USA - 2022
West Coast Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Funk
We are in 1999. Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def releases the monumental Black on Both Sides. The eighth track is called UMI Says. “I ain't no perfect man / I'm tryin' to do the best that I can with what it is I have.” UMI deals with how Mos Def sees himself within Black culture, about his will to help his people while acknowledging his own flaws. It’s a powerful song about unity, your origins and how to spread light around you.
We are in 2010.
Kendrick Lamar releases The Heart Part 1, sampling Mos Def’s UMI Says. He introduces himself as nothing more but “A lil' Compton n****”, nothing more, the name Kendrick Lamar is, for the moment, nothing more but a simple name from an extraordinary town. Here, Lamar is absolutely aware of the people who made hip-hop before him, who made Compton a mythical place. He knows his voice and his words are meaningful, that he needs to be careful with them because many are going to listen to them. Line after line, K-Dot develops his persona as a “born starter”. But the most interesting line, in retrospect, might be “I’m free / Finally I can say I’m me”. He doesn’t know it yet of course, but The Heart series is about to become the most important way for him to reconsider his persona as an artist, a Black man, a human being. So he is “finally […] me” ? Not yet.
We are in 2010 again.
On The Heart Part 2 , Kendrick’s back with his "stream of consciousness flow”, and another sample, this time from The Roots. Putting down everything he has in his head allows him to avoid any artificiality. “My uncle doing life inside prison; he wasn't wrapped too tight / He told me "Rap about life, not rap n****s“ / That's why I'm shaking my head when you rap-dissin’” Family and social awareness both are present in this verse, two component elements of Lamar’s persona as a rapper.
Moving forward, 2012, Part 3.
Now his status is changing, Kendrick Lamar’s name is becoming a bigger name. His influence is growing and he still questions himself about how he can make a difference. How to shine the right light, just like what Mos Def was asking himself back then. good kid, m.A.A.d. city, To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar is everywhere, on every mouth, on every radio, he becomes a cultural phenomenon, one voice between every voices, hip-hop has many faces, but Kendrick has a bigger seat at the table in 2015. Family, social consciousness, how to continue to deal with this when you became… culture ?
We are in 2017.
DAMN. HUMBLE. DNA. He had the people, he got the media. Culture turning hiù into an icon. With his music videos, Kendrick Lamar appears as a whole new human being, the face of empowerment, the face of emancipation, claiming your rights, fighting for them. DAMN. But a month before, the fourth chapter of The Heart. Kendrick is going back to older influences, interpolations from James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, the ancient kings. “The legendary status of a hip-hop rhyme savior.” His evolution goes on but the introspection is about to take a real big turn… We are in 2022. We are now. The Heart Part 5.
Make room, the Compton kid has more to say than he ever has. And it all starts with these words : “As I get a little older, I realize life is perspective” Now let’s look at what culture means in another way. Black culture, Black icons, Black lives, Black deaths, the round trip between an artist to his audience, and the audience to the artist. And if every line is worth your attention, if hours of writing and studying could put the song into new perspectives because of its complexity, it’s use of Marvin Gaye’s music, I will only focus on one line. Because it already says a lot.
« In the land where hurt people hurt people / Fuck callin’ it culture »
Will Smith, OJ Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Kanye West, Jussie Smolett, Nipsey Hussle, these are the hands you see behind this text, these are faces you see in the music video, names that shape Black culture and global culture in recent history. But. Some of these names also tend to swim against the tide, and personal actions and decisions are most of the time very quickly associated to this very same Black culture. A slap, antisemitic statements, murder, sexual assault. Remember what Kendrick Lamar’s uncle told him before he went to jail ? "Rap about life, not rap n****s“ / That's why I'm shaking my head when you rap-dissin’”
About life. As a by-definition political and cultural actor, what Kendrick Lamar sorts out here, is the difference between what belongs to Black culture and what belongs to Black trauma. One of the song’s target are those who are at the core of this historical Black trauma, meaning White people and, still today, who continue to pick up the consequences of their actions in order to tacitly explain why their oppression was legitimate back then. It’s absolutely true to say that traumas logically influence and shape art, because art is mainly build upon your intimacy, and is the reflection of it. But that’s the point. Culture is a reflection of trauma. But it’s not trauma itself.
“The legendary status of a hip-hop rhyme savior” is what he wrote in Part 4. What’s interesting with the word “status” is that a status is something people give to you. You can claim it, but usually people put it on your face like a sticker. In Part 5 Kendrick recognizes that he cannot claim this status, not before he starts studying what part of his traumas unconsciously influence his music and words. We know Mr Morale is about introspection, and it’s the logical follow-up to Part 5 because that’s the very moment in his life when he needs to focus on who he is, and what made his persona. Because he has tremendous responsibilities, because people listen to him, young generations, older ones, everyone’s watching carefully. There are two ways of talking about trauma, the first one is the most common one : you talk about a specific event and its repercussions, that’s what Kendrick does in Part 5 ’s last verse where he impersonates Nipsey Hussle, a rapper that was murdered in 2019. The other way is more rare : you talk about yourself. That’s what Kendrick does in Mr Morale.
If 2022 had to remember one song above all songs, The Heart Part 5 is probably going to stand up there, because it’s paving the way for acceptance, forgiveness, and healing.
For every individuals within the Black community, whoever they are.
We are in 2010.
Kendrick Lamar releases The Heart Part 1, sampling Mos Def’s UMI Says. He introduces himself as nothing more but “A lil' Compton n****”, nothing more, the name Kendrick Lamar is, for the moment, nothing more but a simple name from an extraordinary town. Here, Lamar is absolutely aware of the people who made hip-hop before him, who made Compton a mythical place. He knows his voice and his words are meaningful, that he needs to be careful with them because many are going to listen to them. Line after line, K-Dot develops his persona as a “born starter”. But the most interesting line, in retrospect, might be “I’m free / Finally I can say I’m me”. He doesn’t know it yet of course, but The Heart series is about to become the most important way for him to reconsider his persona as an artist, a Black man, a human being. So he is “finally […] me” ? Not yet.
We are in 2010 again.
On The Heart Part 2 , Kendrick’s back with his "stream of consciousness flow”, and another sample, this time from The Roots. Putting down everything he has in his head allows him to avoid any artificiality. “My uncle doing life inside prison; he wasn't wrapped too tight / He told me "Rap about life, not rap n****s“ / That's why I'm shaking my head when you rap-dissin’” Family and social awareness both are present in this verse, two component elements of Lamar’s persona as a rapper.
Moving forward, 2012, Part 3.
Now his status is changing, Kendrick Lamar’s name is becoming a bigger name. His influence is growing and he still questions himself about how he can make a difference. How to shine the right light, just like what Mos Def was asking himself back then. good kid, m.A.A.d. city, To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar is everywhere, on every mouth, on every radio, he becomes a cultural phenomenon, one voice between every voices, hip-hop has many faces, but Kendrick has a bigger seat at the table in 2015. Family, social consciousness, how to continue to deal with this when you became… culture ?
We are in 2017.
DAMN. HUMBLE. DNA. He had the people, he got the media. Culture turning hiù into an icon. With his music videos, Kendrick Lamar appears as a whole new human being, the face of empowerment, the face of emancipation, claiming your rights, fighting for them. DAMN. But a month before, the fourth chapter of The Heart. Kendrick is going back to older influences, interpolations from James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, the ancient kings. “The legendary status of a hip-hop rhyme savior.” His evolution goes on but the introspection is about to take a real big turn… We are in 2022. We are now. The Heart Part 5.
Make room, the Compton kid has more to say than he ever has. And it all starts with these words : “As I get a little older, I realize life is perspective” Now let’s look at what culture means in another way. Black culture, Black icons, Black lives, Black deaths, the round trip between an artist to his audience, and the audience to the artist. And if every line is worth your attention, if hours of writing and studying could put the song into new perspectives because of its complexity, it’s use of Marvin Gaye’s music, I will only focus on one line. Because it already says a lot.
« In the land where hurt people hurt people / Fuck callin’ it culture »
Will Smith, OJ Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Kanye West, Jussie Smolett, Nipsey Hussle, these are the hands you see behind this text, these are faces you see in the music video, names that shape Black culture and global culture in recent history. But. Some of these names also tend to swim against the tide, and personal actions and decisions are most of the time very quickly associated to this very same Black culture. A slap, antisemitic statements, murder, sexual assault. Remember what Kendrick Lamar’s uncle told him before he went to jail ? "Rap about life, not rap n****s“ / That's why I'm shaking my head when you rap-dissin’”
About life. As a by-definition political and cultural actor, what Kendrick Lamar sorts out here, is the difference between what belongs to Black culture and what belongs to Black trauma. One of the song’s target are those who are at the core of this historical Black trauma, meaning White people and, still today, who continue to pick up the consequences of their actions in order to tacitly explain why their oppression was legitimate back then. It’s absolutely true to say that traumas logically influence and shape art, because art is mainly build upon your intimacy, and is the reflection of it. But that’s the point. Culture is a reflection of trauma. But it’s not trauma itself.
“The legendary status of a hip-hop rhyme savior” is what he wrote in Part 4. What’s interesting with the word “status” is that a status is something people give to you. You can claim it, but usually people put it on your face like a sticker. In Part 5 Kendrick recognizes that he cannot claim this status, not before he starts studying what part of his traumas unconsciously influence his music and words. We know Mr Morale is about introspection, and it’s the logical follow-up to Part 5 because that’s the very moment in his life when he needs to focus on who he is, and what made his persona. Because he has tremendous responsibilities, because people listen to him, young generations, older ones, everyone’s watching carefully. There are two ways of talking about trauma, the first one is the most common one : you talk about a specific event and its repercussions, that’s what Kendrick does in Part 5 ’s last verse where he impersonates Nipsey Hussle, a rapper that was murdered in 2019. The other way is more rare : you talk about yourself. That’s what Kendrick does in Mr Morale.
If 2022 had to remember one song above all songs, The Heart Part 5 is probably going to stand up there, because it’s paving the way for acceptance, forgiveness, and healing.
For every individuals within the Black community, whoever they are.