I am a black man on my fourth listen. Why can't I seem to enjoy this album. Am I missing something significant when listening to "Alright" or any other sone on the album. I much prefer GKMC. Even DAMN.
[spoiler]I actually got called an Uncle Tom for not "getting it"[/spoiler]
you're getting called an uncle tom by white people who know nothing about politics, the black struggle, or how the music industry and marketing works
In my opinion, Kendrick is a limp-wrist Twitter rapper.
it’s not that good
jazz is used as a gimmick so people overrate it, it’s also at its core superficial social commentary which wins points amongst people on twitter
GKMC and even section 80 are better
It's ok you don't enjoy it, it doesn't make you any less of black man, it's not for everyone, maybe one day you'll like it
if I had to guess why I love this album so much it probably largely boils down to the jazzy aspect to it. really gets me vibin
although I'm neither black nor into rap music, so I can't really say I relate to most of the other fans
Because the sad truth is that quote unquote woke rap is designed to make upper-middle class white liberals feel better about themselves by using a black man to parrot their ideology, thus making feel like they're hip with the blacks.
Enjoyment of this album is on more philosophical level than anything. Also the album has really great lyrical moments. The storytelling moments like Momma and HMADC are the highlights of the album. Sure it may not be for everyone but the life lessons the album manages to give are compelling without being too clunky.
Because you're not actually black. Stop larping.
But I am though.
Kendrick isn't woke rap.
Woke rap is dealing with abstract shit and concepts and pretending your a philosopher for identifying issues but not even suggesting a single solution, also loosely related to reality in terms of events occurring.
Kendrick is pure experiential rap, his shit did happen and his music is a cathartic call to action.
What is he calling for us to do?
no GKMC is better
you’re really just going to dilute the word philosophical into any ideas or thoughts whatsoever no matter how novel or worthwhile?
>cathartic call for action
buy his music and whatever product he's in advertisements for
K.
More black actors in Marvel movies.
>I am a black man on my fourth listen.
What were you on the first 3?
What's the message/call to action? Without reading some opinion article by a pitchfork psued or something, can you as a person identify the point of the album?
KEK
Rap like Kendrick is the modern minstrel show and is used by influential non-black record executives to propagate stereotypes of the African American community and make them seem lesser. Promotion of rap like Kendrick’s is extremely racist
>what were you on the first 3
Too preoccupied fucking your mom.
Why do you doubt it?
I never listened to this. Is it the generic "Everybody's racist/white people bad/cops bad even though my demographic is responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime" type of stuff? Or is it something actually worth listening to? I'm not huge into rap, but I've been interested recently and I know this album is really popular.
No, it's just Kendrick's views on the the lives of black people in America.
That black issues need to be addressed in terms of systematic changes in different ways.
Kendrick talks about all the hardships and losses he faced in compton and wants younger generations to grow up in better conditions with actual parents doing their jobs and education system that can be properly funded to actually deal with kids.
In a backhand way he supports the stereotyped trash
It’s hard because he’s never been consistent in his views on any of his 4 albums
More like "I was an innocent black kid and everyone and everything was terrible around me which molded me into a person who made many mistakes and had many bad experiences but I overcame it and wouldn't wish it upon anyone else and advocate for change to culture and community in bad areas so kids can have better outcomes"
So he identified issues and didn't suggest solutions?
it's almost like he just says whatever will sell records with the "conscious" suburban teenager crowd and doesn't actually stand by anything
literally the only time he was daring in his career was the black israelite shit
shuffle rap on spotify or whatever and this is true of most albums you find
So basically there's no real call to action or deep observation. Poverty bad education good isn't exactly an original idea.
it's just another conscious hip hop album about the ghetto, racism, and police
That doesn't sound like the typical dumb "fuck the police" stuff that's been going on in rap. Maybe I should give this one a try.
He did suggest many solutions, but since you're pretending to obtuse you'll probably say something like
>If he didn't use the exact words "do this to help black community" then he didn't suggest solutions
Kendrick music isn't deep, so if you don't recognize what he suggested you're either a mouthbreather or just pretending
>Poverty bad education good isn't exactly an original idea
Original =/= Good
I could make a rap song about sucking dicks while someone shits on my chest in the bed of truck on the run from el chapo, doesn't mean it's good.
Execution and context is way more important.
Unoriginal =/= Good too. Just about everything that can be said about the subject matter has been said. That dead horse has been beaten hard enough to turn it to glue.
That's not how you make glue.
I never said unoriginal was good, all I said was originality doesn't necessitate quality.
You're the one suggesting unoriginality isn't good.
>beating a dead horse
That's a fallacy when you deal with art, you can't apply that kind of thing as law because the very nature of art is in conflict with the sentiment itself.
>inb4 music isn't art
I honestly haven't even listened to the album m8. I just found it strange that your initial response to the question "what is the call to action" did not include any of the myriad of solutions that you claim the album champions. What specifically does he say that needs to be done in order to resolve the problems currently faced by the black community, both internal and external?
Rappers have been saying that shit going back as far as "The Message" by Melle Mel and Duke Bootee (credited to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five).
>it’s experimental rap, a call to action
>>how’s it a call to action or experimental
>it deals with these trite themes that every rap album does
>>that’s neither original nor a call to action
>it doesn’t have to be original
someone makes a bad point, gets called out on it and then defends those criticisms with absolutely 0 consideration of their original point as if they never said it
peak internet discussion
You're exact response is exactly what I predicted you would say
>If he didn't use the exact words "do this to help black community" then he didn't suggest solutions
Glad to know you're not interested in discussing music in good faith
Well for one I said experiential not experimental
But as a side note, triteness and other vocabulary invoking a negative connotation only have use in academia for purposes of pursuing new ideas but not better ones, not in the practical sense of art.
There are millions of people in poverty and that's all they've experienced and yet not all poverty is the same and can have many differences, are you going to say that no nuance exists because the umbrella term is popular?
You're being quite anti-intellectual for someone invoking academia
You have good taste.
Go to Mexico and smoke a bunch of local mota and sit at the beach watching little tight assed sorority girls dancing around and press play on this bitch. Oh wait too late the planet is in quarantine
you’re trying really hard on this one huh champ
Wanking yourself over recognizing the flaw within your own argument isn't exactly a good look. Why not instead make a better argument and save us all the wasted time? But since you are so concerned about arguing in good faith, let's look at the recent back and forth of the last few comments between us.
>he suggested many solutions
Ok, what are they?
>lol you're a retard because you can't pick out the solutions
Real show of good faith in those arguments you have there, friendo. The constant use of ad hominem to denigrate the person you are discussing with really just exemplifies how committed you are to arguing in good faith.
He still likes DAMN, so no.
You didn't even address my post with a rebuttal refuting any of my points, but go off
Because that's not what you said.
I said he suggested solutions
You replied asking what he wants us to do
I replied saying exactly what he talked about and what he wanted people to focus on to improve for the next generation to fix
You didn't like that answer so you just assumed I said nothing, the onus is on you.
>I am a black man
filtered
You probably just don't like how dense it is. That's why I can't get into it. It's not that accessible, and not in an "abrasive" way, just in a structural way
>I am a black man
Source?
>I said he suggested solutions and replied what he was talking about
Here are the "solutions" you said he suggested
>That black issues need to be addressed in terms of systematic changes in different ways. Kendrick talks about all the hardships and losses he faced in compton and wants younger generations to grow up in better conditions with actual parents doing their jobs and education system that can be properly funded to actually deal with kids.
So let's break those solutions down
>that black issues need to be addressed
Not a solution
>talks about his hardships and wants young people to have it better
Sweet thoughts, but not a solution
>wants parents to do their job
Now we are getting somewhere, but how. Just saying "be better parents" is not a solution as it ignores all of the reasons why people can't be good parents in the first place. Unless we enter the discussion with some racist notion that black people choose to treat their kids like shit and can stop at any time, then o don't see how this is more than identifying the symptom caused by a greater issue.
>that the education system can be properly funded
This is the closest we get to a real solution and I will concede it as one simply because I don't want to get into a debate whether we should consider grade school tier solutions as valid. More money is good, who cares where it has to comes from or how.
Jesus Christ you are retarded.
If you don't like it you don't like it OP, nobody's gonna die
what's your income