Good Or Shit: Kendrick Lamar

Personally I hate gangster shit. I hate all that street shit that prides itself on bravado instead of kindness, crime instead of a job, delinquency instead of reading a book. I read somewhere recently that respect is a very important 'norm' in gang-culture. But I'm pretty sure that violence and intimidation don't create respect, they create fear and submission. You might say they go hand in hand but I disagree. If I am offering a person some degree of respect because I'm frightened of them, then really I am just submitting, not respecting.  

I was frightened recently by a very large man who spent 18 hours holding my housemate and I practically hostage while he stormed up and down our stairs making phone calls to gangsters, giving them directions to our house, and instructions to wait outside until he called them in to shoot my housemate's dog. At about the 12 hour mark, while he stood on the stairs waving a large knife around, bellowing threats, I made a threat of my own. I said I would call the police. Oh-ho! Isn't that a big no-no in gang-street culture. Not exactly showing the right kind of fear or, as they say in gangster language – respect. He soon forgot about wanting to kill the dog and became obsessed with wanting to kill me. Yay.

I wonder ... should I give this guy a copy of Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City?

It seems we have entered the era of Lamar Love. I challenge anyone to go out there and find me a review that says Good Kid, M.A.A.D City is rubbish (please don't, I hate being wrong). Basically, in a nutshell, Lamar has channelled a sound from the '90s that we all love and have missed dearly throughout the past decade or so where a vacuous hip pop has assaulted us from the radio while an overly intelligent avant garde underground offered an alternative but rarely a sense of humour. And according to everyone in the world, Kendrick Lamar seems to have bridged this gap.

From what I can tell, the way Lamar has achieved this is by not being a try-hard. He is clever but he hasn't tried to be overly clever. It's not going to take you weeks of constant listening to figure out what the hell he's on about while waiting for the tunes to grow on you. He is also 'street' but he hasn't tried to be a vain self aggrandising wanker with no substance. No, everyone is going to enjoy this album from nerdy hip hop heads to those who just enjoy a good beat and a good chorus and little else.

What struck me – as I tried to have compassion for the psychopath who'd had a shit life and was now deriving so much satisfaction from the visible terror of two women and a dog – was Lamar's ability to rise above the bullshit that is life in Compton. He's just a young man who grew up in a lower economic hell hole where a gang-culture stepped in to make up for a lack of access to the perks of the dominant culture. He could have gone down one road, all the way, and never looked backed. It would have been so easy. But he didn't. And he's capable of analysing this and speaking about it in an easily accessible way while leaving out any judgement or glorification. For a personal recounting of life in Compton, it's a fairly objective exploration.

Now Dominant Culture just admit it, you're racist. Do you realise that stereotypes are self-perpetuating? When you prejudice a person/people you trap them. And it takes an enormous amount of courage, strength, and perseverance to rise above the despair, humiliation, and eventual deep seeded anger, that comes from being vilified and alienated. Without encouragement and positive reinforcement of some kind, resilience is a concept very difficult to obtain. We all must take responsibility for our actions, that means that you, the dominant culture, with all your 'us' and 'them' bullshit, must take responsibility too.  

Lamar is lucky, he had a positive influence which he often speaks about - his parents, particularly his 'pops'. When it comes to his music he wants those who can relate to relate, and those who can't, to at least be able to understand the why's and how's. He wants to be that positive influence, to show that there is another way. And I think my favourite part of Good Kid, M.A.A.D city, other than ALL the tracks, is the voiceover of his father saying that anyone can kill someone, that doesn't make you 'real' - “real is responsibility”. Not gang signs in the air, or balling, or dranking, or your guns, cars, drugs, propensity for violence and need to intimidate women and a defenceless animal. No, the only 'real' that sort of shit makes you is a real dickhead.