this verse, we are brought back to
the repetition of loving you is complicated. Loving you is complicated,
this time with background vocals from Scissa and eventually leading
to a post chorus with Kendrick, Sisa, and Blao that
says loving you, loving you, not loving you one hundred proof.

(55:50):
I can feel your vibe and recognize that you're ashamed
of me. Yes, I hate you too. So the last
two lines further illustrate that Kendrick and his conscience are
on the same page. They hate each other. Kendrick hates
that side of himself, and obviously that inner critic continues
to brate Kendrick. They hate each other. After this, though,
we get into a transition period where there is gradual

(56:12):
build up of vocals credited to who are I that
say loving you ain't really complicated? What do I gotta
do to get to you? In the midst of these lines,
there's a skit of a housekeeper and I may butcher
this name, I apologize, but it's credited to Jessica Vielmas,
who knocks on Kendrick's door and is speaking Spanish, and
if translated, we can learn that she's urgently trying to

(56:34):
get into Kendrick's room to clean it, telling him that
there isn't much time I need to get in your room.
While you would like to think that this would mark
a turning point in the song, it actually sets the
scene for a beat switch and starts off the first
of two verses where Kendrick continues to struggle with his
negative thoughts and feelings to the point where he is
isolated in that hotel room, you know, drinking his pain away.

(56:56):
And in the first verse of after that beat switch,
once again, Kendrick is caught in the trap of self
blame for the murder of one of his best friends.
Growing up, Your trials and tribulations a burden. Everyone felt it,
everyone heard it. Multiple shots, corners crying out. You was deserted.
Where was your intendas again, where was your presence? Where
was your support? That you pretend you ain't no brother,

(57:18):
You ain't no disciple, You ain't no friend a friend,
Never leave Compton for profit or leave his best friend,
little brother. You promise you'd watch him before they shot him,
and later the verse ends, you even face timed instead
of a hospital visit. Guess you thought he'd recover well.
Third surgery. They couldn't stop the bleeding for real. Then
he died. God himself will say you fail, you ain't try.

(57:41):
So we see the battle that Kendrick is struggling with,
and I think it reveals something important that Kendrick deeply
cares about his community and his integrity. His inner critic
is preventing him from seeing that truth. That Kendrick in
fact does care deeply about his people and what goes
on outside of him being a musician, and that it's

(58:03):
good that he hasn't let his success force him to
turn a blind eye away from his home, even in
the midst of likely not wanting to see his friend
in a critical state in person, he at least sought
to face time, but of course his inner critic is
berating him, trying to tell him that he could have
and should have done more. His inner voice is also
trying to convince him that God would consider him a

(58:24):
failure for not being around to protect his friend, basically
pulling that card. You know, if you did things differently,
they would still be here. That's what the enemy, the
inner critic, loves to do, convince us that bad things
are our fault and that we are in control, that
we so much to the point that we can prevent
certain outcomes from happening. Unfortunately, that's how it is. Sometimes

(58:46):
we beat ourselves up because deep down we wish things
were different. And it's important to note God doesn't call
his children by their failures, so that's a quick clue
that the voice is coming from somewhere else. Kendrick struggles
continue in these where he opens with this sequence, I
know your secrets. Mood swings is frequent. I know depression

(59:06):
is resting on your heart for two reasons. I know
you and a couple block boys ain't been speaking y'all,
darned ne or beefing. I see it, and you're the reason.
And if this bottle could talk, I cry myself to sleep.
Everything is your fault. And eventually we get to the
end where Kendrick details the reality that nobody is immune
to the inner struggles of life, no matter the wealth

(59:27):
or public status. And if I told your secrets, the
world will know. Money can't stop a suicidal weakness. This
song reminds us that everybody is going through something. I'm
sure most of us wouldn't think an artists as successful
as Kendrick Lamar would be going through something like this.
But at the end of the day, he's human too.
He has made mistakes, he has regrets. He ain't shooting
one hundred percent from the field. None of us are.

(59:49):
And what I like about this line in particular is
that it is essentially another way to say the truth
will come to light. If Kendrick let people in, they
would see just how much fame and money doesn't heal
his trauma. Certainly, a deeper song from Kendrick, a more
emotional song from Kendrick, a more introspective and vulnerable song
from him. But as he put it in an interview

(01:00:10):
with Rolling Stone, when talking about I. If you don't
attack it, it will attack you. If you sit around mopen,
feeling sad and stagnant, is gonna eat you alive. This
is the part of Kendrick's story where the depression was
eating him alive. Thankfully, though, we'll get to see how
he overcomes it with I later on. But in the meantime,

(01:00:30):
speaking of overcoming, we finally get to explore a song
pretty much line by line with the seventh song Alright,
which cracked the second spot on my Top three favorite
songs from the album. Alright, as we know, is one
of Kendrick Lamar's biggest and important songs in his discography.
Like I mentioned in the intro, it came at a
time where I was a teenager and started growing in

(01:00:52):
awareness of how people like me unfortunately get treated in
this world. But this song gave so much hope and
positivity during that time, and it's no surprise that it
has remained one of my favorites from Kendrick Lamar to
this day. In fact, if you're tapped in, you may
remember that I once collaborated with my brothers over at
the Gimmick Infringement podcast Shout Out bradon Tyler. Me and

(01:01:13):
ty collaborated on a written piece where we shared our
top five songs of the twenty tens, and Alright was
number one for me. If you would like to read
that full piece, I'll be sure to link that in
the show notes of this episode, but I wanted to
share an excerpt from my writing because it's very fitting
for today's occasion. Kendrick Lamar decided to do what hip

(01:01:33):
hop especially does best, give a voice to the voiceless.
But this didn't just come with a voice. Kendrick gave
us hope. We gonna be all right. We've been hurt,
we've been down, face with the reality to move on,
but with nowhere to go, we are no stranger to
bad times. But God got us, He always has. We
Gonna be all right. Art is a great way to

(01:01:55):
bring hope and unity when all feels lost. Artists like
Nina Simone, Arvin Gay, and Bob Marley come to mind,
and in the summer of twenty fifteen, Kendrick added his
name to the illustrious list. Alright features genuine emotion and
thoughts from Kendrick Lamar, thoughts of frustration, but also thoughts
of hope and even in the music video. The joy
on the faces of Kendrick and his peers are visual

(01:02:16):
examples of that hope that has always been one of
Black people's biggest strengths. Even at our worst, we can smile,
even when we are hurt. We find a way to
keep pushing why Because it's never just about us, It's
about the future generation. And Kendrick Lamar understood his assignment.
He snatched that torch of responsibility for hip hop and
proceeded to give us an anthem that will remain timeless

(01:02:37):
for years to come. When we felt like throwing in
the towel, Kendrick helped bring us back to life that
is hip hop when it becomes bigger than one's own career,
when it serves a purpose far bigger than what they
can imagine. Anytime somebody asked me about all right, I
would hope something like that would come to mind, because
like this song, like I said, it just represents so

(01:02:58):
much hope, especially considering the kind of song that you was.
But man, let's get into it. Starting with the intro
All's My Life. I has to fight homie, All's my life.
Ah hard times like y'ah bad trips like y'ah Nazareth.
I'm jacked up, homie, you jacked up. But if God
got us, then we gonna be all right. The big

(01:03:20):
takeaway from the intro is that Kendrick mentions Nazareth where
we can make a connection to Jesus of Nazareth. In
the Bible, Nazareth was a town that was often disregarded
and seen as less than, which made it the perfect
place for the son of God to spend a majority
of his childhood at that This is why the next
two lines make sense, as Kendrick basically says, well, if

(01:03:40):
we so jacked up, but God is within us, we
gonna be all right. If He's with us, we should
be cool. This leads to further affirmation from Pharrell, who's
in charge of the chorus. We gonna be all right,
We gonna be all right, We gonna be all right.
Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Were gonna
be all right, We gonna be all right. Huh, we

(01:04:01):
gonna be all right. We gonna be all right. Do
you hear me? Do you feel me? We gonna be
all right. I love this because it has that picked
me up sentiment to it, right, like it's affirmative with
its repetition, but Pharrell is yearning for our attention by saying,
do you hear me? Do you feel me? Let it sink,
believe it. We gonna be all right. I'm goa drill

(01:04:23):
it into your head until you believe it. We gonna
be all right. Then we get into kendricks first verse,
where he immediately starts addressing the reality of what goes
on in America. Huh and when I wake up, I
recognize you looking at me for the pay cut, bahamicidey
looking at you from the face down with mac Alevin
even boom with the base down. So a few things first.
Kendricks starts with when I wake up, which, funny enough,

(01:04:46):
all these years later, I never thought of it this way,
but the phrase stay woke became instructions to follow to
encourage awareness of police brutality and discrimination. So I thought
it was a great start to the verse to say
when I wake up, as I become more aware of
what's going on, I can peep that jobs may discriminate
against me and hire me or hire me because they

(01:05:08):
know they'll pay me less money, or in terms of
police brutality, they're looking at us. One way they see
us as a threat or a target, but in turn,
a homicide charge is facing them. So then Kendrick plays
on that by asking what Mac eleven even boomed with
the base down in a bigger picture, this is about suppression, right,
similar to what is used to suppress the sound of

(01:05:29):
a gunshot. Oftentimes cricket police would prefer their brutality to
be swept under the rug. But Kendrick continues his verse,
looking more at his internal struggles as opposed to global
ones scheming, and let me tell you about my life.
Painkillers only put me in the twilight where pretty women
in Benjamin is the highlight. Now tell my mama, I
love her, but this is what I like. Lord knows

(01:05:51):
twenty of them in my chevy. Tell them all to
come and get me, reaping everything I sold some my
karma cove in heavy, no preliminary hearings on my record.
I'm a gangster in silence for the record. Huh. So
Kendrick confesses his vices as he struggles to indulge in painkillers.
Women money right of course, Benjamin meaning money right. But

(01:06:11):
hence the contrast of painkillers putting them in the twilight
or the darkness, and his highlights being women and the
abundance of money. Either way, he recognizes that all three
of these vices are fickle and that his over indulgence
may come back to bite them, and at the end
of the verse he seems to accept that fate before
ushering in the pre hook to reveal he won't let
it keep him down. Tell the world I know is

(01:06:34):
too late. Boys and girls, I think I've gone cray
drown inside my vices all day. Won't you please believe
when I say? Wouldn't you know? We been hurt, been
down before, Homie, when our pride was low, looking at
the world like where do we go? Homie? And we
hate Pope Poe one the killer's dead in the street
for show, Homie. I'm at the Preacher's door. My knees

(01:06:57):
getting weak and my gun might blow, But we going
be all right. When you think about everything Kendrick has
rapped about so far, it actually makes more sense by
the time we get to the end of the song,
as again, there is some connection to the previous song You,
where Kendrick flaws and Awe chooses to keep his head high,
So there is some kind of dual meaning here. Right.

(01:07:17):
On one hand, it's more personal for Kendrick as he
chooses to stay afloat despite his flaws. It encourages those
with more internal struggles to keep going. But on the
other hand, it's also a rally cry for black folks
to stand tall and have faith in the midst of
our unrest. We are strangers to adversity. We've been lost, hopeless,
or out of cross rods before. But still, even as

(01:07:39):
Kendrick is getting weak from praying and pleading with God
and even contemplates not being here anymore, he chooses hope
that the future will be better. After Pharrell's chorus once again,
we then get into verse two, where Kendrick starts what
you want You a house? You a car for the acres,
and a mule, a piano or guitar. Anything. See my name, Lucy,
I'm your daughter. You can live at the mall. Remember

(01:08:03):
verse two of Wesley's Theory, where Kendrick started off the
verse the exact same way, but instead of Uncle Sam,
now we get Lucy, which in this story is actually
short for Lucifer or the devil, the enemy of God
and his people. So similar to how Uncle Sam tried
to tempt Kendrick to believe, and he was on his side.
Lucy does the same exact thing. And alright, and just

(01:08:26):
like I do sometimes on here. You know, we gotta
wrap the iconic moments. Okay, so when you know this part,
you feel free to wrap it with me wherever you're
listening or watching, because you know we can't wrap it
no other way. I can see the evil. I can
tell that. I know it's illegal. I don't think about it.
I deposit every other zero thinking of my partner putting
candy painted on the wrigle, digging in my pocket. Ain't
a profit big enough to feed you every day? My

(01:08:47):
logic get another dollar just to keep you in the presence,
to get you go. Ah. I don't talk about it,
be about it every day. I sequel. If I got
a thing, you know, you got to heaven, I could
reach it. I try, man, I try. I get it
a little eight out of ten. Get I give it
a little eight out of ten. But of course, just
for the breakdown, you know, I had to rap it, caball,
you know, I had to wrap it. But again, line

(01:09:09):
by line, right, I can see the evil. I can
tell it. I know it's illegal. I don't think about it.
I deposit every other zero, thinking of my partner, put
the candy paintent on the regal, digging in my pocket.
Ain't a profit big enough to feed you every day?
My logic, get another dollar just to keep you in
the presence of your chico Ah. I don't talk about it,

(01:09:30):
be about it every day. I sequel. If I got it,
then you know you got it. Heaven I can reach you.
So again, this is all from the perspective of the devil.
He tells Kendrick that he can see evil because he
is evil and knows the consequences. It reminds me of
how if you're a believer, we always hear how the
devil will sell you a sin but leave out the consequences.

(01:09:51):
I know it's illegal. I don't think about it. And
even the following line, if we're connecting Wesley's theory in
all right, thinking of my partner, Uncle Sam put the
candy Peyton, put the candy peintent on the regal. So
Lucy's like, yeah, Kendrick, go ahead and spend that money.
My boy uncle Sam was telling you about. Go spend
that pimpy o ride. Do the most. The devil continues

(01:10:14):
digging in my pocket. Ain't a profit big enough to
feed you? Every day? My logic, get another dollar just
to keep you in the presence of your Chico boy
in Spanish, to keep you in the presence of your boy.
So to me, these lines signify greed. It's a never
ending cycle of wanting more. Something Lucy has already hit
to he or she in this case, knows that Kendrick

(01:10:36):
would have to keep succumbing to the devil's temptations to
keep him around, not just for himself but even Uncle Sam.
With the idea of financial greed and materialism in mind,
I thought of it like feeding a slot machine. As
long as you get desired outcomes, you will want to
keep trying your luck slash fortune. Likewise, as long as
Kendrick feeds into the devil's schemes, Lucy will have him

(01:10:57):
right where he wants them. It seems to be battle
between Kendrick and Lucy, partnering with Uncle Sam as they
influence him to abuse his finances, but at the end
of the verse, Kendrick seems to snap out of it,
shouting out his deceased homies and acknowledging his purpose behind
his music. Pat Dog, Pet Dog, Pat Dog, my dog.
That's all Big Back and Chad. I trap the bag

(01:11:18):
for y'all. I wrap I black on track, so rest
ashore up my rights, my wrongs. I write till I'm
right with God. Oooh, Kendrick, May he crafty with it? Man,
he's crafty with it. Kendrick ends with some dope wordplay
mentioning how he blacks out on tracks or goes crazy
in the booth, writing his wrongs as in his lyrics,
but also writing his wrongs as in making up for

(01:11:41):
his mistakes until he's right or in good judgment with God,
which again further points to the theme of the song,
as Kendrick acknowledges that he'll take the good with the
bad as long as he aims to be in heaven
the reward of ultimate judgment by God. And after another
rendition of the pre chorus and main chorus, the song
ends with an outro from Kendrick and Thundercat. I keep

(01:12:02):
my head up high, I cross my heart and hope
to die. Loving me is complicated too, afraid of a
lot of changes. I'm all right, and you're a favorite
dark knights in my prayers. So in a mixture of
what we've heard In You and all Right, Kendrick vows
to keep his head up in the midst of his challenges,
understanding that through the ups and downs, he'll be all

(01:12:24):
right in the end. So while many of us have
attributed this song to the social injustice often seen in
black communities worldwide, there is also plenty of introspection and
ways we can internalize this song with our own circumstances
and struggles. Either way, the message is the same. If
we keep our eyes up and trust in God's guidance,
provision and receive his grace, will be all right. Not

(01:12:45):
to say that we remain passive or stuck in bad habits,
but more so that we believe in better days and
that those days will come as long as His hand
is on our lives. Now, as we reach the halfway
point of the album, it's time for another interlude. And again,
as I said earlier after hearing for Free and track two,
it's time for sale with track eight. So in for Free,

(01:13:06):
we heard Kendrick run with the pimp centric idea and
explore the worth of black folks in America and to
some degree artists in the music industry. In that song,
we hear him constantly declare his value, but now in
for sale, we get another side of this where the
character Lucy returns from all Right. Primarily heard in the
second verse, Lucy once again pleads for Kendrick to see

(01:13:26):
the value they bring to his life, despite how detrimental
they can be to him, and with the title in mind,
Kendrick Lamar's main idea in this song is how the
devil often tempts us to let go of our morals
and values in favor of personal gain, otherwise known as
selling one's soul. Now creatively, for lack of a better term,
I would say this is more of a trippy song.

(01:13:47):
Malile Sizza and Preston Harris their contributions bring the Lucy
character to life with the kind of alluring sense of
temptation that comes with their tactics. Another detail I thought
was cool about this song was how throughout the intro
and the chorus, there are parts where Lucy says I
want you, and anytime the artists sing that part I

(01:14:09):
want you, it's more exaggerated than other words and phrases
in the song to reflect that eerie desire that Lucy
has to trap people in their schemes so similar to
previous songs. Verse one features Kendrick recalling a moment with Lucy.
I remember you took me to the mall last week. Baby,
you look me in the eyes about four or five
times till I was hypnotized. Then you clarify that I

(01:14:31):
want you. You said, Charine ain't got nothing on Lucy,
I said, you crazy. Roses are red, violence are blue.
But me and you both pushing up daisies if I
want you. Ooh. So you'll notice that Kendrick says that
he was hypnotized, further depicting the effects Lucy has on him,
and it even got to the point where Lucy, associated

(01:14:52):
as a woman, compares herself to Charine, the girl Kendrick
expresses feelings for in the previous in his previous album
Good Kid, Mad City. Uh uh not you putting yourself
on Charaine level. That's insane. So she playing them tricks
with him, right, Like I even know yo yo, you
know yo yo yo O g bouth you know, I
know everything. So I think that that's a dope connection

(01:15:14):
there from Kendrick. But we see that Lucy persists right
with with the classic roses are red, violence, our Blue poem,
only for it to end in a not so sweet way,
saying that her and Kendrick will go down together, as
the phrase pushing up daisies is associated with death, so
it's really nice intentional wordplay from Kendrick there, connecting two

(01:15:35):
different floral expressions throughout the song, though we hear this
phrase a part of the chorus, which represents Lucy's mission. Now, Baby,
when I get you, get you, get you, get you,
I'm gonna go hit the throttle with you, smoking Lokan,
poking that Daja till I'm idle with you because I
want you. Basically, she will go through any and all
lengths to be with Kendrick because she wants to do

(01:15:57):
more more than be with him. She wants his soul.
And Kendrick uses the second verse to highlight this, where
I actually want to go over most of the verse.
My name is Lucy Kendrick. You introduce me, Kendrick. Usually
I don't do this, but I see you and me Kendrick.
Lucy give you no worries. Lucy got a million stories
about these rappers that I came after when they was boring.

(01:16:18):
Lucy gonna fill your pockets Lucy gonna move your mama
out of Compton inside the gigantic mansion like I promised.
Lucy just wants your trust in loyalty. Avoid me not
so easy. I'm at these functions accordingly, Kendrick. Lucy, don't
slack a minute. Lucy work harder. Lucy gonna call you
even when Lucy know you love your father. I'm Lucy.
I loosely heard prayers on your first album. Truly, Lucy,

(01:16:40):
don't mind, because at the end of the day, you'll
pursue me. Lucy, go get it, Lucy, not timid, Lucy upfront.
Lucy got paperwork on top of paperwork. I want you
to know that Lucy got you all your life. I
watched you and now you've all grown up. To sign
this contract if that's possible. Ooh boy, look at this
situation here, okay. Line by line, line by line, Kendrick

(01:17:03):
details the persistence of Lucy. She makes him many promises,
and like I said when we analyzed, alright, she's given
him all the promises but none of the red flags.
Lucy gonna get you more money. Lucy gonna get your
mom out the hood. Lucy gonna provide the dream house.
And the kicker is Lucy is almost impossible to avoid
because she's so stinking persistent and tempting, which is why

(01:17:23):
the Bible warns us as men to avoid promiscuous, lustful women.
You know, the Bible warns us to be wary of
these kind of women. Right. It's kind of double entendre
here if you're really listening, this song just ain't about
a career crossroads. And I mean, even look at the
line Lucy gonna call you even when Lucy know you
love your father. I was like, dang, cause I took that.

(01:17:44):
Even though you know, even though the devil knows you
want to please God, it will still pursue and test you.
The enemy always wants to see where your loyalty is.
And if your faith is as strong as you think
it is, listen to how relentless Lucy is. She heard
his prayers, believes he'll fold. Isn't timid. And here's where
it connects to the idea of selling one soul often

(01:18:05):
heard in the music industry. Lucy got paperwork on top
of paperwork all your life. I watched you, and now
you're grown enough to sign this contract if possible. Dog
First off, another example of Kendrick's storytelling ability, But dog,
what incredible use of personification. Lucy is essentially asking Kendrick
if he is for sale. She has given him every

(01:18:27):
reason to say yes. She'd thene made her sales pitch.
Now she just has to She opens it for him
to answer. But does Kendrick have the faith to say
no and see his dream come? Dreams come true? God's
way again? The devil comes at your weakest moment. If
they did it to Jesus, they'll sure his heck, do
it to us. But if Jesus can stand ten toes

(01:18:47):
in front of the devil, so can we. And when
While Kendrick left us with a cliffhanger, he mentions Lucy
in a snippet of the poem that is gradually revealed
throughout the album. I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence.
Sometimes I did the same, abusing my power. Full of resentment,
resentment that turned into a deep depression. Found myself screaming

(01:19:08):
in the hotel room. I didn't want to self destruct.
The evils of Lucy was all around me, so I
went running for answers until I came home. Now I
know what you're thinking. I know what you've been thinking, Dez,
What about the poem? What about the poem? Talk about
the poem. I didn't want to stray too far off
and of what is already a loaded episode, and I
wanted to save the poem for its complete rendition at

(01:19:31):
the end. But I do bring it up here to say,
notice how much of this poem points back to the
songs we've heard up to this point. He mentions Lucy,
He mentions the self destruction, depression, and misused influence we
heard in You. You know, it's a nice touch that
Kendrick sprinkles in in between songs to reveal a bigger
picture at the end. So we'll definitely get into it,

(01:19:53):
but we got more songs to analyze first, because next
up is Mama Track nine. This is genius work.

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