Analysis Of The Song 'The Blacker The Berry' By Kendrick Lamar

Throughout the song, Tupac gives an inside look on the social problems affecting African-Americans and suggests possible solutions. In the first stanza of the song, Tupac first talks about how certain social issues are linked together; he makes a correlation between his skin color and being poor. Tupac says “I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.” Then he explains how poverty causes crime by saying “My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.” And finally, he demonstrates the relationship between police brutality and race by saying “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.”

Unlike many other mainstream artists, Kendrick Lamar attaches great importance to the lyrics of his songs. Lamar’s song “DNA”, released last April, became a real breakthrough in the world of hip-hop music. In this song, Lamar reflects on various social issues faced by the modern African-American community of the USA. The song’s lyrics, as well as the music video, portrays the most common stereotypes and biases labeled to the African-American community. The central aim of the song is to sarcastically demonstrate the image of African-Americans as they are viewed by biased media. By the use of symbolical sarcasm and double meanings, Lamar underlines the acuteness of the race inequality that remains existing in the modern America.

As the title of the paper suggests, I chose Kendrick Lamar’s song “Blacker the Berry” off the To Pimp A Butterfly album. When selecting a song, I actually took to Twitter to ask my followers what song I should write about. I personally do not listen to Kendrick Lamar so I decided to ask people who enjoy his music to recommend songs that an analysis should be written over. Several people mentioned “Blacker The Berry”. Although I did not hear the many rhymes and metaphors at first, after reading the lyrics along with listening to the song I was quick to realize how creative, witty and almost unintentional the rapping’s of Kendrick Lamar are. Another reason I decided on this song is because he raps about current violence of high profile crimes

The decade of hip-hop is what some may call it. Tupac, Naz, Biggie Smalls, as well as other artists, were major contributions. Not only for the people who are trying to find their footing, but Buck as well. Throughout the book various lyrics were embedded in order to create a better understanding for its readers. In addition, this book is based upon a 90s lifestyle within Philadelphia, which included drugs, gang activity, crime, hip-hop, and havoc. Malo was directly in the center of everything, the girls, the fights, the guns. His experiences shed light towards what it’s like to as an African American individual living in or near the hood. Not everyone realizes what people go through while living there, but now it gives some readers an image of what goes on. Though times have changed, not all previous feelings

To gaze into the lyrics of both Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur is like living in the ghettos of New York City where violence never stops. Both of these artists grew up seeing and living a life filled with violence. Gunshots and drive-byes, death and murder were a daily occurrence. Although the lyrics of both artists are simply telling their life stories and how hard it was to grow up in their “hoods” they contain vulgar, hateful, and sexual verses that send the wrong message to their listeners. Whether these listeners are teens or adults, white or black, they are continually sending notions of hatred and fear through their lyrics and actions. Ultimately,

Kendrick Lamar’s song “Alright” talks about race and how African Americans are being targeted and profiled. The song tells about the gun violence and police brutality that is effecting our community, “And we hate Popo, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure, n…” (Line 35). This quote out of his song is significant because in the world we live in someone gets killed every day for the color of their skin color or a profile that someone made off assumptions. As the song goes he tell about how African Americans were discriminated. “When you know, we been hurt, been down before, n… / When our pride was low, lookin' at the world like, "where do we go, n…?”’ (Line 33-34). Throughout the years African Americans are looked down on to the point where they do not know what their purpose is. For some, living in a world where people do not want them there hurts the pride of people.

Independently, Shakur’s lyrics suggest the inequalities he has experienced throughout his life and of his race in general. In the first verse, Shakur expresses his upbringing without a father and the struggles with the racial tension in his neighborhood. He implies that he has been pushed into a world of violence and crime because of his low socioeconomic status. He states that peace can only be attained if the African Americans are offered a place in the society. The second verse focuses upon the broader oppression of the black body where he addresses the police violence and inequalities of the system. His lyric analyzes the violence in the streets and the fear of police officers that are willing to shoot him because he appears threatening. Finally, the third verse expresses that he is still waiting on things to change, yet the answer is not present. The greater meaning to his

Kendrick lamar’s award winning music video for his 2017 single Element shows the many experiences he faced growing up as a black man. The various symbols broadcasted throughout this music video show specific conflicts and struggle that he has dealt with throughout his life and also allowed black man that have been in his position something to relate to. He teamed up with director/photographer Jonas Lindstroem to help him convey his message but in a unique and creative way. The slow moving scenes show a softer depiction of his encounters. They give a sense of understanding which allows the viewer to be able to comprehend and absorb his message. As a whole, it was a collection of the pain, beauty, peace and violence that exists within his “element”.

In less than forty years, the city of Compton went from a shielded suburb near the confines of Los Angeles, to a terrorizing image of American culture. The results of this transformation and creation of “gangsta rap” is still well renowned today. Through de jure segregation, Reagan economics, undermining of black prosperity, N.W.A., and “Boyz n the Hood”, the city of Compton told its story and became a global image. This paper will analyze the shift of culture in Compton and the transcendent cultural effect it formed in America.

Along with this, it also talks about the increased isolation that ensued as a result and left both groups of people from rarely ever integrating with each other. This hypersegregation thus resulted in huge gap in resources, levels of crime, and price levels between predominantly white and black neighborhoods. The effect of this hypersegregation is constantly seen in Kendrick’s song as he describes growing up in a neighborhood full of crime, and few people working. However, through Kendrick’s verses the listener can see the internal struggles hypersegregation has on a human being living in the ghetto away from any other life different than his surrounding. This is not only seen internally in Kendrick as he deals with the struggle of getting exposed to a whole new environment and shaking away the tendencies of the old one. The effect is also is seen in his friends when he raps “But something' came over you once I took you to the fuckin' BET Awards, You looking' at artists' like the harvests, So many Rollies around you and you want all of them” (Source). His friends are experiencing two effects of hypersegregation, the first being that they are shocked to see a whole new world other than the poverty stricken neighborhood they always are around. The Second is that as a result of only operating in one segregated setting Kendrick’s friends

The context and setting of this rap is American in the 1970’s. Historically, this period came after the Civil Rights Movement, during the start of the Nixon era. The Vietnam War was dividing the nation’s population into anti-war protestors and those that supported the war effort. It was an era of recession and continued change for minorities. One of the issues was enforced racial integration after the Civil Rights Movement, which many institutions had still not complied with. The struggle to find equality even after the movement was something African Americans at the time had to deal with. The support for the black power movement was one of many results of this struggle. The media and press largely did not report on the alienation that was still present. This was an inspiration for Scott-Heron and this song in particular.

In my opinion, Kendrick Lamar, an award-winning rapper and songwriter, has one of the best abilities to describe his distressed and abused lifestyle in Compton, California. He is not your original cliché artist who does not speak about anything meaningful. Kendrick, also known as K. Dot, is one of the most well known and most respected rappers in this era. Not only does he speak about his gloomy past, but he also speaks about his fortunate future. His ability to give detailed representations of his struggles and his story telling allows me to, metaphorically, enter the mind of Kendrick Lamar.

From it's inception, rap indured a lot of hostility from listeners--many, but not all, White--who found the music too harsh, monotonous, and lacking in traditional melodic values. However, millions of others--often, though not always, young African-Americans from underprivileged inner city backgrounds--found and immediate connection with the style. Here was poetry of the

“The Blacker the Berry” by Kendrick Lamar was released February 9th, 2015. This incredibly racially motivated song has created controversy throughout America because it tackles racism, hypocrisy, and hatred head on. Although Stephen Best argues that the past defines the present without question, and Hartman believes that many important African American stories have been silenced due to lack of evidence, Kendrick Lamar’s song “The Blacker the Berry” complicates and adds to their arguments by introducing a certain level of hypocrisy that forces the listener to understand a much more complicated moral position than is generally allowed, perhaps an inevitable one.

On February 15, 2016, Kendrick Lamar took the stage at the 2016 Grammy Awards show. Shackled in chains, he moved lethargically across the stage in a prison uniform. Words began to stream out of his mouth and I imagined the elephant that filled the room as an unapologetically black male made a statement to the world about African American oppression in the United States. Kendrick Lamar’s showcase included an intricate set that addressed social issues such as mass incarceration with song, “The Blacker the Berry”, while keeping hope towards better days with song “Alright”. The elaborate performance on February 15, 2016 would be a performance that will go down in history. An artist used his platform to discuss important issues in the United States to a diverse audience. With so much passion invested into the song, it was almost impossible to pick any other song besides “The Blacker the Berry”, as it discusses a wide range of issues within the United States, especially related to the black body.