Dissect - S5E11 - HUMBLE. by Kendrick Lamar

Episode Date: December 3, 2019

We continue our season-long analysis of DAMN. with the album’s hit single HUMBLE. Coming off the heels of PRIDE. in which Kung Fu Kenny admitted his imperfections, we are puzzled to find Kenny egotistically lifting himself up by putting down others. But as we’ll hear, this mentality embodies the central biblical theme that powerful rulers and nations often become corrupted by pride. 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

From Spotify Studios, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushna. Today we continue our serialized analysis of Damn by Kendrick Lamar. On our last episode, we dissected Pride, a song that found Kung Fu Kenny wrestling with God's commandments through an extended sequence of dichotomous choices. He imagines a perfect world in which a different upbringing would allow him to live perfectly and abide by what he knows to be true in his heart. Ultimately, Kenny acknowledges his imperfections,

and the song ends with a powerful declaration of God as perfect. As we discussed at length, this served as a kind of micro-conclusion to the first half of the album, this acknowledgement of the very God he's been running from since the song Yaw. We wondered whether this would be a true. turning point for Kenny, the answering of God's call to prophecy and acceptance of the self-sacrificing humility required to serve God. In other words, we wondered if he would now choose love over pride and weakness over wickedness. Well, if one only looked at the title of the album's next song,

humble, you may think Kenny is prepared to do just that. But upon listening to the track, it quickly becomes clear that Kung Fu Kenny is acting anything but humble. Humbull was produced by Mike Will Made It and Ashton Hogan, best known by his producer alias Plus. According to Plus, the beat for Humble was cooked up in a matter of 30 minutes in Atlanta during a session with Mike Will made it. The beat was actually intended first for Gucci Main, who at the time was just released from prison. Mike Will sent the beat to Kendrick, who immediately was inspired to write to the track, telling the Rolling Stone that the phrase, Be Humble, was the first thing that came to his head when he heard. the beat. Like the Mike Will-produce song DNA, Humble's beat shines in its simplicity.

The most recognizable component of the track is its stabbing staccato piano part. This piano part is then placed over an 808 heavy drum pattern. The only additional elements are added in the song's hook, where we find a synthesizer playing a single note. And thus we have the commanding musical landscape for the song Humble. But before the beat begins, we hear a brief introduction. Kenny says, Nobody pray for me. It's been that day for me. Here, Kenny reminds us of his primary complaint,

that nobody's praying for him. Recall that Kid Capri first introduced this concept back on Element. In the first verse of Element, Kenny revealed that the death of his two grandmothers meant that no one was left to pray for him. Without their spiritual intervention, there was nothing to prevent Kenny from going after the heads of his enemies. So ain't nobody praying for me, I'm on your head, aye.

This lack of prayer became the chorus of the track Feel, as Kenny blamed everyone but himself for the emotional storm he was experiencing. His selfishness is epitomized by the fact that Kenny refuses to pray for others because he feels no one is praying for him. I feel like waiting for him, maybe it's too late for him. But who the fuck praying for me? From these earlier references, Kenny's recurrent complaint that nobody is praying for him, as meant to depict Kenny as a self-centered leader,

who points his finger as well as his gun at others, rather than taking responsibility for his own choices. Of course, it's ironic that in the previous track Pride, Kenny spent most of the song confessing his imperfections. In one line, he even said, seems like I point the finger just to make a point nowadays. After finally taking responsibility for how his actions have made the world imperfect, and declaring that only God is perfect, Kenny appeared to have a point to have have experienced a breakthrough at the end of pride. With this new acknowledgement, we naturally expected Kenny to start living up to his prophetic calling. It's thus surprising that humble begins with Kenny blaming others yet again. Kenny gives no clear reason for his regression. He only says

it's been that day for me, which seems to imply that he suffered an emotionally challenging day. As we've seen thus far throughout Dam, Kenny's emotional turmoil has been a result of his ongoing conflict with his enemies, which then triggers him to start pointing his finger and making threats. Here at the onset of Humble, it appears he's about to repeat this same cycle. Thus, nobody pray for me seems now like a command, not a complaint. He seeks not the sympathy of others, which makes it all the more easy for him to attack them. And so while pride may have marked the point at which Kenny became reconciled with God, it remains to be seen whether Kenny is able to be reconciled with other people, particularly those he feels posed as a threat.

As we'll soon hear, Humble makes it abundantly clear that Kung Fu Kenny's intuition towards sex, money, and murder continue to undermine any hope of making peace with the rest of humanity. Yeah, yeah Kenny begins With the rags to Rich's storyline He rapsed, I remember syrup sandwiches and crime allowances Fennessee and N-word with some counterfeits. In Kenny's former life, his family could not afford proper nutritious meal and thus were resigned to drink Kool-Aid and eat sandwiches filled with maple syrup.

To further stretch their limited resources, Kenny's family hustled people into accepting counterfeit bills. Kenny continues with the lines, but now I'm counting this Parmesan where my accountant lives. In fact, I'm downing this duce with my boo-bay, tastes like Kool-Aid for the analysts. In contrast to his former life in poverty, Kenny now hires an accountant to count his money while eating parmesan, the so-called king of cheeses that Kenny can now afford to put inside his sandwiches. Of course, at the same time, the words cheese and cheddar are both slang words for money. Hence, the line about parmesan is another way to imply that Kenny's status as a king entitles him to great wealth. Kenny also mentions that in place of Kool-Aid he now drinks

Duce, a brand of cognac that is partially owned by Jay-Z. Kenny's boasts about money naturally lead him to spend the next few lines boasting about having sex. He wraps, Girl, I can buy your ass the world with my pay stuff. Ooh, that pussy good won't you sit in on my taste bloods? I get way too petty once you let me do the extras. Here, Kenny tries to lure a woman into sleeping with him by claiming he can buy the whole world and offer her any material goods that she wants. Kenny's request for sex becomes more explicit in the second line when he comments on her body and offers to perform oral sex. At the same time, Kenny implies that he expects her to perform the extras, or extraordinary sex acts beyond just standard intercourse. He compares these sex acts in

various positions to Tetris, the computer game in which players have to manipulate different shaped blocks so they fit into various openings. As Humble's first verse continues, Kenny implies that they'll be playing this sexual game of Tetris all night. Kenny wraps AM to the PM, PM to the AM. Coming off the heels of the previous four lines about sex, this could be heard as a brag about playing sexual Tetris all day and night. At the same time, the line also seems to relate to the next line, piss out your per diem, you just got to hate them.

A per diem is a daily monetary allowance that's given by an employer to an employee to cover their costs while traveling for work. For instance, a record label might give a per diem to an artist on tour so they can purchase food and drinks. By saying that he pisses out another person's per diem, Kenny seems to be bragging about his expensive taste in alcoholic beverages, tying back into his line about duce. Kenny claims that whenever he urinates, the alcohol in his urine alone costs more than what his rivals get to spend for the whole day. Next, Kenny says, if I quit your BM, I still ride Mercedes. This line is a double entendre that can be interpreted as a boast about cars or sex.

BM refers to BMW, and is thus a brag about owning a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz. Alternatively, BM can be an abbreviation for baby mama, which of course refers to the mother of a man's child. In this reading, Kenny claims to be having sex with his rival's baby mama. At the same time, Kenny is boasting that if he stops having sex with this woman, he still has another woman named Mercedes he can have sex with. Kenny's double entendre about his financial and sexual conquest leads directly to the next line. If I quit this season, I still be the greatest. Here, Kenny compares his career as the greatest rapper to the careers of

all-time great athletes. It would seem Kenny is specifically evoking the boxer Cassius Clay, aka Muhammad Ali. Ali's famous spoken word poetry album, I Am the Greatest, features poems in which Ali brags about his left and right punches, prophesying about his victory over Sonny Liston, lamenting how hard it is to be humble, and of course declaring that he was the greatest. Just Clay! This kid's got a left. This kid's got a right. If he hits you once, you're asleep for the night.

And as you lie on the floor... Kenny's embodiment of the spirit of Ali seems to have inspired the next lines of Humble's first verse. Kenny says, my left stroke put little baby in a spiral. Soren, don't see, we like to keep it on the high note. It's levels to it, you and I know, bitch. Kenny says, my left stroke just went viral. Right stroke put little baby in a spiral. These lines resemble lines in Muhammad Ali's I am the greatest poem.

Quote, this kid's got a left, this kid's got a right. If he hits you once, you asleep for the night. Like Ali, Kenny seems to be boasting that his left and right punches have knocked his rival down and left him withering on the mat. Meanwhile, Kenny relishes the fact that a video recording of the knockout has become a viral sensation on the internet. We also realize that Kenny seems to have snuck in another double entendre about sex. In this alternate reading, the word stroke refers to a single thrust during intercourse. Hence, Kenny seems to be boasting that two thrusts are all it takes for him to make a woman climax and leave her withering on the bed.

To top things off, Kenny also relishes in the fact that his leaked sex tape is now a viral sensation on the internet. This double entendre continues the motif of Kenny blurring the lines between violence and sex. We last noted this motif on the hook for the track element. If I got to slap a pussy-ass N-word, I'm going to make it look sexy. If I go hard on a bitch, I'm going to make it look sexy. Here in Humble, we see that Kenny intends to use violence and sex to knock others down in order to place himself high above them. Kenny continues to explore this up versus down motif by saying,

Soprano C, we like to keep it on a high note. The soprano voice is the highest of all singing voices in Western music. The high pitch of this voice naturally lends itself to volume and dominance. These traits allow the soprano voice to be distinguished above lower voices. By placing himself in the soprano role, Kenny is asserting that his voice is at the top, and is thus the voice people should listen to. not the lowly voices of his rivals he's knocked down,

or the submissive women he dominates sexually. Kenny then ties the whole verse together saying, It's levels to it, you and I know, bitch be humble. At first, referring to levels seems to be a clever way to acknowledge all the double entendres he's worked into this verse, but we also recognize the more potent thematic meaning, which is differing levels of intrinsic human worth, coming off the heels of a verse dedicated entirely to raising himself up,

While putting others down, Kenny clearly feels that the men and women he subjugated should simply accept their place at the bottom of the dominance hierarchy and likewise respect his place at the top. Of course, the hook for humble finds Kenny reciting a forward refrain, sit down, be humble. Within the context of damn, these words seem to be an act of prophecy against those who oppose Kenny. The words are not Kenny's own, but are likely inspired directly from the biblical prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah prophesied against the Israelites of Jerusalem, specifically those in the southern kingdom of Judah, who were under constant threat of invasion by the ruthless Babylonian Empire. The king of Judah and his loyalist prophets were prideful

and overly confident, assuring their citizens that no harm would come to the city. However, Jeremiah prophesied against the Israelites and their king, saying, quote, The Lord says, in this way, I'll ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people refuse to listen to my words. Therefore, hear and give ear. Don't be proud. For Yahweh has spoken. Say to the king and to the queen mother.

Humble yourselves. Sit down. Unquote. This message of humility offended the leaders of Jerusalem, so they arrested Jeremiah, put him on trial, and sentenced him to death. Jeremiah managed to escape execution, and just like he prophesized, eventually witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. Even though Jeremiah was constantly rejected and persecuted by his fellow Israelites, he did not gloat when destruction came upon

those who rejected him. Rather, Jeremiah wept over those who suffered because they did not listen to his message. Within the narrative context of Dam, Jeremiah is an example of someone who chose the way of weakness, someone who loved their enemies. And so if we take this wide-lens view, we can see why Kendrick might have drawn on Jeremiah's story for Humble's refrain. Like the parable told on blood, Jeremiah, like Kendrick, like Jesus himself, was harmed due to an act of kindness. However, unlike Jeremiah, the character Kung Fu Kenny is not moved to tears, nor does he forgive those who refuse to listen to him. Rather, Kenny gloats, and as evident in verse one, is taking pleasure and the prospect of his enemy's misfortune as a result of not humbling themselves.

In this way, Kenny resembles not Jeremiah, but the prophet Jonah. Like we discussed on our previous episode, Jonah eventually answered God's call after his initial refusal, only to spread his own perverse and bitter version of God's message because he was still not able to truly forgive his enemies. The refrained sit down, be humble, functions in the same way as Jonah's vindictive attitude. It technically spreads the word of God, but that message is twisted and skewed in the hands of a prophet who is still seeking revenge against his enemies. This idea is clearly expressed in the secondary refrain heard in Humble's hook, hold up little bitch. When Humble first debuted in the weeks leading up to Damn, many fans speculated that the hook was an attack aimed at Big Sean. As evidence, fans pointed to Big Sean's use of the ad lib, Little Bitch, as a response to his haters.

We should recall that on the Hart Part 4, Kenny called one of his rivals a scared little bitch, which many also thought was a Big Sean diss. It's certainly plausible that Big Sean and perhaps all of Kenny's rap rivals are one target for Humble's chorus, especially within the context of Dan's narrative. As we heard in our discussion of Element, Kenny sees his rap rivals as threatening his position at the top of the rap hierarchy, but we also have to acknowledge the clever double meaning in Humble's Hook. In an interview with Rolling Stone,

Kendrick was asked directly about the meaning behind the track. Specifically, they wondered if Kendrick was talking to himself. Kendrick replied, quote, Definitely, it's the ego. When you look at the song titles on this album, these are all my emotions and all my self-expressions of who I am. That's why I did a son. song like that, where I just don't give a fuck, or I'm telling the listener, you can't fuck with me.

But ultimately, I'm looking in the mirror, unquote. This response supports our theory that like the previous track, Pride, Kenney is simultaneously a prophet who relays God's commandment and a king who refuses to humble himself. He is the prophet Jeremiah conveying God's message, but also the prideful ruler who Jeremiah tells to be humble. This dualistic nature of Humble's message reveals one main purpose of the track, to depict Kenny as a walking contradiction. He joins the countless leaders in history who say one thing but act another. His prophetic words of humility, sit down, be humble, are immediately undermined by his pride, expressed in the ad lib, hold up little bitch.

Indeed, we now recall and understand more than ever the words Rihanna sung back on the song loyalty. It's so hard to be humble. As humble moves into its second birth, Kenny continues his contradictory expressions of humility. We'll dissect this verse along with the rest of the song Humble right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we detailed Humble's first verse as well as the song's refrain. We found Kung Fu Kenny asserting his hierarchical dominance, which he does recklessly at the expense of others. In this way, we found irony in the song's refrain of humility, as Kenny commands others to humble himself yet refuses to do so himself. As we noted, a blatant expression of Kenny's contradictory nature, as he ignorantly and or willfully

misrepresents God's message. As humble continues, so too does Kenny's egotistical boasts. Kenny begins verse two asking, who to N-word thinking that he fronten on Man Man. As discussed during our analysis of DNA, Man Man was a nickname given to Kendrick when he was seven years old. The nickname was chosen by Kendrick's mom after observing how her seven-year-old boy displayed the maturity and disposition of a grown man. Here, the term seems to be used to express Kenny's hypermasculinity. He's a man's man who combatively calls out another man for fronten. Fronten is a shortened form of the phrase putting on a front, which refers to acting inauthentically to impress or deceive others. Of course, it's ironic that Kenny is criticizing someone else for being

fake while he himself feigns humility. Kenny continues, get the fuck off my stage, I'm the sandman. Here Kenny seems to be addressing other rappers who dare to upstage him and use his platform to have their voices heard. Kenny tells them to come down from the stage, so they're standing below him, which is of course another way of saying, sit down. Kenny then names himself Sandman. This title references Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. This famous talent show featured an usher named Sandman, who escorted unpopular acts off stage when they are booed by the crowd. This is why Kenny calls himself Sandman after telling his competition to get off his stage. But we get additional layers of meaning when we explore the origin of the term Sandman itself. The Sandman originally referred to a mythical figure in European folklore who put children to

sleep by sprinkling sand in their eyes. An American slang, putting someone to sleep, can also refer to knocking a person unconscious with a punch to the head. This slang usage inspired the creation of a fictional boxer name Mr. Sand. Sandman, who is featured in a 1984 arcade game called Punch Out. Hence by saying, get the fuck off my stage, I'm the Sandman. Kenny is implying that he'll force other rappers off stage as if they're amateurs at the Apollo. If they refuse to get down, Kenny threatens to put them to sleep or knock them out like a boxer. This could tie back into Kenny's reference to Muhammad Ali at the end of

verse 1, as well as the lines about the severity of his left and right strokes or punches. Next, Kenny says, get the fuck off my dick, that ain't right. I make a play fucking up your whole life. At first glance, these lines seem to be a continuation of threats aimed at Kenny's rivals. In slang, the phrase get off my dick is often used to dismiss a man who's become a nuisance after trying too hard to be associated with a more dominant male. To such men, Kenny threatens to fuck up their whole life. Continuing the run of references made to boxing, Kenny says he'll ruin their life by making a play. Assuming he's talking to his rap rivals, fucking up their whole life would likely involve intentionally destroying their career as if he were an athlete making a dirty play to

intentionally injure their opponent. But we also recognize the clever use of play as in a staged drama, tying into the performance stage reference in the previous line, get the fuck off my stage on the Sandman. Things get even more complex when we realize that, like we saw throughout verse 1, Kenny is again using sexual language to make violent threats. In this reading, saying get the fuck off my dick, is directed towards a woman who Kenny heartlessly pushes away after sex. Taken literally, the line might also imply that Kenny doesn't want the woman to be on top during sex because he believes he, the dominant male, has the right to be on top. As verse 2 continues, Kenny uses this double entendre to transition into an attack on women he deems inauthentic.

fucking sick and tired of the Photoshop. Show me something natural like Afro on Richard Pryor. Show me something natural like ass with some stretch marks. Still a take you down right on your mom crazy. Kenny continues, I'm so fucking sick and tired of the Photoshop. Show me something natural like Afro on Richard Pryor. Show me something natural like ass with some stretch marks. In these lines, Kenny again criticizes others for being fake,

and thus by contrast boast about his own authenticity. He focuses on how women allow themselves to be portrayed in popular media. In particular, Kenny criticizes how these industries try to make women look more attractive by altering their photos in Photoshop. He also criticizes black women who straighten their hair or use extensions so their hair is no longer afro textured. He references comedian Richard Pryor's afro to denote the natural hair texture he prefers. While straightening and extensions had become the dominant hair styles by the latter half of the

20th century, the early 2000 saw the rise of the natural hair movement that encouraged black women to forego using relaxer in favor of natural afro-textured hair. In addition to avoiding hair damage and health complications caused by chemical-based products, many black women have chosen to wear their natural hair as a way to embrace their black identity and free themselves from European standards of beauty. From a cursory listen, many individuals and media publications thought that Kenny's lyrics about natural hair were a positive step for black women. But there are a number of black women who are highly critical of these lyrics. Within days of the track's release, numerous women of color turned to Twitter in various blogs to voice their disapproval. For example,

in the article The False Feminism of Kendrick Lamar's Humble, author Lauren Roseworn said, quote, despite no less than 40 uses of the word bitch, media were quick to dub the track a feminist triumph. However, in requesting an Afro, in yearning for some stretch marks, Lamar is still asking women to fulfill his wants. He's still expecting women to display themselves to him, for him. Broadening our perception of beauty to include afroes and cellulite is just a new set of grounds to appraise women, to anoint some as attractive, and to dismiss others as fake. It's just another way to pit women against each other, while continuing with the assumption that our hearts be only for the validation from men, unquote. The criticism from this article and most others

centered around two main issues. The first issue is that Kendrick is putting down one segment of women in order to uplift another segment. This in turn pits women against one another and ignores the problems created by the male gaze in the first place. The second issue is that Kendrick continues the pattern assigning value to women based on how sexually appealing they are to men. from our detailed analysis of Humble so far, we can see that the issues these women highlighted are consistent with everything we've heard on the track so far. Kenney has repeatedly knocked down others to lift himself up. It's not surprising then to see him tearing down some women to uplift others. Moreover, Kenney has claimed that valuing individuals at different levels of worth

is an inherent feature of society that we all should just accept. For his part, Kenny has repeatedly talked about using sex as a way to put women in their place. This pattern is further solidified here in verse 2, when after demanding to show him natural hair and ass with stretch marks, Kenny asserts that he, quote, Still will take you down right on your mama's couch and polo socks. Take you down here is slang for sex. At the same time, if we take the phrase literally,

and implies that Kenny is trying to bring the woman down in order to display his dominance. while the women who voiced their disapproval over these lines in Humble may have been justified in their criticism, it's also important to note that almost all such posts were written before the full album Damn was released. As such, these critics assume that the lyrics of Humble represent Kendrick's actual views on women. Just like Geraldo Rivera criticizing All Right, or Azalea Banks and Kid Cuddy criticizing the Black or the Berry, the women who criticize Humble judge Kendrick's character without taking the time to understand, understand its lyrics within their narrative context. Having invested the time to do exactly that, we can deduce that these lyrics from Humble are the words of Kung Fu Kenny, an alternate version

of Kendrick, who has abandoned his prophetic calling and chosen to follow his own intuition in the pursuit of sex, money, and murder. Kendrick chose to adopt this fictional alter ego in order to expose societal evil by fully manifesting the destructive tendencies that exist in humans, tendencies that are especially destructive when they are acted upon by men at the expense of women. At the same time, Kendrick seems to have baited critics into revealing just how quick we are to abandon our leaders, something he revealed as far back as to Pimp a Butterfly's mortal man, and also displayed through the parable of blood. Anyhow, we digress. Let's now jump back into Humble's second verse. As you listen, notice the way each line ends with the word A. As we pointed out, this is the great Poupon, that A V young, that TED Talk, hey, watch my soul speak.

As we pointed out, each line in this section ends with Kenny saying A. As you remember, this is the same flow we heard earlier on the track element. I'm allergic to a bitch nigger, A, and imaginary rich nigger, A, seven figures hold that slim than my bitch figure, A, going digital and physical. Given that element was all about making violence look sexy, and makes sense that Kenny would adopt the same flow on humble, as it repeatedly boasts about using violence and sex to dominate men and women. Kenny begins by saying, This shit way too crazy. You do not amaze me. I blew cool from AC. Obama just paged me.

Here, Kenny claims while others are not impressive, he's as cool as an air conditioner. To prove this, he points to the fact that President Barack Obama just paged him. The real life, Kendrick Lamar does have a relationship with Obama. In late 2015, when Obama was still in office, an interview with People magazine revealed that the track, how much a dollar cost from to pimp a butterfly, was Obama's favorite song of the year. At the same time, President Obama invited Kendrick to meet him at the Oval Office of the White House, something documented in a video released by Kendrick's record label, TDE. I look where I met today and realized that most of my success is owed to the mentors that was

in my life. I sat down with President Barack Obama and shared the same views. Topics concerning the inner cities. the problem, the solutions, and furthermore embracing the youth, both being aware of their mentoring saves lives. Sometimes I reflect and think back where would I be if I didn't had a presence of an older acquaintance telling me what's right and what's wrong, telling me the pros and kinds of every move I was about to make. Support my brother's keeper by being a mentor in real life. Rather than using the meeting with Obama to exalt himself, the real life

Kendrick turned the moment into a public service announcement, calling upon men to teach younger boys how to choose between right and wrong through a mentorship program called my brother's keeper. However, here in Humble, the fictional Kung Fu Kenny turns the meeting with Obama into an act of superiority, a cause for pride. Kenny goes on to say, I don't fabricate it, most of y'all be faken, I stay modest about it, she elaborate it. Here Kenny asserts that he is truthful and modest, two claims that are laughable given how this track has been a showcase of false humility. Worse still, Kendrick uses the pronoun she to insinuate that an unnamed woman is elaborating details of her story and even fabricating parts of it.

Such character assassination is a common defense tactic used by men against women who have made allegations of sexual misconduct. By using the same tactic, Kenny seems to be displaying how pride and ego can often lead to injustice. Kenny then says, this that Grey Poupon, that Avion, that Ted Talk. Here, Kenny associates himself with three popular brands that are known to distinguish the wealthy from the poor, again used to elevate Kenny's own status in comparison to his rivals. Gray Poupon is a brand of Dijon mustard that contains white wine and was originally crafted in Dijon, France. For decades, Grey Poupon has been a popular brand for rappers to reference when telling their rags to Rich's story.

Here's Jay-Z doing just that in his 1996 track, Cashmere Thoughts. I got the Great Poupon you've been worn because all people turned well done for late me young. Grey Poupon became a famous commodity in the United States during the 1980s. This was largely due to a series of commercials that featured two men sharing Great Poupon as they each rode in the back of a world's voice. Finer pleasures. Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?

But of course. Grey Poupon, one of life's finer pleasures. The advertising campaign became iconic and inspired numerous parodies, including a scene in the Humble Music Video. The ads were also very effective in associating Great Poupon with wealth. By 1992, a study on consumption habits across various income levels found that using Grey Poupon was the most accurate predictor of whether a person was in a high-income bracket,

with over 62% of Grey Pupon consumers being classified as high income. them. Similarly, Avion is one of the most expensive brands of bottled water that is widely available. Like Grey Pupon, Avion's marketing strategy targeted the wealthy and influential. Their tactics included delivering free bottles of Avion to the homes of celebrities, so paparazzi would photograph them drinking Avion. And so ironically, in the case of both Grey Poupon and Avion, their association with the wealthy seems to have less to do with the quality of product, and more to do with crafty marketing campaigns that targeted the pride of those who use luxury products as an expression of their class status. Of course, we find Kenny on Humble doing just that,

elevating himself above others through an association with luxury. Kenny then compares his music to TED Talks, a lecture series given by influential individuals to promote themselves and their ideas to a predominantly educated upper class audience. Again, like his reference to Grey Poupon and Avion, Kenny is raising himself above his competition by associating himself with the cultural elite. As Humble continues, the competition Kenny is comparing himself to comes into focus. Kendra continues by saying, watch my soul speak, you let the meds talk. Here, Kenny criticizes rappers who rely on drugs in order to find creative inspiration, or at least promote that notion in their music. In contrast, Kenny asserts that he speaks from

his soul, which implies authenticity and true skill. While it's admirable that Kenny came out of Compton and is able to live a drug-free life, this line seems to be another case where Kenny is putting down others in order to lift himself up. Continuing the theme of being under the influence, Kenny ends verse 2 by saying, If I kill a N-word, it won't be the alcohol. I'm the realist N-word after all. Kenny asserts that if he ever kills another black man, he's not going to blame it on the alcohol.

The implication here is that Kenny has no inhibitions about committing murder and thus doesn't need liquid courage to take another life of a black man. Rather, Kenny suggests that killing comes natural to him because he's the realist N-word. Throughout Dam, we've heard Kenny assert that he's the realist N-word. We discussed that throughout the history of hip-hop, calling someone a real N-word is a common way to distinguish a man as being worthy of great honor and respect. On Yaw, Kenny claimed that he'd been diagnosed with real N-word conditions, which were reinterpreted to mean that his environment

had preconditioned him to find his worth in the pursuit of sex, money, and murder. Fittingly, the first verse of Humble consists of Kenny boasting about how much sex and money he has. This final line then features Kenny boasting that his ability to commit murder makes him the realest N-word, completing the unholy trinity of sex, money, and murder. If it wasn't clear thus far, any hope we had for Kenny turning the corner after the revelation at the end of pride has now all but evaporated. Kenny has completely reverted back to the self-serving intuition-following character, who fully embraces the real N-word conditions he's diagnosed with, using his pride to step on

others in order to stand above them. Conclusions. Humble is a cleverly constructed song that functions in two ways depending on the context in which it's heard. As a standalone single, Humble joins the legion of commercially successful hip-hop songs wherein the MC boasts about wealth, women, and murder, while exalting himself above others by putting others down. As Kendrick's most commercially successful single to date, it would seem that this mentality is largely accepted, expected, and perhaps even applauded by mainstream audiences. But as we already touched on briefly, Humble is much more complex when viewed within the narrative of Dam. In terms of progressing the album's narrative, Humble is a regression from the progress made on pride, a song in which Kenny confessed

his faults and his contribution to the imperfect world we live in. Like the prophet Jonah, humble finds Kenny distorting God's message of humility, showing no compassion to his enemies, and instead using his prophetic words to elevate himself above his rivals. It portrays Kenny as both a contradiction and a hypocrite, advancing his own pride directly after a song that acknowledges imperfections. In this way, we recognize that Kendrick cleverly places humble directly after the song Pride, in order to display how humility and pride sit on opposing ends of a double-sided scale.

When one goes up, the other goes down. This idea is actually central throughout the Bible, and like we've discovered many times this season, this biblical concept is likely where Kendrick found at least some inspiration. Specifically, the word pride is often used in the Bible to describe individuals or societies who exalt themselves in order to preserve their own lives at the expense of the lives of others. In contrast, the Bible uses the word humble to describe individuals who lower themselves and take on the characteristics of the ground. On the surface, like the idea of weakness, might seem that becoming like the ground would lead to a passive existence of being walked on by others.

However, the biblical authors observe how the ground absorbs nutrients from dead plants and animals, and uses these nutrients to bring forth new plant life and keep existing plants alive. Likewise, the biblical authors claim that when humans humble themselves, they're able to absorb the decay that plagues their society and find ways to bring about life out of death. Seeing how the dichotomous choice between pride and humility is central in almost every major biblical narrative, it's fitting that the tracks Pride and Humble are at the very center of Dam's track list, occupying track 7 and 8 out of the 14 total tracks. Ironically, the song Pride displays Kenny's humility, while the song Humble displays Kenny's

pride, showing just how backwards our protagonist's current understanding of these concepts are. Likewise, given the commercial appeal of Humble, we also find irony in the success of a song that expresses false humility, which of course brings into question our own understanding of such concepts, especially given the currency we've historically placed on pride in American society. The way Kendrick is able to simultaneously exemplify and critique society at large will actually become even more blatant as Dan continues. Wake up in the morning think about money, kick your feet up, watch you a comedy,

take a shit then roast some weed up, go hit you a lick, go fuck on the bitch, don't go to work Of course, this haunting, hypnotic expose is Lust. A song will examine note by note, line by line. Next time on Dysect. Dysect is produced by me for Spotify Studios. Today's episode was written by Femi Olu Tade and me. Song Recreations by Andrew Atwood. Audio editing by Eric Bass and me.

Original theme music by Birocratic. You can now stream all of the original Dicect theme theme. 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 Dysc merchandise at Dysectpodcast.com. Okay, thanks for listening, everyone. I'll talk to you next episode.