Analyzing What We Say

          Hip hop music was born in an era of racial tension, and political uncertainty, nurtured with the intentions of being the voice of people once unheard. The lyrical aspect of hip hop music was once regarded as the aspect that separated it from other genres. MCs took the time to mold the lyrics in a track, infusing them with various elements of figurative language, aligning the words to tell an untold story, and presenting it to the world with innovative instrumentals that relayed an intended message. Nowadays, if the beat isn't banging, no one is listening to it. Nine times out of ten, we find ourselves listening to music that we only know the hook to. Or the song is so pathetic that we just make loud obscene noises while doing the Beef It Up and violently shaking our heads in awkward directions.     

          I personally feel like I can't talk lyrical contributions in hip hop today without talking about controversially the best lyrical artist out right now. Kendrick Lamar. Out of all his songs, I have to discuss "Poetic Justice." He took a sensual Janet Jackson sample and turned it into a tale of the dangerous side of love. I find this song to be such a great representation of Kendrick's musical genius because many samples have been done using this particular Janet Jackson song, most notably Twista's "Wetter". Now, I have nothing bad to say about Twista's use of the instrumentals, but when Kendrick picked it up and used Janet's vocals to compliment his rapping, I felt like I was having a turnaround moment with hip hop music.

           Above I have provided the video to Kendrick Lamar’s “Poetic justice.” The video really helps make sense of the actual song and better explains Kendrick’s writing style.

           When you look up the term Poetic Justice, you find that it is a literary device in which virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own conduct. The lyrics below show the pure genius in Kendrick’s use of extensive figurative language in his music. I will add my two cents in parenthesis.

If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?

(I believe the dark room is his past and where he comes from while he is the flower. )
I mean you need to hear this
Love is not just a verb, it's you looking in the mirror
Love is not just a verb, it's you looking for it, maybe

(He is telling us that love is more complicated than being as simple as a verb. It’s like he is saying that although love is a four-letter word, it embodies many meanings as well as many aspects.)
Call me crazy, We can both be insane
A fatal attraction is common
And what we have common is pain

(These lines suggest that it is easy to fall in love with someone that seems like they get it, but is it really that good of a relationship?)
I mean you need to hear this
Love is not just a verb and I can see power steering
Sex drive when you swerve, I want that interference
It's coherent, I can hear it, mmhmm
That's your heartbeat
It either caught me or it called me, mmhmm

(These lines suggest the attraction of two people be it predestined or coincidental.)
Read slow and you'll find gold mines in these lines
Sincerely, yours truly
And right before you go blind
(A lot of time people like to say that “love is blind.” This last line mimics that old saying by bringing the entire meaning of the song together. It’s saying that you have to listen and pay attention to the relationships that seem to be engulfed in love, because sometimes love has nothing to do with it, and it just becomes a fatal attraction. )

Lyrics taken from rapgenius.com

Video courtesy of youtube.com