Kendrick Lamar Social Issues

Kendrick Lamar was raised in the violent, gang-ridden streets of Compton, California. But, he never let this stop him from being a beacon of hope for millions of people around the world. Kendrick has now become, arguably, the most prominent hip-hop artist of the decade. In 2012, he released his major-label debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city to widespread acclaim from critics and fans. In this album, he details the troubles of his adolescence spent around drugs and violence. In March 2015, he released his heavily awaited sophomore album, To Pimp A Butterfly, which was viewed by many as a masterpiece, because the wide scope of issues it covered. Some of these issues were things such as: African American culture, racial inequality, institutionalized

They are circling a police car with three kids dancing on top of it. Kendrick starts by saying, “Alls my life I has to fight,” which is a famous phrase from the movie The Color Purple; and I don’t think I would be reaching to say The Color Purple is ingrained as a part of African American history. This quote refers to the many struggles Kendrick has faced throughout his life; one the main ones being depression—which is a large theme of the song. Many African Americans today feel depressed or upset, because of all the murders of African Americans by policemen across America. Throughout the rest of the portion of the video is mostly dancing, celebrating, and the song reinforcing everyone is going to be alright and that we all will make it through these hard

This is representative of all the police brutality African Americans have faced. As Kendrick is falling, he reiterates the poem he progressively adds onto throughout the album. When he says, “Abusing my power full of resentment,” the camera is on the officer. This is an important display of how many African Americans feel about the cops involved in police brutality. They feel not only is this an abuse of power, but it is a sort of resentment that seeped out of the officer and he took it out on an African American. Kendrick’s body falls to the ground. He is motionless and the screen turns black. But, a few seconds later, we see Kendrick face crack a smile. This is arguably the most important thing about the video. It shows that even after all the riots, vandalism, police brutality, and depression that there is still light at the end of the tunnel and that we will be alright. Everything is not going to get better overnight and if we give up it will never get better. But, if we stand and walk this path with the belief things will get better, then it will. This also shows that this message is bigger than Kendrick himself. They can kill him, but his soul and ideals will live on in the hearts of others. This is why Kendrick Lamar is such an influential beacon of hope. In these hard times he lets us know, we are going to be