Hip Hop & Racial Politics 2012

REAL as told by Kendrick Lamar!

"I do what I wanna do, I say what I wanna say

When I feel, and I..look in the mirror and know I’m there

With my hands in the air, I’m proud to say yeah

I’m real, I’m real, I’m really really real"

The lyrics above are from Kendrick Lamar's song REAL, which is off of his new album Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City. First off, let me say that I have not been able to stop listening to this album for about the past 3 weeks. I listen to at least one song from Good Kid, m.A.A.d City a day, since I downloaded it, so I suggest you get it! But back to the topic at hand. I thought that our discussion(s) about what is real in hip hop were over, that is until I listened to this song and started thinking about what it means to be real again. Lamar does not rap about a lot of the same things that other hip hop artists consider real. He does not talk about his personal struggles in this song, nor does he talk about all of his money, all of the women that he has, all the people that he may have possibly killed, or selling drugs. The lyrics above are from the chorus, and represent how Lamar feels, he is real because he does what he wants to do, says what he wants to say and can proudly look in the mirror knowing that all of his choices are his. The picture that this songs paints about being real, is completely different than what we have seen, and discussed in class this semester. Here is the song. 

The lyrics of this song are talk more about love than violence. In the first verse, Lamar talks about girls who use love and material possessions to fill voids in their lives, which he later admits is the type of girl that he usually gets with. In the second verse he talks about people who are consumed by the hood, (gang members), and love their city so much that they are willing to die for it. In the third verse he talks about how much he loves both types of people that he just described. What is interesting about this song, is that throughout it, he is asking what is the point of love if you don't love yourself, and he is relating love to being real. This is different from what we have seen from nearly every other artist who proclaim to be real. 

The second thing that makes this song interesting is the skits that are featured on it. There are two skits on the song, both of which come in the form of voice messages left on his phone by his parents. In the first skit/voice message, his dad talks about what is real in his opinion. 

“Kenny I aint trippin’ off that Dominos anymore, just calling, sorry to hear what happen to your homeboy, but don’t learn the hard way like I did homie. Any nigga can kill a man, that don’t make you a real nigga. Real is responsibility, real is taking care of your motherfucking family, real is god, nigga”

Once again, we are presented with a different view of what is real than what we have seen before. Real now means love, responsibility, family, and God.

Questions:

*What in the world does it mean to be real?

*What does being real have to do with love?

*Can we consider Kendrick Lamar "real", or are there certain standards that every artist has to meet in order to be real?