From “Keisha’s Song (Her Pain)” on Section 80 to the heartfelt perspectives shared on “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst”, there is a clamour now about which diary pages Lamar will pull to life. There is a lore that surrounds the story-led songs encased in Kendrick Lamar albums. It is a rallying call for a generation exhausted by police brutality, who, in “Alright”, have found an anthem for freedom to guide their march. When black protests spill out onto the streets, as they have done in 2020 with the killing of George Floyd, “Alright” is often the anthem that gives comfort to the frustrated and the grief-stricken. It was a memo to the world watching, a showcasing of the conditions inflicted on African-American communities past and present.īut the song was truly placed into the legacy of a generation following the protests against police brutality that surfaced in 2014, after the killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson a year before the song was released, and prevailed throughout the following years with the killings of further black Americans at the hands of the police. When performed at the 58th Grammys he arrived on stage shuffling in a chain gang from a prison cell, limbs bound. Throughout, he purges the personal and generational traumas delivered to black communities by police brutality and systemic racism and finds a resolute optimism in a future brighter than the present moment. That tone of liberation is captured on “Alright”, an anthemic rallying call that became a symbol for black protest across the world. Then freeze that verse when we see dollar signs.” ‘Untitled 02 | ’ (From Untitled Unmastered) “ Park the car, then we start rhymin', ya bish,” he says, “The only thing we had to free our mind. While they weigh up home invasions and a dream of money trees to diffuse their financial pressures, the mirage and fantasies of farfetched rap dreams glint vaguely in the distance. The undercurrent that pulls its tide is the unrelenting yearn for income, the hunger to go beyond their circumstances, a fervour that, when misdirected, can foster the kind of reckless spirit that sees young men risk their lives and freedom. Throughout, Lamar and Jay Rock glance back and forth between the perils of poverty and the instant rewards, yet high risks of life on the streets. With production from DJ Dahi it sees Lamar document the faint imaginings he and friends had growing up of a life beyond the confines of their neighbourhood. Armed with a stellar verse from TDE stablemate Jay Rock, the song is a wider glance at the relentless pursuit of the American Dream. On an album revered as one of the finest rap records of its era, “Money Trees” is among its crown jewels. “Dreams of living life like rappers do,” Lamar slurs on “Money Trees”, another standout moment from Good Kid, MAAD City. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
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January 2023
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