Kendrick Lamar has been writing rhymes since he was 13, but his new album, To Pimp A Butterfly, is the rapper's finest piece of storytelling yet. It's the culmination of a lifetime's worth of lyricism that Lamar used to escape the violence that surrounded him as a kid in Compton — a lyricism that lamar now uses to analyze himself and society.
Lamar has grown from the "Youngest Head Nigga In Charge" (the title of his first mixtape, released under the moniker K.Dot when Lamar was only 16) to hip-hop's "King Kunta," (a standout track off his new record named after the rebellious slave character from Roots, Kunta Kinte.) And when Lamar hits the Twin Peaks stage on Saturday, fans will witness an artist in full flight.
To Pimp A Butterfly deals with oppression, police brutality, and structural racism, with Lamar's normally smooth voice intensifying into a passionate, spitting rage as he covers issues that face people of color, like the death of Trayvon Martin for example, on the single "Blacker the Berry."
But perhaps the most inspirational lyrics for young people of color growing up in the U.S. are those on the track "Alright."
"When you know, we been hurt, been down before, nigga / When my pride was low, lookin' at the world like, 'where do we go, nigga?' / And we hate popo, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure, nigga," Lamar sings on the track before heading to the chorus. "We gonna be alright."
That mantra-like chorus rings true for many of Lamar's fans; at a recent Black Lives Matter protest at Cleveland State University, a crowd of protesters blocked a police cruisers path, chanting the chorus of the song, after a 14-year-old was allegedly taken into custody in an unnecessarily rough manner.
But that wasn't the only time the song's powerful imagery and lyrics have stirred controversy. After Lamar performed it atop a police car at the BET Awards, FOX News' Geraldo Rivera went so far as to say Lamar — and hip-hop in general — have "done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years."
If you add all that to Lamar's incredible rhymes and flow, he stands out as the most important act performing at Ouside Lands.
The Top 11 Acts at Outside Lands 2015
St. Vincent: Canonize Her Already
D'Angelo: A Resurrected Soul Finally Makes It to Outside Lands.
Leon Bridges: A Fresh Voice For Old Soul(s)
Tame Impala: Kevin Parker Doesn’t Think His Band Is Psychedelic
Natalie Prass: A Delicate Voice In the Park
WATERS: Summertime On the Water With Van Pierszalowski
Laura Marling: On Stage and In Control
Hurray for the Riff Raff: Socially Aware Music From A Well-traveled Mind
Amon Tobin: A Trip-Hop Treat Like You’ve Never Seen Before
An Outside Lands Schedule Guide For Stereotypical Music Fest Fans
Showing 1-1 of 1
Comments are closed.
