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| K-Dot and Ali "Set Trippin All Around" photo credit @mixedbyali, Instagram. |
In his last year, President Barack Obama has been doing many
phenomenal and racially oriented things. He signed governance to release
criminals with lower level offenses, freeing many of the homies and doing what
Lauryn sang in that hook. He has been using phrases like “pop off,” and even
invited a rapper who is always consciously calling the system out for its many
failures to sit with him at the White House. Having someone like Kendrick Lamar
be invited to the White House is huge.
A very politically conscious man who speaks out about
injustices in the political and justice systems of America, Lamar visited with
Obama to discuss a new mentoring program, as well as My Brother’s Keeper, the
mentoring program currently running. Kendrick Lamar, who has come under much
scrutiny because of his music and who
was under the scope of Fox News because of his BET performance, where he
stood on a police car rapping his song of resilience, “Alright” is always very
true to the political statements he makes. When asked, he never hesitates to
say how he feels about the ills of the world and of society. It is no
coincidence that this song has been used by many protest groups around the
country fighting against the heinous acts of police brutality, being chanted by
the angry youth who know they have to face police who wish to hurt them.
However, K-Dot represents much more than political
discussions and anger at the system. Kendrick also speaks to our young, black
men who are struggling through the hoods they live in. The ones who could’ve
and should’ve been great in life by any and at any level of means but ended up
doing many of the wrong things. K-Dot especially talks to the young men who
sign their lives away for a militia based on colors of red and blue, turf that
doesn’t really belong to them, and “brothers” who brutalize each other before
forming bonds. K-Dot isn’t a flashy rapper. He doesn’t appear in diamonds and
gold. He looks ordinary but possess a skill that reaches millions and emotes with
them. Kendrick represents a reality and he grittily speaks on it in many of his
songs.
In his song “u” on Grammy nominated album To Pimp A Butterfly, K-Dot pours his
heart out with a gut-wrenching sob while guzzling down alcohol in a hotel room
mirror. He is speaking on every failure and making amends with the man who left
his hood and his “brothers” while one was in the hospital dying. This level of
emotion doesn’t have a constant place within hip hop music, within the male
community, and especially among black men who are taught to deal with their
emotions and heartache in silence. The only emotions allowed to prevail are
anger and hubris.
Black men are taught to be nearly devoid of emotion. They
are taught to trust their friends, but never to explain how they feel. Never to
show fear or weakness. It is a complex system that all men live in, but for
black men, it is hardened by violence and turmoil from out side dope boys and schoolboys
and every other man they can encounter. With racial violence, injustice,
inequality, and disparity to add to the pot, it is never an easy plight and
because of this, Black male (teen and adult) depression is at clearly high but
poorly documented rates. HyperMasculinity and wanting to be “a man” who is
strong and unmovable in the face of adversity from any source plays a major
role. Being a man who is meant to protect leaves him unprotected by default. Like
Tupac, his predecessor before him, Kendrick speaks on all of these aspects that
and many more that cause Black men mental detriment, and brings it from the
streets to the White House, something he said he would do.
But to the little black boys and girls who listen to him,
K-Dot says more than just a couple lyrics that rhyme. He has lived through what
they live through and he speaks on it, millions hear it, and these kids feel
represented. They listened to the violence and death he used to be a part of as
a gang member affiliate, how he made amends with him self and found God. They
saw him keep his promise to get to the White House and now see how he is
speaking with the president about political moves for “the homies,” the people
in Compton and across the US who have to deal with the hardships he faced. Most
importantly, he didn’t come in a suit, tie, and dressed to the nines. He came
as himself and greeted the president like a friend. He showed that he belonged
there, even posed for many of the pictures like he was in his hood in front of
the Compton Swap Meet.
K-Dot visited the White House, but more importantly, K-Dot’s
message made it there and now some of our babies, the young and the grown ones
who have never been fortified, can feel heard.
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