Dissect - S1E2 – good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar

Episode Date: August 25, 2016

We continue our serialized analysis of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly by dissecting its predecessor, 2012's good kid, m.A.A.d. city. 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. In episode one, we explored Kendrick Lamar's hometown of Compton, California, and Lamar's transformation from KDOT, an adolescent mixtape rapper, to Kendrick Lamar, the fully mature artist. On today's episode, we dive deep into Lamar's major label debut, Good Kid, Mad City. Good Kid Mad City, which contains the subtitle, A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar, is a concept album with a non-linear

Tarantino-like plot structure that spans one pivotal day in Kendrick's teenage upbringing in the streets of Compton. While an entire podcast season can easily be dedicated to dissecting this album, we thought it only right to spend an entire episode

exploring its narrative arc and overall message as it sets the stage for the conception and execution up to Pimp a Butterfly, the sequel to Good Kid Mad City. Kendrick had the concept of Good Kid Mad City years before he began writing it. TDE's President Punch said of the album, quote, This project was in the works Kendrick's whole life.

This is his life story. This is the prequel to everything. He had the title for this album even before the Kendrick Lamar EP had dropped. He was writing the concept the whole time. Kendrick backs this notion in an interview with Google Play. Everything is put into this album. If you go back to my early stages where the internet world, you know, recognize me. I've been screaming out Good Kid, Mad City since my earliest mixtapes.

I've been holding on to the album cover, you know, for years. Everything's been premeditated and what I think happened is, you know, me visualizing that for so long, throwing that in the university finally comes into play, you know. So I'm definitely, definitely aware, you know, I've been anticipating and grooming it for years now. There was any doubt that the story of Good Kid Mad City was purely autobiographical. One needs to look no further than the album's cover art.

Kendrick used an actual family Polaroid of himself as a young, boy sitting with family members around a small kitchen table. There's a 40 next to a baby bottle, and his uncle holds little Kendrick with one hand and flashes a gang sign with the other. Speaking on the cover and the album itself, Kendrick stated, quote, it's really just like a self-portrait. I feel like I needed to make this album to move on with my life. It was a venting process to tell these stories I never told. That photo says so much about my life and about how I was raised in Compton and the things I've seen just through them innocent eyes. You don't see nobody else's eyes, but you see my eyes are innocent and trying to figure out what's going on.

The album begins with the track Shireen, Master Splinter's Daughter. In terms of plot, it's a flash forward into the middle of the story. Kendrick, a sophomore in high school, has borrowed his mother's van to drive outside Compton to Paramount to hook up with Shirene, a girl Kendrick met at a party. credentials or strippers in Atlanta As came with a hum from a jump, she was a camel. I want to ride like a rabians pushing no for Mercedes-Benz. Hello, my name is Kendrick, she said,

No, you're handsome, whispered in my ear disappeared and found her dancing. Sierra had played in the background, the parade music we made, had us all wearing shades now, cool. Where you stay, she said down the street from Domingas High, Okay, I know that's borderline Compton or Paramount. Well, as a Compton, no she replied to quickly start back. Although he knows her cousin is a gangbanger, youthful lust of her powers his intuition. and puts Kendrick in danger as he pulls up to Shrain's house.

Two men in black hoodies, which we assume are gang-affiliated, approach Kendrick and the song ends abruptly, a cliffhanger. The album's narrative doesn't advance with the next track, Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe. Here, Kendrick observes his place in the music industry, the new people around him trying to exploit him, and his mission to elevate the current state of hip-hop. If we can at all tie this track into the album's narrative,

it acts like the opening credits, a montage of images that foreshadow his future as a craft. credits roll. The track ends with the skit in which Kendrick's friends pick him up in a Toyota. They drive around Compton freestyling over instrumental beat CD on the album's next track, Backseat Freestyle. Here, Kendrick is rapping like himself at age 16, like the mixtape persona K-dot we heard in episode one. This is the true beginning of the story, a group of young kids driving around the city looking for trouble. With the album's nine and there's never on vacation.

Start up that Mazzarotti and vroom, vroom, I'm racing. Popping pills in the live, Judas go after Judas. Jesus Christ, if I live life on my knees, ain't no need to do this. Park it in front of looters. Next to their church is chicken. All you pussies is losers. All my niggas is winning screaming all my life. I want money and fire.

Respect my mind or die from less shop. With the album's next song, The Art of Pure Pressure, the narrative continues with Kendrick and his friends still in the Toyota. They end up robbing a house they've been scouting for months and barely escaped the law. What is you saying? Pull in front of the house that we'd be camping out for like two months. The sun is going down as we take whatever we want. Hey, hey niggins, jacked out, niggins, pot the safe.

Hey, nigg, there's somebody in this room. Wait, what? I hit the back window and search of any Nintendo DVDs, Plasma screen TVs in the trunk. We made a right, they made a left, they made a right, they made a left. We were just circling life. My mama called. Hello?

What's your doing? I should have told I'm probably about to catch my first offense with the homies. The genius of this song is the way Kendrick advances the narrative with detailed accounts of their antics while also lending deep self-reflection about those actions. He does this with the reoccurring phrase at the end of each verse, acknowledging that his actions are out of character, but does them anyway due to his friends and the environment around him. He's a good kid in a mad city. Before we sparked the conversation, we seen three niggas in colors we didn't like to start interrogating. I never was a gangbanger.

I mean, I never was stranger to the folk neither. I really doubt it. Rush a nigga quick and then we laugh about it. That's ironic because I never been violent until I'm with the homie. Just riding. Just riding. At the end of the track, Kendrick and his friends outlined their plan for the night. They're going to drop Kendrick off at his house, while he'll borrow his mom's van to see Charain

and meet up on the block later that evening. Kendrick also hits the wrong blunt that's laced with coke. Money Trees, the album's next track, recaps the story so far, presumably while Kendrick is under the influence in driving to Shrain's house. As Kendrick gets closer to his destination, he begins lusting about Shireen on the album's next song, Poetic Justice. At the song's conclusion, the narrative picks up where Kendrick left it on the album's opening track, Shireen. Kendrick is approached by two gang members and hoodies. They interrogate him on where he's from, presumably to figure out his gang affiliation.

Eventually, they take him out of the van and jump him. I don't care, who this nigga over here for? You don't tell me where he's from. It's a rat. I'm sorry. Hold on, hold on. We're going to do it like this. Okay?

I'm going to tell you where I'm from, okay? You're going to tell me where you're from, okay? Or where your grandma stay, where your mama stay, or where your daddy stay, okay? Fuck all this talking. As a matter of fact, get out the van, homie. Get out the car before I snatch you out that motherfuckeruck, honey. The next two songs, Good Kid and Mad City, are the fulcrum of the album. They mark the beginning of Kendrick's transformation from KDOT,

an impressionable boy whose actions are controlled by his environment, to Kendrick Lamar, a self-realized, enlightened an adult. Each of Good Kids' three verses focuses on a different environmental influence that threatens a good kid in a place like Compton. Verse 1 speaks on gang culture and the dangers of maneuvering throughout the city without an affiliation. But what am I supposed to do? And the topic is red or blue And you understand that I ain't

But no, I'm a custom tool Just a couple that look for trouble And living the street will rank No better pitch in the paint Than me walking from Bible studying Call his homies because he had said He noticed my face from a function that took in place They was wondering if I bang

Step on my neck and get blood on your Nike checks I don't mind because one day you respect The good kid, mad city While red and blue in the first verse Referencees Bloods and Crips Kendrick uses the same colors in verse 2 only this time to reference police sirens. He draws a parallel between getting jumped by gangs

and getting jumped by cops who racially profiling. But what am I supposed to do when the bleak in a red and blue flash from the top of your roof and your dog has to say proof and you axe, slip up your shirt because you wonder if a tattoo of affiliation can make it a pleasure to put me through gang files but that don't matter because the matter his racial profile. I heard through chatter he's probably young but I know that he's down. Step on his neck is hard as your bulletproof vests.

He don't mind. Verse three focuses on the only escape available to a good kid in a mad city, surrounded by gang violence and police brutality, drugs and alcohol. He describes these vices as silence from the violent rhythms of the street and sympathizes with those who fall victim to it, knowing the temptation of relief it brings. With violence is the rhythm Inspired me to obtain The silence in this room

With 20 zannies and strums Rorn up candy I lost it I feel it's nothing to lose The street's short to release The worst out of my best Don't mind Because now you're up on your net To Good Kid Mad City

Mass hallucinations, baby The track Mad City Expans on the themes of Good Kid Though its tone is much more immediate, frantic, hysterical I should probably point out now That the word mad Is spelled M period

A period, D period. An acronym that's revealed somewhere in the song. The hook of Mad City is taken from the skit in which Kendrick is interrogated by gangbangers in front of Shorraine's house. The voice is detuned and eerily sing-songy, like Kendrick is hallucinating

or is being haunted by the memory in a dream. Every time I'm in the street, I hear yack, yack, yack, yack. Man, don't, where you from? In verse one, Kendrick describes some of the brutal scenes he's witnessed growing up, and with the line, Pakistan on every porch, likens Compton to a war zone. He wraps in a tone of desperation, like a man on the verge of a breakdown.

The stories he tells are true, so much so that Kendrick bleeps out the names so as not to incriminate anyone. Seen a light skin knicker with his brains blown out at the same burglast and we're same gout. Now this is not a tape recorder saying that he did it, but ever since the day I was looking at them different. Joey packed a nine Packer stand on every porch is fine

We adapt to crime Pack a van with four guns at a time With the sliding door Fuck it's up Fuck you shooting four If you ain't walking up you fucking punk Picking up the fucking pump Bicking off you suck a sucker dick or die a sucker punch

A wall of bullets coming from AKs A-Rs A-R duck That's what Mama said when we was eating That free lunch all man God damn all hell broke loose You killed my cousin back in 94 Fuck your truce

Now crawl your head in that news You wind up dead on the news Ain't no peace treaty Just piece and Viji's up to pre-approved Bodies on top of bodies Ivy's on top of obvious Obviously the corner-up between the sheets Like the Ozzy's

When you hop on that trale After repeating the hook and bridge The song suddenly transforms without warning Switching from the frenetic Driving Energy of the first verse To a bouncing classic West Coast sounding beat produced by Terrace Martin Wake your punk ass up

It ain't nothing but a copton. Real simple and plain. The first words we hear at the switch are wake your punk ass up, spoken by Compton rapper MC8 from the rap group Compton's Most Wanted. This confirms that the first verse was some kind of hallucination or nightmare. When Kendrick begins to rap verse 2 in the same panic-stricken voices verse 1, we realize that his reality is no different. Compton is a nightmare you can't wake up from.

He continues the stories about his experience in this mad city and also references the lace blunt he hit earlier in the album's story. The third verse is performed by MC8, who adds to the portrait of Compton depicted throughout the song. Kendrick follows with one of the most impactful verses on the album. He wonders if his audience will stay loyal to him after confessing his sins on record. And if so, can the good kid become the prototypical model for boys like him to escape the violent cycle of street life?

As we listen to the entire verse, note the haunting fluctuation of pitch applied to Kendrick's voice at different points of the verse. His voice is high when talking of innocence and detuned low when talking corruption. It finally settles on Kendrick's natural voice on the final line of the verse, a very significant line that will discuss in detail.

If I told you I killed a nigga had 16, would you believe me? I see me to be. Innocent Kendrick, you've seen in the street with a basketball and some now latest to eat. If I'm mashing all of my skeletons, would you jump in the sea? Would you say my intelligence is now is great relief

and it's safe to say that our next generation. Maybe can sleep with dreams of being a lawyer, doctor Instead of a boy with a chopper, They hold the codice like hostage, Kill them all of the guys But the children of the corn, saving the lies in the option of living a lie. Drive they body with toxins, constantly drinking and drive.

Hit the party, then watch this flame that arrive in his eye. This account with the cops of his aim and they bang in the slide. Out that bitch would deposit a price on his head, the tides, probably go to the projects. I live inside the belly, the rough copped in USA. Made me an angel. I don't know.

Let's hear that last line one more time. Compton USA made me an angel to the West. As for good reason, Kendrick says Compton USA, not Compton, California. Kendrick's experience is part of the American experience, a haunting reality for millions of Americans. It's also a reality that's lost in the romantic perfumes of the American dream, often marketed in our political speeches and national rhetoric. With Good Kid Mad City, Kendrick is putting a face to the American dream.

He's a success story, yes, but he refuses to gloss over his past in favor of his present. He provides detailed accounts of his experience and by proxy, millions of others like him. Kendrick follows Compton USA with the phrase, Made Me an Angel on Angel Dust. The obvious reference here is the lace blunt Kendrick hit previously in the story. But visualize for a moment these words, Me, Angel, Angel, Dust, M-A-A-D, Mad, with two A's like the cryptic album title.

The acronym is a summation of Kendrick's experience, another expression of the good kid in a mad city. Kendrick argues that he, and perhaps all of us, are born pure, born angels. The things we do are sometimes impure, especially when heavily influenced by the environments we inhabit, but in our hearts we remain pure. In interviews, Kendrick gives an alternative meaning for the M-A-A-D acronym, My Angry Adolescence Divided. This, of course, refers to the stories of his youth told on the album, but the interesting word here is divided. On one hand, it likely references the split between KDOT and Kendrick Lamar,

the divide between boy and man. That divide is also expressed musically through the album's structure. The first half, the half we've been exploring thus far, focuses on the external, Kendrick's chaotic Compton environment. The second half will focus on the internal and Kendrick's development of love of self. Mad City concludes with a skit in which Kendrick is given a bottle of alcohol, something his friend calls the doctor bottle to cope with the pain after being jumped. This, nica, past doctor bottle.

Damn, you ain't the one that got fucked up. What you're holding for? Nick, there's always acting unsensitive. Shit. That ain't no word. Nicky, shut up. A doctor, you good, my nigga. Don't even trip.

Just lay back and drink that. This transitions into the song Swimming Pools. The album's hit single. In it, Kendrick explains his complex relationship with alcohol. He describes how he grew up in a house with so much alcohol. could fill a swimming pool, how he began drinking only because of pure pressure, and he expands upon the idea set forth on the third verse of Good Kid, how his community uses alcohol and drugs to escape from their unfortunate reality.

Granddad and grew around some people living their life in bottles, granddaddy had the golden flash backstroke every day in Chicago. Some people like the way it feels. Some people want to kill their sorrow. Some people want to fit in with the popular. That was my problem. The skit at the end of swimming pools is extremely. The boys sit in the Toyota and outline their plan to retaliate against the crew who jumped Kendrick.

They're going to fire a few warning shots and jump them when they start running away. The plan quickly goes awry and turns into a shootout. The friend Dave is shot and dies in Kendrick's arms. They stop to hum me out over a bitch. Get out of you good, love? Yeah, we could drop back off. That niggas straight, man. That nigger ain't tripping.

You're going to do the same old shit. I'm going to pop a few shots. They can run, they're going to run the opposite way. They're right and he left. And he gonna tear their ass up, simple as that. And I hope that bitch that set him up out there. We're gonna pop that bitch too. Wait, hold up.

Hey, I see something on. Got some niggas. Ked out, you good? You good? Yeah, bud, I'm good. That's you good. Hey, say something. These bids, that diggas kill my brothers.

The skit is immediately followed by the somber opening phrases of sing about me, I'm dying a thirst. The song is a double feature, clocking in just over 12 minutes, and in many ways is the emotional core of the album. While the song's Good Kid and Mad City depict the horrors of Compton Street Life, Sing About Me and I'm Dying a Thirst confronts the repercussions of these horrors, the dead and the living that mourn the dead. In verse one of Sing About Me, Kendrick raps from the perspective of Dave's brother,

who calls Kendrick after Dave's murder. He fears what he's going to do in retaliation, and ask Kendrick if he'd memorialize their story in song, as he's unsure if he'll live to see another day. I woke up this morning and figured I called you in case I'm not here tomorrow, I'm hoping that I can borrow a piece of mind I'm behind on what's really important My mind is really distorted I find nothing but trouble in my life I'm fortunate you believe in a dream this orphanage we call a ghetto is quite a routine

And last night was just another distraction or a reaction of what we consider madness I know exactly what happened you ran outside when you heard my brother cry for help Held him like a newborn baby and made him feel like everything was all right in a fight he tried to put up But the type of bullet that stuck had went against his will Last blood spill on your hands My plan's rather vindictive Everybody's a victim in my eyes When I ride it's a murderous rhythm

And outside became pitch black A demon glue to my back Whisper and get him I got him And I ain't give a fuck That same mentality I told my brother Not to duck In actuality is the trip How we trip off of colors

I wonder if I ever discover A passion like you and recover The life that I knew It's a yonkin in pajamas and thuntalans With undercomes it rains Cats and Dogs dumb Niggas like me never prosper Prognosis of a problem child

I'm proud and well devoted This pie of rude shit been in me forever So forever I'm a push it Wherever whenever And I love you because you love my brother Like you did Just promise me you tell this story When you make it big

And if I die before your album drop I hope I'm at that you am In verse 2 Kendrick wraps from the perspective of a prostitute Attempting to survive on the streets of Compton We're going to explore this verse in great detail on our analysis of these walls from Tapimpa Butterfly, as they are deeply connected.

Suffice to say, with the first and second verse, Kendrick is memorializing and humanizing real stories from the defeated people we often never hear from. In verse 3 of Sing About Me, Kendrick confronts his obsession with death, knowing that telling these stories so explicitly might put him in danger. He also responds to the characters he portrays in verse 1 and 2,

saying, I count lives on these songs, look at the weak and cry, pray one day you'll be strong. Fighting for your rights, even when you're wrong, and hoping that at least one of you sing about me when I'm gone. I be blessed for many moons, I suffer a lot, and every day they glass mirror get tougher to watch. I tie my stomach in knots, and I'm not sure why I'm infatuated with death.

My imagination is surely an aggravation of threats that can come about, because the tongue is mighty powerful, and I can name a list of your favorites that probably vouch. Maybe because I'm a dream and sleep is the cousin of death really stuck in the schema. Wondering when I'm arrest and you're right, your brother, was a brother to me, and your sister's situation was the one that put me in a direction to speak on something that's realer than the TV screen. By any means, wasn't trying to hope Finn to come between. Her personal life, I was like you need to be told.

Cursing the life of 20 generations after her soul. Exactly what I happened. If I ain't continue rapping or steady being distracted by money, drugs and four, fives, I count lives all on these songs. Look at the weak and cry. Pray one day you be strong. Fighting for your rights. Even when you're wrong

And hope that at least one of you think about me When I'm gone Am I worth it? Did I put enough working? Promise that you will Sing about me Promise that you will On the skit that Bridges sing about me

With dying a thirst Kendrick's friends reach a breaking point They stand now in front of a food for less Panic-stricken, angry, frustrated and wanting to seek revenge for their loss. Finally, Dave's brother snaps screaming, I'm tired of this shit implying he's tired of the fatal cycle of death and retaliation.

What we gonna do, my niggins? What we gonna do? Bro, we can go back right now, my nigga. Like, I don't do fuck, my nigga, we can go back, right? Fuck, I'm tired of this shit. I'm tired of fucking running. I'm tired of this shit. My brother, honey.

My own kind, but retiring a-knit. I'm dying a thirst is a sprawling, continuous verse broken up by the refrain. I'm dying a thirst repeated three times. He opens a song. song with the line, I'm tired of running, tired of hunting my own kind, but retiring nothing. Kendrick and his friends are exhausted by the cyclical nature of death and retaliation, but no other way to live. Kendrick continues a song with multiple vignettes of Compton reality, further emphasizing the frustration of being unhappy, yet not having the resources to change.

The cure for their thirst is revealed in the skit that follows I'm dying of thirst. The boys, still in front of the food for less, deciding if they want to retaliate, are by an old woman who sees a gun in one of the boys' hands. Young man, come talk to me. My brother, homie. Is that what I think that is? I know that's not what I think that is. Why are you so angry?

See, you young men are dying of thirst. Do you know what that means? That means you need water, holy water. You need to be better. baptized with the spirit of the Lord. Do you want to receive God as your personal Savior? Okay, repeat after me. Lord God, I come to you a sinner.

Lord God, I come to you a sinner. And I humbly repent for my sin. And I humbly repent for my sins. The woman, who's played by Maya Angelou, leads the boys in the sinner's prayer. The Christian prayer recited by those who feel the presence of sin and desire a fresh start through a relationship with God. This marks the beginning of Kendrick's transformation and leads into the penultimate track Real.

All right now, remember this day to start of a new life, your real life. In Real, Kendrick celebrates knowing and loving one's real self, outside of one's environmental influence. Similar to I'm Dying a Thirst, Kendrick uses verse 1 and verse 2 to speak on two different characters, one male, one female. These unnamed characters represent Shrain and all the women in his neighborhood like her, and Kendrick's homies featured in the story, and all the men in his neighborhood like them. He calls out the lifestyle these characters seem to love, clothes, cars, money, drama, violence, and ends both verses with the same refrain, what's love got to do with it when you don't love yourself. In verse 3, Kendrick explains that he knows these characters

very well because he loves the same things himself. He asks himself, if he's should rather hate these things for falsely filling a void in him and withholding his personal growth. He is searching for a resolution between both his love and his resentment for Compton. Everything's gone. The reason why I know you very well, because we have the same eyes, can't you tell. The days I tried to cover up and conceal my pride, it only made it harder for me to deal with living in a world that come with plan B, escape go, because plan A don't come free,

and plan C, just an excuse like because, or the word but, but what if I got love? I love them. I love when I love her. I love so much I love when love hurts. I love first because you're the girl I attract. I love second verse because you're the homie that pack. Burner like a stove top that love cooking from scratch. I love what the both for you have to offer. In fact, I love it so much I don't love anything else but what love got to do with it when I don't love myself to the point I should hate everything I do love. Should I hate living my life inside the club? Should I hate her for watching me for that reason? Should I hate him for telling me that I'm seasoned? Should I hate them for telling me ball out?

Should I hate street credibility? I'm talking about hating all money, power, respect, and my will. I hating the fact, none of that shit make me real. The answers come by way of Kendrick's parents, who enter the song after the third verse. Unlike the other skits on the album, the music for real continues as Kendrick's father and mothers speak to him on voicemail. The harmony created by the emergence of these two worlds, song and skit, which are until this point sonically separate, is incredibly impactful and moving. Kendrick's father consoles him over the loss of his friend, but asks him not to learn the hard way like he did. He tells Kendrick real his responsibility, family, and God.

We should note that his father's words here echoed the real life talk quoted in episode one, where Kendrick's dad tells him not to follow in his footsteps. This also might be an appropriate time to mention that the father and mother heard on the album skits are actually performed by Kendrick's real mother and father. Hey, I ain't tripping up from Domino's no more. Just call it. what happened to your homeward. But don't learn the hard way like I did hope.

Any niggins can kill him, man. That don't make you a real nigga. Realness responsibility. Realness, taking care of your motherfucking family. Realest God, nigga. Kendrick's mother then takes the phone. She tells Kendrick that she hopes he learns from his mistakes and comes back a man. She encourages Kendrick to take his music seriously and give back to his community,

give them hope and show them that he was able to rise out of a dark place and become a positive person. We're going to listen to this incredibly moving passage and then discuss the final sound we hear at the end of the song. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow, 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 coming. Let them know you was just like them, but you still rose from that dark place of violence, becoming a positive person. But when you do make it, give back what you're working. 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 knock on the door, you know why I usually leave the key. All right. Talk to you later. Bye. The tape being either reround or fast forward signifies the end of the Good Kid Mad City narrative.

Kendrick has found resolution through his parents' advice and is primed to move forward in life positively and give back to his community through music and leadership. There are two equally-merited interpretive interpretations of the tape sound we hear, and Kendrick has not confirmed either one as being correct, so we'll take a look at both. Following the sound is the song Compton, a celebration of the city and Kendrick's first collaboration with his hometown hero, Dr. Dre. And that was actually the first studio session that I had with Dre. That is the last song on

an album for a specific reason. That's the first song I did with Dre. That was the start of my new life. With this in mind, the tape sound could be interpreted as a fast forward from 16-year-old Kendrick portrayed on Good Kid Mad City to present-day 25-year-old Kendrick that collaborates with Dre. This interpretation is further backed by the content of the song Compton. It's an upbeat, positive celebration of the city, similar to the kind of music Kendrick's mom asked to the make on the conclusive skit we just heard. The second interpretation is a rewind, signifying the end of the narrative and returning back to his true beginning.

This version is backed by the very short skit at the end of Compton in which Kendrick is running out of the door of his parents' house. As you'll remember, Kendrick is driving his mom's van to Shorraine's house on the album's opening track. If you imagine the album starting over after this skit, the skit would act as a bridge, completing the loop of the album's end and beginning. Personally, I like the fact that this and so much of good kid Mad City is open to interpretation. It's what makes revisiting this highly detailed album again and again so enthralling. It's also why it pains me to analyze it so briefly here.

It's a complex, deeply personal coming of age story, full of honesty in a genre not known for vulnerability, and from an artist whose origins are not known for introspection. Good Kid Mad City was also that unique work that achieved popular success without compromising artistry. The album was met with universal critical acclaim for both hip-hop and popular media outlets. It was named the album of the year by many credible publications,

was nominated for five Grammy Awards, and won album of the year at the 2013 BET Awards, and went certified platinum in less than a year and catapulting Kendrick into national and world stardom. Of course, knowing Kendrick to be reserved and analytic, ever aware of the influences of his environment, the transition to stardom was not easy. He was transplanted from a mad city ruled by temptation and vice

and to another kind of world, also ruled by temptation and vice. As a kid, you always say, you know, you want this lifestyle, you want this lifestyle, you know, and then you get it. and then you see how detrimental it can be for you. One thing I learned, you know, when you went in the line, like anything, you know, that you have a vice for,

you know, is at your demand times 10 and they can kill you, you know. Kendrick's second album to Pimp a Butterfly picks up where Good Kid Mad City left off. With the song Compton, Good Kid concludes with a well-deserved honeymoon. Kendrick celebrates escaping a tumultuous life, shedding the influence of his environment,

and brings hope and joy to his community by telling their story through his music. On Tipa Butterfly, Kendrick will confront the realities of success and fame, as well as the survivor's guilt and depression he feels for leaving behind his city and his friends. Tipipa Butterfly is an incredibly complex and rewarding story of maturation and self-discovery, and I can't wait to finally begin exploring it with you next time on Dissect. Dysect is written and produced by me. If you enjoy Dysect, remember to rate and review on iTunes. It really helps.

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