Kendrick Lamar’s debut album, good kid m.A.A.d city, introduced the world to a new breed of emcees who spearheaded the “new West” which promised a G-funk bounce with a prominent splash of consciousness not normally heard from past notable predecessors like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and others who had put California on the proverbial map in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
Hailed as a freshman calling card as notable as the Beastie Boys’s License to Ill, Led Zeppelin’s self-titled release, Biggie’s Ready to Die, the Sex Pistols’ Nevermind the Bollocks, and the Ramones’ self-titled project from 1976, good kid m.A.A.d city is equally as impressive for the narrative throughline as it is for its sonic composition – and was recognized as an instant classic, although it only enjoyed its fourth anniversary this week.
While it would be easy to just sit back and enjoy Lamar’s oration over production by the likes of Scoop Deville, DJ Dahi and others, a closer analysis of the lyrics and accompanying skits reveal a narrative and story behind the album which holds up when viewed through a lens reliant solely on plot. Thus, names like K.Dot, Sherane, O-Boog, L Boogs, Yan Yan, and YG Lucky serve as characters with depth and motivations that rival cinematic and literary figures steeped into tradition and reinforces why it was billed as a “short film by Kendrick Lamar” on the album cover.
good kid m.A.A.d city is a coming of age story of “K.Dot” – a youthful teen in Compton battling maturation and gang violence – as he transitions into “Kendrick Lamar,” the iteration of the emcee who has come to embody the uplifting voice we know today.
Although the story isn’t completely chronological – and a few “Kendrick” tracks appear which interrupt the aforementioned narrative – there is a definitive cohesiveness to the entire project which Lamar echoed in the press following the October 2012 release.
“This is a dark movie album,” Lamar said in 2012. “I wanted to tap into that space where I was at in my teenage years. Everybody knows Kendrick Lamar, but he had to come from a certain place, a certain time, and certain experiences. I’ve been planning this for years. Everything was premeditated. I already knew what I wanted to talk about, what I wanted to convey. I had that album cover for years. I knew I was going to use it and that it was the best description of what I was talking about in the album. It’s a long time coming. Everything we dwelled on is coming to light.”
As mentioned, good kid m.A.A.d city isn’t packaged in a tidy bow. Lamar has always been forthcoming that it needs to be listened to multiple times to begin to see how all the coded pieces connect and can then be interpreted.
“There are twists and paybacks,” Lamar said. “The story is about one day in the life of me and my homeboys. I really didn’t want to make it song-by-song. Each piece, I want to trigger certain points where you make a connection. Almost like a Pulp Fiction feel — you have to listen to it more times to live with it and breathe with it.”
good kid m.A.A.d city has been analyzed so much that it has even warranted a collegiate course that draws parallels between it and literary works from James Joyce, James Baldwin and Gwendolyn Brooks.
Personally, here’s how I see it existing in a narrative structure where a good kid gets caught up in the pitfalls of a mad city.
Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter
The album begins with the recitation of a prayer by a group of young men, “Lord God, I come to you a sinner, and I humbly repent for my sins.” This sets up a religious motif that will recur throughout the album, however, the reference to a higher power seems ironic when the subject matter of the song becomes more apparent.
Like other Hollywood fare, we’re introduced to a boy-meets-girl scenario as the “film” opens with K. Dot coveting a girl named “Sherane” who is colloquially referred to as Master Splinter’s daughter in the title. I believe this is due to her father’s connection to boys/sons wearing colors (how the TMNT wear colored rags on their faces) which donates a definitive gang connotation.
But this is not the beginning of the story. Rather, it serves as the basis for what the K.Dot character covets the most at this time in his life. In a place like Compton where nothing is promised, temporary bliss is something a teenager wants more than long-term stability.
In a later song, “Money Trees,” we have the understanding that he and Sherane weren’t inexperienced lovers with one another – with K.Dot rapping, “I fucked Sherane and went to tell my bros.”
The song ends with the lyrics, “I’m two blocks away, 250 feet, and six steps from where she stay, she waving me ‘cross the street, I pulled up a smile on my face, and then I see, two niggas, two black hoodies, I froze as my phone rang.” This eludes to a bout of violence that would come later in the story and serves as the crisis brewing between K.Dot and Kendrick Lamar.
Later still, K.Dot pulls up at Sherane’s house and his mother tries to call him but instead gets his voicemail. We learn from his mother that K.Dot said he was borrowing her van for just 15 minutes. She warns him not to mess with “them hoodrats,” especially “Sherane.”
Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe
“Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” is the true introduction to the short film narrative – although the song doesn’t advance the plot like in a traditional structure where an inciting incident sets the main character off on his journey. Rather, it is told from the perspective of present-day Kendrick Lamar, who isn’t happy with the state of hip-hop music and is particularly dissatisfied with people chasing radio co-signs and being placed in a cliché “box.”
However, the song does conclude with a skit element that pushes the story forward: “Ay K.Dot, get in the car, nigga. Come on, we finna roll out. Nigga I got a pack of blacks and a beat CD. Get yo freestyles ready.”
This skit is a bridge between this and the next song on the album which seems to show a side of the K.Dot character who feels his burgeoning rap career must reflect cliché hip-hop tropes.
Backseat Freestyle
The braggadocios refrain, “Martin had a dream/Kendrick have a dream,” establishes the dichotomy between who K.Dot is in this moment, and how he views any major change (becoming Kendrick Lamar) as cataclysmic a shift as a simple man eventually becoming as legendary and spiritual as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“It’s about me and my homeboys really getting in the backseat and starting our day,” Lamar remember. “Sometimes we’ll rap, it takes away from everything else. That’s one of the feelings that the record produces.”
The Art of Peer Pressure
This song serves as a major plot point of sorts for the conceptual album after K. Dot’s usual sober demeanor is altered when he and his friends smoke and drink and eventually rob someone they outnumbered and further their criminal exploits by executing a house robbery on a residence they’ve been staking out for two months.
In turn, K Dot’s character reveals his internal struggle with lines like, “Really I’m a sober soul, but I’m with the homies right now,” and “Really I’m a peacemaker, but I’m with the homies right now.”
“If you looking at the album as a movie, that song is like the action scene—the story of him and his boys after the ‘Backseat Freestyle’ and what they’re about to do,” said TDE President, Terrence “Punch” Henderson.
Despite K.Dot’s antics, we still view him as a “good kid” and are relieved that he got away from the approaching police cars.
Money Trees
In the classic three-act structure, “Money Trees” exists in the second act and serves a refresher of the inciting incident and conflict that has already occurred for K.Dot: namely, recapping the robbery and his rendezvous with Sherane. But unlike on other songs that fall into similar hip-hop tropes like “Backseat Freestyle,” K.Dot is much more self-aware – after the effects of the alcohol and drugs have worn off – and he has come to realize that like-minded behavior has serious consequences. Specifically, he remembers the death of his uncle at Louis Burger on Rosecrans Avenue in Compton.
This song also contains lyrics, “Everybody gon’ respect the shooter, but the one in front of the gun lives forever,” which highlights one of the prominent themes of the short film: martyrdom.
This statement is a similar sentiment to civil rights activist, Huey Newton, who once said, “You can kill my body, but you can’t kill my soul. My soul will live forever.”
This lyric falls in line with K.Dot’s “coming to Jesus” moment at the end of the film as Christians believe that those that have been killed and lived a righteous lifestyle will live forever with God in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Finally, in the outro, we once again hear from K.Dot’s mother who says, “Kendrick, just bring my car back man. I called in for another appointment. I figured you weren’t gonna be back here on time anyways.”
Poetic Justice
The song “Poetic Justice” occurs chronologically in tandem with the first song, “Sherane,” and we revisit the same instrumental heard in the latter which cements this notion.
From a story standpoint, we begin to understand that the same men who confronted K.Dot in the album’s opener, end up jumping him for no other reason then where he grew up. Suddenly, our morally conflicted hero understands how he is not immune to the acts he has perpetrated on others earlier in the day/night.
good kid
In the aftermath of the beating, K.Dot references the prior day, “For the record, I recognize that I’m easily prey, I got ate alive yesterday.”
This song could be considered a turning point for K.Dot’s transition into Kendrick Lamar where he questions how he can make it out alive if he’s forced to choose between gang sets (“what am I supposed to do / when the topic is red or blue?”) – with the color imagery also serving to make reference between the growing unrest behind regular Compton residents and law enforcement who have been tasked with protecting those with unaffiliatibn – but who are still viewed as gangbangers.
m.A.A.d city
“m.A.A.d city” finds K.Dot continuing to see the irony in gang life. If he doesn’t choose a “set” and engage in illicit activities, he is a man without a country. On the other hand, seeking out refuge in a faction that champions violence makes him even more of a target. Thus, the “suicide” reference illustrates that the only way a person can take their own life in their hands in Compton is by ironically ending it on their own terms.
Swimming Pools
To cope with the pressures of not only his daily existence, but his newfound problems with the men that accosted him at Sherane’s house, K.Dot and his friends engage in a liquid ritual one could call a “baptism by alcohol.”
Whether it’s the booze or the need to defend his personal reputation, the crew decides on retribution which results in the death of his friend’s brother, Dave.
Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst
In the aftermath of Dave’s death, K.Dot pontificates on three tragedies that have impacted him – all from the point of view of the victims. The first, Dave, reasons, “I find nothing but trouble in my life” whose sudden and violent demise is cemented when the verse cuts of mid-sentence with a “pop, pop, pop” from gunshots. The second, Keisha’s sister accuses Kendrick of exploiting her life lived as a prostitute on his debut project, Section.80. Despite her pleas that her life has purpose and meaning, her voice fades out slowly as an aural compliment to Dave’s death which happened suddenly and hers which erodes more like cancer impacting the body. Finally, we hear “Kendrick” for the first time as he questions who he was and what he was trying to achieve as K.Dot.
“‘Sing About Me’ is definitely a true song,” Kendrick confirmed to MTV News. “First verse is speaking from my partner talkin’ to me, speakin’ on a story of how I was there when his brother passed and I got to watch him take his last breath.”
This song – and specifically the latter third – marks a turning point for the K.Dot character when he comes to realize that he must make a change for the better and seek out a higher power. This is reinforced by the late, great poet, Maya Angelou, who tells him, “You need to be baptized, with the spirit of The Lord,” and promises “the start of a new life. Your real life.”
Real
As the title would suggest, “Real” is K.Dot’s realization that everything he thought were tenets of a meaningful lifestyle like “money, power, respect” – which he references as a trifecta both on this song and “Backseat Freestyle” – are fleeting and ultimately juvenile pursuits.
“Real is a reflection of what could have been. That’s the start of me recognizing everything I was doing throughout that day, it wasn’t real,” Lamar said. “Everybody has their own perception of what a ‘real nigga’ is. Most of the time a real nigga is a street cat or someone putting in some type of work and doing violence. That’s what we thought they was. Someone who’s about that life. But on that record, it was me getting an understanding of what real is.”
All that is left for Kendrick Lamar to do is listen to the advice of his mother and father who urge him to make a difference in his community.
“My pops breaking down on that record, it shows the influence he had on my life,” he said. “‘Real is taking care of your family. Real is responsibility. Real is believing in a high power, believing in God. Real is having morals. Real is carrying yourself in a manner where you’re not influenced by anybody else. You have your own mind, your own outlook on life. You’re not doing what’s just the trend or doing what people want you to do.”
Compton
While some have speculated that the bonus track, “Compton,” actually exists as the second song in the narrative, I have interpreted the ode to the city as a way in which the story can serve as a continuous loop like Leonard’s character experiences in Christopher Nolan’s Memento.
In the latter situation, it represents the Sisyphys-esque existence for a youth growing up in Compton who is doomed to repeat past mistakes until they have a similar experience and response as K.Dot.
“That’s the start of my life,” Lamar said. “That’s the start of the positivity that I kept in. That’s the exact start. The movie ends after ‘Real.’ You’ll hear the cassette loading. It ends with ‘Real.’ The new chapter starts with ‘Compton.'”
- Featured/Main Image: Top Dawg/Aftermath /Interscope
This song is by Kendrick Lamar and appears on the album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
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Uh, yeah
Uh, yeah
Uh
Yeah, uh
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
Kendrick Lamar and Prince Paul:
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan (One two, one two), uh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Kendrick Lamar:
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Do you believe in me? Are you deceiving me?
Could I let you down easily? Is your heart where it need to be?
Is your smile on permanent? Is your vow on lifetime?
Would you know where the sermon is if I died in this next line?
If I'm tried in a court of law, if the industry cut me off
If the government want me dead, plant cocaine in my car
Would you judge me a drughead or see me as K. Lamar
Or question my character and degrade me on every blog?
Want you to love me like Nelson, want you to hug me like Nelson
I freed you from being a slave in your mind, you're very welcome
You tell me my song is more than a song, it's surely a blessing
But a prophet ain't a prophet till they ask you this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that
Do you believe in me? How much you believe in her?
You think she gon' stick around if them twenty-five years occur?
You think he can hold you down when you down behind bars hurt?
You think y'all on common ground if you promise to be the first?
Can you be immortalised without your life being expired?
Even though you share the same blood, is it worth the time?
Like who got your best interest? Like how much are you dependent?
How clutch are the people that say they love you and who pretending?
How tough is your skin when they turn you in, do you show forgiveness?
What brush do you bend when dusting your shoulders from being offended?
What kind of den did they put you in when the lions start hissing?
What kind of bridge did they burn, revenge or your mind when it's mentioned?
You wanna love like Nelson, you wanna be like Nelson
You wanna walk in in his shoes but you peace-making seldom
You wanna be remembered that delivered the message
That considered the blessing of everyone, this your lesson for everyone, say
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The voice of Mandela, hope this flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga
I been wrote off before, I got abandonment issues
I hold grudges like bad judges, don't let me resent you
That's not Nelson-like, want you to love me like Nelson
I went to Robben's Island analyzing, that's where his cell is
So I could find clarity, like how much you cherish me
Is this relationship a fake or real as the heavens be?
See I got to question it all, family, friends, fans, cats, dogs
Trees, plants, grass, how the wind blow, Murphy's Law
Generation X, will I ever be your X?
Floss off a baby step, mauled by the mouth of pitbulls, put me under stress
Crawled under rocks, ducking y'all, it's respect
But then tomorrow, put my back against the wall
How many leaders you said you needed then left 'em for dead?
Is it Moses, is it Huey Newton or Detroit Red?
Is it Martin Luther, JFK, shoot or you assassin?
Is it Jackie, is it Jesse? Oh I know, it's Michael Jackson, oh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
That nigga gave us Billie Jean, you say he touched those kids?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga, let me ask this question nigga
I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in the hotel room
I didn't wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn't stop survivor's guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang color than mine's
Doesn't mean I can't respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us
But I don't know
I'm no mortal man
Maybe I'm just another nigga
Shit and that's all I wrote
I was gonna call it 'Another Nigga' but it ain't really a poem, I just felt like it's something you probably could relate to
Other than that, now that I finally got a chance to holler at you, I always wanted to ask you about a certain situa-
About a metaphor actually, uh you spoke on the ground
What you mean 'bout that, what the ground represent?
Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar:
The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil (Right)
That's how I see it, my word is bond
I see and the ground is the symbol for the poor people (Right), the poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people
'Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetizing, you know what I'm saying?
Wealthy, appetizing, the poor gonna be so poor and hungry, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, there might be some cannibalism out this mother, they might eat the rich
(Aight so let me ask you this then
Do you see yourself as somebody that's rich or somebody that made the best of they own opportunities?)
I see myself as a natural born hustler, a true hustler in every sense of the word
I took nothin', I took the opportunities, I worked at the most menial and degrading job and built myself up so I could get it to where I owned it
I went from having somebody manage me to me hiring the person that works my management company
I changed everything, I realised my destiny in a matter of five years you know what I'm saying?
I made myself a millionaire
I made millions for a lot of people now it's time to make millions for myself, you know what I'm saying?
I made millions for the record companies, I made millions for these movie companies, now I make millions for, for us
(And through your different avenues of success, how would you say you managed to keep a level of sanity?)
By my faith in God, by my faith in the game, and by my faith in all good, all good things come to those that stay true, you know what I'm saying?
And it was happening to me for a reason, you know what I'm saying?
I was noticing, shit, I was punching the right buttons and it was happening
So it's no problem, you know I mean it's a problem but I'm not finna let them know, I'm finna go straight through
(Would you consider yourself a fighter at heart or somebody that, heh, somebody that only reacts when they back is against the wall?)
Shit, I like to think that at every opportunity I've ever been uh threatened with resistance it's been met with resistance
And not only me but it goes down my family tree, you know what I'm saying?
It's in my veins to fight back
(Aight well, how long you think it take before niggas be like, 'We fighting a war, I'm fighting a war I can't win and I wanna lay it all down')
In this country a black man only have like five years we can exhibit maximum strength, and that's right now while you a teenager, while you still strong or while you still wanna lift weights, while you still wanna shoot back
'Cause once you turn thirty it's like they take the heart and soul out of a man, out of a black man in this country and you don't wanna fight no more
And if you don't believe me you can look around, you don't see no loud mouth thirty-year old motherfuckers
(That's crazy, because me being one of your offspring of the legacy you left behind, I can truly tell you that there's nothing but turmoil goin' on so I wanted to ask you what you think is the future for me and my generation today?)
I think that niggas is tired of grabbin' shit out the stores and next time it's a riot there's gonna be, like, uh, bloodshed for real
I don't think America know that
I think American think we was just playing and it's gonna be some more playing but it ain't gonna be no playing
It's gonna be murder, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like Nat Turner 1831 up in this motherfucker
You know what I'm saying? It's gonna happen
Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur:
That's crazy man
In my opinion, only hope that we kinda have left is music and vibrations, lotta people don't understand how important it is
Sometimes I be like, get behind a mic and I don't know what type of energy I'mma push out, or where it comes from
Trip me out sometimes
(Because the spirits, we ain't even really rappin', we just letting our dead homies tell stories for us)
Kendrick Lamar:
Damn
I wanted to read one last thing to you
It's actually something a good friend had wrote describing my world
It says
'The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it
Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it, in order to protect itself from this mad city
While consuming its environment, the caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive
One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him, but praises the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar
But having a harsh outlook on life, the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits
Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him
He can no longer see past his own thoughts, he's trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas start to take roots, such as going home and bringing back new concepts to this mad city
The result?
Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle
Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same'
What's your perspective on that?
Pac? Pac? Pac
Uh, yeah
Uh
Yeah, uh
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
Kendrick Lamar and Prince Paul:
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan (One two, one two), uh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Kendrick Lamar:
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Do you believe in me? Are you deceiving me?
Could I let you down easily? Is your heart where it need to be?
Is your smile on permanent? Is your vow on lifetime?
Would you know where the sermon is if I died in this next line?
If I'm tried in a court of law, if the industry cut me off
If the government want me dead, plant cocaine in my car
Would you judge me a drughead or see me as K. Lamar
Or question my character and degrade me on every blog?
Want you to love me like Nelson, want you to hug me like Nelson
I freed you from being a slave in your mind, you're very welcome
You tell me my song is more than a song, it's surely a blessing
But a prophet ain't a prophet till they ask you this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that
Do you believe in me? How much you believe in her?
You think she gon' stick around if them twenty-five years occur?
You think he can hold you down when you down behind bars hurt?
You think y'all on common ground if you promise to be the first?
Can you be immortalised without your life being expired?
Even though you share the same blood, is it worth the time?
Like who got your best interest? Like how much are you dependent?
How clutch are the people that say they love you and who pretending?
How tough is your skin when they turn you in, do you show forgiveness?
What brush do you bend when dusting your shoulders from being offended?
What kind of den did they put you in when the lions start hissing?
What kind of bridge did they burn, revenge or your mind when it's mentioned?
You wanna love like Nelson, you wanna be like Nelson
You wanna walk in in his shoes but you peace-making seldom
You wanna be remembered that delivered the message
That considered the blessing of everyone, this your lesson for everyone, say
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The voice of Mandela, hope this flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga
I been wrote off before, I got abandonment issues
I hold grudges like bad judges, don't let me resent you
That's not Nelson-like, want you to love me like Nelson
I went to Robben's Island analyzing, that's where his cell is
So I could find clarity, like how much you cherish me
Is this relationship a fake or real as the heavens be?
See I got to question it all, family, friends, fans, cats, dogs
Trees, plants, grass, how the wind blow, Murphy's Law
Generation X, will I ever be your X?
Floss off a baby step, mauled by the mouth of pitbulls, put me under stress
Crawled under rocks, ducking y'all, it's respect
But then tomorrow, put my back against the wall
How many leaders you said you needed then left 'em for dead?
Is it Moses, is it Huey Newton or Detroit Red?
Is it Martin Luther, JFK, shoot or you assassin?
Is it Jackie, is it Jesse? Oh I know, it's Michael Jackson, oh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
That nigga gave us Billie Jean, you say he touched those kids?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga, let me ask this question nigga
I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in the hotel room
I didn't wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn't stop survivor's guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang color than mine's
Doesn't mean I can't respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us
But I don't know
I'm no mortal man
Maybe I'm just another nigga
Shit and that's all I wrote
I was gonna call it 'Another Nigga' but it ain't really a poem, I just felt like it's something you probably could relate to
Other than that, now that I finally got a chance to holler at you, I always wanted to ask you about a certain situa-
About a metaphor actually, uh you spoke on the ground
What you mean 'bout that, what the ground represent?
Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar:
The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil (Right)
That's how I see it, my word is bond
I see and the ground is the symbol for the poor people (Right), the poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people
'Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetizing, you know what I'm saying?
Wealthy, appetizing, the poor gonna be so poor and hungry, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, there might be some cannibalism out this mother, they might eat the rich
(Aight so let me ask you this then
Do you see yourself as somebody that's rich or somebody that made the best of they own opportunities?)
I see myself as a natural born hustler, a true hustler in every sense of the word
I took nothin', I took the opportunities, I worked at the most menial and degrading job and built myself up so I could get it to where I owned it
I went from having somebody manage me to me hiring the person that works my management company
I changed everything, I realised my destiny in a matter of five years you know what I'm saying?
I made myself a millionaire
I made millions for a lot of people now it's time to make millions for myself, you know what I'm saying?
I made millions for the record companies, I made millions for these movie companies, now I make millions for, for us
(And through your different avenues of success, how would you say you managed to keep a level of sanity?)
By my faith in God, by my faith in the game, and by my faith in all good, all good things come to those that stay true, you know what I'm saying?
And it was happening to me for a reason, you know what I'm saying?
I was noticing, shit, I was punching the right buttons and it was happening
So it's no problem, you know I mean it's a problem but I'm not finna let them know, I'm finna go straight through
(Would you consider yourself a fighter at heart or somebody that, heh, somebody that only reacts when they back is against the wall?)
Shit, I like to think that at every opportunity I've ever been uh threatened with resistance it's been met with resistance
And not only me but it goes down my family tree, you know what I'm saying?
It's in my veins to fight back
(Aight well, how long you think it take before niggas be like, 'We fighting a war, I'm fighting a war I can't win and I wanna lay it all down')
In this country a black man only have like five years we can exhibit maximum strength, and that's right now while you a teenager, while you still strong or while you still wanna lift weights, while you still wanna shoot back
'Cause once you turn thirty it's like they take the heart and soul out of a man, out of a black man in this country and you don't wanna fight no more
And if you don't believe me you can look around, you don't see no loud mouth thirty-year old motherfuckers
(That's crazy, because me being one of your offspring of the legacy you left behind, I can truly tell you that there's nothing but turmoil goin' on so I wanted to ask you what you think is the future for me and my generation today?)
I think that niggas is tired of grabbin' shit out the stores and next time it's a riot there's gonna be, like, uh, bloodshed for real
I don't think America know that
I think American think we was just playing and it's gonna be some more playing but it ain't gonna be no playing
It's gonna be murder, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like Nat Turner 1831 up in this motherfucker
You know what I'm saying? It's gonna happen
Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur:
That's crazy man
In my opinion, only hope that we kinda have left is music and vibrations, lotta people don't understand how important it is
Sometimes I be like, get behind a mic and I don't know what type of energy I'mma push out, or where it comes from
Trip me out sometimes
(Because the spirits, we ain't even really rappin', we just letting our dead homies tell stories for us)
Kendrick Lamar:
Damn
I wanted to read one last thing to you
It's actually something a good friend had wrote describing my world
It says
'The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it
Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it, in order to protect itself from this mad city
While consuming its environment, the caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive
One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him, but praises the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar
But having a harsh outlook on life, the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits
Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him
He can no longer see past his own thoughts, he's trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas start to take roots, such as going home and bringing back new concepts to this mad city
The result?
Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle
Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same'
What's your perspective on that?
Pac? Pac? Pac
External links
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Photo: Maya Robinson and Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images
This article first ran shortly before the release of To Pimp a Butterfly. In honor of Kendrick Lamar’s fourth album, DAMN., out now, we’ve updated it to include songs from TPAB and onward.
Its been two years since Kendrick Lamar released his expansive opus, To Pimp a Butterfly, and now he’s dropped the tightly wound DAMN., so it feels like the perfect time to reexamine some of his finest lyrical work to date (not including anything from DAMN.). We present Kendrick’s best verses, including mixtape cuts, album tracks, cyphers, one-off songs, and features.
20. Kendrick Lamar, “Untitled 02,” untitled unmastered, Third Verse (2016)
Key lines: “I can put a rapper on life support / Guarantee that’s something none of you want / Ten homies down and they all serving life / What is it like twenty-five hundred a month? / What if I empty my bank out and stunt? / What if I certified all of these ones? / Bitch I get buck, I’m as real as they come.”
Over the course of his still-young career, Kendrick has continuously fired warning shots at his competitors. This isn’t even his greatest potshot (see everything below), but it’s still enough for Kendrick’s peers to dodge the bullets. A line like “I can put a rapper on life support” would be a mild threat coming from lesser rappers, but knowing what we do about Kendrick’s own admissions of his violent past makes this read more like a chilling promise if ever tempted.
19. Kendrick Lamar, “Hood Politics,” To Pimp a Butterfly, Second Verse (2015)
Key lines: “From Compton to Congress, set trippin’ all around / Ain’t nothin’ new, but a flu of new Demo-Crips and Re-Blood-licans / Red state versus a blue state, which one you governin’? / They give us guns and drugs, call us thugs / Make it they promise to fuck with you / No condom, they fuck with you, Obama say, ‘What it do?’”
We didn’t know it at the time, but we heard part of “Hood Politics” before we ever knew the song existed. Kendrick freestyled this verse first on the radio over a medley of Biggie instrumentals. This was long before the election went nuclear, but even then Kendrick knew danger was lurking. He likens partisanship to gang affiliation and admonishes their hypocrisy, even putting a target on then-president Obama’s back. No one’s safe under Kendrick’s watch.
18. Beyoncé feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Freedom,” Lemonade, Third Verse (2016)
Key lines: “Ten Hail Marys, I meditate for practice / Channel 9 news tell me I’m movin’ backwards / Eight blocks left, death is around the corner / Seven misleadin’ statements ’bout my persona / Six headlights wavin’ in my direction / Five-O askin’ me what’s in my possession.”
This verse works as a cousin of “Twelve Days of Christmas,” if, say, the original were a countdown to the black apocalypse. Not everything Kendrick raps is about being a black man in America, but his blackness seeps through every word. “Freedom” was the “Alright” of Lemonade and, while it would’ve served its purpose well enough without Kendrick (as you saw in its visual), he only further punctuates Beyoncé’s message of resistance with a breathless numbered list of anecdotal grievances.
17. Big Sean feat. Jay Electronica and Kendrick Lamar, “Control,” Second Verse (2013)
Key lines: “I got love for you all, but I’m tryna murder you niggas / Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas / They don’t wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you niggas.”
This verse, perhaps even more than GKMC, is what made Kendrick hip-hop’s most dangerous voice. Diss tracks are a rapper’s bread and butter, but few address competitors by name and chew them out one by one with such murderous conceit. “Control” is arguably Kendrick’s best-known song (sorry, Big Sean). It’s not necessarily one fans will repeat word for word or even regularly play back, but it’s his most memorable manifesto: the birth of King Kendrick.
16. Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, and Kendrick Lamar, BET Cypher,Fifth Verse (2013)
Key lines: “I’m way more polished than 99 percent of the scholars you thought had graduated / I’m the master that masturbated on your favorite emcee / Until the industry had wanted me assassinated.”
Rumor has it, Kendrick came up with this entire verse on the spot, which is almost unheard of in today’s read-lyrics-off-my-iPhone freestyle culture. If you thought his “Control” verse was harsh, Kendrick upgraded from a handgun to an AK-47 with this one — and he uses that Mobb Deep beat to his best advantage.
15. Game feat. Kendrick Lamar, “The City,” The. R.E.D. Album, Fourth Verse (2011)
Key lines: “‘Compton!’ a nigga gotta scream that shit / Never went commercial, never TV-screened that shit / Can’t block or screen that shit, now everybody sing that shit.”
Kendrick’s received many a cosign from West Coast rap’s elite, and Game is no different. This is his opus to their city of Compton, but not only does Kendrick steal the show on the hook, he has the song’s best verse. He’s become such a poster child for making it out of the city alive that the music even stops for him. Kendrick fires off his anthemic verse mostly a capella at such lightning speed it’ll leave you dizzy.
14. Kendrick Lamar feat. James Fauntleroy, “How Much a Dollar Cost,” To Pimp a Butterfly, Third Verse (2015)
Key lines: “Guilt trippin’ and feelin’ resentment / I never met a transient that demanded attention / They got me frustrated, indecisive and power trippin’ / Sour emotions got me lookin’ at the universe different / I should distance myself, I should keep it relentless / My selfishness is what got me here, who the fuck I’m kiddin’?”
Kendrick Lamar is the consummate storyteller, and on “How Much a Dollar Cost,” he wrestles with how fame forces a level of cynicism that renders empathy a liability by constructing a complex Biblical narrative. In short, he meets with a beggar who’s revealed to be God in the flesh. The encounter sparks an especially introspective section where Kendrick begins to reset his moral compass by considering if you can put a price on humility. (A sign of songs to come, apparently.) No wonder this was Barack Obama’s favorite song of 2015.
13. Kendrick Lamar, “Swimming Pools (Drank),” good kid, m.A.A.d city, Second Verse (2012)
Key lines: “The freedom is granted as soon as the damage of vodka arrived / This how you capitalize, this is parental advice / Then apparently I’m overinfluenced by what you are doin’.”
Only Kendrick can write a song about sexual temptation and all the ways alcoholism corrodes the mind, then turn it into a club banger. You probably heard this song for the first time at a bar, played it back at home, and felt bamboozled. This song is at its best in the second verse, when Kendrick experiences a sort of Gollum/Sméagol complex and spars with his conscious about taking just one more shot.
12. Kendrick Lamar feat. Assassin, “The Blacker the Berry,” To Pimp a Butterfly, Third Verse (2015)
Key lines: “I’m African-American, I’m African / I’m black as the heart of a fuckin’ Aryan / I’m black as the name of Tyrone and Darius / Excuse my French, but fuck you — no, fuck y’all.”
Kendrick has never really spoken this explicitly about race. Many interpreted the song as a response to Azealia Banks’s criticism about his comments on Ferguson, and maybe it is, but it hits deeper. It doesn’t feel as reactionary as that theory would suggest (though maybe Azealia’s what drove him over the edge), but rather a laundry list of grievances against America’s horrendous history of race relations that’s long been gestating in Kendrick’s bones. Either way, the timing couldn’t have been better.
11.Kendrick Lamar, “Sing About Me,” good kid, m.A.A.d city, Third Verse (2012)
Key lines: “And I’m not sure why I’m infatuated with death / My imagination is surely an aggravation of threats / That can come about, ’cause the tongue is mighty powerful / And I can name a list of your favorites that probably vouch / Maybe cause I’m a dreamer and sleep is the cousin of death / Really stuck in the schema of wonderin’ when I’mma rest.”
Part of what’s made Kendrick Lamar one of the greatest storytellers hip-hop’s ever seen is his ability to communicate even the most cautionary of tales from his life in Compton with dignity. You never get the sense that Kendrick’s passing judgment on the lives he’s seen destroyed by gangs and prostitution — he’s trying to make sense of it all. He sees himself in Dave and his brother, and in Kiesha and her sister in the song’s first two verses, and to end the song’s devastating first half, Kendrick tries to make peace with their demise by wondering about the inevitability of his own.
10. Kendrick Lamar, “Hol’ Up,” Section.80, Second Verse (2011)
Key lines: “As a kid I killed two adults, I’m too advanced / I lived my 20s at 2 years old, the wiser man / Truth be told, I’m like 87.”
Kendrick’s lived a life rocked by the “ghetto blues,” and at 27, he’s seen more than most will in a lifetime. But it’s not just what he’s seen that makes him so sympathetic, it’s also what he’s done … and what he’s capable of doing. This is one of the first times we hear Kendrick confess to having killed, and whether or not that’s true is anyone’s guess, but it’s telling of Kendrick’s character and candor. There’s no manufactured aspirations of gangbanging to be had here, it’s just bullet holes and compromised morals that he can’t shake. He ends the verse screaming (not literally) for help.
9.Drake ft. Kendrick Lamar, “Buried Alive Interlude,”Take Care, First Verse (2011)
Key lines: “Looking in the mirror, I’m embarrassed / I’m feeling like a suicidal terrorist / React like an infant whenever you are mentioned / Mind over matter never worked for my nemesis.”
Most probably don’t think Kendrick Lamar and Drake have a lot in common. On the exterior, that’s true. But their private thoughts and “vices,” as Kendrick calls them here, aren’t all that different. Drake’s made a career out of talking about some of his more superficial woes — fame, women he barely knows, money — but all those things affect Kendrick, too. And he interrupts Drake’s own album to map out the two rappers’ parallel trajectories with a barely lucid story about how he perceives his adversary.
8.Kendrick Lamar, “Hiiipower,” Section.80, Second Verse (2011)
Key lines: “I’m standing on the field full of land mines / Doing the moonwalk, hoping I blow up in time / ’Cause 2012 might not be a fucking legend / Tryna be a fucking legend, the man of mankind / Who said a black man in the Illuminati? / Last time I checked, that was the biggest racist party.”
Kendrick has an unreal understanding of the English language, and he flexes it supremely on “Hiiipower,” referencing revolutionaries and weaving together anecdotes about institutional racism, sexism, classism, and every -ism one might blame for what he considers our rotting civilization. This is also Kendrick’s way of appointing himself his generation’s Martin Luther King Jr. and investing in another sort of high power.
7. Kendrick Lamar feat. Dash Snow, “The Heart Pt. 2,” O(verly) D(edicated), First Verse (2010)
Key lines: “We used to beefing over a turf, fuck beefing over a verse / Niggas dying, motherfuck a double entendre / And this is Comp-ton, lions in the land of the triumph.”
You can’t really spotlight any one line from this song. It’s performed as an extended stream of consciousness, delivered in what sounds like one long breath — that Kendrick eventually chokes on later in the song — that’s deeply personal, even for Kendrick’s standards. He talks about his uncle being locked up, confrontations with police, and what’s it like to spend some time in the mind of a black man born and raised in Compton for a couple minutes. There’s not many metaphors at work here, just reality according to Kendrick.
6. Kendrick Lamar feat. Ab-Soul, “Ab-Soul’s Outro,” Section.80, Fifth Verse (2011)
Key lines: “You’ve ever seen a newborn baby kill a grown man / That’s an analogy for the way the world make me react / My innocence been dead.”
Kendrick does a lot of soul-searching in this song, and he eventually arrives at a limbo in this spoken-word piece. He wants to rectify rapping about “money, hoes, and clothes,” but he can’t do that without sounding like a hypocrite, and he knows it. The only thing he can do is reaffirm his perspective, which is that of a man who’s had to act like a man for longer than he should. This is the toll it’s taken on him, and it’s a declaration that, because of his strong will, he’s dedicated to rapping on his terms — even it makes you uncomfortable.
5. Kendrick Lamar, “Alright,” To Pimp a Butterfly, Pre-Chorus (2015)
Key lines: “Wouldn’t you know / We been hurt, been down before / Nigga, when our pride was low / Lookin’ at the world like, ‘Where do we go?’ / Nigga, and we hate po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho’ / Nigga, I’m at the preacher’s door / My knees gettin’ weak, and my gun might blow / But we gon’ be alright.”
If this were a ranking of Kendrick’s best songs, “Alright” would come out on top. It’s an urgent anthem released amid a spike in police brutality against black people that emerged as both the black community’s salve and rallying cry at protests across the country. Its “We gon’ be alright” chant is what rap history will remember, but we’d all do well not to forget Kendrick’s piercing remarks reflecting on what brought us to this defiant affirmation of survival that come directly before it.
4. Kendrick Lamar ft. Gunplay, “Cartoon & Cereal,” Bridge (2012)
Key lines: “Now, I was raised in a sandbox, next to you and her / You was holding the handgun, she was giving birth / To a baby boy to be just like you, I wonder what’s that worth.”
It’s a shame “Cartoon & Cereal” didn’t make GKMC, because it would’ve made the perfect supplement to the album’s skits involving Kendrick’s parents. That album is intensely autobiographical, but it doesn’t delve as much into those closest to Kendrick: his mother and father. “Cartoon & Cereal” feels like an extension of that album’s cover, a photograph of a young Kendrick with his uncles and grandfather, a scene he describes in this song’s standout bridge as a room full of Wile E. Coyotes. The way Kendrick sees it, he never stood a chance. He was born in the wild, where cartoons and cereal aren’t promised.
3. Schoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Blessed,” Habits & Contradictions, Third Verse (2012)
Key lines: “As the record spinning, you was hearing angels entertain / Every pun intended, that was wicked, coming from your brain / Recognize you listened and you didn’t hit the block again / That’s because the minute after you had knew you would be slain / Open up another chapter in the book and read ‘gain / Story of a gun-clapper really tryna make a change.”
Optimistic songs about gang life are hard to come by, but Q and Kendrick know a thing or two about getting out of that lifestyle. Kendrick hits the nail on the head in a verse in which he smartly stresses the last word of every stanza, emphasizing that each day could be your last if necessary action isn’t taken to change how you live it. The result sounds like a passing of the torch from Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day.”
2. Pusha T feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Nosetalgia,” My Name Is My Name, Second Verse (2013)
Key lines: “Go figure, mothafucka, every verse is a brick, your son dope, nigga / Now reap what you sowed, nigga (Please reap what you sowed, nigga) / I was born in ’87, my grandaddy a legend / Now the same shit that y’all was smoking is my profession, let’s get it.”
Is there a more chilling opening to a verse than, “Do you wanna see a dead body?” Kendrick often sounds like he’s about to come unhinged, and he adopts an especially crazed flow here for a re-creation of the first time he smoked weed laced with crack, which he references to explain how it feels to come from a legacy of drug dealing. Of course, he flips that entire narrative on its head and, in one line, makes all of Tony Montana’s allure suddenly seem overrated.
1. Kendrick Lamar feat. MC Eiht, “m.A.A.d city,” good kid, m.A.A.d city, Second Verse (2012)
Key lines: “Cocaine laced in marijuana / And they wonder why I rarely smoke now / Imagine if your first blunt had you foaming at the mouth / I was straight tweaking the next weekend, we broke even / I made allegiance that made a promise to see you bleeding / You know the reasons but still won’t ever know my life / Kendrick a.k.a. Compton’s human sacrifice.”
Kendrick’s most ironclad lyrical performance has him taking us all, as he says, on a “trip down memory lane.” But it’s more like a descent into Hell. This is Kendrick’s memoir, a coming-of-age story of a kid from Compton thrown into a war without even the smallest hope for a cease-fire. We’ve heard about his kill-or-be-killed mentality, why he feels such a disconnect from his childhood, and how he’d give anything to save as many as he can from following his same path before it’s too late. And in “m.A.A.d city,” we find out, in detail, the exact moment Kendrick became “Compton’s human sacrifice” — with the caveat that it still doesn’t mean we know a damn thing about him. It’s not only the best song on Kendrick’s debut album, but it stands, more than two years later, as the strongest verses of Kendrick’s career so far. We can only imagine what else he has in store.
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Kendrick Lamar – m.A.A.d city Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
m.A.A.d city Lyrics: If Pirus and Crips all got along / They'd probably gun me down by the end of this song / Seem like the whole city go against me / Every time I'm in the street, I hear— / YAWK!
Kendrick Lamar - M.A.A.D. City Lyrics | SongMeanings
Good Kid Maad City Tracklist
General Commentthis song is about gang violence hence why he starts it out with 'if pirus and crips all got along they probably gun me down by the end of this song' they would probably gun him down because he's talking about how dumb gang violence is and well there the two biggest gangs in the U.S. but they don't get along because their rivals. and basically figure the rest out yourself thats ..
Kendrick Lamar Explains Meaning Of 'good kid, m.A.A.d city ..
Kendrick Lamar is making the media rounds in anticipation of his major label debut good kid, m.A.A.d city, releasing on October 22nd.During an interview with L.A. Leakers, the Compton, California ..
Urban Dictionary: m.A.A.d
An acronym created by Kendrick Lamar referring to where he grew up. He never told anyone what it meant, however, he revealed that the meaning is mentioned somewhere in his album. The meaning is unveiled at the end of the song, M.A.A.d City.
The Story Behind Kendrick Lamar's 'good kid m.A.A.d city'
good kid m.A.A.d city is a coming of age story of “K.Dot” – a youthful teen in Compton battling maturation and gang violence – as he transitions into “Kendrick Lamar,” the iteration of ..
M.A.A.d city by Kendrick Lamar - Songfacts
Kendrick Lamar enlisted his fellow Compton rapper MC Eiht to spit some rhymes on this track. Eiht explained to Dubcnn how the song came together: 'I've been hearing about Kendrick for a minute as one of the youngsters coming up from Compton. I had been hearing about him through the grapevine, and it just so happened that we had some people in common – he knew some of my relatives.
Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d city (Lyrics)
Category Music; Suggested by UMG ScHoolboy Q - Floating ft. 21 Savage; Song m.A.A.d city (Explicit Version) Artist Kendrick Lamar; Licensed to YouTube by
Kendrick Lamar - M.A.A.d City Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Lyrics to 'm.A.A.d city' by Kendrick Lamar. If Pirus and Crips all got along / They'd probably gun me down by the end of this song / Seem like the whole city go
Kendrick Lamar – good kid Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
This song kicks off good kid, m.A.A.d city’s back half, depicting the immediate aftermath of K.Dot getting jumped by two guys in hoodies at the end of the previous track, “Poetic Justice ..
Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d City Lyrics | AZLyrics.com
Lyrics to 'm.A.A.d City' song by Kendrick Lamar: If Pirus and Crips all got along They'd probably gun me down by the end of this song Seem like the w..
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TopThis song is by Kendrick Lamar and appears on the album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
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Uh, yeah
Uh, yeah
Uh
Yeah, uh
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
Kendrick Lamar and Prince Paul:
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan (One two, one two), uh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Kendrick Lamar:
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Do you believe in me? Are you deceiving me?
Could I let you down easily? Is your heart where it need to be?
Is your smile on permanent? Is your vow on lifetime?
Would you know where the sermon is if I died in this next line?
If I'm tried in a court of law, if the industry cut me off
If the government want me dead, plant cocaine in my car
Would you judge me a drughead or see me as K. Lamar
Or question my character and degrade me on every blog?
Want you to love me like Nelson, want you to hug me like Nelson
I freed you from being a slave in your mind, you're very welcome
You tell me my song is more than a song, it's surely a blessing
But a prophet ain't a prophet till they ask you this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that
Do you believe in me? How much you believe in her?
You think she gon' stick around if them twenty-five years occur?
You think he can hold you down when you down behind bars hurt?
You think y'all on common ground if you promise to be the first?
Can you be immortalised without your life being expired?
Even though you share the same blood, is it worth the time?
Like who got your best interest? Like how much are you dependent?
How clutch are the people that say they love you and who pretending?
How tough is your skin when they turn you in, do you show forgiveness?
What brush do you bend when dusting your shoulders from being offended?
What kind of den did they put you in when the lions start hissing?
What kind of bridge did they burn, revenge or your mind when it's mentioned?
You wanna love like Nelson, you wanna be like Nelson
You wanna walk in in his shoes but you peace-making seldom
You wanna be remembered that delivered the message
That considered the blessing of everyone, this your lesson for everyone, say
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The voice of Mandela, hope this flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga
I been wrote off before, I got abandonment issues
I hold grudges like bad judges, don't let me resent you
That's not Nelson-like, want you to love me like Nelson
I went to Robben's Island analyzing, that's where his cell is
So I could find clarity, like how much you cherish me
Is this relationship a fake or real as the heavens be?
See I got to question it all, family, friends, fans, cats, dogs
Trees, plants, grass, how the wind blow, Murphy's Law
Generation X, will I ever be your X?
Floss off a baby step, mauled by the mouth of pitbulls, put me under stress
Crawled under rocks, ducking y'all, it's respect
But then tomorrow, put my back against the wall
How many leaders you said you needed then left 'em for dead?
Is it Moses, is it Huey Newton or Detroit Red?
Is it Martin Luther, JFK, shoot or you assassin?
Is it Jackie, is it Jesse? Oh I know, it's Michael Jackson, oh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
That nigga gave us Billie Jean, you say he touched those kids?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga, let me ask this question nigga
I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in the hotel room
I didn't wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn't stop survivor's guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang color than mine's
Doesn't mean I can't respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us
But I don't know
I'm no mortal man
Maybe I'm just another nigga
Shit and that's all I wrote
I was gonna call it 'Another Nigga' but it ain't really a poem, I just felt like it's something you probably could relate to
Other than that, now that I finally got a chance to holler at you, I always wanted to ask you about a certain situa-
About a metaphor actually, uh you spoke on the ground
What you mean 'bout that, what the ground represent?
Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar:
The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil (Right)
That's how I see it, my word is bond
I see and the ground is the symbol for the poor people (Right), the poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people
'Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetizing, you know what I'm saying?
Wealthy, appetizing, the poor gonna be so poor and hungry, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, there might be some cannibalism out this mother, they might eat the rich
(Aight so let me ask you this then
Do you see yourself as somebody that's rich or somebody that made the best of they own opportunities?)
I see myself as a natural born hustler, a true hustler in every sense of the word
I took nothin', I took the opportunities, I worked at the most menial and degrading job and built myself up so I could get it to where I owned it
I went from having somebody manage me to me hiring the person that works my management company
I changed everything, I realised my destiny in a matter of five years you know what I'm saying?
I made myself a millionaire
I made millions for a lot of people now it's time to make millions for myself, you know what I'm saying?
I made millions for the record companies, I made millions for these movie companies, now I make millions for, for us
(And through your different avenues of success, how would you say you managed to keep a level of sanity?)
By my faith in God, by my faith in the game, and by my faith in all good, all good things come to those that stay true, you know what I'm saying?
And it was happening to me for a reason, you know what I'm saying?
I was noticing, shit, I was punching the right buttons and it was happening
So it's no problem, you know I mean it's a problem but I'm not finna let them know, I'm finna go straight through
(Would you consider yourself a fighter at heart or somebody that, heh, somebody that only reacts when they back is against the wall?)
Shit, I like to think that at every opportunity I've ever been uh threatened with resistance it's been met with resistance
And not only me but it goes down my family tree, you know what I'm saying?
It's in my veins to fight back
(Aight well, how long you think it take before niggas be like, 'We fighting a war, I'm fighting a war I can't win and I wanna lay it all down')
In this country a black man only have like five years we can exhibit maximum strength, and that's right now while you a teenager, while you still strong or while you still wanna lift weights, while you still wanna shoot back
'Cause once you turn thirty it's like they take the heart and soul out of a man, out of a black man in this country and you don't wanna fight no more
And if you don't believe me you can look around, you don't see no loud mouth thirty-year old motherfuckers
(That's crazy, because me being one of your offspring of the legacy you left behind, I can truly tell you that there's nothing but turmoil goin' on so I wanted to ask you what you think is the future for me and my generation today?)
I think that niggas is tired of grabbin' shit out the stores and next time it's a riot there's gonna be, like, uh, bloodshed for real
I don't think America know that
I think American think we was just playing and it's gonna be some more playing but it ain't gonna be no playing
It's gonna be murder, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like Nat Turner 1831 up in this motherfucker
You know what I'm saying? It's gonna happen
Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur:
That's crazy man
In my opinion, only hope that we kinda have left is music and vibrations, lotta people don't understand how important it is
Sometimes I be like, get behind a mic and I don't know what type of energy I'mma push out, or where it comes from
Trip me out sometimes
(Because the spirits, we ain't even really rappin', we just letting our dead homies tell stories for us)
Kendrick Lamar:
Damn
I wanted to read one last thing to you
It's actually something a good friend had wrote describing my world
It says
'The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it
Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it, in order to protect itself from this mad city
While consuming its environment, the caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive
One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him, but praises the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar
But having a harsh outlook on life, the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits
Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him
He can no longer see past his own thoughts, he's trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas start to take roots, such as going home and bringing back new concepts to this mad city
The result?
Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle
Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same'
What's your perspective on that?
Pac? Pac? Pac
Uh, yeah
Uh
Yeah, uh
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
Kendrick Lamar and Prince Paul:
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan (One two, one two), uh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Kendrick Lamar:
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Do you believe in me? Are you deceiving me?
Could I let you down easily? Is your heart where it need to be?
Is your smile on permanent? Is your vow on lifetime?
Would you know where the sermon is if I died in this next line?
If I'm tried in a court of law, if the industry cut me off
If the government want me dead, plant cocaine in my car
Would you judge me a drughead or see me as K. Lamar
Or question my character and degrade me on every blog?
Want you to love me like Nelson, want you to hug me like Nelson
I freed you from being a slave in your mind, you're very welcome
You tell me my song is more than a song, it's surely a blessing
But a prophet ain't a prophet till they ask you this question
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that
Do you believe in me? How much you believe in her?
You think she gon' stick around if them twenty-five years occur?
You think he can hold you down when you down behind bars hurt?
You think y'all on common ground if you promise to be the first?
Can you be immortalised without your life being expired?
Even though you share the same blood, is it worth the time?
Like who got your best interest? Like how much are you dependent?
How clutch are the people that say they love you and who pretending?
How tough is your skin when they turn you in, do you show forgiveness?
What brush do you bend when dusting your shoulders from being offended?
What kind of den did they put you in when the lions start hissing?
What kind of bridge did they burn, revenge or your mind when it's mentioned?
You wanna love like Nelson, you wanna be like Nelson
You wanna walk in in his shoes but you peace-making seldom
You wanna be remembered that delivered the message
That considered the blessing of everyone, this your lesson for everyone, say
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The voice of Mandela, hope this flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga
I been wrote off before, I got abandonment issues
I hold grudges like bad judges, don't let me resent you
That's not Nelson-like, want you to love me like Nelson
I went to Robben's Island analyzing, that's where his cell is
So I could find clarity, like how much you cherish me
Is this relationship a fake or real as the heavens be?
See I got to question it all, family, friends, fans, cats, dogs
Trees, plants, grass, how the wind blow, Murphy's Law
Generation X, will I ever be your X?
Floss off a baby step, mauled by the mouth of pitbulls, put me under stress
Crawled under rocks, ducking y'all, it's respect
But then tomorrow, put my back against the wall
How many leaders you said you needed then left 'em for dead?
Is it Moses, is it Huey Newton or Detroit Red?
Is it Martin Luther, JFK, shoot or you assassin?
Is it Jackie, is it Jesse? Oh I know, it's Michael Jackson, oh
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
That nigga gave us Billie Jean, you say he touched those kids?
When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me nigga, let me ask this question nigga
I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in the hotel room
I didn't wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn't stop survivor's guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang color than mine's
Doesn't mean I can't respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us
But I don't know
I'm no mortal man
Maybe I'm just another nigga
Shit and that's all I wrote
I was gonna call it 'Another Nigga' but it ain't really a poem, I just felt like it's something you probably could relate to
Other than that, now that I finally got a chance to holler at you, I always wanted to ask you about a certain situa-
About a metaphor actually, uh you spoke on the ground
What you mean 'bout that, what the ground represent?
Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar:
The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil (Right)
That's how I see it, my word is bond
I see and the ground is the symbol for the poor people (Right), the poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people
'Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetizing, you know what I'm saying?
Wealthy, appetizing, the poor gonna be so poor and hungry, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like, there might be some cannibalism out this mother, they might eat the rich
(Aight so let me ask you this then
Do you see yourself as somebody that's rich or somebody that made the best of they own opportunities?)
I see myself as a natural born hustler, a true hustler in every sense of the word
I took nothin', I took the opportunities, I worked at the most menial and degrading job and built myself up so I could get it to where I owned it
I went from having somebody manage me to me hiring the person that works my management company
I changed everything, I realised my destiny in a matter of five years you know what I'm saying?
I made myself a millionaire
I made millions for a lot of people now it's time to make millions for myself, you know what I'm saying?
I made millions for the record companies, I made millions for these movie companies, now I make millions for, for us
(And through your different avenues of success, how would you say you managed to keep a level of sanity?)
By my faith in God, by my faith in the game, and by my faith in all good, all good things come to those that stay true, you know what I'm saying?
And it was happening to me for a reason, you know what I'm saying?
I was noticing, shit, I was punching the right buttons and it was happening
So it's no problem, you know I mean it's a problem but I'm not finna let them know, I'm finna go straight through
(Would you consider yourself a fighter at heart or somebody that, heh, somebody that only reacts when they back is against the wall?)
Shit, I like to think that at every opportunity I've ever been uh threatened with resistance it's been met with resistance
And not only me but it goes down my family tree, you know what I'm saying?
It's in my veins to fight back
(Aight well, how long you think it take before niggas be like, 'We fighting a war, I'm fighting a war I can't win and I wanna lay it all down')
In this country a black man only have like five years we can exhibit maximum strength, and that's right now while you a teenager, while you still strong or while you still wanna lift weights, while you still wanna shoot back
'Cause once you turn thirty it's like they take the heart and soul out of a man, out of a black man in this country and you don't wanna fight no more
And if you don't believe me you can look around, you don't see no loud mouth thirty-year old motherfuckers
(That's crazy, because me being one of your offspring of the legacy you left behind, I can truly tell you that there's nothing but turmoil goin' on so I wanted to ask you what you think is the future for me and my generation today?)
I think that niggas is tired of grabbin' shit out the stores and next time it's a riot there's gonna be, like, uh, bloodshed for real
I don't think America know that
I think American think we was just playing and it's gonna be some more playing but it ain't gonna be no playing
It's gonna be murder, you know what I'm saying?
It's gonna be like Nat Turner 1831 up in this motherfucker
You know what I'm saying? It's gonna happen
Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur:
That's crazy man
In my opinion, only hope that we kinda have left is music and vibrations, lotta people don't understand how important it is
Sometimes I be like, get behind a mic and I don't know what type of energy I'mma push out, or where it comes from
Trip me out sometimes
(Because the spirits, we ain't even really rappin', we just letting our dead homies tell stories for us)
Kendrick Lamar:
Damn
I wanted to read one last thing to you
It's actually something a good friend had wrote describing my world
It says
'The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it
Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it, in order to protect itself from this mad city
While consuming its environment, the caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive
One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him, but praises the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar
But having a harsh outlook on life, the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits
Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him
He can no longer see past his own thoughts, he's trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas start to take roots, such as going home and bringing back new concepts to this mad city
The result?
Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle
Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same'
What's your perspective on that?
Pac? Pac? Pac
External links
Amazon: search for… Kendrick Lamar • To Pimp a Butterfly • Mortal Man
Hype Machine: search for… Kendrick Lamar • Mortal Man
Last.fm: search for… Kendrick Lamar • To Pimp a Butterfly • Mortal Man
Wikipedia: search for… Kendrick Lamar • To Pimp a Butterfly • Mortal Man
Maad City Kendrick
AllMusic: search for… Kendrick Lamar • To Pimp a Butterfly • Mortal Man