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Summary Of The Blacker The Berry

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Analytical Essay of “The Blacker the Berry” by Kendrick Lamar
At first glance, Kendrick Lamar’s song “The Blacker the Berry” is a political statement concerning the oppression of African-American people. But in the beginning of every stanza it says: “I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015 / Once I finish this, witnesses will convey just what I mean”, which indicates a completely different meaning that not until the end of the song appears.

The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice is a saying first used in a novel from 1929 by African-American author Wallace Thurman regarding intra-racial discrimination and violence, which gives us a hint about Lamar’s real motive for the song. Today, the saying is quite common and has for instance been used by Tupac and in the television adaption of the musical “Hairspray”. It is used to show that black people are not necessarily less worth than white people.
The last line of the pre-hook says: “The blacker …show more content…

It says: “It’s funny how Zulu and Xhosa might go to war / Two tribal armies that want to build and destroy”. This refers to American gang wars - two groups of black men killing each other. He ends the song with these tree lines: “So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street? / When gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me? / Hypocrite!”. Trayvon Martin was just like Michael Brown shot by a white police officer, but Kendrick Lamar questions himself why he cried when Martin died, when he himself has killed black men because of gang wars. Lamar has previously stated: “When we don’t have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us? It starts from within”. Even though most of his song is addressing the oppression of black people and the importance of non-racist behaviour, he still questions if it is fair to ask the “Whites” to not oppress them, when the “Blacks” are oppressing themselves through gang violence. It starts from

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