J Cole: Born Sinner

Hip hop in recent years has highlighted the journeys that artists have taken to get to where they are today. The upbringings and life stories that these rappers and performers convey through lyricism and spoken word are just a glimpse into what they have had to do to get where they are. From the cluster of artists that have used this, more and/or better than their peers, comes one person who has epitomized the concept of bettering one's situation and life. Jermaine, or J, Cole has taken rap by storm, most recently with his 2014 album Forest Hills Drive. Despite the success of this piece of brilliance, I believe that his previous work, Born Sinner (2013), reflects the precedent of desire and passion in regards to having a beneficial change on the self. In other words, J Cole presents that the best person to change your life for the better is yourself, and to never stop the grind, so to speak. This ideal spans the rap world, and is a common position and topic that lives in today's verses and lyrics. Born Sinner attests to the ways that artists, especially the ones that eventually become successful, have a drive to be something greater.

The title Born Sinner, a quote from Notorious BIG's "Juicy," is a stamp on everyone as human beings, saying that we are destined to sin even before we enter this world. Sin is a touchy topic, especially in the lens of religion. Despite the thematic influence of gospel choirs, sermons, and references to biblical verses and stories, Cole's intention and understanding with the word sin is to relate it to mistakes and failures that deteriorate the the journey that each of us are on. J Cole doesn't want religion or church to be the centerpiece of this album. Born Sinner is a statement and call for people to accept defeat and screw ups and instead use them to push on. The album is composed of some of the stories and examples of mistakes that Cole has had or experienced on his way to the top. The main point that he makes is that he is still on top, even after the stuff he's been through and this fuels his further ambitions. Cole's ambition is defined by his emphasis on dreams. Within the album, the main dreams he has involve money and the desire to make a name for himself amongst the fans and the society of rappers that live atop the game. Money and ambition usually bring different circumstances when brought together. In a review of the story The Red and Black, Francisco Fiorentino picks out that ambition is some kind of metaphorical monster that has the capability of eating away a man's wellbeing and humanity, and that ambition isn't possible without a moral goal. Fiorentino targets ambition as negative, yet it brings up the position of what constitutes as a moral goal? For J Cole, his purposes are clear, and moral, for what he wants to do and accomplish. His family and his future are his goals that stem from moral desires to help others, whether they are close to him or even remotely involved in his push for the top.

Money continues to be a theme in music and performance, and it, as mentioned above, plays into ambition and progress immensely. The lure of money and capital success is most definitely a draw for most artists in the hip-hop. J Cole brings up money in Born Sinner quite a number of times, but rather than support the unceasing desire for it, he takes a prosecuting position on the matter of wealth and complacency. In Rich Niggaz, Cole talks about how he can't stand people who have financial security that look down on others because they seem to be less fortunate or successful than the wealthy. Cole doesn't want to be that guy. It looks to me like he wants to become something different and encourage an equal playing field amongst all people, not just artists. In a 2015 piece by Terri G. Seuntjens, dispositional greed serves as a result of ambition and desire. Greed is explained as a figure, meaning it can be described as a number that can be determined for each person. Seuntjens states that greed is a heavy contributor to economics and the social structure. On Born Sinner, J Cole's interlude Mo Money is structured to model the social totem pole from rich to poor. J Cole wants greed and conceit to disappear and in turn objectify the artists in hip hop that use wealth as a basis to compare themselves to others. Cole uses money as a tool to improve the current state of his own situation and change the way music culture thinks in modern society.


In addition to money, desire plays a genuine role through relationships/romanticism. Cole is invested in his mistakes, as well as in his success within relationships. Songs like Power Trip, She Knows, and Sparks Will Fly all carry the message of romanticism, but not just as a concept: J Cole stays locked in on desire and ambition, saying that these relationships have either held him down or gotten him up to where he is now. Every experience is a piece of his story, and it creates a grand picture in which Cole is showing the world his progress as an artist and human. The emotions that Cole brings to his journey are reminiscent of the passion he has to attain success. I think Power Trip really brings out Cole's passion for his life and the significant people in his life. In the song, he actually becomes so passionate about a girl that he would straight up kill someone to protect her (and he does that in the music video). As brutal as that is, the overall theme here is that he just wants to get better and better in the rap community and stardom is his main priority. The process of pushing through rough patches in emotionally invested occasions comes back in Sparks Will Fly, the last track on the 21 song album.  Jhene Aiko features and serves as the woman in a relationship that is facing hard times, but J Cole and Aiko believe that the best way to solve the problems is to stay together and fix it. J Cole's mindset represents this through the whole album: that keeping things the same is the best way to persevere and get through bad things going on, in life and in music.

Before Born Sinner, J Cole rapped songs that had a basketball theme to them, forming the origin of Cole's focus on progress. Born Sinner has a completely new vibe to it, without a streamline story to follow. Like I said before, this album doesn't have a religious connotation, but what Cole said in an Elle interview was that "[he] put[s] a lot of God into [his] music, but not because [he's] super religious. There are a lot of demons in [his] music, too. [He] acknowledge[s] both (Amey, Elle)." I enjoy this word play, not because I think he's a lyrical genius but because these metaphors play into his motif of the journey to success. He has faced highs and lows, who take the shape of heavenly figures and the damned monsters who either build him up or attempt to break him down. J Cole uses his drive and desire to attain things he didn't think were before possible. This mentality is spreading amongst artists, and J Cole is a sound model for others to take inspiration from. Areas of heavy rap influence are full of underground rappers looking to reach the same places J Cole and other mainstream artists have been, and J Cole's point is that all of them are capable of it if they can start taking things into their own hands and to have the passion to succeed. In South Florida, for example, artists aren't concerned about getting to the top for the money: "they don't necessarily desire notoriety or fame. It's the artistic challenge" (Bhasin, Naples Daily News) that gives them the drive to become the voices everyone hears on the radio or in a club or at a sold out show. Rap is evolving past the materialism and becoming focused on the material IN the verses, over the beats. J Cole and a few other rappers are bringing this out, and it's making hip hop so much more enjoyable for the listeners and fans.

J Cole's transition from Sideline Story to Born Sinner is symbolic of his growth and his journey from where his career began. Born Sinner was really a confirmation of his talents after his impressive first album. Cole brings a more mature and real album that presents a more subjective concept than his previous work. It's relative to the first album I reviewed, and how Childish Gambino takes his music as a journey and path. From humble beginnings in Fayetteville, North Carolina to tearing up stages worldwide, J Cole has embodied what it means to be driven and ambitious, all to accomplish great things for yourself and those around you. He is creating an example, that others in the business could take a lesson from.

Due to copyright issues, there isn't a video to the full album on Youtube, so here is a link to Youtube playlists of the album. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=j+cole+born+sinner+full+album

Works Cited:

Amey, Katie. "Hot Topic: J. Cole." ELLE. Hearst, 17 June 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.

Bhasin, Sabina. "Special Report: Local Hip Hop Artists Fueled By Desire to Make It." Naples Daily        News. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Fiorentino, Francesco. "Ambition." New Left Review 90 (2014): 79-88. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Seuntjens, Terri G., et al. "Dispositional Greed." Journal Of Personality & Social Psychology 108.6 (2015): 917-933. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

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Pouya: South Side Slugs

Over the past decades, sexuality has become an increasingly desensitized subject, and much of the blame goes to pop culture and ultimately music. Rappers especially carry the responsibility of sexual promotion, if you can call it that, and encourage everyone that having sex and getting pussy all the time is the way to go. Underground rappers thrive off of these kind of dirty innuendos and self glorification through their growing fame. One of these guys is Kevin Pouya, a Miami area native, who, with his crew who call themselves the Buffet Boys, are getting their tracks out by touring to big cities and uploading their stuff to SoundCloud, Twitter, and other social media and music sites. These guys are wild, and their lyrics are creative and different, while containing sexual references that are hilarious and graphic at the same time. With the Buffet Boys being rather young, all in their early twenties, there's definitely a question of how they come up with these lines and topics. One thing that Pouya said in a Miami New Times article (By Lee Castro) is that before all of the rapping, he had "no hoes [and] no fucking food." This is a common theme amongst rappers, that music and their budding fame has changed their lifestyle completely and the Buffet Boys are beyond proud to boast about their rise to relative popularity.

One thing that most people strive to accomplish in life is to have enough capital to be able to thrive and do what the want/need to do. Rappers have this mentality, and spit about it frequently. Pouya is no different, and his 2015 mixtape South Side Slugs brings this up. The main focus of this mixtape is mainly on how money and music have gotten him laid. A lot. And with this comes a new level of confidence, that he then exudes to us listeners. Now, where as most of us don't think right away that we have to go out and have sex, the songs off this album, like a lot of rap music, desensitize the idea of sexuality. South Side Slugs is 18 tracks of music genius, with lyrical twists that brag about the lifestyle Pouya is living. Don't get me wrong, I was brought up with a mindset completely contrary to this and I am not validating this mindset. I merely want to discuss a guy who brings a different and raunchy-er element to rap. The main focus here is really in the hilarity and comical nature of Pouya and his lyrics, despite their sexual contexts. 

South Side Slugs opens with one of the higher rated tracks on the album, "Suicidal Thoughts In The Back Of The Cadillac." This song's chorus echoes the concept that Pouya is having sex with groupies that in the end screw him over and don't care about his life. If you wonder how he feels about this, track 2, "Strange" blatantly says that Pouya "hate[s] [the] hoes, hate[s] [their] attitude" but he doesn't care because in the end he's sleeping with them. The next few tracks don't have as much influence derived from sex compared to money and success, yet the commonality is the way he refers to women, whether he calls them bitch, hoe, pussy, etc. The sexual premise returns in "241" where Pouya, Germ, and Mikey the Magician all rap about some wild sexual and life experiences, including jacking off in front of another dudes wife at the beach, doing anal, and hooking up with girls that they don't give a shit about. I know, it's cringeworthy stuff (ok maybe just the first two) but you can see the way they just don't care about their actions, as long as they're getting rich and getting girls. One line that sets the tone for Pouya's obsession with sex is in track 7 "Dandy In Love," and he says "[he] talks about [his] dick a lot, cuz [he] likes to fuck a lot." To me, that's just confidence and Baby Bone, as he calls himself, puts himself out there in a way that you gotta respect him, even if you don't agree with his lifestyle.

In line with this concept, I wanted to input some of Pouya's actual thoughts of himself. In a recent "No Jumper" interview (which is to the right-->), Pouya and his boy Fat Nick talk about what their lives were like and how stuff has changed since rapping took off. Early in the interview, Pouya says that he's less social than the other guys in the group because he has social anxiety. The interesting thing about this is that his music tells a whole different side of his life. There's a distinct separation between Pouya's thoughts and actions, and his lyricism is a testament to that. In "The Sensual Sounds of Kevin Pouya," Baby Bone is talking to his chick and asks if she's "livid with the bullshit [he] been speaking of." This helps us see how he may have second thoughts about his actions and words, but ultimately he just gets down to the dirty business with whoever this girl is. Even when he gets with these girls though, he knows he's going to move on to another one. "Smash Bros" opens up with Pouya saying that he promises that he is going to leave the girl for another one, who will most likely have more to offer (bigger butt, nicer car, etc). As disrespectful as you and I think this is, I don't think Pouya cares in the slightest because he's banking on there being other woman to sleep with. He's taking an approach that can be interpreted as himself being a commodity, and (as stated in "Father of Contention") the women have to come "get it while it's hot." After referring to women as a commodity thus far in the album, it's intriguing that he makes the move to objectify himself. Here is this "famous" guy who is essentially selling himself to society, talking about how people want him for his reputation and what he can give them. It's definitely intriguing to hear this kind of counter, or role reversal in an album so objective of women, money, and drugs. He doesn't dwell on this topic for long, especially since he comes back and makes the main line in "So What" about how he "fucked your hoe last night, so what?" Again, he's talking about the correlation between getting money and getting bitches, which he doesn't think too much about because it's becoming a routine for him.


The last 3 songs off South Side Slugs are, in scope, "harder" than the rest of the mixtape, no innuendo intended. Spice Girls, featuring Denzel Curry and SdotBraddy, focuses on money and popularity first, then Pouya comes in and makes an anecdote in the words of a girl's parents who warn her about getting with Pouya because "he's a scumbag" and "if you fall in love he gone leave you." It's comical that Pouya brings up this dialogue because he's completely aware of the opinions against him and he owns up to them and uses them to prove a point. Further deepening his statements, "FYE" harbors a sick flow from both Pouya and Sir Michael Rocks, and they blast their haters and talk a lot of shit about their opinions and, of course, their girls. One of the funniest lines off this track is definitely in this song, when Sir Michael Rocks starts his verse with "we just want to get rich and suck some titties." Even later in his verse, he relates his pullout game to Tom Brady, which is symbolic because even though Brady isn't well liked, he is one of the best and he doesn't miss many passes. This could be an underlying statement that these rappers know they may not be well liked by haters, but their talent is supreme. The last track of this album is "I Know You See It" and it features most of the guys who appear on South Side Slugs, including the Buffet Boys Germ, Fat Nick, Mikey The Magician, and also SdotBraddy. The song is a cumulation of the themes on the mixtape, ranging from drug use to violence, to (of course) sexuality. The main premise of sex comes in Pouya's verse, and he talks about getting with his haters' girls. Baby Bone states to these other guys "don't be surprised when I do ya ho fluently," almost treating it as a certainty. Yet again, confidence in sexuality is Pouya's go to, and he sets a standard of respect for himself, based off of his success economically and socially.

Whether or not this is right in the eyes of society, I can't say, but the Buffet Boys are using their abilities to improve their own situations, from low income jobs to higher paid performers. As a result of this they get a lot of attention, most notably from the female community In a September 2015 academic journal about the paradigms on gender and sexuality, Denise Herd gets into a discussion about sociological research of masculinity in rap music. One of the things she brings up is the overarching existence of a "'street code'" that "strip[s] men of traditional sources of dignity" while also encouraging males to become sexually active and to treat women poorly. Herd talks about other research in misogynistic themes that fall in line with this so called "street code." The themes highlighted can all be found at least once in Pouya's South Side Slugs: "(a) derogatory naming and shaming of women, (b) sexual objectification of women, (c) distrust of women, (d) legitimation of violence against women, and (e) celebration of prostitution and pimping." In the case of the Buffet Boys, rapping and sex is, at least to our interpretation and knowledge, meant to be for fun and good times. Denise Herd is getting into a deeper, more violent part of the genre of rap, however as the Boys grow with popularity, there may be an increase in distaste for the style and actions they make.  I think that this is a really valid position, since the music industry is starting to produce some pretty "talented" female artists that use sexuality as a key point, like Iggy and Nikki Minaj (hence the quotation marks on talented). The journal does well to isolate those five points, and in accordance with Pouya's music, it's almost uncanny how they match up. I don't know if this gives him any credibility on the societal scale, but I think he definitely has experience in this realm of today's lower end culture.

In light of the negative comments towards these types of opinions, Pouya, Fat Nick, Germ, and the other guys are probably going to stay with what's working and tour around the country, all the while hooking up with the girls drawn in by the money, fame, music, and Pouyalilpou.

Follow @Pouyalilpou on Twit

  

Logic: Under Pressure

Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, primarily known by his stage name Logic, grew up in a poor and unstable family out of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Logic began rapping seriously at age 17, after he was kicked out of high school for cutting class, and incrementally gained attention through his lyrical style and natural talent. He received several offers from well know labels and rappers, like Nas, yet he didn’t want to be caught in the underfoot of such accomplished artists. Since 2011, he’s dropped 2 official mixtapes and his freshman album “Under Pressure,” with the help of Visionary and Def Jam. “Under Pressure,” a 15 track long memoir of Logic’s childhood and experience as a rapper, gives the listeners a sense of the life he led and continues to lead as his fan base, and wallet, expand. Logic’s main purpose of this album is to give people insight on the environment he grew up in, as well as build a basis on which to criticize modern society and the effect it has on a wide array of people. In Logic’s case, modern society is his experience with abusive or abused parents, and even the struggles of growing up in such poor conditions, influenced by socio-economic issues, like lack of schooling, poverty, and cultural racism. Through the experience of these things, primarily inflicted on him by his family, Logic has been handed the means to express his brutally honest opinions and thoughts about this unbelievable reality of living, which still exists in parts of the United States.

This part of his life, before the music success, was a large part of what makes "Bobby" Bryson Hall who he is today. In a "Complex" piece from June 2014, editorial producer Insanul Ahmed talks about Logic's difficult childhood in the suburbs of Gaithersburg, living in a household affected by substance abuse, racism, and relative poverty. In this same context, the culture of young rappers enduring dangerous and corrupt environments has been a commonality in the genre, and Logic has been through a lot to get to where he is today. Logic’s ascension to the top represents the American Dream and, being from the DMV (District, Maryland, Virginia), it makes me proud, even as a stranger, to think that someone has come from such a difficult situation and turned it into something positive for himself. Logic brings so much to the table for hip-hop and has created his own vibe through his music.



Granted, I am a pretty big advocate and fan of Logic's, and I think he is a huge asset to the rap community. Thematically, Logic hones in on topics that many other rappers do today, but for this fact he is grouped with all the other artists who grow up like that. What separates Logic and what really defines his music is his lyricism and his natural ability to spit bars. I highly encourage you to listen to this album and actually hear how he can spit. One of the tracks that really captures this talent is "Metropolis" and how he is able to rap fast while also integrating incredible lines and themes, like this section of the first verse: "And I'm feeling it uh, hope when I'm forty I'm still in it, One of the few that will be killing it uh, Yeah, young motherfucker that be giving what he living, On the road to success you know that I'm driven." He talks about how he hopes to continue his career and hopeful success throughout his life, while just completely spitting the words on this really sick beat going on in the background.

 Continuing this analysis, what makes this album special in terms of hip-hop is the means by which Logic molds his lyrics into concrete claims and statements. Most of the tracks highlight his family’s struggles in the lower class as an effect of addiction and neglect. In “Soul Food,” he mentions how his mom was on drugs and his dad was nowhere to be found, when all he wanted to do was be a kid and play. I imagine that a kid who had/has to deal with a situation like this would have to mature much quicker than his or her peers, and from what it seems Logic had to do this at an even younger age, after his siblings got involved in drugs. In line with the theme of addiction, the name Nikki gets thrown around a lot, similarly to how Kendrick Lamar had “Sherane” in “good kid, m.A.A.d city.” The difference here is that Nikki isn’t a person. Nikki refers to nicotine, cigarettes, which impacted Logic rather hard, all brought up in his song “Nikki.” The reference arises in some of his other tracks, but these all solidify a dependency on something negative: a crutch for the difficulties that impacted him throughout his upbringing. Drugs are a consistent representation of bad choices, as well as being a way for someone to tolerate a loss or hardship. Logic’s perspective of these substances is cloudy, from his own grasp on nicotine to talking about his sister’s pill problem in the track “Under Pressure.” In Logic’s eyes, the choices people make in regards to their bodies have varying results, but to heal from those addictions, you have to accept it yourself and recognize that it’s an issue. His parents, especially his father didn’t realize their mistakes and didn’t change in time to help those around them.

           The abandonment that his parents brought into his life returns and is a precedent in the albums title song, “Under Pressure.” The track is 9 minutes long, and it is a description of all of his stress as a rapper and person. Logic spits about his past, using real voice recordings from his brother and father, while also talking about his current situation and how much pressure there is for him to succeed. I find this intriguing because this is one of the only things Logic has ever really committed to in his life, and he learned this on his own. The hook of this song hints that he hopefully will be able to commit to bigger and better things in the future. The hook essentially says that he fears he’ll never find someone else to be with because he’s working on his craft all the time. He wants to be a part of a family; to get a second chance for a positive and promising life, and one of the things that is holding him back is the pressure of the job. This happens often these days because the cultural belief is that the harder you work, the farther you’ll get yourself. Like Logic says, he feels “Buried Alive,” even as he admits that it’s “just in [his] mind.” Logic internalizes his feelings, at least before his career as a rapper, and this album is almost the big reveal of his emotions and pressures.


When someone comes out from the underground of hip-hop, there is usually good reason, and Logic is no exception. Without considering his background for a moment, he really is a special artist, with talent that has been matched and even raised above big names, like Kendrick Lamar. This isn't how the genre works though: similar to what J Cole says in Forest Hills Drive, there isn't a pedestal for rappers to clamber onto. The music style is meant to be even, and logic is earning his place amongst those who have done great things for the culture that is hip-hop. His sophomore album is dropping within the next few months (November), and I look forward to seeing all that Logic brings to the table, after putting himself out to the world in "Under Pressure."

Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d city

   

         There are plenty of people these days that aren’t exactly fond of hip-hop and rap music and culture. Much of this can be traced to the mature subjects and lines that come with this type of music. Hip-hop isn’t going to change because of this, and the main reason is because those are staples of the genre. From its beginnings in the burrows of New York and in the streets of Los Angeles, rap has been a common ground for artists to input references about drugs, alcohol, and sex. The childhoods of these early artists held violence, abuse, and hardship and that first generation of rappers turned hip-hop into a way to vent about social issues or bring back memories of the trials they faced at a younger age.  Rappers coming out of Compton had, at least from what their music presents, a lot of experience with these concepts. One such rapper that has emerged in the last few years is Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick’s family experienced the threat of violence often while living in Compton, yet Kendrick seemed to take it in as inspiration for stories or poems, which would eventually turn to lyrics. Kendrick’s debut album, released with the help of Dr. Dre’s record company Aftermath Entertainment, “good kid, m.A.A.d city” dropped in 2012 and it was a big deal. For an up and coming rapper, Lamar received support from around the hip-hop community and that album would eventually become Soul Train Music Award for Album of the Year and BET Hip Hop Award for Best Album of the Year in 2013, in addition to being a nominee for Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2014.

            Unlike many hip-hop albums of the day, “good kid, m.A.A.d city” follows the older formats and styles of rap culture: it’s focused on the message of the whole album, meaning every song is meant to play along with each of the other tracks. Rather than being 9 or so mediocre tracks that back up a few hit singles, Kendrick’s debut album follows his personal mission to make a story and picture out of all of the songs on the “tape.” This could be the reason why he subtitled his album “A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar.” His tracks are audial puzzle pieces that are arranged, in this case, to retell his past experiences and hardships through the lens of a cinematic experience. In an interview with XXL, Lamar said that it was strange for him to think that his music was able to speak to people, just by him rapping about his past. As he says in the interview, “I’d be lying to you to say I knew “good kid, m.A.A.d city” would be as successful as it has been. In the beginning I was very doubtful” (XXL Staff Article, Writer At War: Kendrick Lamar’s XXL Cover Story). His uncertainty of this album’s future is a common theme in the hip-hop world: not every album or mixtape is going to succeed. It may take years, or it could take a couple weeks for an artist’s work to blow up, or to not even scratch the surface of popularity. The genre is difficult to get into, because not just anyone can emerge from the underground, like how “good kid, m.A.A.d city” did. Granted, it helped that Kendrick got lined up with Aftermath Entertainment, but to get to that point, he had to rise through all of the underneath rap to get that kind of attention. This just adds to Kendrick’s credibility as a young writer and performer. “good kid, m.A.A.d city” is a quality example of how hip hop tells something more meaningful, beyond the generic norms and references that I referenced in the intro.

Although this album is mostly known for a handful of its tracks, the work as a whole contains the true scheme of Kendrick’s tale. Individual parts to the story may be more memorable or exciting, but every piece assists the proper telling of the tale at hand. Lamar starts his album off by bringing back the memory of a girl he met and knew in his later teens, named Sherane. He recalls the time he met her, and also the time when some guys harassed him and threatened for going to that side of town to see her, in “Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter.”  Kendrick uses Sherane as a centering topic of the album, through the skits or through the 3 songs dedicated to her, including the sixth song, “Poetic Justice.” This song is all about Sherane and the way she made 17 year old Kendrick feel. The third song where Sherane plays a larger role is in “Swimming Pools (Drank).” The song goes back to the first time Kendrick and Sherane met, at a pool party, and it elaborates on the house party he raps about in the first track. The dynamic between these two gives Kendrick, or K. Dot, leverage with his homies because he has a girl, but also gets him caught up with the guys on Sherane’s side of town.

While Kendrick is laying out his story about riding around and doing hoodrat stuff with his friends and hooking up with Sherane, his mom leaves him quite a few messages about wanting her mini van back, always in the skits at the end of the tracks. It is really impressive to see where Lamar gets his influences, especially through these voice messages. His mother serves as a voice of reason throughout the piece and is a supporter of his musical endeavors, even though she really just wants her car back. In the background of these calls, you hear Kendrick’s dad in a high and craving some amphetamines, or dominoes (“Money Trees” and “Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter”), which plays as another influence for Kendrick. The influence of drugs usually finds its way into rap, but rather than ignoring this reality of his home life, Kendrick acknowledges it and makes the concept almost comical, with the comic relief that his father adds to the skits. This isn’t the only reference to drugs in his story. In “The Art of Peer Pressure,” Lamar says, “Usually I’m drug-free, but shit I’m with the homies.” In “good kid” Kendrick blames his failure to stay sober on the city around him, claiming to be the only innocent and good kid in a city clouded by madness, hence the name of the album good kid, m.A.A.d city. These two tracks are the true centerpiece of the album, because they join the clouded, hoodie image of K. Dot and the “good kid,” Kendrick Lamar. The nickname K. Dot is tethered to the things that he and his friends would do, like rob houses (“The Art of Peer Pressure” and “Money Trees”) and send shots at people who had done them wrong (“Swimming Pools (Drank)”). After their friend Dave is shot, K. Dot and his boys realize the mistakes they’ve been making and repent, asking for forgiveness from God. This is the main premise of “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst:”a thirst for Holy Water, the desire to be renewed.

This revitalization of Kendrick reflects a trend used by other artists in the genre, including my last post’s subject Childish Gambino. Artists use an album or, in Kendrick’s case, an event to change who they are or what their purpose will be. The shift from K. Dot to the real Kendrick is a lesson that listeners use as inspiration to get past dark parts of their lives. In that XXL article, Kendrick brought up how fans would come up to him and say his music saved their lives, and was the reason why they didn’t end their own lives. This is what hip-hop is capable of, as a genre and community and Kendrick, whether he intends to do it or not, was and is able to tell his story in such a way that can help someone else. The way he crafted his story was choppy in terms of the chronology, yet he did it in such a way so that he could get across the influences of family and God in his situation and in his life. The “good kid” from Compton continues to compose himself as he once did before fame, and as he continues to put his work out and get more attention, Kendrick Lamar will always be influenced by those experiences of his childhood, as are many of today’s artists. I hope to see more content like Kendrick’s in the future that bring out stories presented through the flow of the album that bring out the rapper’s experiences that, in turn, will help the next wave of hip-hop supporters find some form of closure or support in their lives.