Analysis Of The Blacker The Berry

The Blacker the Berry, the Bigger They Shoot Social inequality and internalized oppression for blacks did not end when slavery was abolished. In today’s society, racism is just as prevalent, only in different, more discrete ways such as non-justified stereotyping or the media belittling the importance of black lives. In Kendrick Lamar’s song “The Blacker the Berry”, he calls out racist America, saying that it is society’s fault that African Americans are viewed as violent and dangerous because that image is pushed on their culture by the rest of society. He also explores the idea that the hatred white America has shown to blacks all through history only contributes feelings of inferiority among races which leads to black on black crime. Lamar uses literary devices and historical references in the song to make the point that racism throughout time has …show more content…
The first line of every verse in the song is “I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015” (Lamar), which is repeated three times, followed by a line saying that once he finishes the song, the audience will understand. The last lines say “So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street?/ When gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me?/ Hypocrite!” (Lamar). With this, he makes the audience reevaluate the whole song by making them realize that there’s a dichotomy between what black America preaches and how they act. He’s saying that African Americans who are in gangs or promote violence are hypocrites for supporting innocent blacks that have tragically lost their lives like Trayvon Martin or Sandra Bland. His point is to try to get blacks to realize that it’s pointless to kill people of your own race, especially when that race has faced enough persecution by the general public