BlackedOut
Disclaimer: I had another post scheduled for today but I felt like writing something else to lighten my mood.
These thoughts were triggered by the genius of Mr. Lamar…
Never in my life have I ever felt like a groupie…but for Kendrick Lamar’s mind…I fangirl. I lost count of how many times I’ve listened to Watch The Party Die…and every time I listen…my head nods on its own and my pineal gland tingles. People entertaining the conversation of his eLDeR…who leaned his way out of the position…being more deserving of taking the Super Bowl stage is crazy to me. The content of their catalogs spoke and the substance outweighed the star power. You can always tell a soul put here by God, to change the course of the collective consciousness, by the message their work promotes. And Kendrick has been in his ‘No child left behind’ era for a while. The real version though, not the politiciz…yea. This single didn’t feel like a ‘round 2’ at all. It felt more like a father sitting his kids down to explain why he just spanked them.
The “party” dying symbolizes putting an end to being more focused on personas than personal development. Which is what we need. Kendrick literally gave guidance on how to navigate life, brought attention to those rapping the opposite, showed it’s okay for a man to be vulnerable and admit his own faults..all while acknowledging that God is the only one we can go to with our desires to better than who we are in this moment. He did all that in 5 minutes. The people he’s being compared to have had decades to do that but I can’t even name 1 song in their catalogue intentionally written to elevate the minds of our younger generations like that. And now one of our ‘greats’ is showing us what it looks like when eLDeRs refuse to pass the torch to someone who realizes that the light is actually meant to shine on those coming behind us. Yikes.
I feel like Kendrick is doing what Tupac was sent here to do…but failed to after he started believing too much in the hype of his persona. The distractions that come to a man in that kind of position are all around. Kendrick references his struggles with that pressure while showing it’s still possible to stay true to your purpose while fighting to free yourself from what weakens you. That’s the message that needs to be pushed on a world wide state. The foundation of Kendrick’s music is growth. Who else, with an influence as big as his, has lyrics speaking to that? Not the man singing his ‘shoulda woulda coulda’s’ on the corner…of a couch. I’ve heard so many ‘elders’ speak about when music was music. I’m grateful that I’m emotionally aware enough to recognize a living legend is pushing his pen to bring that feeling full circle. I just wish we could get Cole to hop back on his bike and meet us at the party across the street from the one we’re watching die.
Love,
Choosy
