Kendrick Lamar’s hit song “DNA.” off his 4th studio album DAMN. was released in 2017 and has been described as “the most virtuosic display” on the album. The song peaked at #4 Billboard's Hot 100 within the first month of the official release and spent 20 weeks on the charts. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in California on June 17th, 1987 and has been in the music industry since 2003 with his mixtape, “Youngest Head N*gga in Charge” at 16 years old (Biography: Kendrick Lamar). DAMN. is his most recent album, with songs like HUMBLE., LOYALTY., and ELEMENT. All topping the U.S. charts. These songs, including “DNA.”, were released at a time of general unrest in America. The rise of leaders such as Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence has brought …show more content…
A few of them include the aforementioned Jesus/saviour references and the term DNA as well as shorter metaphors, similes and allusions such as: “I just win again, then win again like Wimbledon, I serve (Lamar).” Wimbledon is a tennis event, each round begins with a serve, but instead Lamar is serving rhymes or looks and winning while doing so. A lot of rap can also contain onomatopoeias with sounds like, “brrp” “pop” “skrr” “boom”, etc. (arguably because they run out of lyrics); Lamar’s music does not tend to house as many, however in verse one he says, “You see fireworks and Corvette tire skrrt the boulevard (Lamar),” the person of people he is addressing drive a Corvette and as they navigate a street (boulevard), the tires spin making a “skrrt” sound. Discussing the same car, Lamar says, “The sound that engine in is like a bird (Lamar);” when an engine sounds like a bird, it is often one of the better models and Lamar is complimenting that. He switches from compliments to metaphorically-founded insults in the middle of verse one when he raps, “Backbone don't exist, born outside a jellyfish (Lamar).” In the English lexicon, someone who is said to be “without a backbone” is weak and cowardly. Jellyfish also don’t have brains or a central nervous system, just nerve endings on their tentacles; Lamar’s “opponents” is also being insulted regarding their IQ level. Lastly, popular movie references also fall under poetic devices, “This how it is when you're in the Matrix / Dodgin' bullets, reapin' what you sow (Lamar).” Lamar likens his life, or the lives of black men to being in the 1999 Blockbuster, “The