Author: benson.481

Text Review Assignment: Good Kid m.A.A.d. City

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Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city [2 CD Deluxe Edition][Explicit][New Vers - Amazon.com Music

 

Kendrick Lamar’s album Good Kid, m.A.A.d City (GKMC) Perfectly toes the line of social awareness and classic rap album. On one side it is a biography of Kendricks’s young life in Compton CA and all the violence, fears, and pain that comes with living in this area. On the other side there are “straightforward rap thrills — dazzling lyrical virtuosity, slick quotables, pulverizing beats, star turns from guest rappers — directly to its narrative” (Greene, “Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city,”). Due to this mixture of awareness and pop culture, there are many people willing to call GKMC a classic album even though it was released just 11 years ago.

In the fourth song on the album, Lamar sings about gangbanging with his friends. However, the line that stands out the most is… “really, I’m a peacemaker, but I’m with the homies right now,” (Lamar “The Art of Peer Pressure”). In these two bars Kendrick Lamar show how he does not feel as though he fits in with his community but when he is with his friends, he ends up succumbing to his surroundings and committing crimes for fun. Lamar is blaming peer pressure for his actions, by doing this he does not need to blame his environment which was created from years of racist housing practices such as redlining.

Before Famous: Kendrick Lamar in Compton as K.Dot [ pic ] : r/KendrickLamar

“The Art of Peer Pressure” is the first song to show the struggles that Kendrick Lamar went through as a kid in Compton. The next song that reflects the idea of peer pressure and choices is titled “good Kid”. In “good Kid” Lamar talks about how he was getting pressured to join the Bloods or Crips. This is shown in the lyrics “But what am I ‘posed to do when the topic is red or blue and you understand that I ain’t” (Lamar “good Kid”). While he remains steadfast and refuses to join a gang he is still viewed as a gang member by the police. Lamar talks about this discrimination at the end of the second verse where he says

“And you ask: “Lift up your shirt,” because you wonder if a tattoo

Of affiliation can make it a pleasure to put me through

Gang files, but that don’t matter because the matter is racial profile

I heard ‘em chatter: “he’s prob’ly young, but I know that he’s down step on his neck as hard as your bullet-proof vest

He don’t mind, he know we’ll never respect

The good Kid m.A.A.d. City.””

Despite not having any gang affiliation Kendrick Lamar is still targeted by the police for the simple fact that he is a black kid in Compton.

Even though only two songs could be reflected upon in this essay every song on the album has similar tones of injustice and social awareness. Due to his environment, Kendrick Lamar was forced to realize the injustices in the world. This realization has shaped his music and can be seen and heard across his entire discography.

 

Greene, Jason. “Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city.” Pitchfork, 23 October 2012, https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17253-good-kid-maad-city.

Lamar, Kendrick. “good Kid.” Genius, https://genius.com/search?q=good%20kid

Lamar, Kendrick. “The Art of Peer Pressure.” Genius, http://rapgenius.com/Kendrick-lamar-the-art-of-peer-pressure-lyrics.

Voorhees, Andrew. “Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’-an Academic Analysis.” Medium, Medium, 12 Jan. 2018, https://medium.com/@andrew.voorhees92/kendrick-lamars-good-kid-m-a-a-d-city-an-academic-analysis-71bfe86ffdb9.

 

Diary of Systematic Injustices Showcase

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Back at the start of October the LAIST ran an article about a black family owned beach resort in Manhattan Beach, California that was seized by the city under eminent domain. The Bruce’s bought the land back in 1912 and over the following years “It (…) expanded to include a bathhouse, kitchen and large dance floor.” (Meares Para. 10) with these additions came more and more black families to the area. This in turn created a little safe space on Manhattan Beach for black families to enjoy. However, in the 1920s a southern California was experiencing a real estate boom, and a real estate agent named George Lindsey wanted to take advantage of this. He learned that there was a loophole in the state’s 1909 Park and Playground Act. According to the act “When the public interest or convenience requires, the legislative body may acquire by condemnation land situated in the city for improvements.” (CA Code Section 38010) with this and the ever growing presence of the KKK George was able to persuade the city to buy the Bruce’s property for dirt cheap. Dirt cheap in the 1920s was $14,500 which is $105,500 less than what the Bruce’s thought they were owed. $14,500 is equivalent to $232,602 today. On top of this theft, the land is now valued at over $75 million.         BRUCE'S BEACH                    (The Bruce’s Property as of April 19, 2021. Source: Getty Images)

 

Brandford, one of the family members went on to say “Let’s look at the Gettys. Let’s look at the Rockefellers. Let’s look at the Fords. Let’s look at the Bushes. Let’s look at the Kennedys. That’s what generational wealth could look like for the Bruce family.” (Staff Para. 10) Due to the KKKs involvement this family has lost tens of millions of dollars in land value alone, no one can begin to imagine what they could have done with this land to raise its value. However, now that it is back in the hands of a black family it will probably be valued far less due to biased real estate appraisals. We will only have to wait and see what the family is able to do with their new property.

https://laist.com/news/la-history/history-how-bruces-beach-manhattan-beach-was-stolen-from-the-black-family-that-owned-it-and-how-they-got-it-back-sb-797

https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2016/code-gov/title-4/division-3/part-2/chapter-7/section-38010/

 

Context Presentation – The Story of My Body

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In The Story of my Body by Judith Ortiz Cofer she talks about how the way she looked at herself image changed when she moved from Puerto Rico to America. She touched on 4 major aspects about herself, skin, color, size, and looks. She went into excruciating detail about each of these attributes and how she deemed each of them a flaw because of the way the people around her reacted to them. In this short presentation, I am going to expand on the stories that Ortiz talked about by tieing them into the male side of this coin.

With this coin flip in mind, one will need to remember Ortiz’s stories are based in the mid-1900s when the world was for the most part different than we see it today. Now the first trait I want to touch on is skin color. Back in the 50s and 60s, southern schools were slowly integrating whites with blacks and other minorities. This is shown on page 440 where Ortiz mentions that she is one of 3 minorities and the only Peurto Rican in her school of 2,000. That is a .015% minority enrollment, contrast that to days 95.5% minority enrollment

Context Presentation – Story of My Body

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In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Story of My Body”; she talks about the prejudices and mental effects she experienced as being a Puerto Rican in American during the mid-1900s. She does this by telling 4 short stories about her aspects. These stories touch many different aspects of America from this era. One of which is how the color of her skin made a store owner kick her out due to the fact that he thought she was stealing, on her way out he called out to her saying “You always look dirty” (Cofer 436) this made Ortiz run home and vigorously wash her hands. Another, she talked about her looks compared to American girls. Ortiz would always bring up how skinny she was and wish she had curves much like the American girls at her school. She eventually found a boy that asked her out to the school dance only to have his dad deny it because he “Saw” how the “Spics” (Spanish) lived when he was in, New York and continued to believe the stereotype he thought he saw.

Many people think America has outgrown these Prejudices however I do not think that instead, I think America has learned how to hide them in plain sight. An example of this that I see every now and then is how Mexicans are treated on construction sites. I work in construction and every now and then I overhear someone talking to one of the Mexicans in a very basic and simplified way only to have him respond in perfect English. Another Example we all see from real life are the viral videos of people being called out for judging or harassing people of color (POC) simply based on the person’s looks and how it makes the individual lashing out feel.

Examples like this only prove that the America from Ortiz’s stories is still alive just much more subdued. If people still judge the English capabilities of someone based on the color of their skin or even deciding if they feel safe when they see the looks of a POC walking down the street, then Ortiz’s America is still alive and well.

Citations

Judith Ortiz Cofer. “Story of My Body”