kendrick lamar
“DAMN” is what I kept repeating the deeper I dove into this man’s discography for the very first time. Sometimes I ask myself “Is this nigga an alien?”. His conceptualization of everyday subjects while adding personal values to the mix, aiding in subtracting the stigmatism placed on the “touchy” topics is genius. “good kid, m.A.A.d city” changed my life. That album takes you on a trip— literally, fuck figuratively. If a shroom was an album? This would be it. “REAL” is a standout track for me. It’s the way the beat hypnotizes you. The way Anna Wise’s angelic harmonies densely fill the pocket, giving the song a sort of galactic feel to it. The message left by his mother Paula at the end. Brilliant. The voice changes are what made me a fan tho. I’d never heard a male rapper (aside from Roman) play w/ their voice the way he does. The keener I listened, the more I realized that the inflections in his voice were similar to mines. I’ve been insecure when it comes to my voice since I hit puberty, which caused it to fluctuate. I felt that I sounded weird. I would cringe hard as fuc* anytime I heard myself in like the back of a video. Once I that realized he was stacking his vocals its like a light switch went off. That’s when “Wedding Cake” came about and I decided that I wanted to take my time w/ this mixtape. I’m very happy that I did because it allotted me time to further experiment. In doing so, I gained more confidence in my abilities, changing my approach for the better. I began to develop a gauge on the potency of my tone, making it easier to switch flows. Listening to him made me wanna read more, too. His vernacular is crazy. I want my content to evoke thought from people and start conversations. To Pimp a Butterfly is a classic, songs like “The Blacker the Berry” themed by black issues caused a lot of controversy. On it, he wittily addressed his views on “black on black” crime. Many didn’t agree with the way he chose to illustrate the idea that basically— we can’t be mad at them for killing us when we’re killing us. That didn’t blow over well and I'm not sure that I agree with those sentiments myself, but as an artist I can appreciate the fact that he didn’t waver in his stance. He just drops music, and lets the people do the rest. I’ll write a line and be like “Nah, I can’t say that.” but people like him make me go “fuck it”. During the writing process, I didn’t know if I wanted to touch on my sexuality just yet, but as time went on I got tired of forcing myself to speak generally. I really don’t give a fuck who thinks what. “I brag diff, I rap staff picks. If I swung that way I could bag a bad bitch.” is a line from my song “Horny” that I contemplated on removing but again, fuck it. I wanna set the precedence of frankness within my the infrastructure of my brand. As time goes on truth will be one of the most valuable forms of currency. “I can’t fake the funk for niggas that i’m realer than” (line from “Kilkenny” by Sa Surreal) , unfortunately. Lamar’s propensity to stitch different ideas together is otherworldly. On his most recent project, the song “Auntie Diaries” where he raps “Faggot. Faggot. Faggot. We ain’t know no better.” was so fucking inspiring to me. He talks about how his perspective on the topic changed once he realized his aunt was a (I hate this fuc*ing word)— “crossdresser”. My flow and use of pitch are heavily inspired by this man and all of his contributions to this art form. He’s who I get compared to the most when letting people hear my music. I could never be mad at it.