I always find it hilarious when we listen to the work of a musician and think we know them as a person. I understand that music is a way some people express themselves, but the true meaning of a song is only known by the artist and the artist alone. It's like 50 Cent said, "It's just music man, it's just music."
But sometimes, it feels like more than just music. On good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Kendrick Lamar gives us an idea of his life growing up in the streets of Compton, and his evolution from a good kid trapped in the life of a gangster, to a highly intelligent, incredibly talented, role model for everyone around the world trying to "make it."
The 12-track GKMC is an album that tells a story. In fact, when taken out of context, some of his songs make Kendrick look like the cocky, shallow, mainstream hip-hop artists we often hear on the radio - where in reality nothing can be further from the truth.
When Kendrick wants us to know what he life was like when he was 17-year-old, he raps about what's important to a 17-year-old: money, power, women, and "the homies". When Kendrick wants to talk about his evolution to a man, he talks about family, faith, and influence. But regardless of what he's rapping about, or who he's portraying at the moment, he executes it all so masterfully to a degree we really haven't seen in rap music for a long time.
Lyrically, Kendrick is on another level. His flow is unlike anyone's in the game right now and is a flow that can match every possible scenario - something Kendrick uses to his advantage. On "Backseat Freestyle" Kendrick raps as his 17-year-old self, sticking out his chest and hardly stopping to breathe as he tears apart another memorable Hit Boy production. But on tracks like "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" he slows it down to articulate stories of loved ones lost, seemingly from the perspective of the mature 25-year-old man he is today. Both extremely different styles and subject matter, both equally impressive and impactful.
Many publications predict GKMC will go down in history as "a classic." After hearing Kendrick tell his story in such an artistic way and honest way - it's hard to disagree. The features feel natural (Drake, Jay Rock, MC Eiht, Dr. Dre), the production compliments the content, and the story is simply captivating.
I could go through track by track and try to explain the story of Kendrick's life, but he does such a good job that nobody ever needs to try again. But what I will say is that in a business ran by suites and regulations, Kendrick tells his story his way - and we should all be thankful for that.
Best Tracks: The Art of Peer Pressure, Money Trees, Sing About Me/ I'm Dying of Thirst, Real
How would you define the hip-hop brand? On the surface it seems easy. The hip-hop brand is about being tough and gangster. It's about being the best, and proving that you're the best. It's about getting the finest women, the nicest cars, and the most money possible. And above all else it's about bragging rights. But is that really it? At one point in time, I think that could have summed up hip-hop quite nicely. But things are moving in a different direction. Sure, people are still going to rap about all of these things, but there's an alternative out there in hip-hop which allows more consciousness, diversity, and tolerance than ever before. There's a lot of negativity in hip-hop - especially in people's opinions about it. In the next few weeks I'd like to present the positive side of rap on the blog. This week's topic: God.
I know this may be absolutely shocking, but a lot of religious folk are not too found of rap music. There's a lot of cussing, violence, sexual references, and all sorts of other lifestyles that most religious people (not just Christians) wouldn't choose to live their lives by.
As a Christian, I believe we live in a broken world. We're all sinful people, and we all have our struggles and shortcomings when it comes to living a life pleasing to God. Every genre of music reflects this cold hard truth, whether it be in the lyrics, or the just the lifestyle of the artists. With other genres like rock, or country for example, these shortcomings are overlooked and explained away as part of the art. Rap music very rarely gets the benefit of the doubt. The unfortunate part is that while we are focused on getting angry at the violence, the sex, and the swearing, we miss the part where these rappers are seeking out and calling upon God in very obvious and intentional ways.
When we think about God in hip-hop, many of us think back to 2004 when Kanye West released one of his first hit singles, Jesus Walks. People can think what they want about the artist Kanye West has become, but the fact is this was an extremely bold move for a young and relatively unknown artist as Kanye was at the time.
The decision to openly express faith in a rap song to the degree Kanye did was unprecedented at the time, and the result was something nobody really could have seen coming. Not only was Jesus Walks arguably Kanye's break out hit, but it's also a certified Gold selling recording, and it was the song that gave Kanye his first Grammy for Best Rap Song. But more importantly, the song shares the message of a man desperately calling out to Jesus, and it has influenced many people who hear it to do the same. Whether it be at a night club, in the car, in your iPod, or in a stadium filled with tens of thousands of people, Kanye had millions of people across the world proclaiming, "Je-sus Walks."
Kanye wasn't done either, as in the same album he released the song Never Let Me Down with rap legend, Jay-Z. The majority of the song doesn't really talk about faith, but it's the spoken word at the end that has a clear faith based theme, and once again is done in a very bold and obvious way. With lines like, "But I get my hymns from Him, so it's not me, it's He that's lyrical. I'm not a miracle, I'm a heaven sent instrument."
Say what you want about Kanye West, but he may very well have been the artist to bridge the gap between rap and religion, paving the way for countless other artists to do the same. A good example is hip-hop group and Jimmy Fallon house band, The Roots, who often bring up faith and other "conscious" subjects in their music. A good example of this is their song Dear God 2.0 which is about a man trying to put faith in a loving God despite living a world filled with suffering - something many believers and unbelievers can relate to. Fittingly, the chorus calls out, "Dear God, I'm trying hard to reach you. Dear God, I see your face in all I do. Sometimes it's so hard to believe it, but God I know you have your reasons."
Hip-hop is changing. Rappers don't need to talk about the streets anymore. They can talk about God, love, heartbreak and not be considered "soft". Even a rapper like Lil Wayne can start his concert off by saying to a packed stadium, "I believe in God, do you?"
That being said, hip-hop is far from perfect. Many people take that imperfection and condemn the genre for it, mainly because for all of the shout-outs to God there are in hip-hop, very few rappers seem to match their lifestyle to their words...that is, until recently (but that's for part two).
In a recent song with Kanye West called New God Flow, rapper Pusha T proclaims, "I believe there's a God above me, but I'm the god of everything else." I think that kind of statement accurately portrays the root of people's disapproval of hip-hop. According to scripture, is it right for Pusha T to say that? Of course not. As a Christian, do I agree with that statement? Absolutely not. But when we put our lives to the microscope, are we much worse than Pusha? How much control do I take of my own life? Every Christian believe's there's a God above us , but when we really look at ourselves in the mirror, do we also act like the god of everything else? I think before we come down and condemn rap music and say it's all poison, maybe we can learn something from it. Maybe we can see the good in it, instead of focusing on the bad. Maybe we can take a look at our fellow broken brothers and sisters and figure out how we can get it right, before we tear them down for getting it wrong. What's the difference between us and rappers? Well, we all fall short of God's expectations of us, but maybe rappers are just being more honest.
