Dissect - S1E17 – You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Momma Said) by Kendrick Lamar

Episode Date: January 3, 2017

We continue our serialized analysis of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly by dissecting "You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)." Follow Dissect on social media @dissectpodcast. Purchase Dissect merch at dissectpodcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Today, we continue our serialized examination of Tipinpa Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. We're currently in the midst of the album's fourth act, which we've titled The Butterfly Sheds Light. After an encounter with God at a gas station in South Africa on how much a dollar cost, Kendrick embraced his leadership role and began speaking on issues that directly affect his community. On complexion, Kendrick spoke about negating the complexities of colorism through self-love and positivity. On the black or the berry, he addressed self-hate, frustration, and anxiety, and an ambitious thinkpiece on the complexities of modern race relations.

Kendrick will continue his communal conversation with a song about self-acceptance on the album's next track, and the subject of today's episode, You Ain't Got a Lie, Mama said. You ain't got a lie to kick it, my nigger. You ain't got a try, so. You ain't got a lie to kick in my nigger. You ain't got a lie. You ain't got a lie to kick in my nick. You ain't got a try, so.

You ain't got a lie, Mama said, is produced by Love Dragon, the codenamee for the collaboration between Terrace Martin and Joseph Limeberg. While the track features a live band in no credited samples, his theme draws on a lineage of hip-hop songs that speak on those. who create false personas to impress the people around them. Here we run into yet again another reference to Tupac Shakur. His track, Lai to Kick It, released after his death in 1997, speaks both on women who trap men with sex for financial gain,

as well as men who lie and fabricate to impress their friends. And what you see is what you get, that's what he told me. I peeped it in his clothes, exposed to fucking phony. I'm getting riches so they claim to be my homie with the bitches they were freaking down on chick. Kick fucking dust the side of casket ripping this shit like it's my motherfucker last hit Hey, hey and wonder why a nigger's nothing nice and every time I bust another fuck for Tyson cause I know the real on the bitch you got the snitcher just to get in the dick and got a niggins

You ain't got to lie to kick it till tricks in the bitches out to get a niggins riches you ain't got to lie to kick it To the tricks in the bitches. I'm taking bitches rich is you ain't got to lie to kick it to the tricks in the bitches. In West Coast legend Ice Cube's 2000 track, You Ain't Got a Lie to Kick It. Comedian Chris Rock plays a fabricating friend that Ice Cube assures does not have to lie to be accepted. It would seem that Cube's track was itself inspired by LL Cool J's 1985 track, That's A Lie. Russell Simmons plays a lying character similar to Chris Rock, who LL Cool Jee called. calls out for being phony.

Knowing Kendrick's familiarity with hip-hop history, it would seem he's consciously inserting himself into this lineage with his own You Ain't Got a Lie, Mama Said. The song begins with a brief skit over introductory musical material. Kendrick begins saying, study long, study wrong. It's an adage that's been cited in print as far back as 1919, and is typically used when someone is overthinking a decision or action. Here, Kendrick is introducing the song's theme of self-conscious

that pondering too long about how others perceive you leads to feeling a need to act in accordance to some ill-conceived notion of cool to fit in. The introduction continues with Kendrick telling someone to close the door and references his father, an OG, drinking from a bottle of Hennessy. He then introduces his mother as a voice of knowledge that he'll preach in verse one. It would seem that Kendrick is in Compton visiting his parents. Before we get into verse one, there's a few interesting things to address in this introduction. First, the overall tone is similar to the introduction of Snoop Dog's gin and juice. As we listen to this excerpt, pay close attention to the last line of the intro. Did you hear it? He says, study long, study wrong. Again, knowing Kendrick's

knowledge of West Coast hip-hop, particularly Snoop Dog, who Kendrick has cited multiple times as being his favorite rapper, is likely a conscious nod. Let's play You Ain't Got a Lies introduction one more time, listening now for the voice that says, I twice. To me, this voice sounds like someone attempting to come in with a verse, but I'm sure of themselves. Of course, this is only a hypothesis, but it would seem to fit the song's theme of self-consciousness. As noted earlier, Kendrick introduces his mother as the voice of knowledge before beginning verse one. He says, I'ma tell you what my mama had said, she like. Then he begins the verse.

mother. He says, I can spot you a mile away. I can see your insecurities written all on your face. So predictable your words, I know what you're going to say. Who you fool in. It's unclear just who Kendrick's mother is speaking to or about. Through anonymity comes universality, as we all know that person who acts like someone they're clearly not. Kendrick's mother notes how they're quote, insecurities are written all on your face, providing insight to the real reason people fabricate themselves and attempt to impress. The verse continues, circus acts only attract those that entertain. Small talk, we know that it's all talk, we live in the laugh factory every time they mention your name.

Easily detected phoniness often becomes a source of laughter and gag among friends. Kendrick Mother compares this person's act to a circus and cites the laugh factory, a comedy club chain, in reference to the amount of amusement they get from this person's sham. Verse one is followed by a brief bridge. Sack where the money bags to impress me Say you got the burning stash to impress me It's all in your head home Asked where the blood got to impress me

Asked where the jug get to impress me Asked where it's that only upsets me You sound like the fed's on me You ain't got a lot to kick in my neck The pre-chorus features the list of charades Kendrick commonly hears from people trying to impress him They ask Kendrick where the hose at where the money bags at, and say they have a burner or a cheap handgun stashed.

Kendrick shrugs off these sad attempts at acceptance with its reply, it's all in your head, homie. He follows with another list of charades, asking where the plug or drug connection is at, asking where the jug or illegal money scheme is at. Kendrick cleverly counters with, you sound like the feds, homie, implying these would be the same questions law enforcement would ask when interrogating them for criminal activity. Kendrick is clearly not impressed with these meager attempts at Cool.

What he wants is simple, for everyone to be him or herself. This sentiment is expressed in the song's straightforward Feel Good Hook. You ain't got a lie to kick in my neck. You ain't got a lie. You ain't got a lie to kick in my nigga. You ain't got a try so. You ain't got a lie to kick in my neck. You ain't got a lie.

You ain't got a lie. You ain't got a lie. You ain't got a try so. The message of the hook is clear. You ain't got to lie to kick it. You ain't got to try so hard. For an artist known for intricate messaging and lyrical coding, the simplicity here is surely calculated.

It's a similar technique Kendrick employed in the hook of complexion we heard two songs back. Here in Act 4, it seems straightforwardness as a priority for Kendrick. Having embraced his leadership role after his experience in South Africa, Kendrick is providing his community with a series of easily understandable and relatable songs focused on self-acceptance. The hook is followed by a brief verse. And the world don't respect you and the culture don't accept you, but you think it's all love. And the girl's going to neglect you once your parody is done. Repetation can't protect you if you never had one.

Jealousy. Complea. Emotional. Self-pid. Complex. Under O. Complex. The loud is one in a rule.

Kendrick begins, and the world don't respect you, let me put it back in proper context. You ain't got a lie to kick in my neck. Kendrick begins, and the world don't respect you, and the culture don't accept you, but you think it's all love. Here, Kendrick points out that the acceptance and respect these people seek is actually being hindered

by the same fabricated behavior they believe will guard them acceptance and respect. Their false character has no foundation or validity. Hence the line, your reputation can't protect you if you never had one. Next, Kendrick implies their behavior as an expression of infuriarity complex, rooted in jealousy, sensitivity, and self-pity. An infiority complex is a term used to describe those who compensate for feelings of inadequacy

by acting in ways that they believe will make them appear superior. In other words, they overcompensate for a perceived weakness they consciously or subconsciously see in themselves. The complex was coined by the early 20th century psychologist Alfred Adler. Adler gave a handful of reasons why the complex could manifest, among which is social discrimination and limited opportunities due to race and economic status. After numerous discussions of historical oppression and racism against the black community in America, it's hard not to imagine some of them would fall victim to feelings of infuriity that manifest in fabricated behavior. After a repetition of the

song's hook and bridge, verse three begins. What do you got to offer? Tell me before we offer you. you deep in their coffee, been allergic to talking, been aversion to bullshit and sell a dream in an auction, tell me just who your boss is. Niggas be fool gazing, bitches be fool gazing, this is for fool gazing. Niggas and bitches who make a bitch you with line babies, bless them little hearts, you can never persuade me, you can never relate me to him. Kendrick begins the verse, what do you got to offer? Tell me before we off you.

Put you deep in that coffin. Been allergic to talking, been a virgin to bullshit. Kendrick wants to know what people genuinely have to offer inside and implies that the talking and bullshit which he has no time or patience for mass people's true spirit and personality which would positively affect the world if only it were able to flourish. He continues and sell a dream in the auction, Tell me just who your boss is.

This line seems to imply that those who sacrifice their dream for money and fame end up constructing their personality and actions to appease their boss, the source of that money and fame. Kendrick then calls these people Fugazi, slang for artificial or fake. He then says these Fugazi people, quote, make habitual lion babies, implying that the fabrication and insecurities are generational.

Kendrick here is attempting to put an end to this cycle by calling out their fraudulent attempts at cool and preaching authenticity. He seems open to however that may express itself in an individual so long as it comes from a place of honesty. Kendrick brings a verse to a close, never veering from a straightforward messaging. individuality by saying you can never relate me to him to her or that to them. He follows these lines by showcasing how fakes manipulate the truth saying,

Are you the truth you love to bend? In the back and the bed, on the floor, that's your hoe, on the couch in your mouth, I'll be out, really though. Here, Kendrick is quoting yet another West Coast rapper Sugar Free at his 1997 song, Fly for Life produced by DJ Quick, who we discussed in our analysis of King Cuta. So how your money won't my hoe? Because you can taste her, liquor, sucker, sucker, tease her, pleaser, slap her, tap her, in the back of her, the flow.

That's your out. On the couch and around, check it out. Her guts, her blood, so rough, so tough. Fly for Life shows moments of thematic parallel with Kendrick's You Ain't Got a Lie. At one point, sugar-free says, you can't hide from yourself, because everywhere you go, there you are. We'll add this to the ever-growing list of calculated thematic coding Kendrick plants throughout to Pimp a Butterfly.

Kendrick concludes the verse by comparing loud rich people with low money to loud broke people with no money. To him, they all sound the same, spiritually bankrupt. Again, it's the loudest one in the room that's compensating for their insecurities. Acquiring their wealth is not enough. They look to perpetually fill a void with praise and envy from those around them. The verse's closing lines, I've seen it all this past year, pass on some advice we feel, alludes to Kendrick's travels around the country and meeting the same type of person falling victim to the same charades. His message to these people is simple. You ain't got a lie to kick it.

Conclusions. Truthfully, a song like You ain't got a lie isn't really made for in-depth analysis. It's crafted for real-time consumption. The aim is that the listener will understand its message after a single hearing. Its simple lyrics and affirming head-knodding beat persuades you as it sticks in your head for hours on end. As a whole though, the song does hold a few things of analytical interest to the narrative to Pippa Butterfly, as well as mirroring aspects of Kendrick's previous album, Good Kid, Mad City. The song's parenthetical title, Mama Said, draws attention to the source of the song's thematic message, which we know from the introduction is Kendrick's mother. Remember, there's a song called Mama and to Pip a Butterfly. There, Kendrick spoke on the teachings of Africa,

the motherland. On You Ain't Got a Lie, he speaks on the teachings of his actual mother. And this isn't the first time we've heard the wisdom of Kendrick's mother. A good kid mad city, it was her and Kendrick's father's voicemail that served as the blueprint of Kendrick's new life. I'm talking about hating all money power respect your mind will or hating the fact none of that shit make me real gang I ain't tripping up from dominoes no more just calling sorry to hear what happened to your home but don't learn the hard way like I did hope any nigger can kill a man that don't make you a real nigga realness responsibility realness taking care of your motherfucking family real as god nigger

I hope you come back and learn from your mistakes and come back a man. Tell your story to these black and brown kids in country. Let them know you was just like them, but you still rose from that dark place of violence, become a positive person. But when you do make it, give back with your words of encouragement. And that's the best way to give back to your city. And I love you, Kendrick. If I don't hear, you're not going to be.

door. You know why I usually leave the key. All right? Good Kid Mad City told the story of an adolescent Kendrick, the good kid, caught in the crossfires of Compton, a mad city. The corrupt environment and friends around him exploit Kendrick's youth and his desire to find his place in the world. He gets involved in a house invasion, accidentally smokes a lace joint, gets jumped for visiting a girl across territory lines, and while retaliating, his friend Dave is shot and killed. Kendrick's salvation comes in the parking lot of a food for less, when an old woman leads Kendrick in the sinner's prayer,

a symbolic gesture of spiritual cleansing and a desire to start anew. The voicemail we just heard is left at the end of Real, a song in which Kendrick preaches realness, addressing the members of his community who look for love and validation from all the wrong things, money, hos, clothes, and street politics. At the end of each verse, he asked them, what's love got to do with it when you don't love yourself. On the voicemail, Kendrick's father addresses realness, saying anyone can kill a man, but real is responsibility, family, and God. Kendrick's mother asked him to return to Compton and tell the black and brown kids' story arising from a dark place and becoming a positive person.

The voicemail at the end of Real is the end of the album's narrative, and we realize that the Good Kid Mad City album itself was the story Kendrick's mother wanted him to tell. circling back to You Ain't Got a Lie and to Pimp a Butterfly, we can begin to draw very convincing specific parallels between the narratives of Good Kid and Butterfly. Whereas Kendrick's naivity was exploited by the streets on Good Kid, on Butterfly is exploited by success and celebrity. Good Kid saw redemption through God in a parking lot. On Butterfly, it was at a gas station in South Africa.

On Good Kid, the blueprint for Kendrick's new life was laid out through the words of his father and mother, who stressed returning to Compton and preaching realness and positivity. On Butterfly, we're witnessing an act for Kendrick doing just that. With complexion and now you ain't got a lie, which is guided directly by his mother's words, Kendrick is preaching self-love and self-acceptance. On the album's next track, I, Kendrick will quite literally return home to Compton to continue this message. We could easily view real and you ain't got a lie as two sides of the same coin. Real preaches realness, whereas you ain't got a lie exposes fakeness, the opposite of real. The message on both songs, on both albums really,

is the same. Be yourself, love yourself, and love those around you. I'll say that once more because it's worth repeating. Be yourself, love yourself, and love those around you. This message of self-love and acceptance carries over to the album's next track, I, to Pimp a Butterfly's narrative conclusion, which will thoroughly examine next time on Dysect. Dysect is written and produced by me. Remember, now until the end of the season, Dysect is holding a fundraiser for the Bicentennial High School music program in Compton, California. This was Kendrick Lamar's high school, and he since donated money to the music program

in an effort to keep kids off the streets and in the studio. I'd love to show our appreciation for Kendrick and all we've learned from Topipa Butterfly by supporting his cause. There's also some great donation perks, including Dysect T-shirts and an awesome Kendrick-inspired hat by Riz Apparel. You can make your donation at Dysectpodcast.com. I have a goal of raising $1,000. If every listener of the show donated 13 cents, we can meet our goal.

If every listener donated just $3,000, we can raise over $20,000. No donation amount is too small. Also, don't forget I'm looking to feature your work. voice on the season one finale episode. Record a 30 second audio clip on your phone, sharing your biggest takeaway from Tippa Butterfly, how it's influenced you, why you think it's important, or really anything you want to say. Don't be shy, your voice is important. Send your clip to Dissect Podcast at Gmail.com, and I'll respond to you personally letting you know it came through. Again, submit your audio clip to Dissect Podcast at Gmail.com.

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