Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy Performance of songs 'Blacker the Berry' and 'Alright'
I am a huge fan of rapper Kendrick Lamar
and I did hear about how controversial and racist his Grammy’s performance was when
he performed two of my favourite Kendrick songs, ‘Blacker the berry’ and
‘Alright’. I have listened to these song countless times but did not think much
of the lyrics or what they meant until I took this course. I decided to check out
Kendrick Lamar’s performance for myself so that I could have my own stance on
it. I will discuss my first impressions
of the first few minutes of his performance.
To begin his performance, Kendrick and his
dancers who are all African-American men. They are all wearing the same clothes
and are all chained and walking slowly and almost struggling to walk out on to
the stage with backdrops of jail cells. This establishing moment really set the
scene and also showed to the audience how oppressed blacks have been, which
relates to history of how Blacks were treated in the United States of America. Kendrick
is still chained when he starts to rap a verse from ‘Blacker the berry’, which consists
of the following lyrics; “'m the biggest hypocrite of 2015
Once I finish this, witnesses will convey
just what I mean
Been feeling this way since I was 16, came
to my senses
You never liked us anyway, fuck your
friendship, I meant it
I'm African-American, I'm African
I'm black as the moon, heritage of a small
village
Pardon my residence
Came from the bottom of mankind
My hair is nappy, my dick is big, my nose
is round and wide (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kendricklamar/theblackertheberry.html)
Yes, I must admit that these lyrics do have a racist attitude particularly towards white; however, he is just showing his anger of the destruction of black lives. If a white performer did this there probably wouldn’t be as much controversy due to the society we live in. He is getting out how he feels and is describing how African-Americans have been represented over time.
The verse continues with these lyrics; “You
hate me don't you?
You hate my people, your plan is to
terminate my culture
You're fuckin' evil I want you to recognize
that I'm a proud monkey” (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kendricklamar/theblackertheberry.html).
These are racist remarks but he is just wanting to question not only people of
his race and culture but to other races who have marginalized his. In these lyrics
he says that he is ‘monkey’, which has been an expression commonly used by white
when describing black people.
After this verse, it breaks out into what I
assume is traditional African dance due to their clothes being painted in
African symbols. It then proceeds to the song ‘Alright’. It starts off with repetition of the phrase
“We gonna be alright”, which could mean that despite what does happen, we will
make through and this is heavily associated with the Black Lives Matter
Movement.
I do understand how some people have
perceived Kendrick’s Grammy’s performance as racist but in my opinion I find it
to be more of an empowering piece than a racist one. Kendrick Lamar is showing
that people of colour have a voice too and that his culture and race are just
as important. I found it to be a very historical and thought provoking
performance as it addresses racist issues.
Here’s the performance below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W99TKSwIMk
(Not the best quality video, sorry)
(Not the best quality video, sorry)
I completely agree with your position, and that yes in some ways his performance can be deemed racist, but the fact that it is empowering through the way it disseminates messages regarding the deprivation of black people and how it is a prevalent social and moral issue within our society allows it to ultimately outweigh any harm inflicted through his 'racist' and 'controversial' performance. It is an issue we all need to be aware of, and Kendrick is an intelligent artist that has very effectively been capable of expressing such issues and controversies through his music. His earlier songs such as 'Fuck your Ethnicity' and 'Hiiipower' have also depicted racial issues and inequalities. By doing so within something as big, universal and global scale like The Grammy's, Kendrick's messages performed not only through his lyrics but also the use of props and costumes as you mentioned becomes more effectively perpetuated and spread amongst a mass audience.
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ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting stance on Kendricks Grammy performance. I totally agree it is definitely an empowering and thought provoking performance! Although personally after viewing it I did not think it was racist. I was aware of some controversy around the performance at the time, for as you say Kendrick makes a real statement about his experience and identity as black man in America and how he feels white people have treated him saying he's "been feeling this way since I was sixteen". As Suzanne mentioned in an early lecture, Paul Spoonley describes racism as "prejudice plus power" therefore while marginalized groups can be prejudice, discriminate, and hold negative attitudes toward white people, this is not racism as such because they are not the dominant group and thus even if they have anti white sentiments this does not negatively affect the every day lives and opportunities of white people, as they are they dominant group with power. So although Kendricks lyrics are not particularly positive toward white people, this is more in a way that he is acknowledging history and the ongoing oppression of African Americans by white people in America. He also takes a derogatory term used by white people to describe black people, "monkey", and takes ownership of it saying "I'm a proud monkey", giving the term less racist power. I agree this performance was confronting, powerful, and progressive for it to be shown on such a major awards show, I'm just not sure if I would call it racist. Thanks for an interesting read!
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