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Book Double Consciousness in Kendrick Lamar

Download or read book Double Consciousness in Kendrick Lamar written by Francesco Caruana and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2020-08-31 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,5, University of Tubingen (Institut für Literaturwissenschaft), course: Staatsexamen, language: English, abstract: Throughout this paper the question is going to be answered, whether W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of double consciousness can be discerned in contemporary expressions of Hip Hop culture. Furthermore, it is going to be explored how this concept can be visually represented by analyzing Kendrick Lamar’s music video to the song Alright from the Album To Pimp a Butterfly. First, a definition of Du Bois’ concept of double consciousness is going to be given in order to delineate the characteristics and possible interpretations of it. The concept is going to be defined as an internal conflict that expresses the hardship of reconciling two distinct perspectives and identities into one body. Moreover, formal aspects of The Souls of Black Folk are going to provide evidence for the argument, that Du Bois writing style facilitates the communication of the concept of double consciousness throughout his work. The effects of double consciousness and the importance of cultural expressions in the process of finding one’s own cultural identity are also going to be analyzed in more detail in the second chapter of this paper. In order to analyze Kendrick Lamar’s music video, a brief introduction to the medium is going to be given. Through Keazor’s and Wübbena’s work the origins of this medium will be determined and presented. Moreover, the most important technical elements of the music video in general are going to be mentioned as well. Railton and Watson propose in their work Music Video and the Politics of Representation a systematic categorization of music videos, by identifying four different type of music videos: 1. Pseudo-Documentary music video, 2. Art music video, 3. Narrative music video and 4. Staged Performance music video (Railton and Watson). The music video Alright is going to be analyzed by determining how the director Colin Tilley establishes the single scenes in the music video. Firstly, possible thematically coherent segments have to be identified. Through a frame by frame analysis the cinematic techniques and the aesthetics of each segment of the music video are going to be analyzed. Secondly, the song lyrics and their visual representation in the music video are also going to be examined. Thirdly, the concept of double consciousness is going to be identified in Kendrick Lamar’s music video by illustrating how double consciousness is visually represented.

Book Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning

Download or read book Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning written by Christopher M. Driscoll and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-25 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kendrick Lamar has established himself at the forefront of contemporary hip-hop culture. Artistically adventurous and socially conscious, he has been unapologetic in using his art form, rap music, to address issues affecting black lives while also exploring subjects fundamental to the human experience, such as religious belief. This book is the first to provide an interdisciplinary academic analysis of the impact of Lamar’s corpus. In doing so, it highlights how Lamar’s music reflects current tensions that are keenly felt when dealing with the subjects of race, religion and politics. Starting with Section 80 and ending with DAMN., this book deals with each of Lamar’s four major projects in turn. A panel of academics, journalists and hip-hop practitioners show how religion, in particular black spiritualties, take a front-and-center role in his work. They also observe that his astute and biting thoughts on race and culture may come from an African American perspective, but many find something familiar in Lamar’s lyrical testimony across great chasms of social and geographical difference. This sophisticated exploration of one of popular culture’s emerging icons reveals a complex and multi faceted engagement with religion, faith, race, art and culture. As such, it will be vital reading for anyone working in religious, African American and hip-hop studies, as well as scholars of music, media and popular culture.

Book Kendrick Lamar s To Pimp a Butterfly

Download or read book Kendrick Lamar s To Pimp a Butterfly written by Sequoia Maner and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2022-05-05 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Breaking the global record for streams in a single day, nearly 10 million people around the world tuned in to hear Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album in the hours after its release. To Pimp a Butterfly was widely hailed as an instant classic, garnering laudatory album reviews, many awards, and even a canonized place in Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois archive. Why did this strangely compelling record stimulate the emotions and imaginations of listeners? This book takes a deep dive into the sounds, images, and lyrics of To Pimp a Butterfly to suggest that Kendrick appeals to the psyche of a nation in crisis and embraces the development of a radical political conscience. Kendrick breathes fresh life into the Black musical protest tradition and cultivates a platform for loving resistance. Combining funk, jazz, and spoken word, To Pimp a Butterfly's expansive sonic and lyrical geography brings a high level of innovation to rap music. More importantly, Kendrick's introspective and philosophical songs compel us to believe in a future where, perhaps, we gon' be alright.

Book Teaching Peace Through Popular Culture

Download or read book Teaching Peace Through Popular Culture written by Laura L. Finley and published by IAP. This book was released on 2023-11-01 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing from many disciplinary areas, this edited volume illustrates the many ways that popular culture can be used to teach peace and justice. Chapters address such topics as teaching about racism, domestic violence, structural violence, conflict analysis, decolonization, critiques of capitalism, and peacebuilding, showing how different forms of popular culture can be utilized to enhance student learning. Contributors provide both theoretical backgrounds and concrete lessons using TV, film, music, graphic novels, and more.

Book Empowerment and Protest in Kendrick Lamar s  To Pimp a Butterfly

Download or read book Empowerment and Protest in Kendrick Lamar s To Pimp a Butterfly written by Aneka Brunßen and published by . This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bachelor Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Cultural Studies - Black Studies, grade: 1,7, University of Bremen (Department of Language and Literature), course: Cultural Studies, language: English, abstract: The research implies the following: The lyrical content, and the specific use of vernacular, poetics and musical style in Kendrick Lamar's 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly highlight a tripartite development towards an empowered African-American identity in the form of Lamar's personal journey, which is achieved by juxtaposing several binary themes which are comprised of a dual perspective at interrelated subjects which are all tied to the two overarching concepts of protest and empowerment. Therefore, it is the aim of this research paper to investigate Lamar's creative expression in To Pimp a Butterfly with a focus on the vernacular, poetics, and musical style, as well as exploring patterns to be found in the lyrical content and the two spoken word poems of the album representative of 1) interlinked binary relations and 2) tripartite developmental stages towards empowerment. The gathered results are based on a deconstruction of aspects of vernacular, poetics and musical style as well as a break-down of themes in the lyrical content, including the two poems and, subsequently, tying them to a previously developed concept which outlines internal and external protest as fundamental for empowerment, thereby connecting it directly with DuBois's theory of double consciousness and the tripartite yearnings. Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly is a personal journey. It's an embodiment of a personal struggle which resonates an internal conflict brought on by external forces. And, above all, it's a blueprint for a possible path to empowerment. But how is empowerment achieved? While this question will certainly not be answered, attempts will be made to outline Lamar's approach by tying it directly to W.E.B DuBois's theory on double consciousness and even further repre

Book Words  Music  and the Popular

Download or read book Words Music and the Popular written by Thomas Gurke and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-03 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Words, Music, and the Popular: Global Perspectives on Intermedial Relations opens up the notion of the popular, drawing useful links between wide-ranging aspects of popular culture, through the lens of the interaction between words and music. This collection of essays explores the relation of words and music to issues of the popular. It asks: What is popularity or ‘the’ popular and what role(s) does music play in it? What is the function of the popular, and is ‘pop’ a system? How can popularity be explained in certain historical and political contexts? How do class, gender, race, and ethnicity contribute to and complicate an understanding of the ‘popular’? What of the popularity of verbal art forms? How do they interact with music at particular times and throughout different media?

Book When the Hood Comes Off

Download or read book When the Hood Comes Off written by Rob Eschmann and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely, comprehensive study examines how racism manifests online and highlights the antiracist tactics rising to oppose it From cell phone footage of police killing unarmed Black people to leaked racist messages and even comments from friends and family on social media, online communication exposes how racism operates in a world that pretends to be colorblind. In When the Hood Comes Off, Rob Eschmann blends rigorous research and engaging personal narrative to examine the effects of online racism on communities of color and society, and the unexpected ways that digital technologies enable innovative everyday tools of antiracist resistance. Drawing on a wealth of data, including interviews with students of Color around the country and analyses of millions of social media posts over the past decade, Eschmann investigates the influence of online communication on face-to-face interactions. When the Hood Comes Off highlights the power of the internet as an organizing tool, and shows that online racism can be a profound wake-up call. How will we respond?

Book  Wake Up  Mr  West

    Book Details:
  • Author : Joshua K. Wright
  • Publisher : McFarland
  • Release : 2022-01-14
  • ISBN : 1476644403
  • Pages : 285 pages

Download or read book Wake Up Mr West written by Joshua K. Wright and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2022-01-14 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black celebrities in America have always walked a precarious line between their perceived status as spokespersons for their race and their own individual success--and between being "not black enough" for the black community or "too black" to appeal to a broader audience. Few know this tightrope walk better than Kanye West, who transformed hip-hop, pop and gospel music, redefined fashion, married the world's biggest reality TV star and ran for president, all while becoming one of only a handful of black billionaires worldwide. Despite these accomplishments, his polarizing behavior, controversial alliances and bouts with mental illness have made him a caricature in the media and a disappointment among much of his fanbase. This book examines West's story and what it reveals about black celebrity and identity and the American dream.

Book Institutional Racism in Kendrick Lamar s  To Pimp A Butterfly

Download or read book Institutional Racism in Kendrick Lamar s To Pimp A Butterfly written by Ben Joy Muin and published by . This book was released on 2021-10-16 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Wuppertal (Anglistik / Amerikanistik), course: African American Literature, language: English, abstract: This term paper tries to show that Kendrick Lamar, on his album "To Pimp A Butterfly", not only incorporates the concept of institutional racism but elaborates on it, offering a different approach to the issue. By using the example of the ghetto, he uses an unconventional idea of what can be defined as an institution and how African Americans are discriminated against by the institutions. Moreover, he tries to show what effects these institutions have on the individual. Furthermore, with the concept of "self-love", Lamar offers an alternative approach to solve this problem. In 2018 hip hop became the most popular music genre in the US and there is no denying the influence it has on today's popular culture. Hip hop has its origins in African American musical tradition and was used as protest music by young African Americans in the 1970s and 80s and can therefore be described as being part of African American culture. Even in other parts of popular culture we now see many African Americans having achieved worldwide fame. One could think that the US has overcome its historic legacy of slavery and racism. However, in stark contrast to that are the claims that African Americans today live in an era of mass incarceration and police brutality, claims that are backed up by statistics and movements like "Black Lives Matter". How can this predicament be explained that America, on the one hand, seems to have overcome racism, but on the other hand, African Americans are still being challenged by massive inequalities? Some people see an explanation to this predicament in the concept of institutional racism, a term that has its origins in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The term is also a topic of Kendrick Lamar's third studio album "To Pimp A Butterfly", with one

Book Educational Leadership and Music

Download or read book Educational Leadership and Music written by Terri N. Watson and published by IAP. This book was released on 2017-04-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book we considered new territory for educational leadership by looking to music for lessons and inspiration that may inform the next generation of schools leaders. Each chapter focuses on an artist or group whose work serves to refine, extend, and challenge our thinking in regards to educational leadership. You will find a vast array of musical forms of expression analyzed and described by an equally diverse collection of educational leadership scholars and practitioners. There may be some who question the academic appropriateness or relevance of a text such as this one. Our response is that part of our ongoing mission should be to break ourselves out of academic silos and forge meaningful connections between seemingly disparate disciplines. Furthermore, educational leadership stands to gain more by drawing from the arts and specifically musical influences. Finally, music is an obvious part of most of our lives; why not explore the ways in which it impacts us on an academic level and not just a personal level? In sum, we ask that as you read the chapters of this book, you reflect on your own musical tastes and favorite artists.

Book The Micropolitics of Kendrick Lamar

Download or read book The Micropolitics of Kendrick Lamar written by Vivienne Berger and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2021-11-10 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2021 im Fachbereich Didaktik für das Fach Englisch - Landeskunde, Note: 1,7, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The title of the paper already indicates what it is about. The micropolitics of Kendrick Lamar are to be analysed. But what exactly does that mean? This paper will look at what micropolitics means to Kendrick Lamar. Does he define his political opinion through his ethnicity? In this paper, political hip hop and rap will be examined in particular. One of the most important rappers of the 21st century will be used for this purpose: Kendrick Lamar. This paper will deal with how Kendrick Lamar reveals his political opinion in his works. What qualifies him for this thesis is, that Kendrick Lamar raps a lot about racism, discrimination and life as a black person in his songs. But not only these topics are dealt with in his songs. The reference to religion is not neglected either. What runs like a thread through all his songs and albums is the marginalisation of black people. Kendrick Lamar sees himself as the voice of the black oppressed society. He gives them his voice and tries to draw attention to various issues. In the following, micropolitics will be first defined and it will be worked out what it means for the culture and what role popular culture plays here. The most important part of this work is to understand how micropolitics can be used to better understand hip hop. This will be elaborated mainly in the second chapter. Furthermore, this thesis will briefly compare micropolitics and politics and work out what part hip hop can play here. At this point, it will be made clear why Kendrick Lamar resorts to politics in his songs and what politics actually means in this case. Once these basics have been clarified, Kendrick Lamar will be briefly introduced in order to better understand the background of his music. Afterwards, his political attitude will be elaborated. This will be done based on his four published studio albums. Furthermore, four different songs, each song from a different album to see his development, will be analysed in detail. A music video will also be subjected to this analysis.

Book The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education

Download or read book The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education written by Amelia M. Kraehe and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-12 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education is the first edited volume to examine how race operates in and through the arts in education. Until now, no single source has brought together such an expansive and interdisciplinary collection in exploration of the ways in which music, visual art, theater, dance, and popular culture intertwine with racist ideologies and race-making. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, contributing authors bring an international perspective to questions of racism and anti-racist interventions in the arts in education. The book’s introduction provides a guiding framework for understanding the arts as white property in schools, museums, and informal education spaces. Each section is organized thematically around historical, discursive, empirical, and personal dimensions of the arts in education. This handbook is essential reading for students, educators, artists, and researchers across the fields of visual and performing arts education, educational foundations, multicultural education, and curriculum and instruction.

Book The Great Wave

    Book Details:
  • Author : Michiko Kakutani
  • Publisher : Crown
  • Release : 2024-02-20
  • ISBN : 0525575014
  • Pages : 230 pages

Download or read book The Great Wave written by Michiko Kakutani and published by Crown. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An urgent examination of how disruptive politics, technology, and art are capsizing old assumptions in a great wave of change breaking over today’s world, creating both opportunity and peril—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning critic and author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Truth. “In this dazzling and brilliant book, Michiko Kakutani explains the cascading chaos of our era and points to ways that we can regain some stability.”—Walter Isaacson, author of Elon Musk The twenty-first century is experiencing a watershed moment defined by chaos and uncertainty, as one emergency cascades into another, underscoring the larger dynamics of change that are fueling instability across the world. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, people have increasingly lost trust in institutions and elites, while seizing upon new digital tools to sidestep traditional gatekeepers. As a result, powerful new voices—once regarded as radical, unorthodox, or marginal—are disrupting the status quo in politics, business, and culture. Meanwhile, social and economic inequalities are stoking populist rage across the world, toxic partisanship is undermining democratic ideals, and the internet and AI have become high-speed vectors for the spread of misinformation. Writing with a critic’s understanding of cultural trends and a journalist’s eye for historical detail, Michiko Kakutani looks at the consequences of these new asymmetries of power. She maps the migration of ideas from the margins to the mainstream and explores the growing influence of outsiders—those who have sown chaos and fear (like Donald Trump), and those who have provided inspirational leadership (like Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky). At the same time, she situates today’s multiplying crises in context with those that defined earlier hinge moments in history, from the waning of the Middle Ages to the transition between the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era at the end of the nineteenth century. Kakutani argues that today’s crises are not only signs of an interconnected globe’s profound vulnerabilities, but also stress tests pointing to the essential changes needed to survive this tumultuous era and build a more sustainable future.

Book Why Wakanda Matters

    Book Details:
  • Author : Sheena C. Howard
  • Publisher : BenBella Books
  • Release : 2021-02-02
  • ISBN : 1950665615
  • Pages : 283 pages

Download or read book Why Wakanda Matters written by Sheena C. Howard and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2018, the Marvel Cinematic Universe finally delivered on something fans had long been waiting for: a feature film with a solo Black superhero. Black Panther introduced viewers to the stunning world of Wakanda, a fictional African country with incredible technological advancements, and to T'Challa, a young man stepping into his role as king and taking up the mantle of the Black Panther title from his late father. The unforgettable story, coupled with the film's mega-success, has undoubtedly shaped the future of superhero cinema, in addition to genuinely changing viewers' lives. Why Wakanda Matters gives this iconic film the in-depth analysis it deserves under the lens of the latest psychological concepts-as well as delving into the lasting cultural impact of this unforgettable story. Edited by Sheena C. Howard, an award-winning author, filmmaker, and scholar, Why Wakanda Matters: What Black Panther Reveals About Psychology, Identity, and Communication features a collection of essays from leading experts in a variety of fields who offer insightful perspectives on topics such as: • Cognitive dissonance: The important messages within T'Challa's nuanced identity and eventual shift from nationalism to globalism. • Intergenerational trauma and resistance: How N'Jadaka (aka Erik/Killmonger) identifies with the trauma that his ancestors have suffered. • Social identity: How Nakia, Shuri, Okoye, and Ramonda—all empowered, intelligent, and assertive women of color—can make a lasting impression on women and girls. • Collective identity: How Black Panther has created a shared fantasy for Black audience members—and why this is groundbreaking. • Cultural and racial identity: What we can learn from Black Panther's portrayal of a culture virtually untouched by white supremacy. Fans of the movie and those interested in deeper discussions about the film will revel in this thought-provoking examination of all aspects of Black Panther and the power of psychology.

Book Bearing Witness While Black

Download or read book Bearing Witness While Black written by Allissa V. Richardson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bearing Witness While Black tells the story of this century's most powerful Black social movement through the eyes of 15 activists who documented it. At the height of the Black Lives Matter uprisings, African Americans filmed and tweeted evidence of fatal police encounters in dozens of US cities--using little more than the device in their pockets. Their urgent dispatches from the frontlines spurred a global debate on excessive police force, which claimed the lives of African American men, women, and children at disproportionate rates. This groundbreaking book reveals how the perfect storm of smartphones, social media, and social justice empowered Black activists to create their own news outlets, which continued a centuries-long, African American tradition of using the news to challenge racism. Bearing Witness While Black is the first book of its kind to identify three overlapping eras of domestic terror against African American people--slavery, lynching, and police brutality--and explain how storytellers during each period documented its atrocities through journalism. What results is a stunning genealogy--of how the slave narratives of the 1700s inspired the Abolitionist movement; how the black newspapers of the 1800s galvanized the anti-lynching and Civil Rights movements; and how the smartphones of today have powered the anti-police brutality movement. This lineage of black witnessing, Allissa V. Richardson argues, is formidable and forever evolving. Richardson's own activism, as an award-winning pioneer of smartphone journalism, informs this text. Weaving in personal accounts of her teaching in the US and Africa, and of her own brushes with police brutality, Richardson shares how she has inspired black youth to use mobile devices, to speak up from the margins. It is from this vantage point, as participant-observer, that she urges us not to become numb to the tragic imagery that African Americans have documented. Instead, Bearing Witness While Black conveys a crucial need to protect our right to look into the forbidden space of violence against black bodies, and to continue to regard the smartphone as an instrument of moral suasion and social change.

Book Black Friend

    Book Details:
  • Author : Ziwe
  • Publisher : Abrams
  • Release : 2023-10-17
  • ISBN : 1647003857
  • Pages : 193 pages

Download or read book Black Friend written by Ziwe and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2023-10-17 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the writer crowned one of the smartest, funniest voices in modern America, this hotly anticipated debut collection of essays offers “a precious glimpse into how Ziwe’s uniquely fearless mind functions” (New York Magazine) Ziwe made a name for herself by asking guests like Alyssa Milano, Fran Lebowitz, and Chet Hanks direct questions. In Black Friend, she turns her incisive perspective on both herself and the culture at large. Throughout the book, Ziwe combines pop-culture commentary and personal stories, which grapple with her own (mis)understanding of identity. From a hilarious case of mistaken identity via a jumbotron to a terrifying fight-or-flight encounter in the woods, Ziwe raises difficult questions for comedic relief. From Black Friend’s Introduction: “Today, I learned that my book is ranked as the #1 new release in ‘Discrimination and Racism’ on Amazon. Wow. This is a huge honor, especially considering my stiff competition in the selfpublished manifestos space. Unfortunately, this victory is bittersweet. I worry that people may get the wrong idea and think that I am pro-racism when in actuality, I am indifferent. Still, I’d love to thank everyone who made this possible. I solemnly swear to write the most discriminatory book in American history. I hope I can make you proud. “Just kidding . . . I will not marginalize you . . . unless that’s your kink. This book of essays offers moments of extreme discomfort (and the subsequent growth) in my life around the role of ‘black friend.’ Black friends come in all shapes and sizes. Yet the archetype is often a two-dimensional character meant to support the non-black protagonists’ more complex humanity. Some black friends exist as the comic relief, like Donkey in any of the Shrek movies. Some are the sassy friend, like Louise from St. Louis in Sex and the City. Still others are the inexplicably sagacious companion, like Morpheus in The Matrix. It’s impossible for these individual portraits to reflect my complicated reality. To start, they are fictional. One of them is a talking ass. I do not exist just to move plot. While I am a supportive friend, I am not a supporting character. I am the protagonist of my perfectly imperfect story.”

Book The Butterfly Effect

Download or read book The Butterfly Effect written by Marcus J. Moore and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “smart, confident, and necessary” (Shea Serrano, New York Times bestselling author) first cultural biography of rap superstar and “master of storytelling” (The New Yorker) Kendrick Lamar explores his meteoric rise to fame and his profound impact on a racially fraught America­—perfect for fans of Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s Empire State of Mind. Kendrick Lamar is at the top of his game. The thirteen-time Grammy Award­-winning rapper is just in his early thirties, but he’s already won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, produced and curated the soundtrack of the megahit film Black Panther, and has been named one of Time’s 100 Influential People. But what’s even more striking about the Compton-born lyricist and performer is how he’s established himself as a formidable adversary of oppression and force for change. Through his confessional poetics, his politically charged anthems, and his radical performances, Lamar has become a beacon of light for countless people. Written by veteran journalist and music critic Marcus J. Moore, this is much more than the first biography of Kendrick Lamar. “It’s an analytical deep dive into the life of that good kid whose m.A.A.d city raised him, and how it sparked a fire within Kendrick Lamar to change history” (Kathy Iandoli, author of Baby Girl) for the better.