WARNING: This Content Below Contains DEADLY Amounts of Kumbayaism, #AllLivesMatterism, Post-Racial Colorblind Trash, and Utter Coonery.
Viewer Discretion is strongly advised.
The True Meaning of Bullshit by Kendrick Lamar.
Exhibit A: See, I was taught words was nothing more than a sound
If ever they was pronounced without any intentions
The very second you challenged the shit I was kicking
Reminded me about a show I did out the city
That time I brung a fan on stage to rap
But disapproved the word that she couldn’t say with me
You said, ”Kendrick, ain’t no room for contradiction
To truly understand love, switch position
‘Same-gender loving person, Same-gender loving person, Same-gender loving person,’ we can say it together
But only if you let a white girl say ‘Beautiful Black Person”
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During his
2018 Hangout Music Festival performance, Kendrick
brought two fans, Rohan and Delaney, on stage separately to rap his 2012 track
“m.A.A.d City” with him. They were of Asian and Caucasian descent, respectively. When it was Delaney’s turn, she rapped Kendrick’s lyrics near-verbatim, using the N-word multiple times. This prompted Kendrick to cut her off, stating “My boy Rohan kinda knew the rules a little bit. You gotta bleep one single word.” She apologized, adding “I’m used to singing it like you wrote it.”
When asked about the incident during
a 2018 cover story for
Vanity Fair, Kendrick commented:
Let me put it to you in its simplest form. I’ve been on this earth for 30 years, and there’s been so many things a Caucasian person said I couldn’t do. Get good credit. Buy a house in an urban city. So many things—’you can’t do that’—whether it’s from afar or close up. So if I say this is my word, let me have this one word, please let me have that word.
It is nearly universally understood that the use of
the N-word by non-Black people is racist, though there are people that continue to use it out of malice, ignorance, and/or entitlement. However, there are members of the Black community that feel differently about the term. For example, Kendrick’s longtime friend
ScHoolboy Q has
actively encouraged concertgoers to utilize it at his shows, and his friend
Tyler, The Creator has stated that caring about the term keeps
“racism alive.” Meanwhile, Black icon
Oprah Winfrey has repeatedly shared her belief that the term
should stop being used altogether. Kendrick responded to her position on the
To Pimp a Butterfly version of his track
“i”:
So I'ma dedicate this one verse to Oprah
On how the infamous, sensitive N-word control us
So many artists gave her an explanation to hold us
Well, this is my explanation straight from Ethiopia
N-E-G-U-S definition: royalty; king royalty – wait listen
N-E-G-U-S description: black emperor, king, ruler, now let me finish
The history books overlook the word and hide it
America tried to make it to a house divided
The homies don’t recognize we been using it wrong
So I'ma break it down and put my game in a song
N-E-G-U-S, say it with me, or say it no more
Black stars can come and get me
Take it from Oprah Winfrey, tell her she right on time
Kendrick Lamar, by far, realest Negus alive
The hot button topic of non-Black people using the term led to the incident going viral and being reported all over the globe.
Here, Kendrick is challenged by his cousin with the hypocrisy of saying the F-slur as a heterosexual, cisgender male. If Kendrick is morally consistent and a genuine ally to his transgender cousin, he should be just as cautious about non-LGBT+ people using the F-slur as he is about white people using the N-word. Many in the LGBT+ community
share this belief.
As a writer, Kendrick is challenging the audience’s own biases with this exchange. If he truly holds the belief that words are nothing more than sounds without intent, then he either needs to embrace non-Black people using the N-word or must reject all slurs equally; if one means something then so does the other. There is “no room for contradiction,” as Mary-Ann says. This interaction is also intended as a teaching moment for the listener, with Kendrick’s narrative scaffolding how we could engage in healthier and more productive dialogues by looking to educate rather than shame or respond emotively.
This feeling of hypocrisy in the song is similar to the twist at the end of
“The Blacker the Berry.” Interestingly, this exchange also marks the last time the N-word is used on the album.
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During his performance at the 2018 Hangout Music Festival, Kendrick brought two fans, Rohan and Delaney, on stage separately to rap his 2012 track “m.A.A.d City” with him. They were of Asian and Caucasian descent, respectively. When it was Delaney’s turn, she rapped Kendrick’s lyrics...
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