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S13E7 - Dissecting 'Rich Spirit' by Kendrick Lamar

March 25, 20250 comments♥ 0
00:00From the Ringer podcast network, this is Dysect, long form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes.This is episode seven of our season-long analysis of Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Moral and the Big Stepers.I'm your host, Cole Kushner.Last time I dissect, we examined Mr. Morale's six-track rich interlude featuring Kodak Black.It was there we hypothesized about Kodak's symbolic role in the morality play that is Mr. Morale.Ultimately, we landed on Kodak being a representative, big stepper, someone whose behavior is heavilyinfluenced by his environmental conditioning, someone who, to use Eckart-Tolle's phrase,lives more or less unconsciously, lives through and for their ego. Thus, when Kodak is paired with
00:52Tolley and Kendrick, represented with a spectrum of human consciousness, with Kodak Black representingunconsciousness, someone still heavily influenced by environmental conditioning and ego,Eckart-Tole representing enlightenment or pure consciousness, someone who has transcendentenvironmental conditioning and ego, and Kendrick Lamar representing a middle ground,between the two, someone who is in the process of transcending his ego and conditioning in orderto reach a deeper level of consciousness and behavior. And this middle ground, this in-between state,is exactly what we hear Kendrick exhibit on the album's next song, the subject of our episode today,Rich Spirit. Taking my baby to school, then I pray for, because you bitches ain't never been cool,
01:37writing testament, painting pitches put me in the Louvre. We're immediately immersed in a richSpirit's nocturnal, meditative environment, as hazy, ambient chords sound as if we're hearingthem from a distance. The distant, intimate nature of these chords is reinforced in Rich Spiritsvideo, where we see Kendrick in a dark room alone peeking at the bright world outside through a crackin his window curtain. He squints his eyes at the light, implying that he hasn't been outsidefor some time. The remainder of the video takes place in this same dark, luxurious room,depicting what we assume is a typical day in the life of Kendrick Omar during his multi-yearabsence between Dam and Mr. Moral. He prays, he dances and raps by himself, he yells at the wall,
02:19he talks on a broken phone with no one on the other line. It's a portrait of a life of solitudeand contemplation, immersed in riches, but clearly being tried spiritually. This lays the thematicfoundation for rich spirit, which finds Kendrick Lamar in the midst of an internal battle with hisaddictions, his ego, and his spiritual awakening. Now, before diving into the song's lyrics,I want to begin today's analysis by briefly calling attention to a unique type of song Kendrickhas executed incredibly well over his career. The song type is one in which Kendrick, the storytellerconstructing a narrative arc across an album, shows us himself in the middle of this journey,still flawed and working through the album's central conflict, but also heading in the right
03:02direction. We think of a song like King Kunta from To Pimp a Butterfly. The central struggle ofof that album is Kendrick's relationship with his newfound influence after the success of Good KidMad City. He can either selfishly pimp it to his own benefit or he can use it to serve and uplifthis community. The beginning of the album finds Kendrick young and naive pimping it to his own benefit,which distracts him from the fact that he himself is being pimped or exploited by Uncle Sam.And this dynamic is on full display in King Kunta, where Kendrick returned.turns to Compton not to unite his community, but to gloat, to rub his success in the face of hisneighborhood rivals.
03:38The chorus of King Kunta is a powerful declaration of success and power. A black manfrom Compton defying the odds is something to genuinely celebrate. However, his self-appointedmoniker of King Kunta is where the nuance of this celebratory track is revealed, asKunta is a reference to Kunti, a fictional slave from the TV show Roots, whose foot was cutoff to prevent him from escaping his plantation. King Kunta then is an oxymoron. Kendrick is paradinglike a king, without realizing he's still being exploited like a slave. King Kunta is thus an expertexample of Kendrick's unique ability to craft a song that functions on multiple levels. It worksperfectly fine outside the context of the album. However, within the album's narrative, its function
04:34gains depth and dimension, depicting as it does where our protagonist is at this specific pointin the story. In King Kunta, Kendrick's journey.is still just getting started, and he's still exhibiting his fundamental flaw.Crafting these kinds of songs that work on multiple levels is one of Kendrick's idiosyncraticsuperpowers. He does it all the time on every album. It's why he's able to tell such nuancedstories across the span of an entire album, because he's so great at making songs showcasingthe middle stages of a journey, where the flawed main character is working toward theresolution that ultimately comes at the story's end. And we have now reached this middle stage of Mr. Morrell
05:12narrative. The opening moments of United in Grief established our protagonist's main goal,to find peace of mind and some paradise. This song, as well as N95 and worldwide stepers,also established the imperfections and flaws preventing our protagonist from obtaining that goal.Next, we heard Kendrick crossing the threshold on Die Hard into Father Time,where Kendrick really begins deconstructing his own environmental conditioning,attempting to get to the root cause of his afflictions. Rich Interlude then works to broaden thistheme of environmental conditioning through Kodak Black before returning to Kendrick's own journeyhere on Rich Spirit. Thus, we are primed to hear the song as one of Kendrick's unique mid-jorney
05:49tracks, showing signs of progress, but still clearly exhibiting a fundamental flaw, his ego.Now, bitch, nigga, broke phone,trying to keep the balance, I'm staying strong.Stop playing with me before I turn you to a song.Stop playing with me before I turn you to a song.Hey, bitch, I'm attractive.Can't fuck with you no more.I'm fasting.
06:12Bitch, I'm attractive.Keep fuck with you no more.I'm fasting.Now, normally I like to analyze songs linearly from beginning to end.However, to reinforce the mid-journing narrative function of rich spirit,We're going to start with the chorus, as it'll be extremely informative in our reading of thesong's three verses. Kendrick begins, Rich N-word broke phone, trying to keep the balance,I'm staying strong. He establishes a dichotomy between rich and broke, but plays with the definition
06:40of each. Of course, he is rich and not broke financially. At the same time, he's broken offor disconnected from the outside world in order to prioritize or enrich his spirit. He is trying tofind that right balance between the two, between saving the world and saving yourself.I think most of us have experience attempting to achieve this same kind of balance,particularly during the more difficult stretches of life when personal circumstances can feelso insurmountable that you can't fathom taking on the world's problems on top of your own.Achieving this balance is increasingly difficult in the age of the 24-hour news cycle andthe infinite scroll of social media feeds, where petty celebrity conflicts and grave existential
07:22threats, amalgamate into an overwhelming avalanche of human folly. And we imagine achievingthis balance is particularly difficult for Kendrick Lamar, a public figure who chose to adoptthe responsibility of helping the world and his community. Here he is in 2015 after the release ofTipinpa Butterfly, addressing if he's striving to become a figure like Nelson Mandela or MalcolmMax. It takes years and it takes wisdom to do the work that they've done. Mandela,Manute King. But for the generation at the time being, I hold my son.responsibility to that because I got to see these kids every day. And like I said, on eye,they got to have slit wrists and come to me saying they say, my music saves their lives
08:01and things like that. I keep running from that. That's my, whether I want to, like it or not,I got to accept that. You do you know what I'm saying? So for this generation, yes.Understanding the enormous expectations Kendrick once placed on himself, it's not surprisinghe had a difficult time when he could not live up to them or no longer wanted them to the degreehe did in 2015. This is of course so much of what Mr. Morrell reckons with, so much of what's impliedwhen Kendrick said, I've been going through something at the start of the album. Indeed, on Mr. Moral,we are hearing the story of a man restructuring his life after having children, prioritizing hisown mental health because his addictions were putting his family at risk. And on rich spirit,
08:44we find Kendrick battling these addictions head on as he continues the chorus,Stop playing with me before I turn you into a song. Bitch, I'm attractive.can't fuck with you no more, I'm fasting. Fasting typically denotes abstaining from food or drinkoften as a spiritual or religious practice. However, Kendrick is abstaining from sex with women.He is working towards sobriety from his sex addiction. As the song title suggests, this is indeeda kind of spiritual practice for him, a practice that will potentially enrich his spirit.The idea of a broke phone also connects back to his sex addiction origin story we heard aboutin United in Grief. It was there Kendrick met the woman green
09:22eyes backstage, and just before trauma bonding through sex with her, he said, phone off the ringer,tell the world I'm busy. Where Kendrick once found escape in the isolation sex provided him,he is now having to isolate himself from sex in order to heal. And Kendrick's next line,bitch I'm attractive, is pretty interesting in this context. On one hand, we can read it as anauthentic self-affirmation and sign of progress. Along with carnal physical pleasure,the addictive desire to have sex with multiple women is often rooted in a deeper desire.to be wanted, to feel attractive. So Kendrick's self-affirmation could be a sign of progress,a declaration of self-worth that is not reliant on the external validation he sought through sex.
10:03On the other hand, we can also read Bitch I'm Attractive as an egoic declaration,Kendrick's egoic need to feel superior to the women he's rejecting. Rather than obtainingvalidation through the acceptance from women, he's now gaining that validation through his rejectionof them. He also threatens to turn these women into songs, meaning he'll weaponize,weaponize his music and influence against these women that are tempting him. This potentialthread of misogyny and ego throughout the hook brings us to what I believe is the dualitypresent in Rich Spirit, both in its title and forthcoming subject matter. On one level,rich spirit is a positive expression of every human's inherent spiritual value,
10:40regardless of social or financial status. Here's Kendrick again in 2015, explaining this conceptwhen asked why he began to pimp a butterfly with the repeating phrase, every N-word is aEvery nigga's a star. It represents the album. It represents how I felt when I first got signed.You know, Wesley's Theory. That's the first initial state, you know, you get money, you feel likethis. But overall, in general, it represents those without money, you know, of my color,that's rich in spirit, you know. You don't need dollars to feel like you have a place in theworld, you know? The first half is a little bit ignorant, you know.that's how I was brought up.
11:24So as I see the world, it ain't really about the money,it's about how rich you are in spirit.As Kendrick described here,DePimba Butterfly depicts his evolutionin understanding one's true inherent valueas a human being.When he was young, he thought being a starmeant being rich and famous.
11:41As he gained more wisdom through experience,he realized that everyone is born a star.Everyone is born rich in spirit.Even when they are told by societythey are poor and unworthy. Like Kendrick's initial misunderstanding of both Star and King,it appears he's experiencing a similar misunderstanding of spirit at this point in Mr. Morales' narrative,because as we hear in the chorus and will continue to hear throughout the verses,Kendrick's attempts to enrich his spirit are polluted by his ego, which uses his spiritual
12:09progress as a means to strengthen itself. This is something Eckhart Tolly addresses whendescribing the spiritual awakening process, often warning his audience about the ego,slipping through the back door to appropriate their spiritual gains.Most humans are still totally in the grip of their egoic self.And probably most of you are moving still in and out of your egoic self.this is usually how the awakening process happens.You may be going through an awakening spiritually,and when the ego comes in through the back door,
13:02you begin to feel very superior to ordinary people who are not awakening.In our episode on N95,we heard Tolle discuss the same concept when speaking about performative charity, good deeds that are done to be seen.It can be a wonderful spiritual practice if it arises from the right place inside you.And it can also be a strengthening of your ego if it arises from a different place inside you.Jesus talked about that when he talked about giving arms.Some people, he said, like to be seen when they give arms to the poor.They want to be seen.
13:57And he says, those people are not going to get a reward in heaven because they have their rewardalready.And of course, what their reward already is is that it's a feeding of the ego.As totally notes here, Jesus also warned aboutoutperformative charity. A similar lesson was taught in the gospel according to Matthew, where Jesus begana series of teachings saying, quote, blessed are the poor and spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.In his book, a new earth, Tolle reflects on this biblical passage directly, saying, quote,what does poor in spirit mean? No inner baggage, no identifications, not with things, nor with
14:44any mental concepts that have a sense of self in them, unquote. The teachings of Eckart Tolley and Jesusreveal the duality of Kendrick's rich spirit. On one hand, it denotes a fundamental truth,that all human beings are inherently rich, have the potential for good, for redemption, for saving.At the same time, like King Kunta, rich spirit also implies the way Kendrick's ego has hijackedhis spiritual gains and its relentless need for comparative superiority.Taking my baby to school, then I pray for, cause you bitches ain't never been cool,writing testament, painting pictures, put me in the Louvre, that's a definite,frustral shift I'm in the groove a celebrity do not mean integrity you fool i'm a good man shake your hand
15:25firm grip groove 72 a loss 10 bawling with the flu more than two ms for show but add another twolittle man man the big man's the gt down and flipping the kickstand whomish niggins kentrick begins first one taking my baby to school that i pray for her as most fathers would attest toyour children starting school marks a significant milestone in their personal development it's their first realwith the outside world, and for the first time, you're not there to protect them,leaving you as a parent feeling vulnerable and powerless.I think this is why Kendrick says that I pray for her.He's asking God to protect her when he's unable to himself.
16:03And why is Kendrick so fearful of the outside world?Well, because of his own harsh experience with it.As he continues, because you bitches ain't never been cool, right in testament,paint in pictures.Kendrick appears to be lamenting about being misrepresented publicly,painting a picture of him that is not accurate to who he really is.Kendrick then flips painting pictures into a boast saying,Put me in the Louvre, that's a definite.
16:27Despite what's being said about him, he creates pictures or artthat belongs in the world's most prestigious museum.He continues, universal shift, I'm in a groove.This seems to be the first of two references to Eckhart Tolley's workwill hear in the song.A universal shift in human consciousness is the central concept of Tolley's book,A New Earth, which will be cited by name at the end.of the song. As we discussed in episode one, Tully posits that humanity is in the early stages of a
16:53universal shift in consciousness, progressing beyond our current dysfunctional egoic state and awakeningto a deeper spiritual dimension. He believes that the survival of our species depends on this evolution.Otherwise, humanity will inevitably destroy itself at the hands of its own ego-driven dysfunction.Kendrick saying, I'm in a groove, meaning a flow state or performing well, continues his boasts,suggesting that he's working toward this universal shift, working to enrich his spirit,recalling a discussion of the song's title.He then continues,and celebrity do not mean integrity, you fool,
17:27I'm a good man, shake your hand, firm grip rule.More self-affirmations here,as Kendrick points out the obvious fact that becoming famousdoes not inherently make you a good person or a role model.But again, these observations come off with an undertone of judgment and resentment for the general public,specifically saying, you fool, might be yet another allusion to the gospel according to Matthew,when Jesus said, quote,But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment.
17:56Whoever insults his brother or sister will be the subject to the court.Whoever says, you fool, will be subject to hellfire.While this may be simply a coincidental similarity,the gospel according to Matthew has been alluded to very clearly at 95, die hard and earlier in rich spirit.it. And Kendrick seems to be judging others in the very same way Jesus warned about.Kendrick's boast then continue, 72 wins, lost 10, bawling with the flu. This is a reference to the1996 Chicago Bulls, who won 72 games in a single season and is widely considered one of thegreatest teams in NBA history. Ballin with the flu continues the reference, nodding to Michael
18:35Jordan's iconic flu game in the NBA finals, where he willed the Bulls to victory while sufferinga vicious bout of food poisoning. Kendrick seems to be saying he's won more than he's lost in life,and that even when he's sick, even during this period of emotional sickness and COVID isolation,he's still bawling, still thriving. More wordplay and boast in the following line as he wrapsmore than two M's for a show, but add another two. This appears to be bragging about his commandof $4 million for a concert appearance, likely a headlining festival set. Cleverly, he saysmore than two ms and then add another two, which of course equals four. This makes the fourin For a Show a homophone for the number four. This is followed by Kendrick humming,
19:19which when spelled out, is just repeating ms. In this case, it's most certainly fourms. The M wordplay then continues when he says, Little Man Man, Man, the Big Man's. Man was Kendrick'snickname as a child, calling back to the two M's of the previous line. The childhood thread thencontinues into the final line, the GT Dino flipping the kickstand. This likely describes the bikehe wrote as a child, as the GT Dino was a popular model in the late 80s and 90s. There's a chancethat Kendrick here is reflecting on his childhood bike because he actually took up bike ridingduring the pandemic. In the public letter posted to OKLama.com months before Mr. Morales' release,Kendrick began by saying, quote, I spend most of my days with fleeting thoughts, riding, listening,
20:02and collecting old beach cruisers. The morning rides.keep me on a hill of silence. I go months without a phone. In Rich Spirit, it feels like we'reexperiencing this reflective solitude, privy to Kendrick's fleeting thoughts, wrestling his own egoas he rides toward a better version of himself.Phrase to Muhammad, I might look and lose you.A. Pete, Michael Freed.Kendrick begins verse 2 with one of the more poetic sequences on the entire album.The morality can wait.
20:47Feedback on low latency.I'm glitching from the face as my thoughts grow sacredly.I'm running out of space.He uses a computer technology motif to express the overwhelming amount of thoughts he's currently processing,causing him to glitch and feel like he's running out of storage spaceto contain everything he's thinking and feeling.The opening line, the morality can wait, is noteworthy,the first time we've heard a mention of the Mr. Morial half of the album title. In my reading of the
21:12line, Kendrick is saying his public role as a conscious moral leader has to wait because he'sgoing through so much in his personal life, hence his five-year public absence. He continues withhis first direct reference to Whitney since worldwide stepper of saying, ask Whitney, she okay,never mind 100K. It's interesting that Kendrick pairs checking on Whitney's emotional health with areference to a large sum of money. It seems to imply that despite Kendrick's financial support,he was not able to provide emotional support.He could also be saying he'd be willing to give any amount of money to make her okayor make things okay between them.
21:46This leads to the next lines, why you lying on Benjamin, he turned in in his grave,I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't give this shit away.This appears to depict an internal battle about Kendrick's relationship with money.He cites Benjamin Franklin, who appears on the $100 bill,and who was a famous moralist that invented the phrase,honesty is the best policy.This adds a layer to Kendrick's,double mention of lying in this passage, as he claims not to care about money while still
22:12clearly caring about it. He then compares himself to three of history's most well-known spiritualleaders saying, the aloof Buddha, I'm Christ with a shooter, praise to Muhammad, I mightEdward Nusia. Kendrick expresses his dichotomous nature by pairing each of these figures withan opposing quality. The Buddha is often depicted smiling, so Kendrick pairs him with aloof,which means unfriendly and distant. Christ was known for his radical nonviolence, so hepairs him with a shooter. And while not as extreme as Jesus, the Prophet Muhammad also advocatedfor non-violence, thus he gets paired with a threat of nuising someone. So Kendrick here is clearlydeveloping the dichotomous theme of the track. He embodies the qualities of both Eckart Tollay and
22:52Kodak Black, Mr. Moral, and the Big Stepper.AP, Michael Friedman, my friend's cooler. Primary, so to resell, I'd stupid. I would never lovemy life on the computer. IG get you life for a Chikabooya, boy, boy, power to you.Love him from a distance.Why you always in the mirror more than the bitches?And my cousin tried to sue me like he got the privilege,but I didn't lose sleep because I got the spirit.Hey, bitch, nigger.
23:17Kendrick follows his boast about influential spiritual figuresby naming an influential product figure,Michael Friedman,head of complications at AP or Odumar Pigay,a luxury Swiss watch company.The irony of boasting about Michael Friedmanin the same breath as Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammadshouldn't be lost on us here,
23:35as it displays Kendrick still firmly in the grip,of his struggle with materialism, despite his earlier claim about not caring about money.Bragging that his friends are cooler is a double entendre. Having high-profile friends likeMichael Friedman make his friends cooler than most, but cooler is also a play on ice, a nod todiamond-encrusted AP watches. This latter meaning displays the sad reality of Kendrick's materialism.It's as if his expensive jewelry are his friends, and we wonder if he even really knowsFriedman at all. This dynamic recalls the Rich Spirit music video, where we see Kendrick'sKendrick utterly alone inside his large, luxurious home, surrounded by expensive furniture.
24:12Despite this sad reality, Kendrick continues to judge the outside world,rapping,I would never live my life on a computer.IG'll get you live for a chickaboo ya.More power to you.Love them from a distance.Why you always in the mirror more than the bitches.While attempting to adopt a to-each-the-one mentality here,
24:30Kendrick takes direct shots at those living through social mediaand curating an inauthentic online identity and image.specifically he shoots at men who take mirror selfies who prioritize their image more than their character.It appears this is specifically triggering for Kendrick, who has committed himself to lookinginto a different kind of mirror, the mirror of true introspection, and battling with what he sees.And I think this gets at the heart of Kendrick's disgust for the image curation of social media,because he sees people putting effort into the facade of who they are on the surface,rather than doing the hard work of actually improving who they are at their core.
25:05And to a similar point, Kendrick ends the verse citing a cousin who tried to sue him, presumably for a quick money grab, another person looking for a shortcut and not willing to put in real work themselves.However, Kendrick claims he didn't lose sleep over it.Instead, he stayed true to his word about those who play with him.He turned his cousin into a song.With the context of the second verse,Rich Spirit's chorus takes on an additional layer.While our immediate reading was Kendrick fasting from sex with multiple women,we now understand he's cutting out anyone and everyone he feels like it's a negative spiritual influence.
25:59This includes fake friends, fake family members, and fake online actors who parade their life on social media.He's detoxing from a toxic world, insulating himself from its influence and forming atight-knit brotherhood with those he trusts the most.Frat brother, real nigger, that brother,we just up the score, give me that brother.Spirit medium, I'm a rap, brother.We head it there now, are you strapped brother?Peacemaker, but I'm not naive, brother.
26:26Got to watch your homies and police, brother.Cloud chasing hell of a disease, brother.I'm fasting.Four days out the week, brother.I pray to God that you-The beginning of verse three is characterized by the word brother,punctuating the first eight bars.Aside from providing a rhythmic lyrical cadence, it's not entirely clear what this repeating
26:44brother flow is intended to indicate.However, we can look to the Rich Spirit music video during this section of the song for whatmight be our best lead.It's here that Kendrick adopts a military-like stance, where he marches in place and salutesas if he's a soldier.We compare this visual with the opening line of the verse, Frat Brother, Real N-Word, ThatBrother, and speculate that the brother refrain indicates a brotherhood or fraternity like you'dfind in the military.
27:09a group of well-trained, disciplined men bonded by their need of survival.This interpretation might make sense in light of lines like,Spirit Medium, I don't rap, brother, headed there now, are you strapped brother?Kendrick is guiding this brotherhood into heavy emotional and psychological territory throughhis music, which he sees more as a spiritual practice than it is simply rapping.Specifically the phrase spirit medium is a direct reference to mediumship,the practice of mediating communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings.Practitioners are known as spirit mediums, which Kendrick appears to be identifying with.
27:43In recent years, Kendrick has more explicitly rapped from the perspective of dead spirits likeNipsy Hustle on the Heart Part 5, Martin Luther King and Michael Jackson on his unreleased songcalled Prayer, and two unnamed black musicians on GNX's reincarnated, a song that is itselfa reincarnation of Tupac. Indeed, Tupac has long been a spirit Kendrick has felt a connection to,as Kendrick claims that Tupac once visited him in a dream and told him not to let his music die.And at the end of Tupac tells Kendrick that hip-hop is a spirit medium,that his words channel the spirits of his fallen brothers.Because it's spirits.
28:20We ain't even really rapping.We're just letting our dead homies tell stories for us.Kendrick continues rich spirit with a series of protocols that he and his brotherhood follow.He suggests that one should remain suspicious of your friends and police.He once again disavows clout chasing or seeking external validation through disingenuous meansand then reiterates his fasting regimen. This time he specifies he's fasting four days out of the week,which in this context appears to be intermittent fasting from food. This recalls Kendrick's manyspiritual experimentations he named on worldwide steppers, where he cited meditation, Dr. Sebi's
28:53alkaline diet, chakra work, and past life regression therapy. Kendrick seems to be tryinganything and everything to cleanse himself and purify his spirits.I pray to God that you realize the auntie rogers dead.I pray to God that you're not lacking when you off the mid.I pray to God she know them cobblowers don't last forever.Bitch, I argue with her mama, go and get them kids.I pray to God you actually pray when somebody dies.Thoughts and prayers, way better off time lines.
29:17False claiming, not cute, I'm mortified.The new earth and high pursuit 200 lives.Kendrick's list of protocols continue,but the repeating brother is exchanged for an an anapra,where he begins each line with, I pray to God.However, the phrase ends up feeling a little facetious because his prayers are simply used to underminesome unnamed person he's criticizing.He prays this person realizes their entourage is dead or can't be trusted.
29:42He prays this person understands the meds or drugs they're indulging in or masking theirinsecurities.He prays this person realizes their girl might only be around because they're financially rich.Like the drugs, the combo trips, or luxurious vacations are a facade, a temporary escape from reality.Finally, Kendrick prays this person actually prays when somebody dies, saying, thoughts and prayersway better off timelines, false claiming, not cute, I'm mortified.As he does a few times on the album, Kendrick calls out those who post about tragediesonly to receive public sympathy or to look like a caring person.
30:16It recalls our conversation of the gospel according to Matthew in N95, where Jesus spoke aboutthe hypocrites who make a show of their good deeds to be perceived as a good or devout personin the eyes of others. Quote,Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.If you do, you will have no reward from your father in heaven, unquote.Jesus goes on to give three examples of things these people do publicly to be seen,donating, praying, and fasting.Quote, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,
30:47for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full.But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your father, who is unseen,then your father who sees what is done in secret or reward you, unquote.Now, this is where the conceptual brilliance of Rich Spirit's final verse truly reveals itself,because Kendrick is calling out others who pray in public in the very verse that he's quiteliterally making his prayers public.And this in a song in which Kendrick quite literally boasts about fasting,
31:20both on the hook and in the third verse.This is Kendrick's Rich Spirit on full display.his spiritual ego, the hypocrisy of feeling like he has the right to judge others because he isspiritually superior. This hypocrisy is particularly potent knowing that Kendrick himself strugglewith the very things he criticizes unnamed person for. Kendrick, the artist and storyteller,seems fully aware of this contradiction. In the song's music video, Kendrick is quite literallyrapping this entire section into a mirror. And so while he might think he's rapping aboutsomeone else, he shows us that he's equally rapping about himself. He is still still,
31:55possessed by his ego, boasting about his spiritual gains while judging those whose spiritisn't as rich as his own.According to Eckhart Tolley's work, this is the classic behavior of the ego.Because the ego doesn't particularly care what specific thing it identifies with,it will exploit anything to validate itself in its endless need for superiority by comparison.And in rich spirit, Kendrick's ego is using his spirituality like it once used his materialwealth.Instead of boasting about being financially rich, he's boasting about being spiritual
32:25rich. Thus we get the verses final line, The New Earth and Hot Pursuit 200 lives.Kendrick here name drops Eckhart Tolley's book, A New Earth, which as we've discussedthroughout this season, seems like it was extremely influential to the themes of Mr. Morrell.In our episode on United Grief, we discussed how the book's central concept is Tolley's beliefthat the external state of the world is a manifestation of the internal states of our mind.Thus, if we want to transform the world and minimize mass suffering, we must transform.our minds. He dubs this transformation of the mind, a new heaven, and the resulting transformationof the world, a new earth. Quote, collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically
33:06connected. A new heaven is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness, and a newearth is its reflection in the physical realm, unquote. It would appear that during his extendedisolation away from the public eye, Kendrick was reading a new earth and feeling like he wasworking toward this transformed state of consciousness, therefore contributing to thetransformation of the world. And that's great in all, but let's look at the way Kendrick presentsthis idea and rich spirit. He says, false claiming, not cute, I'm mortified, the new earth inHot Pursuit, 200 lives. And Hot Pursuit is a phrase typically used when describing the policepursuing a suspect that's on the run. And so when Kendrick says he's disgusted by those who
33:45are false claiming online, he's essentially weaponizing the idea of a new earth, proclaiming thesepeople are spiritually inferior and that they're kind of living on borrowed time.that the spiritual evolution of the world will eliminate them because they aren't as spiritually richas he is.ConclusionsIn the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells an illustrative story about spiritual humility to his disciples.Quote,To some who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everyone else,
34:19Jesus told this parable.Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.The Pharisees stood by himself and prayed.God, I thank you that I'm not like.other people, robbers, evildoers, adulters, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a weekand give a tent of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up toheaven, but beat his breast and said, God have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man,rather than the other, went home justified before God, for all those who exalt themselves
34:55will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." In rich spirit,We clearly find Kendrick as the Pharisee, prideful in his own spiritual righteousness and lookingdown on others.He's judging the world and ignoring the mirror, not realizing his ego has slipped in throughthe back door.While we understand Kendrick is heading in the right direction, abstaining from his sexaddiction and prioritizing his own healing, at this point in his journey, on track 7 of 18,we also understand he's still firmly in the grip of the story's central antagonist, his ego.
35:28Thus, the song title Rich Spirit is the perfect distillation of the dichotomy of KendrickLamar at this stage of the story.It conveys both the inherent spiritual value of every human being, all his point about KodakBlack on the previous track, and the ego's control of his own spiritual progress.When performing Rich Spirit live on the Big Steppers tour, Kendrick actually acknowledgedthe ego's influence on the song.Directly after the song is performed, we hear Kendrick's therapist talking to him beforethe next song.
35:56Mr. Moral, you've once again let your ego get the best of you.Must I remind you of how this went before?As implied here, Kendrick's battle with his ego has been a cyclical one,and the song he performs next is humble,a similarly ironic track where Kendrick's ego is on full display.Likewise, on Mr. Morale and The Big Stepers,Kendrick's spiritual ego is exposed with the album's next track,because if Kendrick was so spiritual,
36:25If he was so much more evolved than the people he's judging, then why on earth is he talkinglike this to the one he supposedly loves the most?Fuck you, bitch.Of course, this is Mr. Morales' next track, We Cry Together.A song will examine note by note, line by line, next time on Dissect.If you enjoyed today's episode, please tell a friend about the show, share on social media,or leave a review.It all really helps.
37:11You can also support this show by purchasing our limited season 13 merchandise at Dissectpodcast.com. All right. Thanks, everyone. Talk to you next week.