Kendrick Lamar is a rapper from Compton, who has made a big impact in Hip Hop, by having two of the greatest albums this decade GOOD KID, M.A.A.D City and To Pimp a Butterfly. He is known for his innovative take on social issues. Kendrick Lamar’s performance whether it’s the Grammys or the BET awards has received praised and backlash. The Grammy performance which is the most recent occurring on Monday February 15,2016. He used the Grammy performance as a platform to showcase his views on what is going on in Black America. The album To Pimp a Butterfly which dropped in 2015 was a conscious hip hop album. On the album there are songs that discussed various topics ranging from self-hate to self-love to the dangers of being materialistic. Kendrick
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In “Hood Politics”, however, he realizes that his people are up to the same shenanigans as always and that his community is still riddled with the same problems. While he believed he would find answers back home, Kendrick ultimately has an epiphany far, far away from Compton.
In “How Much a Dollar Cost?” Kendrick meets a homeless man in a gas station in South Africa. When the old man asks him for some money, Kendrick tells him to “beat it”, thinking he was a drunk and a drug addict. When the insistent old man begins citing the Bible, Kendrick gets irritated and offended, stating that he does not give away his hard-earned money to bums. The homeless man then proceeds to reveal that he is God himself … and that Kendrick has lost his spot in heaven.
This is the turning point of the album, where Kendrick is faced with his own selfishness and humbled by God himself. This encounter helps him shake off the temptations of Lucy and focus on having a positive impact on society. The next four songs revolve around the themes of self-love and self-acceptance. Just as Kendrick is learning to love himself on a personal level, he is also urging his community to love itself again. In “Blacker the Berry”, Kendrick takes on the role of a gangbanger who denounces racism but spends his life at war with his own kind – not unlike enemy tribes in …show more content…
During the Grammy performance, Kendrick Lamar used logos in the visual of his performance. The first things that is seen are Kendrick Lamar and his entourage in handcuffs and cells approaching the microphone showing the image that African Americans are over-represented in the criminal justice system. In the next song Kendrick Lamar performed was Alright and the hook “We gonna be alright” has been taken by The Black Lives Matter movement as their chant letting the public know that even though they are facing bad times right now they are going to make it through this as a collective. Ethos is “credibility or an ethical appeal which involves persuasion by the character involved”. During the performance he performed his song The Blacker the Berry”, one of the lines in the song “You sabotage my community, makin' a killin' You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga” (Chabon) talks about the introduction of crack cocaine that led to the destruction of his community, which began during the time when Ronald Regan was president. Kendrick is credible when talking about this subject because he grew up during this
In “Hood Politics”, however, he realizes that his people are up to the same shenanigans as always and that his community is still riddled with the same problems. While he believed he would find answers back home, Kendrick ultimately has an epiphany far, far away from Compton.
In “How Much a Dollar Cost?” Kendrick meets a homeless man in a gas station in South Africa. When the old man asks him for some money, Kendrick tells him to “beat it”, thinking he was a drunk and a drug addict. When the insistent old man begins citing the Bible, Kendrick gets irritated and offended, stating that he does not give away his hard-earned money to bums. The homeless man then proceeds to reveal that he is God himself … and that Kendrick has lost his spot in heaven.
This is the turning point of the album, where Kendrick is faced with his own selfishness and humbled by God himself. This encounter helps him shake off the temptations of Lucy and focus on having a positive impact on society. The next four songs revolve around the themes of self-love and self-acceptance. Just as Kendrick is learning to love himself on a personal level, he is also urging his community to love itself again. In “Blacker the Berry”, Kendrick takes on the role of a gangbanger who denounces racism but spends his life at war with his own kind – not unlike enemy tribes in …show more content…
During the Grammy performance, Kendrick Lamar used logos in the visual of his performance. The first things that is seen are Kendrick Lamar and his entourage in handcuffs and cells approaching the microphone showing the image that African Americans are over-represented in the criminal justice system. In the next song Kendrick Lamar performed was Alright and the hook “We gonna be alright” has been taken by The Black Lives Matter movement as their chant letting the public know that even though they are facing bad times right now they are going to make it through this as a collective. Ethos is “credibility or an ethical appeal which involves persuasion by the character involved”. During the performance he performed his song The Blacker the Berry”, one of the lines in the song “You sabotage my community, makin' a killin' You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga” (Chabon) talks about the introduction of crack cocaine that led to the destruction of his community, which began during the time when Ronald Regan was president. Kendrick is credible when talking about this subject because he grew up during this