Damned with Praise: The Meaning of Kendrick Lamar(economist.com)
economist.com
Damned with Praise: The Meaning of Kendrick Lamar
https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2017/04/damned-praise?fsrc=scn/fb/te/bl/ed/themeaningofkendricklamardamnedwithpraise
50 comments
His choice of side musicians is amazing as well, he had Joe Limberg who has been mixing jazz trumpet and hip hop since 1992, lots of really incredible musicians get to work on his records and you can hear it in the end result. Maybe I'm slightly biased because I played with Joe in a couple jazz groups in the 90s but this music is so exciting because LA has this long history of jazz and Lamar ties together that legacy with the future forward vision of hip hop. He's not necessarily the greatest rapper ever some of his stuff is over produced and over exaggerated, nobody is perfect but the way he ties together the history with the future is exciting.
Robert Glasper, whose piano is all over To Pimp A Butterfly, is also extremely worth checking out. It's been great seeing him get more exposure with Kendrick. https://open.spotify.com/album/7M4DuL9Z6JqcNapcOUTPNS
Agreed, I would also add:
Collect Calls
The Art of Peer Pressure
How Much Dollar Cost (Obamas fabourite song)
Blacker The Berry
FEAR
Collect Calls
The Art of Peer Pressure
How Much Dollar Cost (Obamas fabourite song)
Blacker The Berry
FEAR
[deleted]
and sourcing it didn't require venturing beyond economist.com
This was fascinating.
When I was 15 I read Tupac's The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which helped me understand my neighborhood (I was the only white guy). Kendrick Lamar brought similar feelings in me. The toughest album to listen to is Section 80; It’s not polished but it’s powerful.
To find focus in this comment, I suggest that we all look for ways to improve our own understanding and compassion. If you've “made it”, please consider doing something for others. Monetary help is great but if just 1 in 100 people donates their time it might render higher impact. Teach code in a local school, sort clothing in good will, work in your particular house of worship, or lend a hand in a soup kitchen.
I apologize if I sound preachy, that is not my intent.
When I was 15 I read Tupac's The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which helped me understand my neighborhood (I was the only white guy). Kendrick Lamar brought similar feelings in me. The toughest album to listen to is Section 80; It’s not polished but it’s powerful.
To find focus in this comment, I suggest that we all look for ways to improve our own understanding and compassion. If you've “made it”, please consider doing something for others. Monetary help is great but if just 1 in 100 people donates their time it might render higher impact. Teach code in a local school, sort clothing in good will, work in your particular house of worship, or lend a hand in a soup kitchen.
I apologize if I sound preachy, that is not my intent.
Education is what moves the needle, so there’s something to that.
except when it is educationism? http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171219-the-hidden-judgemen...
I’m not talking about the status conferred by systems of education.
I’m talking about knowledge and training in the application of knowledge.
I’m talking about knowledge and training in the application of knowledge.
One thing to consider is that some folks don’t “trust” education. If you choose to volunteer, it will help with trust issues.
Disclaimer: I know this dude's cousin. Regardless, this is exactly what taking initiative looks like (with a large sprinkle of education). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IH9AruhN4X4
Disclaimer: I know this dude's cousin. Regardless, this is exactly what taking initiative looks like (with a large sprinkle of education). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IH9AruhN4X4
> Monetary help is great but if just 1 in 100 people donates their time it might render higher impact.
I believe this was debunked numerous times.
I believe this was debunked numerous times.
Source?
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/upshot/effective-altruism...
http://www.charityscience.com/blog/why-donating-may-be-bette...
http://www.charityscience.com/blog/why-donating-may-be-bette...
While these sources main point is to research where money goes and argues against quitting your job to donate time it does not infer, imply, or make a case, for or against, volunteering vs giving money.
Yes, a donation is better then quitting your job to join the peace corps, if you are under qualified. [note: peace Corp does not take random folks. They look for specialized professionals. https://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/volunteer-openings/]
Please watch video I linked to above. Donations are great; So is volunteering a bit of your time in your community to educate, or at least incurage, folks to strive for betterment.
Yes, a donation is better then quitting your job to join the peace corps, if you are under qualified. [note: peace Corp does not take random folks. They look for specialized professionals. https://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/volunteer-openings/]
Please watch video I linked to above. Donations are great; So is volunteering a bit of your time in your community to educate, or at least incurage, folks to strive for betterment.
I don't understand what people are getting out of this review. It seems like a shallow interpretation of the album in the context of his previous work, and just settles to make insightful-sounding claims with weak evidence to support. Making assumptions about the artist's motivation for the album with respect to current social environment is not a useful review; speculations don't add to the discussion. And, superficial statements such as "[h]is hypocrisy is part-performance, part-confession," are failed attempts at enlightened commentary that only serve to provide pseudo-sustenance to a post lacking real critical value. It's hard to point out the unbalance of the themes in this album, while comparing it to themes proposed in To Pimp a Butterfly, and attempt to claim that the juxtaposition of emotions in DAMN is really just "a sense of emotion overpowering the artist." Am I the only one seeing this, or is this article in need of some deeper analysis?
the Jeff Dean of the rap game...
I 100% agree, and he is needed more now than ever as rap/hip hop are becoming diluted by non AA cultures. I remember the first time I heard To Pimp A Butterfly. I instantly got the feeling that this was made for us (AA). I have not felt that way since the first time I listened to "Makaveli". If anyone reading is not familiar with some of K.'s earlier work you should go checkout Hol Up, ADHD and rigamortis.
>> I remember the first time I heard To Pimp A Butterfly. I instantly got the feeling that this was made for us (AA).
I think, more importantly, it was also made specifically for white folks who needed to hear the message.
Sure, everyone I know in the AA community knows Kendrick...but they’re also already vehemently aware of the issues.
I’m glad TPAB had the reach it did. Not only is it, message-wise, one of the most important pieces of media in the last 10 years at least, but from a compositional, production standpoint, it still has yet to be surpassed. Many will try. I’ll be shocked if any succeed for the next decade.
What TPAB does, for white folk like me, who can’t directly relate to the message, is prove that we should be acknowledging these issues from the white community...as some of the most talented African-Americans in the world got together (Dr. See, Pharrel Williams, Flying Lotus, just to name a few?) to just project this hyper-clear message to everyone - the African-American community is intelligent, brilliant, socio-politically aware AF and are fully capable of putting forward a message in a far clearer way than I’ve seen most white folks do in the last decade.
I mean, let’s face it. Can we name one album from all the top 40 white producers or musicians that has meant half as much in the last ten years?
This is the most important message that TPAB brings.
For all the damage hip hop did to the AA image in the early 00’s, it’s worst era by far, TPAB is undoing.
I think, more importantly, it was also made specifically for white folks who needed to hear the message.
Sure, everyone I know in the AA community knows Kendrick...but they’re also already vehemently aware of the issues.
I’m glad TPAB had the reach it did. Not only is it, message-wise, one of the most important pieces of media in the last 10 years at least, but from a compositional, production standpoint, it still has yet to be surpassed. Many will try. I’ll be shocked if any succeed for the next decade.
What TPAB does, for white folk like me, who can’t directly relate to the message, is prove that we should be acknowledging these issues from the white community...as some of the most talented African-Americans in the world got together (Dr. See, Pharrel Williams, Flying Lotus, just to name a few?) to just project this hyper-clear message to everyone - the African-American community is intelligent, brilliant, socio-politically aware AF and are fully capable of putting forward a message in a far clearer way than I’ve seen most white folks do in the last decade.
I mean, let’s face it. Can we name one album from all the top 40 white producers or musicians that has meant half as much in the last ten years?
This is the most important message that TPAB brings.
For all the damage hip hop did to the AA image in the early 00’s, it’s worst era by far, TPAB is undoing.
There are lots of big claims in your comment - with no backing up.
I was totally lacking this perspective. Thank you. As ignorant as it may sound I did not think white people would listen to TPAB. Especially not the HN/MAGA types. I grew up in the south and that formed the opinions that I project on people (mainly white people), thus I find your opinion on TPAB very refreshing.
Seriously? Take a listen to the songs bumpin from those deep south brodozers. Its not even a quarter country, and likly more than half aa artists. Sure some of the rural areas dont scale, but its changing, and has been for longer than my lifetime. I got turned onto tpab by a white dude who read about it on some forum for pop misic of all things. Bias goes both ways. Best just to be human.
I really hope your not black man, you essentially just told me to ignore away racism which is the most ignorant and white concept I could imagine.
Paywall can be bypassed by opening link in an incognito window, FYI.
I'd love it if this could be the default in browsers. I want to select individually which sites should be allowed to store any type of state.
Firefox, Chrome et al exist to serve ads. That's where they get their funding. That's who pulls the strings. Turning off cookies would kill that model for revenue.
Just to clarify and provide some supporting documentation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Foundation#Financing
Mozilla makes money by providing users to companies that make money from ads.
Mozilla makes money by providing users to companies that make money from ads.
You're spot on for Chrome, but I don't think you're familiar with Firefox and the Mozilla foundation.
Mozilla Foundation reports $500 million per year in revenue. From search engines, primarily Google.
So, they're not turning on "private browsing" as the default.
So, they're not turning on "private browsing" as the default.
In Firefox: https://i.imgur.com/DtI419U.png
uncheck "Accept cookies from websites" and then individually set your allowed sites in "Exceptions"
uncheck "Accept cookies from websites" and then individually set your allowed sites in "Exceptions"
Cool, nice to know about this. I'm still (slowly) switching from chrome back to Firefox.
Or by setting Safari preferences to open economist.com pages in Reader mode. Preferences -> Websites -> Reader
Always get confused with punctuation outside of quotation marks. Then I realized I was reading The Economist.
What are people getting out of this article?
For me, it read like a typical album review that has no point besides getting clicks from people who mistakenly look for insight from entertainment.
For me, it read like a typical album review that has no point besides getting clicks from people who mistakenly look for insight from entertainment.
Let's take an example I read the other day about recent nobel prize winner in literature Kazuo Ishiguro.
He thought he was finsihed writing his book and coincidentally listened to a ballad by Tom waits which left such an impression on him that he changed the ending of the book that won him the nobel prize.
In his own words "The song is sung in the voice of a rough American hobo type utterly unaccustomed to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. And there comes a moment, when the singer declares his heart is breaking, that’s almost unbearably moving because of the tension between the sentiment itself and the huge resistance that’s obviously been overcome to utter it. Waits sings the line with cathartic magnificence, and you feel a lifetime of tough-guy stoicism crumbling in the face of overwhelming sadness."
This goes to show that insight can come from entertainment.
Also Kendrick has numerous songs with similar emotion evoking moments as the one described by Ishiguro.
He thought he was finsihed writing his book and coincidentally listened to a ballad by Tom waits which left such an impression on him that he changed the ending of the book that won him the nobel prize.
In his own words "The song is sung in the voice of a rough American hobo type utterly unaccustomed to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. And there comes a moment, when the singer declares his heart is breaking, that’s almost unbearably moving because of the tension between the sentiment itself and the huge resistance that’s obviously been overcome to utter it. Waits sings the line with cathartic magnificence, and you feel a lifetime of tough-guy stoicism crumbling in the face of overwhelming sadness."
This goes to show that insight can come from entertainment.
Also Kendrick has numerous songs with similar emotion evoking moments as the one described by Ishiguro.
Here's the article:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/06/kazuo-ishiguro...
It's a great anecdote. I knew exactly what point in the book Kazuo was referring to.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/06/kazuo-ishiguro...
It's a great anecdote. I knew exactly what point in the book Kazuo was referring to.
Do you really think that there is no insight to be gleaned from art?
I said from entertainment - and the answer is yes, almost none, most of the time.
Every now and again, you get a movie like The Matrix, that's both entertaining and thought provoking. Those are entertainment unicorns, as evidenced by the sequels that had nothing thought provoking left, but were still somewhat entertaining.
When it comes to art - if you knew how much shit art gets made and never sees the light of day, you could argue entertainment and art are both equally devoid of almost any value, including insight, to anyone.
Every now and again, you get a movie like The Matrix, that's both entertaining and thought provoking. Those are entertainment unicorns, as evidenced by the sequels that had nothing thought provoking left, but were still somewhat entertaining.
When it comes to art - if you knew how much shit art gets made and never sees the light of day, you could argue entertainment and art are both equally devoid of almost any value, including insight, to anyone.
yea man no insight to be found whatsoever in war and peace, Iliad, 2001 space Odyssey, the wall, waiting for Godot, Lolita, Carmen. if it's not obvious I'm being facetious: there's immense insight in "entertainment". good kid maad city, tpab and damn are masterworks of poetry/song. just because you don't understand them doesn't mean they're not valuable.
I think he agrees that there is some value in some entertainment. But not as much value as some claim there is.
Most entertainment, even the ones which pretend to have some "meaning" is just consumed for dopamine rush.
Most entertainment, even the ones which pretend to have some "meaning" is just consumed for dopamine rush.
A better review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIGINiBYxis
For me it provided insight on how white America views rap (specifically K.). As a long time fan of his I have always wondered of people outside of the AA community recognized his greatness or if it was generally accepted that Macklemore deserved to win that grammy.
I liked the article, but I didn't see anything in the article that I would be willing to project on more than a tiny slice of white Anericans. Certainly no valid generalizations.
I don't know; I'm afraid it bored me and I didn't finish. I did read the lyrics of a few of the tracks recommended in other comments, but didn't see anything special. Maybe because I grew up in South Africa, the theme of "How much does a dollar cost" (but remove the grammar), although you might then suggest I might then be able to relate - that doesn't make it special. Maybe because rap does nothing for me. I usually can't stand it. The vocabulary alone is dire - "fuck, shit, nigga" all over the place. Each to their own I guess.
Wow. Way to completely miss all of context for the dressing.
I’m a white, late 20’s woman and I still have found an inability to ignore K.Dot’s wisdom through the medium. His lyricism and presentation is unparalleled in modern mainstream music.
I imagine you’re not a fan of Kubrick, either, because he makes his points with brutal violence?
Seeing past the medium into the message is the quintessential hallmark of being a true, educated critic.
Otherwise you’re just commenting on your taste, which is fine, but contributes nothing to the conversation.
I’m a white, late 20’s woman and I still have found an inability to ignore K.Dot’s wisdom through the medium. His lyricism and presentation is unparalleled in modern mainstream music.
I imagine you’re not a fan of Kubrick, either, because he makes his points with brutal violence?
Seeing past the medium into the message is the quintessential hallmark of being a true, educated critic.
Otherwise you’re just commenting on your taste, which is fine, but contributes nothing to the conversation.
Well, I'm honoured to be in the presence of "a true, educated critic". Late twenties, so I can see how you consider yourself to be an expert on wisdom too. Alas, being considerably older I only see old hat (as suggested in the comment, but you didn't seem to manage to pick up on, despite your quintessential hallmarks). Damned eyes. I see that "K.Dot" is not much older than you (I assume "K.Dot" is the intellectual's name for Kendrick Lamar). Anyway, I'll let you get back to your yourself.
The article actually gets some of the finer points of the content in the album. To Pimp A Butterfly was really refreshing but DAMN hit me way harder. I must have spent about 3 or 4 days listening to it on repeat. It has a lot of really deep meaning, complete with some hard hitting contradictions, which the article mentions. It made me say “damn!” out loud several times.
For anyone looking to understand why he's likely one of the best lyricists/storytellers of our time, here's some recommended songs from him:
* Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst
* Momma
* Wesley's Theory
I'd recommend checking out his projects as a whole (Section.80, Good Kid m.a.a.d City, To Pimp a Butterfly), but those songs distill a lot of what's best in him.