Experiencing Poetry

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born on June 17, 1987 in Compton, California. He is known for progressive music styles and a lot of his lyrics touch on social issues and the oppression of minorities.

Truly some of the most memorable moments of my life have been screaming Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics at the top of my lungs without actually knowing the meaning behind it. It is extremely ironic that I rap lyrics like “All my life, I has to fight, Hard times like, yah! Bad trips like, yah!” at the beginning of Alright with such passion while I drive through my safe neighborhood and hope I do not show up late to school. 

Obviously I’ve always liked listening to his music and how it sounded hype, but as I entered high school, I was more conscious of listening to his lyrics and actually understanding what they mean. In his recent album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, he delves into deep topics of his life. There were elements and themes similar to his other albums like oppression and police brutality, but he also reveals much about his own life and therapy. In the album, he talks about struggles in his own life from generational trauma to toxic masculinity to gender identity. In the song Father Time, he raps about his relationship with his father and how he was a gangster. 

Kendrick also takes a more free verse approach to his rapping. He may use the same rhyme for an entire verse or barely rhyme at all. In a lot of his music, he usually does not let the rhyme scheme confine him from the story or message he is trying to convey. He is extremely direct when it comes to his message and will even halt the entire song and stop rapping to say his message. 

A great example of this is when Kendrick stops a pretty upbeat song to cut to a serious speech he made about how America has appropriated words from African culture. At around 2:55 is where song stops.

Now, rapping about problems in the world when you really are not struggling from them is fine I guess, but writing original lyrics about real problems in the world when you yourself don’t face those problems feels extremely wrong. So instead of writing about actual problems like gang violence or oppression that I do not feel qualified to rap about, I am going to try to write a satirical verse about the struggles of living a cushy lifestyle as a student in the suburbs of Troy in Kendrick’s style. I’m very bad at writing poems and being subtle so this is going to be extremely direct and have no complexity whatsoever.

I come from a town of hurt, torture, and pain

where our hopes and dreams are washed away.

My biggest concern in life was my grades; 

And when my daily three course meal would be made

Exhausted and tired, I wake up everyday,

wondering what my “blue ribbon” school has in store for me today.

As we live in our bubble,

As the trials of grades and tests litter our lives,

We think no worse things can give us strife.