Grand Valley State University

Resurrecting Racial Politics in Mainstream Hip Hop

John Akers

English 495-03

Professor Brian White

April 19th

, 2016

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Resurrecting Racial Politics in Mainstream Hip Hop

American culture is a very chaotic, fluctuating, and often contradictory entity. It is a

living thing; it grows and changes, immatures and matures. It is not surprising then, that artistic

creations reflect these same characteristics. Artists are subject to their own time and place, and

therefore naturally responsive to the world around them. Notions of socially relevant texts have

also changed drastically to keep pace with our constantly modernizing society. For example,

newspapers and books aren’t as influential as they were in the past, especially with youth

movements; instead we look to more modern expressions of thought with new definitions of

popular culture texts and opinion for insightful and thought-provoking ideas (Mooney).

Arguably, some of the most insightful commentary on contemporary popular culture takes the

form of music, more specifically, conscious hip hop. Hip hop culture is itself a fairly young

medium of artistic expression on the continuum of African American culture, and has become

increasingly influential in mainstream American culture. In this paper, I will briefly convey the

relationship between hip hop culture and the mainstream music industry, and expand on the

impact Kendrick Lamar is having in the hip hop culture, on mainstream music, and society at

large.

Hip Hop Culture: an Overview

Hip hop, like every artistic movement, has had its fair share of evolutions and

devolutions. It is important to establish that hip hop is a culture and a lifestyle, consisting of four

main elements: rapping (also known as MCing), DJing, B-boying (or break dancing), and graffiti

art (Forman, “Conscious Hip Hop” 2; Kitwana Hip Hop). Rapping is the most popular

expression of hip hop culture, and therefore is often the most scrutinized. Rappers have

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developed many unique identities over time, yet two distinct categories have developed which

reflect any particular artists’ messages: conscious and commercial. Since hip hops peak in the

1990’s during the reign of the “hip hop generation” (Asante 1), many have argued that hip hop

has become more of a negative than positive influence in society (Asante 227; Evelyn; Hikes).

Artists from the Post-Hip Hop generation, the distinct evolution of hip hop culture following the

original hip hop generation, beginning in the late 90s and stretching into the late 2000s, are often

criticized for their negative influence and promotion of themes including sex, drugs, and

violence (Asante 227; Evelyn; Hikes). However, more recent studies are beginning to show the

positive influences and societal impact of hip hop on mainstream culture (Asante; Baldwin;

Wessel & Wallaert). While hip hop culture seemingly took a turn for the worse in the Post-Hip

Hop generation, it is crucial to be able to identify and sort through the “real” or conscious hip

hop from the “reel” or commercial forms, which are simply intended as entertainment, and

should not be considered representative of an entire culture (Asante 13-32; Baldwin).

Hip hop culture can also, and arguably needs to, be viewed as the most prominent

evolution on the continuum of African American culture, and has a major influence on

contemporary civil rights movements (Alridge & Stewart 191; Billet; “The New Anthems of

Resistance”). The hip hop generation began the social and political commentary which

contemporary hip hop is resurrecting and adapting into a sort of neo-consciousness, which

debunks previous notions of musical and racial categorization, and offers present-day notions of

race relations in a supposed post-racial society. This newest evolution of hip hop, spearheaded by

Kendrick Lamar, more closely reflects the political efforts of the original hip hop generation,

moving away from the shallow entertaining and commercial aspect of the Post Hip Hop

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generation, and is creating a new space in the mainstream for hip hop and society to address

serious political issues.

The Hip Hop Generation: Consciousness and Politics

“Ice Cube is not for the pop charts / So where should a brother like you start expressin’

yourself”- “Express Yourself” by N.W.A.

The hip hop generation is loosely defined as a group of minorities, predominately African

American, born between the years 1965 and 1984, who participated in innovative forms of

artistic expression (Tucker 1). These artists developed new and unique sounds and laid the

groundwork for modern forms of hip hop production techniques. During this generation, hip hop

culture emerged as a popular identity predominantly for African American youths, and then

gradually expanded to noticeably include the participation of other minorities and even White

Americans (Kitwana, White Kids). The most prominent thematic element in artists from this era

is commonly referred to as “consciousness,” or “rap that is socially aware and consciously

connected to historic patterns of political protest and aligned with progressive forces of social

critique” (Dyson, Know What I Mean? 64). These artists were overtly political, making mostly

critical statements about history, contemporary society, and their experiences as young and

minority citizens in America.

To explore the origins and early developments of exactly how this generation got its start

would be interesting yet time consuming, so Hartman coined a term which allows one to quickly

contextualize the birth of the hip hop generation, and also helps to explain consciousness in hip

hop culture: “the afterlife of slavery” (Forster 346). This refers to hip hop culture as a

development unique to African American culture in response to the consequences slavery has

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had in American history and modern society. To explain the complex and nuanced factors which

contributed to this development, she states “these contexts are multifaceted and are constituted

on both a macro and micro level just as they are spatially and temporally influenced” (Forster

346). In a sense, hip hop is a response to a specific time and place in history. The Civil Rights

Movement can be seen as the first major response in the afterlife of slavery, and then hip hop as

the next social movement development. This is why it began in the late 1970’s, and also explains

the development and evolution of different sounds and genres within hip hop culture over time.

This “afterlife of slavery” notion also explains the “skewed life chances” and “premature death”

of black bodies in contemporary society, a theme very prominent throughout all of hip hop art

(Forster 347). This lens allows for an engagement with present conditions but also requires

knowledge of the history of those conditions, which generates the sense of consciousness

through knowledge of “historic patterns” and “social critique” (Dyson Know What I Mean? 64).

Therefore, hip hop is inherently political through its awareness and understanding of past and

current societal conditions, which is demonstrated as consciousness (Tucker).

Forman refers to these conscious artists as “organic intellectuals” who exist as a sort of

middleman between “traditional intellectuals,” i.e. academia, and the average person, or as is

often the case with hip hop culture, the average African American (Forman, “Conscious Hip

Hop” 2). These organic intellectuals possess some of the same knowledge as traditional

intellectuals but also possess a degree of practical knowledge gained from personal experiences.

It is exactly this understanding of the spectrum of knowledge which allows them to create unique

yet relatable and profound messages. Understanding, practicality, and relatability are very

important features because “the organic intellectual cannot absolve himself or herself from the

responsibility of transmitting those ideas, that knowledge, through the intellectual function, to

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those who do not belong, professionally, in the intellectual class” (Hall 267). These organic

intellectuals or conscious artists realize that knowledge is power, and their responsibility is then

to empower the powerless. This theory highlights the community-oriented theme commonly

found in conscious hip hop, and also sets the stage for hip hop artists to become politically

active.

A staple of the hip hop generation is the group Eric B. & Rakim for pioneering the style

of expressing consciousness through catchy rhymes and rhythms. Their track “Teach the

Children” expresses their goal of using hip hop to provide a positive example for the next

generation and raise of awareness of the world they are coming into, by commenting on the

negative facets of society which Eric and Rakim have had to deal with. They state: “most of us

fight more wars than one / Discrimination in the racial nation” to describe how navigating

through life while being discriminated against feels like fighting a war at every turn (Genius).

Even though the country fought over the freedom of African Americans in the country for four

years from 1861-1865, Eric B. and Rakim are bringing up the reality that many African

Americans still feel like they are fighting for true freedom. This is an issue society doesn’t seem

to care about: “Somebody get me the president / But he don’t’ want to hear it, it’s out of the

question” (Genius). They feel like their own president doesn’t even care about their everyday

struggles. Although their situation sounds hopeless, this song is ultimately about hope for the

future generation to solve the ills plaguing society: “Teach the children, save the nation / I see

the destruction, the situation / They’re corrupt, and their time’s up soon” (Genius). African

Americans have commonly been the victims of the corruption and “destruction” of American

politics, and this is exactly what Eric B. & Rakim are hoping to inspire people to change. They

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even specifically bring up issues which need to be addressed, as they end the song with advice

about how to cure the ills around them:

Cause we want access to happiness…Equal opportunity / Self-awareness and unity /

Education, the kids need a sculpture / Teach them the abacus and their culture / And

that’ll help stop the robbing, raping and killing…So keep on building. Cause we gotta

keep building / Til the answers are filled in / And make sure you don’t stop till then / And

if you do, remember the children (Genius).

The emphasis Eric B. & Rakim put on education, awareness, unity, and the community expresses

the main themes of conscious hip hop, and demonstrates how their music is intended to inspire

social and political activism. They are encouraging people to stand up for themselves and their

communities, and implying that lasting change will only come from thinking about the future of

their culture.

As scholars have noted, “this whole generation of Blacks in particular were trying to

carve out for themselves an alternative culture….I saw a whole generation for the first time say,

‘I don’t want to go to corporate America. I don’t want to be an attorney. I don’t want to be a

doctor. I don’t want to get paid. I want to make a revolution’” (Evelyn 169). Hip hop can be seen

as the response to the failures of the Civil Rights Movement to bring any prominent change to

American society. The term “raptivist” or “artivist” is often used when referring to conscious hip

hop artists whose messages relate to themes from the Civil Rights Movement (Alridge & Stewart

194; Asante 202). Consider for example Public Enemy’s 1989 hit “Fight the Power,” deemed by

Serrano to be the most important song of that year: “Why it’s important: It gave a voice to the

underrepresented, and positioned Public Enemy as the greatest political rap group of all time”

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(71). In this sense, Public Enemy can be seen as the democratic representatives for their

marginalized community, amplifying their political views to the greater public space. In “Fight

the Power”, they reject popular American icons for their inherent racism which is usually

ignored by mainstream culture: “Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant shit to me you

see / Straight up racist that sucker was / Simple and plain / Mother fuck him and John Wayne”

(Genius). And similarly to the Eric B. & Rakim song, Public Enemy also mentions the continued

struggle for freedom: “Our freedom of speech is freedom or death / We got to fight the powers

that be” (Genius). As seen throughout American history, prominent African American leaders

have been killed for demonstrating their freedom of speech and speaking out against the

“powers” that have ignored or worked to silence African American voices which are critical of

the political power structures. This is a sharp contrast from the nonviolent messages of the Civil

Rights Movement, yet its empowering influence is undeniable. Serrano also emphasizes Public

Enemy’s importance and influence, which positions them as Forman’s “organic intellectual” and

also reflects Hartman’s and Dyson’s theories about contextual knowledge:

Public Enemy was also philosophically overpowering. They rapped about impeaching the

president (‘Rebel Without a Pause’), the inevitability of time spent in incarceration for

black men (‘Bring the Noise’), metaphorically lynching critics (‘Don’t Believe the

Hype’), things like that. There were timely and important discussions – this was near the

end of the ‘80s, so there were of course racial tensions in the country, and there was also

a general lack of black civil rights leadership. (71)

Their catalog clearly expresses a knowledge and keen understanding of historical patterns, and

offers unrelenting critiques on society. Serrano describes how leading Public Enemy figure

Chuck D filled the role of lost Black leadership through the music video for “Fight the Power”,

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which “looked less like a rap video and more like a presidential rally” (75). Chuck D and Public

Enemy helped to create the space which “raptivists” like Kendrick Lamar would occupy years

down the road on an even bigger scale (Asante 202).

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

While the Hip Hop Generation is hailed for its poignant political commentary, this is the

inherent characteristic which has also historically been its weakness, because “the political

nature of the conscious rap subgenre is often deemed unsuitable to commercial interests despite

the sales and tour successes of such unambiguously hip hop acts such as Public Enemy”

(Forman, “Conscious Hip Hop” 3). Artists who embody the original ideas and values of the hip

hop culture were never as popular because the corporate record companies would never endorse

an artist whose message is critical of and goes against the ideas and values of mainstream

American culture (Asante 26). Commercial interests reflect what the dominant culture deems

entertaining, and to mainstream Americans, the critical opinion of a disenfranchised minority

member of society is not entertaining. Every generation seeks to define itself as something

different than the previous, but what evolved from the Hip Hop Generation seems almost as

natural as it does exploitive; African Americans started capitalizing on their own blackness.

The Post-Hip Hop Generation: Commercialization and Consumerism

“Always said if I rapped I'd say somethin' significant / But now I'm rappin' 'bout money, hoes,

and rims again” - “Breath In Breath Out” by Kanye West

The millennial generation, deemed the “Post-Hip Hop Generation,” is roughly those born

between the years 1985-2004 (Asante 7). It was during this generation, brought up on ideologies

of color-blindness and consumerism which supported the appropriation of hip hop culture, when

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rap music emerged as a new subgenre within hip hop culture (Asante, 24, Kitwana White Kids).

Artists have been rapping since the original hip hop generation, yet due to the shift of values

reflected in the lyrical content of the Post-Hip Hop generation, some have begun to use “rap” to

refer to the more entertaining and less challenging forms of hip hop music. The label itself for

this generation signifies the move away from what the Hip Hop generation stood for, for better

or worse. This then presents a “conscious hip hop” versus “gangsta rap” dichotomy. Kevin

Powell, a cultural critic and former hip hop journalist, credits the negative evolution of hip hop

into rap to the commercialization of the modern music industry (“Conscious Hip Hop”). This

means that rap music is in many ways different than the hip hop music which came before it.

This aligns with what popular African American studies intellectual Kitwana defines as

“recreational rap”: whose “lyrics…approach various themes central to R&B. Topics deal with

sex and love, are sometimes nonsensical, and often engage in self-aggrandizement, boasting,

bragging, signifying and the dozens” (“Gangsta Rap” 32). He also offers a juxtaposition with the

content of conscious hip hop, which shows how somewhere over time the political nature of

rappers’ lyrics was lost: “conscious rappers are lauded as much for what they don’t say as for

what they spit on record. They don’t brag about exorbitant jewelry, excessive women, or

expensive automobiles. Conscious rappers do talk about racial injustice, police brutality, over-

incarceration, political prisoners, rampant poverty, racial educational inequality and more”

(“Gangsta Rap” 66). Indeed, the most common themes of rap music in the Post-Hip Hop

Generation are jewelry, women, cars, and often seemingly negative topics such as sex, drugs,

and violence. So, what is the connection between these topics, hip hop, and

commercialization/consumerism?

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From Politics to Pretense

As early as the late 1990’s, hip hop was commodified by “the culture industry” which

distributed rap music to the mainstream in ways that reinforce historical stereotypes about

African Americans by highlighting sexist, misogynistic, and nihilistic images (Alridge & Stewart

193). Once it was recognized that rappers promoting themselves as players, violent criminals,

and drug dealers were the ones selling the most records, many more artists began to follow suit,

even though these images are not necessarily reflective of their reality (Asante 26; Kitwana

White Kids). Though the Hip Hop Generation founded the culture in rebellion and consciousness,

the Post-Hip Hop Generation adopted a new set of values once it was discovered there was an

easy way to capitalize on this still fairly young music genre.

Serrano highlights the impact iconic Post-Hip Hop generation artists have had in The Rap

Year Book. It posits Rick Ross’ “Hustlin’” as 2006’s most important song of the year. The most

obvious and problematic association with Rick Ross’s mainstream success is his name: “Rick

Ross stole his name from ‘Freeway’ Rick Ross, an illiterate drug dealer who was responsible for

the movement of thousands and thousands of pounds of cocaine across the country in the 80’s”

(178). Rick Ross began making songs which glorified selling drugs and being a drug kingpin,

even though none of that was true in his own life. Serrano states about the track, “It was a Trojan

horse with a belly filled with fables” (177). In fact, the real Freeway Rick Ross even tried to sue

Rick Ross for using his name without permission, completely destroying any credibility Rick

Ross was trying to build for himself. In the first verse of “Hustlin”, Ross states, “I know Pablo,

Noriega, the real Noriega, he owe me a hundred favors” (Genius). Ross is again associating

himself with two infamous drug kingpins, Pablo Escobar and Manuel Noriega, to establish some

sort of credibility as someone who is wealthy and powerful, when in reality Ross has never met

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these individuals has no credentials as a drug dealer. It is exactly these fables which society

accepted and allowed to destroy the positive contributions and realistic representations of the Hip

Hop Generation.

Another example of commodified rap music is 2008’s “A Milli” by Lil Wayne.

Throughout the track, Lil Wayne raps endlessly about money, women, fame, drugs, and nothing

very substantial. In the New York Times, Kelefa Sanneh once wrote about how Lil Wayne and,

by extension, hip hop culture was “’at the strange, magical point…when popular acclaim seems

like total freedom, when hyperjudgmental fans suspend judgement, willing to follow their hero

wherever he goes, whatever he does’” (qtd. in Serrano 189). This shows how people were no

longer taking hip hop very seriously, because they were not critically evaluating the content of

mainstream artists. Anything that was sonically pleasing and had decent rhyme schemes would

top the charts. “A Milli” would win a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance in 2009, and was

heralded as one of the best songs of 2008 in the mainstream hip hop culture. While this song is

still considered one of the greatest hip hop singles of all time, there is very little value it in

outside of sheer entertainment. During this second generation of hip hop artists and consumers,

hip hop is almost completely deracialized by the lack of artists making any social commentary.

The mainstream success of this thematic shift from societal critique to selfish indulgence

demonstrates how mainstream society never truly valued what the Hip Hop Generation had to

offer, and instead places value in shallow and inauthentic representations of the African

American experience.

While wealth and prosperity are good things, falseness and inauthenticity are not. The

problem for hip hop artists who wish to become mainstream artists is they first must conform to

an image of blackness crafted by corporate America with commercial interests, who then label

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this image as representative of African American culture (Baldwin 2; Evelyn 175). Essentially,

because mainstream music is inherently not rebellious and does not upset the status quo, the

Post-Hip Hop Generation stripped all the inherent critical and rebellious features of hip hop to

make it marketable to mainstream America. This enforcement of conformity to stereotypes is

essentially a modern form of slavery through social control (Alridge & Stewart 193; Asante 20).

Yvonne Bynoe argues that “what the music industry has done through rap music is to frame the

‘authentic’ Black American not as a complex, educated, or even creative individual, but as a ‘real

nigga’ who has ducked bullets, worked a triple beam [scale for weighing drugs], and done at

least one bid in prison” (Bynoe 149). The consequences of these societal pressures to conform to

pre-constructed and detrimental identities are demonstrated through the stereotypes of African

Americans throughout society, which are mistakenly viewed as authentic representations of an

entire culture.

However, all blame cannot be cast onto the artist for wanting to become more successful

because, as Netcoh points out, “Most consumers perceive hip hop strictly as a form of

entertainment and fail to comprehend or ignore its capacity as an agent for critical discourse on

race” (11). Because they know the audience, record companies encourage young artists to tell

their “ghetto tales (real or imagined) in the crudest fashion for predominantly White rap CD

buyers” (Bynoe 149). Because the millennial generation was born into color-blind ideology as

the first generation to never experience de jure segregation, by deracializing hip hop culture,

White consumers can justify their participation in a traditionally Black culture (Bonilla-Silva).

This is extremely problematic because it simultaneously denies the mainstream stereotyping of

Black Americans and also inadvertently supports White privilege (Bonita-Silva; Lipsitz). Lipsitz

uses the term “possessive investment in whiteness” to describe how White America’s collective

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interest in protecting and sustaining white supremacy through discrimination in housing markets,

inequality in the education system, and intergenerational inheritance of wealth that pass on the

spoils of discrimination, has created racialized hierarchies of our society (qtd. in Netcoh 12).

This possessive investment in whiteness coincides with selective investment in blackness, i.e.,

only investing in nonthreatening Black artists. This all explains the lack of political discussion by

mainstream artists.

In recognizing all of this, in recent years there have been attempts to counter these

negative developments within the Post-Hip Hop generation with a “reaching back” to “racial

authenticity,” in “instances through the stance that the artistic production is pure and untouched

by any means of dilution” (Baldwin 2). This means that artists have more control over the

production and distribution of their music, and don’t have to worry about creating and presenting

an identity which previously wouldn’t be accepted by the mainstream music industry. Through

this approach, independent or artist-owned record labels have become just as influential as the

historically more powerful major labels and distributors. Because hip hop is naturally responsive

to its time and place, hip hop culture and identity will change over time (Asante; Bonilla-Silva;

Forster; Forman). According to Bakari Kitwana, American notions about race are also changing;

we are moving away from “old racial politics” of stark differences and stereotypes, and towards

“new racial politics” of nuance, complexity, the effects of commercialization, and fluidity of

cultures (Kitwana xiv-xv). Kendrick Lamar’s powerful discography speaks directly to all of

these characteristics.

The Neo-Conscious Hip Hop Generation

“Martin had a dream / Kendrick have a dream” - “Backseat Freestyle” by Kendrick Lamar

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Artists like Kendrick Lamar are the leading voices of a rising hip hop generation, which I

will refer to as the Neo-Conscious Generation. He is bringing consciousness to a whole new

space and level, especially in mainstream America. As previously stated, the Hip Hop

Generation is characteristically known for its stark political messages and consequent absence in

the mainstream spotlight, and the Post-Hip Hop Generation for the sheer opposite. What the

Neo-Conscious hip hop generation can be known for then is the reintroduction of racial politics

into mainstream consciousness, and specifically Kendrick Lamar putting these political issues on

a pedestal higher than everything else.

In a rather short amount of time, Kendrick managed to swiftly grab national attention:

after a series of mixtapes gaining him popularity in the late 2000’s, he released his debut studio

album, Section 80, in 2011 on the independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment. The

following year, after signing recording contracts with major labels Aftermath and Interscope

Records, he released the album good kid, m.A.A.d city which received critical acclaim including

four Grammy nominations and debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, and was later

certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Three years later, in 2015,

Kendrick released his third album To Pimp a Butterfly to unpredictable results: charting number

one on the Billboard 200 and widespread acclaim from critics who ranked it as the best album of

2015 (Rolling Stone, Billboard, Pitchfork Media), eleven Grammy nominations and eventually

winning the Grammys for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, Best

Rap/Sung Collaboration, and again being certified Platinum by the RIAA (Wikipedia). In a

Rolling Stone article, Greg Tate writes: “Thanks to…Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly,

2015 will be remembered as the year radical Black politics and for-real Black music resurged in

tandem to converge on the nation’s pop mainstream” (qtd. in Billet).

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Because Kendrick Lamar has managed to attain mainstream success with a strong

political emphasis in his music like no other artist has since the Hip Hop Generation, hip hop

culture is now more widespread than ever. As Mark Anthony Neal states: “it was during the

early 1990s that Chuck D, lead vocalist of the political hip-hop group Public Enemy, famously

described rap music as the ‘black CNN’” (“The Message” 435), a more modern twist would

describe rap music as the “new CNN,” as hip hop has become so widely consumed by people of

all races and ethnicities. Todd Boyd describes this effect when he states that hip hop has become

“something that has connected a generation of people,” by first representing a specific

neighborhood, then growing to represent an entire culture, and even further a point of view, an

ideology, to a whole generation of people who are conscious of the African American

community’s oppression in contemporary American society (“Intergenerational” 439).

Haltiwanger writes that Lamar is “the voice of this generation and proof that hip-hop can change

America for the better”. For proof of Lamar’s progressive influence, one doesn’t have to search

very hard; his lyrics speak for themselves.

Progressing the Past

Similarly to how Serrano describes that in 1989 Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”

“encouraged active participation from all listeners who felt listless, not just all black listeners

who felt listless” and “that’s exactly what rap music needed to be” (72), this sentiment of

inclusiveness and purpose is reflected by Kendrick Lamar on his 2011 track “Fuck Your

Ethnicity”. An older voice speaks in the introduction: “I recognize all of you. Every creed and

color. With that being said…fuck your ethnicity. You understand that? We gon’ talk about a lot

of shit that concerns you. All of you” and later Kendrick raps on the chorus “Now I don’t give a

fuck if you / Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, goddammit / That don’t mean shit to me / Fuck your

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ethnicity” (Genius). In a rather ingenious manner, Lamar has deracialized racism by stating that

it is a problem that concerns everyone, no matter their “creed and color”. Later in his first verse

he describes how contemporary society attempts to deal with issues of racism in a post-racial

society: “Racism is still alive, yellow tape and colored lines / Fuck that nigga look at that line,

it’s so diverse / They getting off work and they wanna see Kendrick” (Genius). While racism is

still very much present in society and reflected in practices such as police brutality, which results

in the “yellow tape” around crimes scenes, and red-lining which creates literal “colored lines”

which separate people in society, Kendrick recognizes how his music is being embraced by a

wide and diverse audience, which leads him to suggest that his music could be a catalyst for

people to approach and solve the issues he addresses.

Lamar could also be referencing the popular civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois’ theory

of the “color line”, to describe how “the problem of the Twentieth Century” is still a problem in

the twenty-first century (Du Bois 7). This correlates to Alridge and Stewarts’ notion of hip hop

being the continuation of Black thought on the continuum of African American culture (“Hip

Hop in History”), and confirms Dyson’s requirements of conscious artists engaging with

historical patterns of social critique. As a popular representation of Black culture, it is not

surprising that Lamar responds to and advances the ideas of his predecessors. Alridge and

Stewart describe the “complex interpretations of Hip Hop that often defy and challenge the

negative images promulgated by mainstream commercial media”. Not only is Lamar responding

to his cultural history but proving how timeless and important the messages of the civil rights

movement really are. He is connecting DuBois’ theories to contemporary society which proves

that African Americans struggle for civil rights isn’t over, and showing the amplifying effect hip

hop artists can have for the cause.

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Du Bois also had other theories which can help us extrapolate the political meanings in

Lamar’s music. In 1926 Du Bois wrote an essay in which he discusses the influence of art in

ideas of Black freedom in the United States, and states: “all art is propaganda” (qtd. in BIllet).

This is to say, that artistic expressions of every form inherently reflect conscious ideas about how

the world is or how it should be. So when Lamar puts out a song discussing how racism still

exists even though we live in a society free of de jure segregation, it’s clear that he and those

supporting his music do not agree that this is how the world should be in 2015. While Du Bois’

theories may have been radical for his era, it’s rather disheartening to see that they are still

considered radical nearly a decade after Du Bois was publishing and after many other more civil

rights figures came to popularity. Nonetheless, Kendrick recognizes the importance of the

messages of these leaders before him, which is why he has chosen to reiterate them in the

twenty-first century.

Kendrick’s music is rife with references to other civil rights leaders as well. In the track

“The Relevant” he states, “I’m militant, as Martin Luther King / In the penitent” (Genius). Here

he creates an interesting comparison to Martin Luther King Jr. by calling both himself and King

“militant”, even though King is known for his nonviolent philosophies. This also creates a

juxtaposition of Lamar describing himself as a militant rapper against other contemporary artist

who might be similarly strict about partying or creating a fake persona as a drug dealer. In the

track “HiiiPower” alone, Kendrick mentions Martin Luther again, Malcolm X, Huey Newton,

Bobby Seale, Marcus Garvey, and Fred Hampton (Genius). Kendrick is bringing these

potentially forgotten about radical leaders of the past back into mainstream consciousness, and

forcing society to grapple with their ideas once again. This rich and challenging content is

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exactly what was missing from mainstream artists in the Post-Hip Hop Generation, and part of

what makes Kendrick such a progressive artist.

While some might criticize Lamar for not offering practical solutions to the problems

which he addresses like civil rights leaders have in the past, that is not solely his responsibility,

and would be surpassing the fact that the responsibility to fix society lies with all of its members,

not just the ones being oppressed or brave enough to talk about oppression. The most important

and possibly the most extensive effort artists can do is shed a new light on issues which are being

left in the dark. What Lamar’s music contributes to this is a “cultural space being carved out that

is both conscious of and opposed to racism” (Billet), and this space is growing to receive more

and more of the mainstream spotlight than ever before. On the importance of Lamar,

Haltiwanger writes: “He tells the truth, which is the first necessity of progress” (“How Kendrick

Lamar”).

In the last lines on the track “County Building Blues,” Kendrick offers a bit of truth

which could be interpreted as a solution to the poverty associated with ghettos and African

American communities. A catchy and deceptively positive song, the chorus sings “When we

grow up we gon go and get us a million / Spend it all in front of the county building / Blow it

like Coltrane, blow it like Coltrane” (Genius). The “county building” can be interpreted as

representative of the entire community, so Kendrick is stating that the way to eradicate poverty

in the community is to pour money into resources that will affect the whole county, complete

with a beautiful simile about the jazz musician John Coltrane. And in the last two lines of verse,

Lamar states: “one day you’ll put money in the ghetto when you got it / Rather than having to

hustle off these Rodney king riots” (Genius). With these powerful lines Lamar shows what

happens, with what has happened, when issues such as poverty are ignored for so long. This can

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be seen as Kendrick’s ultimate goal, to encourage people to invest lavishly into their

communities and to become aware of the consequences of what happens when inequalities and

injustices are ignored for so long.

Neo-Consciousness

Lamar’s mainstream presence could bring about drastic and lasting change to the space

and types of music which will permeate the mainstream in the future. As Kornhaber states,

“Whereas so much of pop culture, pop music, and hip hop filters life to seem slightly slicker and

simpler, the 27-year-old Compton rapper adjusts the contrast settings, highlighting the dark

corners and the cracks” (“The Power in Kendrick”). Through bringing a much more complex

representation of reality into the mainstream, this allows society to see and address the “dark

corners” often forgot about. However, Kendrick does not excuse society for forgetting about

their ills just because mainstream music wasn’t addressing it before him. On his track “Hood

Politics”, he states: “Critics want to mention that they miss when hip hop was rappin’ /

Motherfucker, if you did, then Killer Mike’d be platinum” (Genius). This is a direct critique for

not giving conscious rappers the platform they deserved in the past. Killer Mike, a well-known

conscious rapper during the Post-Hip Hop generation, is another example of how during that

generation political consciousness failed to penetrate the mainstream music scene. Yet this

failure does not rest in the artist, but in the “critics” and “motherfuckers” who failed to bring

conscious artists into the mainstream space before, and those who claim to appreciate what

Kendrick is doing so highly but fail to recognize that he is also a continuation of a rich history of

conscious rappers who just so happens to have made it further than the rest of them.

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Yet the conscious label does not settle well with Kendrick, which he discusses in his

track “Ignorance is Bliss”; “The critics be calling me conscious / But truthfully, every shooter be

callin’ me Compton / So truthfully, only calling me Kweli or Common? / Proves that ignorance

is bliss” (Genius). Kendrick is very aware and critical of how society is receiving his messages.

While the “critics” i.e. mainstream music reviewers may view Kendrick as the next Talib Kweli

or Common, two popular conscious rappers from the Post-Hip Hop generation, Kendrick doesn’t

see himself in this same way, and the critics fail to see how the community he represents views

him. Kendrick realized early on in his career that he exists in both the streets and the charts, as

the gangsters from Compton recognize his realism and give him gangster credibility even though

he isn’t a “shooter”, and the critics recognize his lyrical prowess and political consciousness and

give him the conscious label. This is to say, Kendrick is representative of and embraced by the

Hip Hop Generation and the Post-Hip Hop Generation. Therefore, to label him simply another

conscious rapper would deny the larger audience he has in the very town he represents,

Compton, California. This would prove that ignorance is indeed bliss because the critics

probably don’t account for the impact artists have at these spaces of society because they don’t

exist in that space. They are ignorant to the dynamics of life in Compton except through the ways

they are presented to them through conscious hip hop artists, which appears to be the only

faculty in which society deals with the injustices which exist in certain communities, because if

they really cared, and as Kendrick stated in “Hood Politics”, Killer Mike would have been

platinum long ago, and those communities would most likely not look the same by the time

Kendrick started rapping about them. This radical critique of society and the music industry

shows us how much Kendrick values the approval of his community, and how little society is

responding to the messages of conscious rappers. While critics may endlessly praise artists like

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Talib Kweli, Killer Mike and Common for being critical of a society which subjected African

American communities to live in ghettos and dangerous neighborhoods like Compton, until

mainstream society begins to acknowledge this as a problem and begins to change it, critical

praise realistically means nothing.

Because Kendrick doesn’t want to limit who his messages will reach is probably why he

straight up rejects the conscious label in his track “Ab-Soul’s Outro: “I’m not the next pop star /

I’m not the next socially aware rapper / I am a human mothafuckin’ being” (Genius). Kendrick

will not allow himself to be pigeonholed with labels which might restrict from him reaching as

broad an audience as possible. However, artists who don’t fit cleanly into the categorizations and

labels which run the mainstream space can be hard to decipher. Kendrick addresses this when he

states:

See a lot of y’all don’t understand Kendrick Lamar / Because you wonder how I could

talk about money, hoes, clothes / God and history all in the same sentence / You know

what all the things have in common / Only half of the truth, if you tell it / See I’ve spent

twenty three years on the earth searching for answers / ‘til one day I realized I had to

come up with my own (Genius).

Because Kendrick’s lyrics can feature a blend of themes from all the generations of hip hop, he

can make profound tracks about God and history and while also mentioning girls and monetary

valuables because they all play a role in his life, and he’s realized that none of them alone

provide a full picture or answer to the complexities of reality. Kendrick has realized that he

needs to shape his future for himself, and address everything around him every step of the way.

This gives him a huge range of issues to discuss in his music and is part of what makes him such

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a relatable artist. Ultimately, an overarching theme for his music is self-empowerment, as he has

carved out a space for himself to be able to address the world around him in ways no one before

him has. This is also why Kendrick is in such a potentially powerful position, because his

messages about race politics and self-empowerment are beginning to be picked up by other

members in society capable of enacting change.

#BlackLivesMatter as New Civil Rights Movement

Kendrick understands the importance of the position he is in. Not only is he leading

mainstream music in a new direction, but sharing the space he has created for race politics to be

addressed in the mainstream with others. After the 2015 release of To Pimp a Butterfly, he

unintentionally created a new civil rights anthem with the track “Alright”. Similarly to how

Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” became an anthem in their own era, the Black Lives Matter

protestors have adopted the refrain from Lamar’s “Alright” as their unofficial slogan. In a Black

Lives Matter protest in Cleveland, Ohio, once the police began to break up the protestors,

“demonstrators chanted back the refrain of the more recent single from Lamar’s To Pimp a

Butterfly: ‘We gon’ be alright! We gon’ be alright!” (Billet). One cannot ignore the similarity of

this refrain to the slogan of the Civil Rights Movement, “we shall overcome”. Additionally, it

would not be farfetched to say that Lamar has provided the soundtrack of current racial tensions

in America, and has fueled the flames of racial unrest America has been denying or ignoring for

some time. On protestors chanting Lamar’s lyrics at their protest after being harassed by the

police, Billet writes: “the incident was more than a simple act of defiance ‘Alright’ is something

of a keystone on To Pimp a Butterfly, bringing together the album’s tropes – the pain, inner

turmoil and rage of American racism – and inverting them into a declaration of uncertain hope”

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(“The New Anthems of Resistance”). At this point, the parallels with the Civil Rights

Movement are overwhelmingly obvious.

But of course there are always those who will be critical of this neo-Civil Rights

Movement. After all of the public embrace of Lamar at political protests, the rapper gave a

profound performance at the 2015 BET awards where he further pushed his political statements

by performing the hit single “Alright” atop a tattered police car. This symbolic message was a

powerful response to the tensions surrounding police brutality against African Americans, and

presented a message of triumph over a seemingly all-powerful force. Soon after, Geraldo Rivera

appeared on Fox News and stated, “This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to

young African-Americans than racism in recent years. This is exactly the wrong message” (qtd.

in Haltiwanger). Lamar’s response could only have been better articulated if he said it in rhyme;

“The problem isn’t me standing on the cop car…hip-hop is not the problem, our reality is the

problem” (qtd. in Haltiwanger). What Lamar points out and Geraldo fails to realize is hip hop is

a positive response to often destructive and life-threatening situations. Geraldo is attempting to

deny the reality Lamar and many other people in the United States live every day; a reality where

the police are seen as more dangerous than protective, where friends and family members are

killed senselessly by drugs and those sworn to protect society, and where the civil rights leaders

of the past the mainstream is so quick to adore seem like martyrs in a war that hasn’t ended.

Lamar’s message is one of hope and perseverance amid a reality determined to hold him down,

and it is exactly the message mainstream America needs to hear right now. This forces society to

grapple with the fact that in 2016 African Americans are still being oppressed, and now that

Lamar has brought these issues to the forefront of mainstream consciousness and is being

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embraced by an entire generation of young people, hip hop’s potential as a platform for

disenfranchised voices to be heard is finally being realized.

Rivera’s interpretation of “Alright” as “exactly the wrong message” could not be more

ironic. In fact, the song has many themes which align with traditional American values; one just

has to look past the profanity or obvious themes to recognize the depth and multiple layers of

meaning in Lamar’s lyrics. In the intro to “Alright” Lamar states, “Nazareth, I’m fucked up /

Homie you fucked up / But if God got us / Then we gon’ be alright” (Genius). As is represented

in the Christian faith, which American history is deeply intertwined with, Lamar realizes he is a

sinner and admits his flaws as a human being who sometimes gives in to temptations. Yet instead

of wallowing in regret he demonstrates his faith and trust in an unconditionally loving God who

will provide for him no matter what happens to him on earth. Again, later in the song, he sings:

“We been hurt, been down before / Nigga, when our pride was low / Lookin’ at the world like,

‘Where do we go?’…Nigga, I’m at the preacher’s door / My knees getting’ weak, and my gun

might blow / But we gon’ be alright” (Genius). In these lines Lamar is reflecting on the past, and

relating his feelings to the struggles of African Americans before him. Although he feels weak,

scared, and vulnerable, his path has led him to religion, which has in turn offered him hope for

the future. Similarly to the national motto found on all American currency, a translated theme

could be “in God Kendrick trusts”, and it doesn’t get more American than that. In the last lines of

the verse, he states, “My rights, my wrongs; I write ‘til I’m right with God” (Genius). Kendrick’s

songs can be viewed as him openly repenting his sins for the entire world to see. Because of his

prominence, his very personal issues are made public, putting him in a very vulnerable position.

Yet through this exposure we see how his position reflects both the experiences of many other

26

African Americans in the past, and the complicated and destructive world we live today which is

always tempting Lamar to abandon his ultimate goal of seeking truth and fulfillment.

The Future for the Neo-Conscious Hip Hop Generation

“And the power in the people and if they don’t believe us / They’ll die”- “Fuck Your Ethnicity”

by Kendrick Lamar

Simply put, Kendrick’s neo-consciousness and desire for political action is clearly

expressed in the chorus to the track “King Kunta” off To Pimp a Butterfly: “Now I run the game

got the whole world talkin, King Kunta / Everybody wanna cut the legs off him” (Genius). While

he’s bragging about being the best rapper in the game, he’s saying he’s the best because he has

the whole world taking about “King Kunta”, a reference to the fictional slave character from the

novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family, whose right foot is cut off because of his multiple

attempts to escape the plantation (Genius). This very precisely shows how he has brought the

notions of slavery and violence against black bodies into the spotlight with him, positioning

Kunta as symbol for African Americans and how society is constantly harming them. Kendrick

is also comparing himself to the slave character to represent the struggles he has faced growing

up in a world that is always trying to metaphorically and sometimes even literally take his legs

out from under him, but he’s managed to avoid any major disasters and now he’s the king of the

rap game. Ultimately, Kendrick stands to be one of the greatest rappers ever because of the

influence he is having on society. People are embracing his messages on a very wide scale and in

very serious circumstances, like political protests. As he states in “Poe Man Dreams (His

Voice)”: “I penetrate the hearts of good kids and criminals” (Genius); his messages have a

profound reach, uniting people who are seen as opposites. Or perhaps the “good kids” and

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“criminals” are actually the same; people deemed criminals by society simply for their skin

color. This correlates to the inner conflict Lamar has so often expressed, while letting others

know that they are not alone in their personal struggles; “ you know, when you part of Section 8 /

And you feel like no one can relate” (“A.D.H.D.).

The complexity of Lamar’s music extends way beyond any other mainstream artist. He is

raising the bar for both rappers and mainstream artists by creating purposeful music. His

messages are meaningful and could better the lives of thousands if people take what he is saying

to heart, and if they don’t, “they’ll die” (“Fuck Your Ethnicity”). Kendrick has used his

awareness and connections to several aspects of life, history, and society to forge a new path for

the future hip hop generations and there is huge potential in the space this path of mainstream

consciousness has to influence society at large. People, the general population, artists, etc., have

more power than they think they do. Kendrick Lamar has proved this by beating the odds stacked

against him and creating a new space in the mainstream music industry for race politics. Though

his expressions are different, his efforts aren’t that different from the civil rights leaders of our

past. In a 2011 interview, Kendrick states: “I’m trying to start my generation on a whole new

stepping stone and a whole new set of truths, and eventually we’ll learn from each other. I don’t

have all the answers…so [my song] sounds like a genuine person trying to search and figure out

what’s going on, and trying to understand my history and where I come from. It’s deeper than

what I actually wrote about” (Home Grown Radio). Kendrick is not presenting himself as a role

model, or as someone who has it all figured out, but he is a leader. He’s leading us to question

our history, question our contemporary society, and question where we want to be in the future,

and he finally has the platform hip hop has always deserved.

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