Kendrick Lamar is one of those artists, when you think about them you think about how their music has a larger meaning than just words on a piece of paper.
“The Blacker the Berry” was the confrontational opposite of a palate cleanser, invigorating and raw, but its reference to black-on-black crime came in for political scrutiny, along with earlier comments Mr. Lamar made to Billboard about the killing of Michael Brown. That shooting of an unarmed teenager by a police officer “never should’ve happened,” he said. “When we don’t have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us?” (Coscarelli 2015) While this statement sheds light on how Lamar views violence it also points to Lamar’s internal controversy over how to get a message across that is both positive for black youth, as well as illustrating the significant issues that surround his community in Compton, as well as the African American community more generally.
Kendrick starts off the song describing the community and how it is an environment of chaos. This chaos is an experience that a lot of black people share as a part of their daily life. Kendrick sings,
”Six in the mornin’, fire in the street Burn, baby burn, that’s all I wanna see”.
Referring to the riots, gang violence, and racial chaos that black people have become accustomed to in their lives.
“You (White man) hate my people (black people), your plan is to terminate my culture, You’re fuckin’ evil, I want you to recognize that I’m a proud monkey, You vandalize my perception but can’t take style from me, And this is more than confession.”
This portrays the emotion and anger of black people who feel like they have been exploited since they were born. Also, reminding us that racism is still prevalent in our current society. When Kendrick says, “You can’t take style from me” I believe he is talking about white people trying to separate black people from black culture. Saying that he has found the culture within himself, and calls for all black people to unify in the same culture for good.
Kendrick proudly accepts who he is, despite that such pride in one’s blackness is not comforting or acceptable to White America and its system. Having pride in his blackness is emphasized when he raps,
“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, you hate me don’t you.”
Acknowledging some of the stereotypes placed on black people in our society.
An important part of the song when Kendrick says,
“And sometimes I get off watchin’ you die in vain It’s such a shame they may call me crazy, They may say I suffer from schizophrenia or somethin’ But homie you made me Black don’t crack my nigga.”
This line refers to the message that White America has placed on Black people and that is that they are the architects of their own problem. “Homie you made me” refers to White America’s racist policies and laws. The system made me. The policies and laws that were supposed to reconstruct Black America, Kendrick uses the video to highlight how the new policies and laws did not reconstruct Black America.
“I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015 Once I finish this, witnesses will convey just what I mean.”
This line was repeated several times throughout the song and I think it is Kendrick pointing out the hypocrisy in the black community. Saying that he was internally racist towards white people, and at the end of the song you realize that Kendrick learned from his previous experiences in White America and how he has come to understand the social injustice in reality, and not the whitewashed version. Accepting the fact that he made mistakes based on what he has been taught in America. This song is a way to explain how Black on Black crime through several generations is helping White America and continues this process of racial injustice.