Why The Blacker the Berry is Trash

ddamix22z-g Kendrick Lamar is without a doubt a great rapper, and in my opinion, this cannot really be argued. However as a person, I really  do not respect his beliefs and lyrics in his music. Lately Kendrick has been all over the media, and people have been talking  about him nonstop, especially on twitter. He has a new album called To Pimp a Butterfly that has sparked a ton of controversy  within the black community. This album is completely different than anything he has ever put out. It focuses on the black  struggle, racism, slavery, police brutality against blacks, and it focuses on a lot of stereotypes about black people.

I always try to give credit when credit is due, which is why I’ll say that most of the songs on this album and genius. Each and e  every one of the songs are lyrically amazing, and while I agree with a lot of the points that he makes in his song, he inserts small  lyrics that I don’t agree with at all.

One of the songs that really blew up was “The Blacker the Berry”, it talks about the stereotypes people place on black people, like  having a big nose, thick lips, and eating fried chicken. He also talks about institutionalized racism in America, and although he  goes a little extreme he speaks about how America hates us and expects that we will end either a penitentiary or dead. What is s  sad about this song is that I really appreciate most of the points that he makes, and he speaks on a lot of things that I believe in  as well. For example he says in his song that racism is bigger than just the people we deal with today, it is generational hatred.  Which is in fact true, and we have talked about this multiple times in class. It isn’t just about what people are faced with in school or with friends, these racist beliefs go back to their family, and probably a long line of active and passive racists.

Kendrick Lamar uses strategic repetition in his song. He starts the song off with “I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015” and repeats it three more times throughout the song but doesn’t really elaborate on why he is a hypocrite. However after saying all that he said in his song, in the last line he ruined everything and revealed why he is a hypocrite.

“So why did I weep when Trayvonn Martin was in the street? When gang banging make me kill a n**gga blacker than me? Hypocrite!”

In this line he is basically victim blaming, and this is what I do not respect. In his opinion, black people cannot be upset when we see young black men in the media being murdered because we murder each other every day. I disagree with this in every way possible, because right is right and wrong is wrong. Just because white people kill other white people, it doesn’t make it okay for me to go around murdering unarmed whites. If that were to happen, people would be outraged, as they should be. After this song, I looked up a lot of interviews that Kendrick has had recently, and he goes in trying to justify his beliefs. I can truly say that I’ve lost respect for him as a person.

2 thoughts on “Why The Blacker the Berry is Trash

  1. I personally love his album. It was from the soul and he talked about his struggles. We have different perspectives of that last revealing line. 2/3 of the song he talks about white oppression and that last piece was saying pretty much why do we get so mad when a white police officer kills a black man when we, the black community, kill each other everyday in gang violence. That is what i got from that line and what other critiques have said. Maybe I am wrong and don’t understand what he is truly saying but if he is saying it that why then I understand where he is coming from.

  2. I can’t believe he said something like that in his song. That’s absolutely ridiculous and trashy. Victim blaming is something that we as a nation have a tendency to do, but I never expected that to happen here. I’m a little curious as to what he could possibly say to justify the message in this song, but this is unacceptable.

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