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Kendrick Lamar‘s fantastic album To Pimp A Butterfly doesn’t have much in the way of low points; that’s a big part of the reason why it was our Album of the Year. But, there is one part of the album in particular that rubbed a lot of listeners the wrong way.
In the first full year of the Black Lives Matter movement as a political force, the final line of “The Blacker The Berry” seemed like a nod toward the “What about black-on-black crime?” line of questioning frequently used by the movement’s detractors. Coming from the man who (unwittingly) gave the protest its own anthem, this line seemed to chafe a few fans.
Now, Lamar has explained the line in an interview with NPR.
First, a refresher. Here’s the line in question:
“So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street, when gang-banging make me kill a n**** blacker than me? Hypocrite!”
Kendrick told NPR’s David Greene that he didn’t mean the line to apply to anyone beyond himself and how he deals with the anger he feels when his friends and family fall victim to violence.
“It’s not me pointing at my community; it’s me pointing at myself. I don’t talk about these things if I haven’t lived them, and I’ve hurt people in my life. It’s something I still have to think about when I sleep at night. The message I’m sending to myself — I can’t change the world until I change myself first. For instance, when [Lamar’s friend] Chad was killed, I can’t disregard the emotion of me relapsing and feeling the same anger that I felt when I was 16, 17 — when I wanted the next family to hurt, because you made my family hurt. Them emotions were still running in me, thinking about him being slain like that. Whether I’m a rap star or not, if I still feel like that, then I’m part of the problem rather than the solution.”
Kendrick spoke at length about the gang violence in his hometown, recalling witnessing a murder when he was 5 and revealing that a solid portion of TPAB came from feeling like he should be home with his family and friends while people continue to be killed.
“The feeling was, I should be with my family right now when they’re going through hardships, with the loss of my dear friends that’s constantly passing while I’m out on this road. The feeling was, ‘How am I influencing so many people on this stage rather than influencing the ones that I have back home?’ “
Listen to the whole interview up top or over at NPR.
