Kendrick Lamar - The Blacker The Berry

Context!

Some pretty heinous things have happened in the US lately, boiling down to a lot of civilians being gunned down by people of authority. Given the backgrounds of the parties involved, it's turned into a topic of race (something, something, 'Jerome get more time than Brandon'). Kendrick spoke about the issue in an interview, and received criticism for his ideal that the black community can't expect respect from the rest of the world until they begin to respect themselves.

As a matter of fact, the last single he released prior to that, "i", was of course all about the topic of self-respect. Deep within that, was a breaking down stirred on by the oppression placed upon the narrator. They're driven to suicide and only barely get out of it when they realise not to give in to these oppressors, and stick by their own guns. 'I love myself!' is an exact exclamation of that and it's very powerful.

Further context!

A lot of people were rather disappointed with "i" upon release, for whatever reasons they may have. A key one being that there was a feeling that like so many before, after breaking into a much larger audience reach, he was neutering his message. "i" is after all, rather happy-go-lucky for someone who'd released an entire album depicting all the dark business going on around them, and trying to make a sense of it all.

But nonetheless, "i" won Kendrick his first two Grammy Awards, which was perhaps seen as a sort of fast-tracked version of a lifetime achievement award, where the Grammy committee realise they made a mistake and did their best to amend that (Beck's Album of the Year win after being denied it for all of his more acclaimed material echoes the same). I'm not totally convinced it's true just because I'm highly skeptical that anyone who could have made such an obvious 'oversight', would hardly be expected to change their colours just a year later.

And I think that if people weren't so caught up on the words and actions of another person that night, there'd be more of a murmur of 'hang on, maybe Kendrick's fallen off a bit lately' considering that his award winning material was hardly showcasing the bredth of insight of the material that made him famous.

So perhaps all too conveniently, "The Blacker The Berry" dropped the very day after, silencing those critics before they had a chance to really articulate. Because this has everything they could possibly want: Thought provoking verses, rather intricate flow, and let's be honest, it bangs.

As I said, "i" is about self-affirmation in the face of oppression. "The Blacker The Berry" takes it a step further, calling together an entire community, as 'this plot is bigger than [him]'. However just like "i", it's presented in the first person perspective of someone collecting their thoughts on what's happening around them. But rather than just absorb the criticism, this time they're actively fighting back at their oppressors. It says a lot that it's not the most confronting thing in the song, but it really makes a mark just in the first two verses where he parrots the bigotry to the bigot themselves, and uses them to empower himself.

However, that in itself is not the entire mantra of the song, which becomes abundantly clear in the final verse. Here he brings up the history of 'gang culture' which is sprouted up as a direct result of oppression, and with no intervention, is doomed to repeat itself, a serious issue, met only with apathy from the higher class who see it only as proof of their superiority. It's all turned entirely on its head though when the narrator makes the revelation that while they may constantly rally against these white oppressors, the fact remains that they are just as guilty as them, because they have through their nature, been responsible of the death of someone blacker than them. So they are the biggest hypocrite of 2015.

There are two interesting things I note by this ending. One, the fact that while two other highly publicised victims have arisen since, the person Kendrick decided to acknowledge in this case was Trayvon Martin, not the most innocent victim, and it should be noted, someone who was actually killed by a hispantic man.

By doing this, he's stepping away from the typical easy route of the black community being angry at the white community, while avoiding acknowledging any possible guilt they probably have on their side of the equation. Because it's really easy to get people on your side by acting like you're all perfect and that the entire issue rests on 'them'. Someone who admits their own faults is by and large, a more trustworthy figure than someone who points it elsewhere.

It's all rather expertly framed too, with each verse starting with that same line that really isn't given much explanation, and sort of brushes over. When it loops back around at the end, it's a stunner. One that causes you to re-assess everything you just heard. So much tension is released on that last word that makes the instrumental outro important. Who can start listening to another song while you're still taking all this in?!

In a sense, Kendrick has rather effectively backed up his statement from January. The whole thing leaves me rather floored. I can't help but appreciate hearing an in depth elaboration on a view that I've not heard before. Being able to create a new voice in an already congested area is the work of a genius.

This is the most important song I have heard in years. The fact that Kendrick can use his pedestal to preach something like this (quite the opposite of what was suggested towards the start of the review!), gains him respect from me that goes beyond just his musical talents. He's the voice of a generation.

As a matter of fact, this might also just be the best song I've heard in years.