Dissect - S5E1 - Kendrick Lamar: DAMN.

Episode Date: October 8, 2019

Season 5 is dedicated entirely to Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer-Prize winning album DAMN. Today’s episode dives into Lamar’s upbringing in Compton and the developing spiritual beliefs encoded in his early discography. As we’ll come to find out, these beliefs become the basis of the underlying question DAMN. serves to answer: Is it wickedness or weakness? Say hi @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Purchase Dissect merch at https://shop.dissectpodcast.com/. Listen to original Dissect themes on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2k8BsZM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the summer of 2015, and rapper Kendrick Lamar is standing on top of a cop car. Lamar is the opening act at the 2015 BET Award Show. He stands straddled over the red, white, and blue police lights, while behind him waves a giant 40-foot American flag. As smoke slowly fills the stage, Kendrick recites what would become an anthem for his generation. Anyone paying attention to the American political and social landscape in 2015, could recognize Lamar's performance for what it was, a reflection of the Black Lives Matter protests occurring in the streets across the nation. Triggered by the deaths of unarmed black

men and women at the hands of police officers, the Black Lives Matter movement demanded an end to racial injustice and police brutality through thousands of grassroots protests in the years 2014, 15 and 16. Kendrick's performance of the song All Right from his album to Pimp a Butterfly clearly resonated with many in support of the movement. Within a month of Kendrick's award show appearance, protesters in Cleveland, Ohio could be heard chanting all right's forward refrain of defiance, resilience, and hope. Soon, We Go and Be All Right could be heard chanted at protests across America. It became the adopted rally cry for a movement that defined a moment in American history. That right there is going to help the next individual, the next Kendrick Lamarer,

the next kid on the corner to make whatever situation they're in, a better situation, not only for themselves, but for those around them. You know, so the success of that record didn't come from the accolades and the awards. For me, it came from people going out there and singing all right in the middle of these streets and taking pride and dignity into where they come from and where they want to go. Not everyone was so enthusiastic about Kendrick Lamar's message, however. The day following his performance at the BET Awards, Fox News, News publicly criticized both Lamar and hip-hop culture.

Harrow, not helpful with those song lyrics. To say the least, not helpful at all. This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years. This is exactly the wrong message. The riff between Fox News and movements like Black Lives Matter was indicative of a growing division among Americans at large. Political and social differences were increasingly polarized during the Obama administration.

a trend only amplified by the 2016 presidential election. In stark contrast with We Go and Be All Right, another rally cry could now be heard chanted across the country. Build that war. Build that war. Build that war. Build that war. Build that war. By the time Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, political polarization in the country was at an all-time statistical high. The tension and unease was palpable. According to one poll, a third of Americans felt the nation was on the brink of civil war.

And it was into this cultural climate that Kendrick Lamar, the adopted voice of the streets, would release his next body of work. In March of 2017, just a few months after Trump was formally inaugurated as president, Lamar told the New York Times that his next project would address, quote, how wayward things have gone within the past few months, unquote. He also called the album extremely urgent. And Kendrick wasn't kidding. Just two weeks after his interview with The Times, Lamar shocked the world with a surprise release of a new song,

The Heart Part 4. My fans can't wait for me to sun your punk ass and crush your whole little shit. I'll be pun your punk ass, you're a scared little bitch. Tip towing around my name, nigga your name. The Heart Part 4 put fans in a frenzy. The song found Lamar unleashing a fury of cold-hearted bars, aiming direct shots at Trump and subliminal shots at rappers' Drake and Big Sean.

Do the dab. Donald Trump is a chump. Know how we feel punk. Tell them that God coming. And Russia need a replay button. Y'all left there's something. Electorio folks. The Heart Part 4 was a dramatic shift in approach for an artist who just two years prior

released to Pimp a Butterfly, an album that preached empowerment through unity and solidarity. Along with this unexpected shift, it was the Heart Part 4's final line that had listeners and hysterics. Most took this final line to mean Lamar's new album would release April 7th, which at the time was just two weeks away. The week following the Heart Part 4, Lamar debuted the song Humble, the first official single from his newly announced album. Like The Heart Part 4, Humble found Kendrick being anything but humble. A week after Humble's debut came to foreshadowed April 7th date. As it turned out, the album

wouldn't release on the 7th. Rather, it was made available for pre-order with the official release date announced as April 14th. Good Friday. The holiday that commemorates the day Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of mankind. Days later, the album's cover art was revealed. It pictured a seemingly possessed Kendrick Amar with a sunken, lifeless stare, a large blood-red M sitting over his head like devil horns. Clearly, this was not the Kendrick Lamar we knew from Tipinpa Butterfly. This was darker. This was foreboding.

This was the most anticipated album of 2017, the eventual recipient of hip-hop's first ever Pulitzer Prize. This was Kendrick Lamar's Dam. Kendrick Lamar's dam is a cathartic exploration of what it means to be human. Over the course of 14 tracks, Lamar deconstructs composite parts of the human psyche in attempt to transcend the dark spirits that influence our emotions and actions. Songs like DNA find Kendrick at his most venomous, responding directly to his critics in an all-out verbal assault.

You motherfuckers can't tell me nothing. I'd rather die than to listen to you. My DNA not for imitation, but DNA in abomination. Songs like XXXX, Revealed a violent and vengeful murder fantasies Kendrick imagines when he feels threatened. Damn's exhaustive self-examination of the darker aspects of the human mind was an intuitive reaction to the wayward chaos

Kendrick observed in the world around him. Butterfly would be the idea of the thought of changing the world, how we work and how we approach things. Dan would be the idea of I can't change the world until I change myself. You know, so when you listen to records like pride, humble, lust, love, these are just human emotions. And me looking in the mirror and coming to grips with them. And so while Tipa Butterfly looked outward for solution, Dam looks inward. but it also looks upward. Indeed, Kendrick's journey is spiritual as much as it is emotional, and both his devotion and fear of God play a critical role in Kendrick's developing worldview

expressed on damn. Oh, and there's that whole thing about the entire album being meant to be played backwards. Over the course of our 18-episode examination this season, we're going to extract as much of the extraordinary nuance from Dam as possible. Because if we know anything about Kendrick Lamar, it's that nothing is coincidence, everything is intentional, and that every detail contributes to the larger message he's attempting to convey. We'll come out the other side of our analysis with a better understanding of not only Kendrick Lamar, but also a better, more nuanced understanding of what it means to be a human attempting to successfully navigate life on earth. And so with that, and without further ado, let's dissect.

Kendrick Lamar's dam begins with a question, a question that will be asked repeatedly throughout the album, a question that the album itself looks to answer by its end. Is it wickedness? Is it weakness? Though the question itself is intentionally vague here at the onset of the album, the stakes of this question are immediately established. The lines here are, you decide, are we going to live or die? Though still shrouded in mystery, what does come into focus is that wickedness or weakness is a choice we make. It's a decision our life depends on. Choose correctly, we live. Choose incorrectly, we die. And thus, within the first 25 seconds of Dam,

Kendrick establishes the gravity of the album's subject matter, while simultaneously presenting the central dichotomy upon which the entirety of Dam will rest. As such, we too began our analysis of Dam by drawing your attention to this dichotomy, as it will be the central access point we revolve around this season. Specifically for our first two episodes this season, we're going to add substantial context to this wickedness-weakness dichotomy by surveying Kendrick's early life and musical discography through the lens of his evolving spiritual philosophy.

Indeed, by the end of this survey, we'll come to understand how the wickedness-weakness dichotomy presented here at the onset of Dam is actually the culmination of years spent refining Kendrick's core belief system, a belief system that began to take shape in the war zone that was Compton, California, in the late 1980s and early 90s. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born June 17, 1987 to parents Kenny Duckworth and Paula Oliver. The oldest of four siblings, Kendrick and his family lived in poverty,

surviving on food stamps and Section 8 housing, while outside the city of Compton peaked in crime and violence. The years 1988 through 98 have come to be known as the decade of death in Los Angeles due to the historical increase in gang-related violence. Approximately 150,000 gang members inhabited Los Angeles during this time, resulting in over 700 gang-related homicides a year in L.A. County alone. Kendrick was introduced to the reality of his violent environment at a young age. He witnessed his first murder at the age of five when a drug dealer was shot dead in front of his

apartment building. Many of Kendrick's uncles were also gang-affiliated. Two were eventually incarcerated while one uncle was murdered in front of a burger stand when Kendrick was still a boy. Violence became a part of everyday life and Kendrick grew, in his own words, immune to it. But despite his environment, Kendrick himself never formally joined a gang. Kendrick views the relative stability of his home as an advantage most kids around him didn't have.

Specifically, it was the presence and influence of his father that he was the presence and influence of his father the Kendrick Fields saved him from a violent and perhaps abbreviated life in the streets. What separated me from my friends getting locked up, going to jail for life or being dead in prison was the fact that after I bumped my head, he was always there to say, I told you. They didn't have it at all. My props, he wasn't perfect. He was a street dude, but he always had that wisdom and that knowledge to always say, I've been there, I've done that, don't do that. Music would be the vessel Kendrick would eventually use to escape the tragic destiny many of his peers faced. Having been interested in poetry since middle school, Kendrick's love of words would eventually lead him to begin rapping at age 13.

Three years later, a 16-year-old Kendrick Amar released his first mixtape under the alias, KDoth. Despite wearing his influences on his sleeve, KDOT's first tape displayed a raw talent that would land him a spot on the indie label Top Dog Records, headed by Anthony Tiffith. Over the next few years, Kendrick would find respite from the streets in the studio, recording a series of mixtapes that would prove to be a training ground for a young MC finding his voice. 2009 would prove to be a pivotal year in KDOT's emerging musical career. Kendrick would abandon the mixtape alias KDOT, instead choosing to use his given first and middle name, Kendrick Lamar. As he explains, the name change was more than semantics.

It signaled a dramatic shift in his approach to music and self-expression. KDOT, I first started rhyming when I was 13. And when I said, I want to sit down and I want to perfect my craft. craft, I really went after studying all the greats, Biggie, Tupac, Jay-Z, Nause. It was just me basically developing myself. I mean, when people heard KD out, they was like, yo, the kid is dope. He can rap, but who is he? You know what? That went on for years. You just another cat in the streets that can rap good, right? So I was like, you know what? I want people to know who I am as a person and what I represent. So I woke up one morning,

I said, the best way to start it off is give me my name changed, my real name. Some of my mother been calling me for years and this is who I am and I'm gonna start putting that on records you know I mean the first expression of Kendrick Lamar's new approach to music would be the aptly titled Kendrick Lamar EP released on December 31st 2009 I can tell you what it is I can tell you what it isn't no more at k dot my mother had named me kentrick kendrick's new direction is evident across the entirety of the Kendrick lamar ep each song in some way shares personal intimate stories from his life We also find the emergence of what would become a career-long intersection of his experience in Compton,

interwoven with his personal experiences with God, faith, and spirituality. And it's here that we'll pick up this devotional thread that runs through Kendrick's early discography and follow it for the remainder of our episode. We begin with a song from the Kendrick Lamar EP that could be argued as his most explicitly religious song to date. Faith. I found myself losing focus at a Sunday service. Embarrassed so I start question. and God, what is my purpose?

He said to live the way he did, that's all he wants for me. Spread the word and witness, he rose on the first Sunday. I said, all right, enthused that my Lord gave a listen. I opened my Bible in search to be a better Christian. And this from a person that never believed in religion. But shit, my life is so fucked up, man, I can't help but give in. I'm giving testimonies to strangers I never met. Hoped on the book pit and told them how I was truly blessed.

Felt like I'm free from all my sins when the service was over. Walked out the church and got a car that my homie was murdered and lost my faith again. In the opening verse of faith, Kendrick recounts asking God what he should do with his life. God responds that Kendrick's purpose was to live like Jesus did and spread his message. As Kendrick became more committed to his faith, he also grew more vocal about God's transformative power in his life. But that enthusiasm faded one day when Kendrick was informed that one of his friends was murdered. Kendrick likely thought that following God would prevent bad things from happening to him. And so when tragedy struck, Kendrick lost his faith.

In the song's second verse, Kendrick tells a story of a single mother, who, like himself, lost her faith when faced with adversity. I want to go back to school, but she needs some help, because it's hard trying to pay the bills when you by yourself. She thought about credit costs scams till she heard her voice. That's that the devil hits a lie, make a better choice. And so it's back to McDonald's in every year. months dealing with the crazy-ass people at the county building. Look to the heavens and ask them to make a better

way. They got a letter in the mail, lost her Section 8, and lost her faith again. The story of the single mother is centered around the struggle to remain faithful to God's commandment against stealing. The single mom with four kids is tempted to use a credit card scam to pay her bills. At first, she resists. But when she loses her Section 8 public housing, she also loses her faith. With the song's final verse, Kendrick widens his lens and makes his message universal,

speaking directly to the listener. And reality sings stronger than prayer because you try to change your life and now you live in a wheelchair and your son was born with cancer and he live in urging care at the tender age of 12 and you feel that no one cares

searching for answers that's human nature. You ain't in the wrong just know when you feel in that way his spirit's in the role. I watch people I know pray and catch the Holy Ghost Kendrick speaks more broadly to all people who have tried to follow the commandments of a God

they cannot see while experiencing unexplained hardship. Kendrick encourages them to remember that in spite of their feelings, God's spirit is often most present when people need to be comforted in times of suffering. But we may still wonder why God allows people to suffer in the first place. This question leads directly to Kendrick's final statement. Here Kendrick suggests that suffering is a predominant way that God tests his people. In modern times, testing normally evokes the image of an academic test in school. However, in ancient times, the word test primarily referred to the process of revealing the true nature of precious metals, such as gold.

In order to assess the quality of gold, one when melted in fire to separate it from other impure materials inside the metal. Here, it sounds like Kendrick is claiming that God uses suffering to remove wickedness from his people in the same way a goldsmith uses fire to remove impurities from gold. This is actually the same assertion made by First Peter, the de facto leader of Jesus' disciples. Quote, Rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed, unquote.

As we'll see throughout our analysis today, Kendrick is often inspired directly from biblical passages and ideas, which he then works into his music. The song Faith is one such example, and ultimately what we can take away from the song is Kendrick's spiritual belief that God does not prevent suffering in the lives of those who follow him. Rather, he feels God seeks to comfort humans in the midst of their pain, using hardship to test and refine humans, forming them into better vessels that can then be filled with

his spirit. In this way, we can see that both Kendrick in verse 1 and the single mother in verse 2 failed their test of faith. Rather than using their suffering to bring them closer to God, they turned away from God when confronted with adversity. This testing of one's faith and its long-term ramifications is an idea that Kendrick would continue to explore and refine throughout his discography, including his full-length project Section 80 of 2011. The album's pivotal track, Keisha's song, tells a true, cautionary story of a 17-year-old girl who turns to prostitution to survive in the streets of Compton. And Lord knows she's beautiful. Lord know the usual's leaving her body sore. She take the little

change. She makes her fix her nail cuticles. Lipstick is suitable to make you fiend for more. She played Mr. Shakur. That's her favorite rapper bump and Brenda's got a baby while a pervert yelling In the middle of the first verse, we hear that Keisha is listening to Brenda's Got a Baby by Tupac, a song about a 13-year-old girl who got pregnant and turned a prostitution to support herself. Brenda's life ended tragically when she was murdered by a client. One might think listening to such a foreboding song would inspire Keisha to escape prostitution. However, Keisha is so desperate to get money that she ignores her own apprehensions and the lessons from past generations.

And sure enough, don't see a dime of dirty dollars. Just give it all to her daddy, but she don't know her father. That's ironic. See a black away from Ludas Park. I've seen the El Camino Park. And in her heart she hated there, but in her mind she made it where nothing really matter. So she hit the backseat. Rosa Parks never a factor when she's making ends me.

The conclusion of verse one reveals that Keisha turned toward prostitution, even though she despised it in her heart. Her life's circumstances were so dire that she convinced her sense. that nothing matters. In other words, she's faithless. As such, Keisha gradually accepts destruction as her inescapable fate. She suddenly realized she'll never escape the allure of the black man, white man, needing satisfaction at first it became a practice, but now she's numb to it. Sometimes she wonder if she can do it like nuns do it, but she never heard a Catholic religion or

sinous redemption. That sounds foolish. And you can rap, sometimes she wonder if she can do it like nuns do it, but she never heard of Catholic religion or sinners' redemption, that sounds foolish. Here, Kendrick subtly implies that a life devoted to God could turn Keisha's life around. However, she lacked exposure to this solution, as she's never heard of Catholic religion or sinner's redemption. The word that is translated as sin originally meant to choose the wrong path. Meanwhile, the word redemption originally meant to release and was frequently used to refer to emancipation. Thus, sinner's redemption refers to the of anyone whose life's circumstances have given them over to slavery.

Since Keisha is unaware that she can be released from the burdens of her past and present through God's spirit, Kisha remains a slave to the spirit of lust, an enslavement forced upon her due to the sins of lustful men. Like the statistical majority of her mother for letting her boyfriend, like candy under her cover, 10 months before she was 10,000, he moved in, and that's when he touched her this, this motherfucker is the fucking reason why Keisha rushing through that blackaway for Lutus Park. Like the statistical majority of women working as prostitutes, it's revealed here that Keisha was abused at a young age. For Keisha, it was her mother's boyfriend who raped her at the age of nine, an event that Kendrick Fields set her on a path to prostitution. With seemingly no hope left, the song's end reveals Keisha's tragic fate. Like Tupac's Brenda, Keisha is murdered by a client in the backseat of her car, her life ending tragically at age 17.

Whereas the song Faith encouraged us to remain faithful to God in times of pain, Keisha's song is a cautionary tale exemplifying the potential consequences if pain goes unaddressed. If one loses faith, fails to see the value and potential in oneself, lacks exposure to alternative ways of life, and gives up hope and tired. But despite the finality of Keisha's song, Kendrick adds a brief but important bridge before the song's final hook. My little sister 11, I looked her right in the face the day that I wrote this song, set her down and press play. Kendrick notes that he played Keisha's song to his 11-year-old sister, hoping that she may learn from it and avoid a similar fate. He's attempting to use his music to educate others so that the tragic cycles he's witnessed growing up in the streets of

Compton may be put to an end. However, Keisha's story doesn't end with Keisha's song. Rather, we hear the story continue in Kendrick's next project, Good Kid, Mad City, an album will dissect right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we discussed the song Faith, taking away Kendrick's belief that God's spirit is often most prevalent as a comforter in times of suffering, and that God uses suffering to refine humans and purge them of evil spirits. We then heard the cautionary tale of Keisha, a 17-year-old prostitute who'd given up hope and was murdered by one of her clients. Despite the finality of her death, the story of Keisha would continue in Lamar's next album, Good Kid, Mad City. On the song Sing About Me, Kendrick wraps from the perspective

of Keisha's sister. You wrote a song about my sister on your tape and card in Section 80. The message resembled Brenda's got a baby. What crazy was I was I was hearing about it, but doubted your ignorance. How could you ever just put her on blast and shit? Judging her passing shit Well it's completely my future Her nigga behind me right now I'm asking for ass and shit

And I'm gonna need that $40 Even if I got a fuck suck and swather In the parking light Because I was parked to find out That like Keisha herself ignoring the story of Brenda's got a baby Keisha's sister has made the decision To follow Keisha's footsteps into prostitution

Keisha's sister also accuses Kendrick of exploitation and expresses her vitriol against him for turning Keisha's death into a public spectacle In response, Kendrick uses the song's third verse to explain himself. Her personal life, I was like you need to be told, cursing the life of 20 generations after her soul, exactly what 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'd be strong, fighting for your rights, even when you're wrong, and hope that at least one of you think about, Kendrick says hearing Keisha's story was a personal turning point for him. He finally and fully committed to using his rap career to address the evils plaguing society. He rapes, her personal life, I was like it need to be told, cursing the life of 20 generations after her soul, exactly what happened if I ain't continue rapping, or steady being distracted by money, drugs, and four-fives. Kendrick fears that if you were simply to rap about stereotypical subject matters and pursuing

vices, the curse that kept Keisha and her sister in slavery would continue to be passed down from generation to generation. Kendrick views his music and message as having the potential to reverse the curse, to inspire change and hope in the individuals of his community. This is the reason why Kendrick played Keisha's song for his little sister, and it's the reason why he's committed himself to using his rap career to address wicked aspects of society. And so through Keisha's song, along with the second and third verses of Sing About Me, we witnessed Kendrick express his belief that the spirits that inspire humans to pursue sex, money, and murder, eventually curse entire groups of people to remain mentally enslaved,

often leading to the tragic destinies Kendrick witnessed over and over growing up in Compton. We also heard in Kendrick's response to Keisha's sister, how he feels telling these stories through his music, has the potential to educate and inspire others to reverse. the curse, to end generational tragedy, sending himself and others on a better path forward. This latter point about Kendrick's story and music inspiring others becomes more clear when we survey the larger narrative told over the course of the album Good Kid Mad City. The story begins with Kendrick under the same curse as Keisha and so many other young adults in Compton. We find a 16-year-old Kendrick attempting to have sex with a girl named Shireen, a pursuit that

intertwines with he and his friend's plans to rob a home. By the album's third act, Kendrick's pursuit of lust and greed ultimately leads to one of his closest friends being murdered in front of him. Got some niggas. Ked out you good? Kedat you good? Yeah, brother. I'm good. Dad, you good? Say something. These bids that d'niggas killed my brothers. The next day, Kendrick receives a phone call from his dead friend's brother. In the first verse of the a-for-mentioned song, Sing About Me. Kendrick raps from the perspective of this brother. Last blood spilled 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 glued to my back, whispering, get him. I got him, and I ain't give a fuck. That same mentality. The brother tells Kendrick, as blood spilled 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 glued to my back, whispering get him. I got him and I ain't give a fuck. We hear a stark contrast between Kendrick and the friend's brother. Kendrick is pictured with blood on his hands, indicating his remorse and recognition that he is responsible for his friend's death. However, the brother is depicted with a demon glued on his back, a demon that influences him to seek revenge for his slain brother, a demon that ultimately leads the brother to his own tragic fate. And if I die before your album drop, I hope. The word demon comes from a Greek word that means lesser spirit.

In the Bible, these lesser spirits are said to have influence over the thoughts and actions of humans. When these spirits trap humans and self-destructive thoughts, such as fixation on cold-blooded revenge, these spirits can alternatively be referred to as evil spirits. With eyes now open to the invisible forces and evil spirits driving its community to perpetuate the cycle of violence and death. Kendrick is brought to his knees and concludes that he, his family, and his friends are all dying of thirst. Say fuck the world, my sex slave. Money, pussy, and greed, what's my next crave? Whatever it is, no, it's my next grave. Back with my mama, say see a pastor give me a promise. What if

today was the rapture and you completely tarnish? The truth is set you free. So to me be and pray that it works. Dying of thirst is a concept that goes back to an Israelite prophet named Amos. Amos observed the rampant injustice in a society and declared that, quote, The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. In that day, the beautiful young women and the young men shall faint for thirst, unquote. Later in the verse, we heard Kendrick Rap, say, fuck the world, my sex slave, money, pussy, and greed, What's my next crave? Whatever it is, I know it's my next grave. Again, Kendrick shows recognition

of his enslavement to sex, money, and murderous greed, acknowledging that his pursuits of these things was leading to his death. As Good Kid Mad City continues, Kendrick and his friends are approached by a woman in a food for less parking lot while contemplating a murderous revenge against those who killed his friend. 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 baptized with the spirit of the Lord. Do you want to receive God as your personal Savior?

Seemingly, by Divine Providence, this anonymous woman sees that Kendrick and his friends were contemplating murder. She explains that they need to have their bodies immersed in water and their minds immersed in God's spirit. two acts that Christians refer to as baptism. This solution echoes the solution that Jesus gave to all those who are dying of thirst. Quote, Jesus stood and cried out, let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water. Now Jesus said this about the spirit, which believers in him were to

receive, unquote. The anonymous woman leads Kendrick and his friends in a prayer to repent for their sins, receive Jesus as their Lord, and thank Jesus for the forgiveness and freedom made possible by his blood. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. All right now, remember this day to start of a new life, your real life. Of this pivotal moment in Good Kid Mad City, Kendrick told Complex, quote, that song represents being baptized, the actual water, getting dipped in holy water. It represents when my whole spirit change, when my life starts, unquote. Kendrick's encounter with this woman is a true story. In the same interview, Kendrick said, quote, the same day my homeboy got shot, I ran into an older lady. I don't want to say she was

religious, but she was a spiritual lady who broke down what life is really about to us. She broke down the story of God, positivity, life, being free, and being real with yourself. She was letting us know what's really real, unquote. It's fitting then that the song that follows this pivotal moment on I'm Dying a Thirst is a song called Real. Having now recognized that he's freed from his slavery to evil spirits by being baptized and filled with God's spirit, it's in the song Real that we hear Kendrick reevaluate what pursuits would become central in this quote, real life that had been granted to him. It's then that we hear a voicemail from Kendrick's dad.

The shit makes me real. Gang, I ain't tripping up from Domino's no more. Just calling. Sorry to hear what happened to your home, boy. But don't learn the hard way like I did home. Any nigger can kill a man. That don't make you a real, nigger. Realist responsibility.

Realness taking care of your motherfucking family. Realest God, nigger. Echoing the wisdom, Kendrick's father gave him growing up, the voicemail tells Kendrick that a life of Serpillar to God and others is the only thing that will make his life real. With his life purpose now in focus, Good Kid Mad City concludes with a victorious track titled Compton. Now everybody serenate the new faith of Kendrick Lamar. This is King Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick wraps, now everybody serenade the new faith of Kendrick Lamar. This is King Kendrick Lamar. These lines and the song Compton more generally

display that Kendrick has made the difficult transition. Unlike Keisha, Keisha's sister, Kendrick's murdered friend, the brother of his murdered friend, and so many others, Kendrick has expelled the evil spirits such as lust, greed, and revenge that were leading him to death and slavery. He now desires to be faithful to the spirit that will lead him to life and freedom. And now that Kendrick is no longer ruled by evil spirits, he's able to rule the world around him as King Kendrick, the conqueror of his circumstances, reclaiming Compton as his kingdom. And as displayed throughout Good Kid Mad City,

his transformation was made possible by him enduring tremendous suffering that burned away many of his old patterns of thought. In an interview with Daily Motion, Kendrick speaks to the final three songs on Good Kid Mad City, noting that it documents the pivotal event that transformed his way of thinking and brought him out of darkness. That's why that's one of the final songs on the album. out of 12 songs, you know, that's closer to the bottom because that's when, you know,

the reality check really hit. A lot of people know Kendrick Lamar for who I am today, but, you know, for me to think to what I do, I had to come from a dark space. And that was the turning point right there, that particular moment, you know, in my life. Through our analysis of Kendrick Lamar's early discography, we can see how his developing spiritual philosophy has been informed by his experiences growing up in Compton. We also hear how his spiritual beliefs inform the message he expresses through the stories told in his music. On the song Faith of 2009, we heard Kendrick state his view that God uses suffering to refine our spirits. He encourages his listeners to not become faithless in times of struggle, but allow God to comfort them and fill him with his spirit.

On 2011's Keisha's song, Kendrick provides a true, tragic example of what can happen when one gives up hope, becomes faithless and a enslaved by evil spirits. We also heard similar tragic fates throughout the album Good Kid Bad City, most notably Kendrick's friend who was murdered in front of him. Ultimately, Kendrick's friend being killed presented him with a choice, not unlike the choice we heard laid out in the beginning of Dam. Like Keisha, Kendrick could continue to be enslaved by evil or wicked spirits, seek revenge, and perpetuate generational violence that would lead to more deaths, likely including his own. or like he advised on the song Faith, Kendrick could allow God to be his comforter in times of suffering

and become a vessel that is filled with his spirit, an act that would lead to, as he defined it, a new life, his real life. Of course, Kendrick chose the latter, and the album ends with a celebration of his transformation from darkness to light. Now we can all celebrate, we can all harvest the rap artist of NWA. America a target of rap market is controversy and hate, harsh realities we hit. And so, by studying Kendrick's early discography, we're seeing emerge a possible meaning

behind the wickedness-weakness dichotomy that begins damn, and how the influences of these opposing spirits lead to life or death. But while Kendrick seemed to choose a path that leads to a new life, what Kendrick didn't expect was that this new life and the success of Good Kid Mad City would present a brand new set of challenges and temptations, challenges and temptations that would eventually trigger a deep emotional and spiritual crisis. Indeed, anyone who's ever watched the sunrise knows that light does not displace darkness in a moment. The transformation from night into day is a gradual process,

a cyclical process, one that repeats itself. Likewise, Kendrick's departure from darkness that began at the end of Good Kid Mad City would still require a longer process of transformation before Kendrick could fully come into the light. Released in 2015, two years after Good Kid Mad City, Good Kid Mad City. This transformation would ultimately be documented in Kendrick's next album. Of course, the project in question is Kendrick Lamar's masterwork to Pimp a Butterfly.

An album will thoroughly examine next time on Dysect. Dysect is produced by me for Spotify Studios. Today's episode was written by Femi Olutade and Me, song recreations by Andrew Atwood, audio editing by Eric Bass and me, original theme music by Birocratic. You can now stream all the original Dysect themes composed by Birocratic on Spotify. Just click the link in the show notes. If you enjoy Dysect, please tell a friend about the show, and be sure to say hi on Twitter and Instagram at Dysect Podcast. You can also purchase Dyscmerch merchandise at Dysectpodcast.com. Okay, thanks for listening, everyone. I'll talk to you next episode.