Week 13
To talk about “the blacker the berry” you have to start with the song title itself. The saying “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice” is used to celebrate black skin and uses this analogy as a way to celebrate people of darker skin. The parallels can be made to Tupac’s “keep ya head up” who Kendrick previously almost abbreviated his album name to. In a way this makes Kendrick a mentee to the legacy and influence Tupac left in hip-hop. We see the influence that Tupac presented to Kendrick within the album and the struggle that Kendrick faces with being a celebrity just like Tupac. In the first verse of this song Kendrick talks about how he is a black man and how white people hate him for it. But Kendrick is proud to be an African and at one point refers to himself as “a proud monkey” seemingly reclaiming his blackness and the term for black people. He also gets into the fact that he is an African American but later retracts and says he is just African because he does not identify with white America. He ends this verse explaining how the black community was “sabotaged” and white people that controlled the government made profit from it while the community were made killers. Verse 2 Kendrick goes into how black people are more likely to be put in a penitentiary and how he feels bad for the slave mentality implemented into the community. He also talks on how he is still judged yet he is rich and successful but the fact that he is black will never wash away. Finally in the last verse of the song Kendrick realizes everything going on in the black community is bigger than him; he realizes he can use his platform to inspire other leaders but he can not do it alone. Throughout the song at the beginning of every verse we constantly hear Kendrick call himself “the biggest hypocrite of 2015” and he explains by the end of this song you will understand what he means. In the last verse he explains how he wept for Trayvon Martin’s murder but calls himself a hypocrite because gang banging will make him kill someone darker than him. He shows leadership by being humble enough to address his faults and call himself a hypocrite. While he feels the hurt of black people being shot in the streets he also has to deal with the fact that because of his gang activity he also has killed people darker than him so is he truly any better than those who he condemns? This was my entry in my project for my favorite album Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly”. This album overall has leadership littered throughout as Kendrick talks to the young people and artists like himself as he struggles between his past, his artistry, and his culture. The part I believe that demonstrates leadership the most is his battle with his past and hypocrisy. That shows his ability to acknowledge his mistakes and how he can teach others to not make the same mistakes as him.
My personal favorite quote from the whole album actually comes from the final remarks of the final song on the album. Pretty much the story he has built around this album is this is all a story to Tupac how the caterpillar grew up to be a butterfly.
“The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it, in order to protect itself from this mad city. While consuming its environment the caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive. One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him, but praises the butterfly. The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar. But having a harsh outlook on life the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits. Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him. He can no longer see past his own thoughts. He’s trapped. When trapped inside these walls certain ideas start to take roots, such as going home, and bringing back new concepts to this mad city. The result? Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant. Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered, ending the eternal struggle. Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same.” In this case Kendrick is the caterpillar that figuratively grows up and in this one paragraph he sums up the entire album using figurative language. This is a lesson to everyone that listens to this album that not everything will always be grim and their is a light on the other side of the tunnel. At the beginning Kendrick is a small caterpillar with little life and no real understanding of the world but like a butterfly he grows up and becomes a new being full of life.
4 Your Eyez Only
The album came out in 2016 and demonstrates J Cole after his loss of a friend and how he coped and became a leader to his friends daughter after his death to gang violence. Personally this has been one of my favorite artist for years that when he went on tour for this album I went and saw it. It had a personal change in me that I kept for years on as I have lost family members to violence and have never had a letter like this before. He exemplifies leadership consistently and explains especially in the latter of the album his ability to be a leader.
Just like in the Kendrick Lamar’s album a character I would compare J Cole to is Killmonger as they share ideals and motives.
“They both are trying to show people the world from a different view. Killmonger wanted Wakanda to see the world from his point of view how they could help better the world. J.Cole friend wanted his daughter to the world from his point a view. They both was trying to guide people to the right direction in being leaders. The difference is that Killmonger went about it the wrong way.”
This is practically what I said for Kendrick Lamar that they both had good intentions but Killmonger handled it extremely poorly.
Assignment:
Describe a time you felt you needed a person’s validation in order to feel equal and or accepted. How did this make you view yourself and what did you learn from this situation ? A time I needed a person’s validation actually comes from when I tried to get my father’s validation for years when I was younger. It made me view myself differently because I felt I was never good enough to be his son or to have to change who I was or what I liked to please him. What I learned was that I should never change who I am for anyone because at the end of the day I have to look myself in the mirror of the day.
Who do you “fold clothes” for and why? What aspect does the person bring to your life that you appreciate it? I would fold clothes for my girlfriend because she is that special person for me who I would do anything for. We have been together for almost 2 years now and she is a big part of what makes me, me.
In “4 Your Eyez Only” do you think J.Cole was only speaking to his friend’s daughter or was he speaking to the younger generations as a whole? I feel there are times that he wavers between the two but he is mainly talking to his friends daughter I believe throughout and teaching her lessons.
Has there ever been a point in time where relying on your faith made you feel like a more positive, hopeful and overall better person? Yes there have been points when I feel that I became a better person by relying on my more positive feelings.
Do you have a “ville mentality”? If so, what in/about your life gave you this mentality? Do you think having a ville mentality is healthy? Why or why not? I don’t think I have a ville mentality because of the way I was raised differently than J. Cole.
We all know that J.Cole and Kendrick is always compared to see who is the better artist. Who is the better artist to you and why? The better artist to me is Kendrick Lamar despite J Cole being my favorite he can not compare to the depth and leadership Kendrick spreads to everyone.
