Narrative Fidelity in Kendrick Lamar’s “Hood Politics”

Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” was released on short notice in March and sent everyone who likes rap into a frenzy. The only real description from Kendrick to the public about the album before it was released is that it was “unapologetically black.” Upon release of the album, everyone could see why. There are heavy influences of jazz and R&B in the songs on the album and the album as a whole offers a very critical critique of race in America and what it means to be black. But it was done beautifully. Kendrick Lamar has always controlled his own narrative in terms of the persona he is seen through as a rapper, and what it comes back to is that he is from Compton so he is familiar with black stereotypes and gang life, but he is not a gang banger and is unfailingly honest and observant, as he has offered critiques on many different topics since early in his career—beginning more with sexism and masculinity, and now moving heavily into race.

The song “Hood Politics” begins with a voicemail on Kendrick’s phone asking Kendrick to call back. The music then really begins and before too long Kendrick begins the chorus which basically consists of Kendrick saying he has always been at the top and honest while calling out the people around him for being the opposite. He then ends the hook with lines about how they used to carry guns but now 14 years have passed since then “on the dead homies”— so he is swearing on his dead friends that what he is about to say is true. He begins the first verse saying he does not care about rap politics because his friend is really dead, and he cannot do anything about it. Kendrick then reassures himself that he will continue rapping hard and not conforming to rap stereotypes (“Wore no chain in this game”) before continuing to rap about how he became successful by rapping in a way that was true to himself so that is what he will continue doing. Then he basically says that he is cool with everybody so nobody can mess with him.

After the chorus repeats, the second verse gets going with Kendrick getting out of a car to be informed of threats from another neighborhood to which Kendrick responds toughly that they’d be making a mistake to mess with us and it would end up with an ambulance coming slow because they don’t care about black people and there would be cameras there to film the whole thing and reinforce black stereotypes. Kendrick then briefly mentions the LAPD and how they give people “football numbers” (a large number of years in prison) all of the time without a real reason or second thought. Kendrick then goes into a metaphor he extends for a while about “DemoCrips” and “ReBloodicans” which is formed on the basis of them all being opposing groups who share the same colors (republicans and bloods=red, crips and democrats=blue). That idea is introduced with the lines “They tell me it’s a new gang in town/from Compton to Congress” which is very thoughtful and reflects his album cover which depicts some of his Compton friends making crazy poses in front of the white house. Kendrick then extends the political party/gang metaphor strongly saying “The give us guns and drugs, call us thugs/make it they promise to fuck wit you” which is a strong statement that really does point out similarities between the two things, even if they work on very different levels. Then Kendrick continues the metaphor by discussing how the government always screws over black people, like gangs often do, and ends the verse with “Obama say “what it do?’’ which is a reminder that Obama is viewed as black but he is a politician so he will still make things worse, indicating that the political problem is much deeper than race.

The third verse begins with Kendrick talking about how people always want what they can’t have, which is often the past, but that it is just people putting their priorities in the wrong place. He then tells people to not ask him about simple things like his woman or shows, but to ask him about the power he has through his audience to change the world. He then says he and Snoop are the biggest rappers on the West Coast, which is a sentiment that I doubt would be refuted at this point. The verse finishes with talk of more rap politics and discussion of how that doesn’t even matter, but if it did then Kendrick would still be on top of the world because he has the most influence.

In short, Kendrick’s narrative is reliant upon honesty, intelligent observation, and having real and street credibility which he reaffirms throughout this record as he emphasizes where he came from and makes intelligent, gripping observations about the world around him and how it affects others which is presented in a masterful, overly artistic and poetic way. This song is a perfect example of why people listen to Kendrick Lamar and beautifully demonstrates why he has the narrative that he has established for himself, how that narrative is credible, and why he will stick with it as he continues to make music.