Dissect - S1E4 – For Free? by Kendrick Lamar

Episode Date: September 6, 2016

We continue our serialized analysis of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly by dissecting "For Free?" 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 analysis of Kendrick Lamar's to Pimp a Butterfly. In our last episode, we explored the album's opening track, Wesley's series. We were introduced to the album's protagonist, a young version of Kendrick Lamar, a Compton native who has recently vaulted into a world of fame and fortune through rap music. We also met the album's antagonist, Uncle Sam, who represents the American dream and looks to pimp young Kendrick for profit.

Today, we dissect the album's next track for Free. This Dick ain't Free. You looking at me like it ain't a receipt like I never made is meat eating your left overs and raw meat. This Dick ain't free. Living in captivity raised by cap saline. For Free is an explosive, expressively potent interlude that envelops free jazz, spoken word, and slam-style poetry in a raucous, unapologetic critique of American capitalism in its tarnished roots. Produced by Terris Martin,

The track features Martin himself on alto sax, Robert Glasper on piano, and Robert Sput C. Right on drums. The track begins with a rising solo saxophone, ascending from silence like a midnight mating call, answered by a cacophony of drums, bass, organ, guitar, and choir. A theme based on dissonant intervals emerges from the chaos and settles into a bustling, syncopated jazz groove. Next, we're introduced to Darlene Tibbs, who plays a cliched African-American woman, emasculating Kendrick with Skies. gathing insults about his inadequacy as a black man. God's gift to earth. Nigga, you ain't shit.

You ain't even buy me no outfit for the force. I need a baller-ass, boss-ass nigga. You're an off-brand-ass nigger. Everybody know it. Your homies know it. Everybody fucking know. Fuck you, nigga, don't call me no more. You don't know, you're going to lose on a good bitch.

My other nigger, it's really going on. This dick ain't free. Some have compared this introduction to Otis Redding and Carla Thomas's duet performance of Tramp. The song features Reading and Thomas arguing over his merits as a man and spoken interludes between the song's refrain. The comparison is merited, especially when considering the album's overall influence of 70s funk and soul music, though Kendrick's woman is much more cryptic. The four free barrage begins with Tibbs questioning why Kendrick is trying to make it big, and that he shouldn't be walking around like God's gift to earth. These two statements

reference the first verse of Wesley's theory, in which the young rapper self-calmed. confidently projected his vision of success, self-empowerment, and escape from the harsh realities of Compton Street Life. Things get especially telling with the next line, you didn't even buy me no outfit for the fourth. Given that we just met Uncle Sam just a few minutes prior on the second verse of Wesley's theory, the Fourth is clearly referencing the Fourth of July, America's Independence Day, Uncle Sam's birthday, our most patriotic event of the year. This information starts to clarify who exactly this barraging character is,

one of Uncle Sam's figurative prostitutes, and in a larger sense, American capitalism incarnate. As she continues her demands for a new weave, brand-name goods, and a baller boyfriend, all the while insulting Kendrick for being off-brand and lame, we realize the sentiments are similar to Uncle Sam's on Wesley's Siri. There is pressure on Kendrick to fulfill a certain monetary perception of success, to become a baller to win the girl. The woman is an extension of Uncle Sam, a representation of the expectations and pressures of a socialized. social system that seeks to ultimately marginalize and pimp its talent. Of course, Kendrick ain't having it. He responds with an exclamatory refrain that will become the basis of a sprawling, free-vers spoken word slam-style poetry stream of consciousness. This dick ain't free. You looking at me like it in a receipt like I never made is meat

eating your leftovers and raw meat. This dick ain't free. Kendrick cleverly composes for free to at once reference the history of black culture. in America, as well as his personal experience with the music industry, which he argues is an extension of the slave master pimp prostitute relationships developed from slavery. The verse is built on the refrain, This Dick Ain't Free, a powerful exclamatory phrase of rebellion against Uncle Sam and his prostitute. Kendrick knows his worth and refuses to be pimped, or at least that's what he thinks. Because the piece is written in stream of consciousness style, complex ideas are packed into very short phrases and move from one to the next in rapid fire motion. We're going to examine each section

phrase by phrase, often word by word, and attempt to break down these complex ideas. Then we'll take an overall look at the verse as a whole and draw some conclusions. Before we begin our examination, I think it behooves us to listen to an excerpt of Gil Scott Harron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised from 1971. Like for free, it features a sprawling spoken word that is structured around the refrain, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. You will not be able to stay home, brother. You will not be able to plug in, turn on, and cop out. You will not be able to lose yourself on scag

and skip out for beer during commercials because the revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptions. The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew

To eat hog moths confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary, the revolution will not be televised. Like Otis Redding's tramp, the influence seems consistent with the album's overall 70s funk and soul inspiration. Another very plausible inspiration for this piece is Tupac's Life is a Traffic Jam. As we'll discover later in the record, Tupac plays a major role into Pippa Butterfly. Life is a Traffic Jam is an obscure, jaselated, spoken word piece from the soundtrack of the 1990s. movie Gridlock, which starred Tupac himself. The piece is performed in a nightclub and begins with Thandi Newton venting her frustrations with American society with the line, Land of the Free, Home of the Enslaved.

It's a line that could very easily find a home in Kendrick's for free. And home of the enslaved. Six. I've been standing in this camp by the looks of the gridlock outside. It's got to be about rushing from place. It looks on their face. They're no different from mine. Both of us look like we just worked at nine to five.

Tupac follows with a half rap, half spoken verse about feeling trapped in a city and lifestyle rooted in vice in poverty. Life is too short. I feel trapped hoping I don't get caught. Watch my back. Lost in the traffic, heartless and tragic. Don't want to get my ass kicked so I walk in this mindless stay and this don't make me feel this way.

I tell you life is a traffic jam. I'm stuck when will you realize your fuck. Don't try to change my ways. I'm hopeless, victim to the games we play, stay focus, watch for the crazy ride, don't lie, hard till the day we die, it's my life, tell me if you feel me, I tell you, life is a traffic jam, sincerely, stretch your mind, spoon, feed your soul, three poises you can't control. Remember, life is a traffic jam, life is a traffic jam, life is a traffic jam. The similarity between life is a traffic jam and for free is striking,

and we know Kendrick and Meyer this obscure piece, as he quotes it in a another jazz-influenced track Absol's outro from the 2011 album Section 80. Of course, while surely influenced by Otis Redding, Scott Harone, and Tupac, for free is entirely Kendrick's own. His performance is powerful, aggressive, playful, resentful, and amazingly intricate. Let's take a listen to the opening lines of Kendrick's Strick's sprawling verse, then we'll dissect. This dick ain't free. You looking at me like it ain't a receipt like I never made ends meat eating your leftovers

and raw meat. This dick ain't free. Liberty captivity raised my cap, salary, celery telling me green is all I need. Evidently all I see was spam and raw sardines. This dick ain't free. Kendrick begins with quote, you looking at me like it ain't a receipt, like I never made ends meat eating your leftovers and raw meat. Receit, meaning proof of purchase, references slavery and the purchasing of humans for manual labor.

It also falls in line with the themes of Wesley's theory, where entertainers are purchased, pimped, and made disposable. The next line implies that even though he's been fed raw meat and leftovers, which was the actual diet of many slaves, he and the black community were still able to make ends meat from it, still able to make something of themselves. It also calls to mind our discussion of the history of Compton in episode one. After the government-aided suburban neighborhoods were developed in a phenomenon known as white flight, Compton became a city of leftovers. Coming from the city of scraps, Kendrick still found a way to make it out successfully. The next section continues the analogy through more food-based wordplay. Quote, living in captivity raised my cap salary, salary, telling me green is all I need.

Evidently all I seen was spam and Ross Ardine's. After living in captivity, which could reference slavery or comp, His cap salary, his self-worth, has been raised. He's no longer willing to work for free. Salary is cleverly flipped to celery and draws contrast to the spam and raw sardines he's been fed throughout his upbringing. He's encouraged to chase everything green, greener food, greener pastures, and of course, green money. Let's take another listen to those opening lines, then continue on to the middle of the verse.

All I see was spam and raw sardines. This dick ain't free. I mean, baby. We can make a baby name Mercedes, without a Mercedes Benz or 24 inch rims, 5% 10th in air conditioning vents. Hell fucking all. This dick ain't free. I need 40 acres and a mule, another 40 ounce in a pit pool, poor shit. Matador, maddo, had a door, knocking, let them in.

Who's that genitone's best friend? This dick ain't free. Pity the food that made the pretty and you prosper. Titty juice and pussy lips kept me obnoxious. Kept me up watching. Pornose and poverty apology? No. Watch you ride a dick what people less fortunate like myself.

Every dog ass is day. His day. Now doggy style shall help. This dick ain't free. Matter of fact, you need interest. Matter of fact, you need interest. Matter of fact, see your friends. You're based on business.

Pitching more pinching your bitch. You're a market since it's been relentless. Fuck forgiveness. Fuck your feelings. Fuck your sources. Kendrick plays on the name Mercedes, refusing to name his child after one until he has the actual financial means to purchase one. This alludes to a trend in the early 2000s in which parents named their children after expensive cars,

Mercedes, Lexus, Porsche, and others. The irony of naming your child. after a car you can't afford speaks to the lust created by capitalism, and the illusion of happiness gained through wealth. For the second time, the album references 40 acres in a mule. If you missed our extensive discussion of this phenomenon in our previous episode, the phrase references the broken promise of 40 acres of land distributed to black slaves after the abolition of slavery. Kendrick contrasts 40 acres in a mule with 40 ounces in a pit bull, two stereotypes of ghetto living that African Americans received instead of land.

and a mule. The ghetto has become another plantation that houses a new kind of slave, one ruled by poverty and vice. Next, the word pit bull becomes bullshit, clearly a comment on the 40 acres complex just explained. Bull is pulled from the bullshit leading to Matador Madador, perhaps a metaphor for Uncle Sam who taunts Kendrick, a raging bull. Matador becomes had the door knocking and introduces genitals best friend, or women used here as a gateway to sex and lust. Pity the fool who made the pretty and you prosper could be interpreted most obviously as pimping women for money, but perhaps best analyzed more generally as exploitation of beauty, of talent. Kendrick now finds himself watching pornos and poverty, lusting after the American dream while living in Compton.

He then notes that every dog has its day, now doggy style shall help. Kendrick, now free and successful, finds liberation and lust, finally able to obtain or consume the things he's dreamt about while raised in captivity. Kendrick picks apart the pimp-prostitute relationship, continuing the verse with quote, friendship based on business, clearly a reference to his relationship with Uncle Sam. He then cites Uncle Sam piling pension money made off Kendrick's hard work, and again the hard work of his ancestors years before him. I might be stretching here, but the idea of Uncle Sam collecting pension funds, a metaphor for long-term securement, could draw parallel

to Wesley Series' second verse, in which Uncle Sam tells Kendrick, quote, You make me live forever, baby. Through both oppression of ghettos and the exploitation of the few who make it out, the upper echelons of capitalism's beneficiaries become immortalized. As for free nears its climax,

Kendrick's rapid-fire stream of consciousness picks up pace while the band follows soon. Matter fact, I need interest. Matter fact, it's nine inches. Matter of fact, see y'all friendship based on business. Bitching your bitching, you're a bitch and your bitch. It's been relentless. Fuck forgiveness. Fuck your feelings. Fuck your sources. All distortion. If we fuck it's more abortion. More divorce. More than force. My check with less endorsement. Let me doormid. Dustust. Dude disgusting. Fuck. Fuck. Fragness. Fust. Fuck. Chaucin'alleled.

Chaucin'. Devastead. Decaptuous. The horseman. Oh, America. You bad bitch. I pick cotton and made you rich. Now my dick ain't free. Kendrick shouts, fuck forgiveness, making clear he wants no part of reconciliation for Uncle San's exploitive sins. The next line, fuck your sources, all distortion, current referred to the American news media that sells an illusion of freedom, but is in reality distorting the truth, or at minimum failing to cover the reality Kendrick grew up in. To entertain the double meaning throughout for free, this line could also be referring to

our education system's distortion of America's soiled history, one dominated by genocide, greed, exploitation, and slavery, all of which was justified by a national manifest destiny mentality. The next line, if you fuck, it's more abortion, more divorce courts, and portion my check with less endorsement, is especially potent. Abortion here is used as a metaphor for the destruction of potential. Rather than support talent and create a mutually beneficial relationship, Uncle Sam just wants to fuck and destroy. His victims are left in bitter relationships and garnered wages. Of course, Uncle Sam's divisive actions leave Kendrick dormant, dusted, doomed disgusted. He then asks, fuck you think is a more shit. Porcelain pipes pressure bust them twice.

Clearly, the pretty porcelain plumbing of capitalism is a facade for a shitty system. If you feed the people too much shit, the pipes are going to burst. Kendrick specifically says bust them twice, which could have been just a convenient way to rhyme pipe with twice, but I couldn't help thinking of the presidential elections that commonly end up being a choice between two crap candidates selling the same old shit. This theory is backed by the verse's next line, choice is devastated, meaning a choice between two evils is no choice at all. In the concluding lines are for free, Kendrick states, America, you bad bitch, confirming what we suspected all along. The woman character, or bad bitch from the tracks beginning, is indeed America personified. Addressing her, Kendrick says,

I pick cotton and made you rich. Now my dick ain't free. It's a blatant summation of the verse's entire thematic nucleus of historic oppression and Kendrick's rebellion against it. He knows his worth and he's no longer willing to work for free. The American bad bitch closes the track out by threatening that she'll get her Uncle Sam, her pimp, to mess Kendrick up. The last line, You Ain't No King, is an insult that segues into the next track, King Kunta. Conclusions On its surface, for free sees a maturing Kendrick combating Uncle Sam and the societal pressures of success.

He takes on the good fellow's gangster mentality of fuck you pay me. The way Kendrick sees it, Uncle Sam is indebted to Kendrick. His ancestors built his country for free as slaves, and now Kendrick is coming to collect his. He refuses to let his talents be exploited without compensation. But for all of Kendrick's good intent rebellion, his desires are ultimately self-serving. His rise to stardom left him feeling empowered, but he's still a caterpillar looking to consume. And for free, there is no mention of community, no mention of unifying society so others too may find their way out of unfortunate situations. He will later claim himself king on the album's next song, but his leadership serves no clear purpose beyond his own self-fulfillment, his own consumption.

With this in mind, it's important to mention the clever use of the word free on the song's refrain. Remember, the title is for free, with a question mark after free. On its surface, the entire verse makes use of the phrase ain't free in terms of value, Kendrick demanding compensation for his talent. But if you're not free, then it also means you have a price, and it's a price Uncle Sam can easily afford. In this way, Uncle Sam gets the last laugh. Kendrick can glow all he wants.

He's still falling into the trappings of the American dream. We can also go yet another level deeper. Simultaneously and subconsciously, Kendrick is literally saying ain't free, meaning not free, shackled, controlled. Kendrick may feel empowered by standing up to the powers at B, but whether he knows it or not, he's not yet free from history, free from his competent upbringing, or his own selfishness. This contrasting duality of empowerment versus enslavement carries over into the album's next track, King Kunta, which will thoroughly explore next time on Dysect. 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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