"What am I to do when every neighborhood is an obstacle, when two niggas making it out had never sounded logical, three niggas making it out, that's mission impossible, so I never believed the type of performance that I could do, I wasn't jealous cause of the talents they got, I was terrified they'd be the last black boys to fly"
The album good kid, m.A.A.d. city was met with universal praise. Everyone praised Kendrick Lamar's strong lyricism as well as the production from producers who are relatively unknown instead of leaning on Dr. Dre. A large group of people were willing to call it an instant classic. The only person who seemed to dislike the album was Shyne.
The thing is everyone loves this album, that can't be debated. The thing I found silly were the reviews. Alex Macpherson from The Guardian complained about Kendrick's depiction of "downtrodden women." Robert Christgau from MSN called it too dramatic, but praised Dr. Dre for the "atmospheric beats," Dr. Dre was the executive producer, but he didn't produce a single track on the album. The executive producer simply oversees the direction of the project, crediting Dr. Dre is like crediting Dame Dash for the production of Jay Z's Blueprint album. The list goes on and on of people who may or may not have listened to the album. While they were concerned with making some kind of statement about how open they were to black music, they missed the point of the album.
I'll argue that there is no theme good kid, m.A.A.d. city. Instead there's a story. I know people realize there's a story and Kendrick does a great job of presenting the story to people. However, I'd like to point to a specific type of story for the album. There's a type of story known as the coming of age story. These stories depict the transition of a person from adolescence into adulthood. You're probably familiar with plenty of these, stories like Catcher In The Rye, Star Wars Episodes I and IV, and even The Last of Us. The thing about coming of age tales is that they're usually about white people.
Instead Kendrick created a coming of age story, not just for himself, but for many young black men and women. Coming of age stories for the black community rarely come to light. It's a neglected area that people don't touch for some reason. There are plenty of elements to the coming of age story but there's just a few I want to look at. Those are relationships with friends and family, rebellion, the turning point, reflection and acceptance of one's self. There are plenty of other elements that Kendrick touches on but I want to stick to these five.
The relationship with friends and family is one that is important because it shapes what who we become. Throughout the album Kendrick continuously ignores voice mails from his parents even after he told them he'd be right back. Instead Kendrick chooses to chase after Sherane and hang out with his friends. He views his parents as nothing but a nuisance through early bits of the album. He doesn't even bother to call and let them know what's going on in his life. With his dad telling him "Sorry to hear what happened to your homeboy," Kendrick didn't even bother to call him. Instead he follows along with his friends because that is what he views as important. His father loves dominoes and oldies so Kendrick may see his parents too far gone from his current age. Instead choosing to follow along with those in his own age group and fall victim to peer pressure. That leads to the next point.
Rebellion is all over the start of this album. Kendrick admits to simply going along with his friend and breaking into houses despite not feeling good about it. Later he gets high with his friends for the first time. M.A.A.D. is an acronym for My Angels on Angel Dust. The blunt was laced with angel dust and Kendrick goes on later to explain on the track "m.A.A.d. city," that he rarely smokes now because of that. He also shows more negligence towards his parents on that track by mentioning his father wanted him to get a job, only to turn around and stage a robbery. In the song "Swimming Pools," he falls victim to more peer pressure attempting to be popular. He continues to drink more and more despite his conscience telling him otherwise.
The turning point is quick and brief. Kendrick's friends want to bring him along on a drive by to get back at some guys who jumped Kendrick earlier. Kendrick isn't sure about this and all of his friends want to do it, except one. Dave says they should go drop Kendrick off. Dave knows Kendrick is a good kid and this whole series of events has been nothing but peer pressure. Everyone else quickly shuts Dave down and they take Kendrick along to the drive by. Dave gets shot and dies in Kendrick's arms. That's the turning point. This is the point where you can go either way.
On Y.G's album My Krazy Life the same series of events happens. He takes the left road and dives deeper into the gang life. He starts drinking and smoking more because of his friend's death. There's a track on that album called "Really Be," that also features Kendrick Lamar. Y.G. admits to drinking and smoking more to forget lost friends, something Kendrick alluded to on "Swimming Pools," with the line "some people wanna kill their sorrows," Y.G. is one of those people. On the track "Really Be," Y.G. raps "Since I made it, the city hated, wait, where is the love?" which is something that Kendrick also mentioned on "m.A.A.d. city," with the lines "If Pirus and Crips all got along, they'd probably gun me down by the end of this song, seem like the whole city go against me."But, back to the track "Really Be," where Kendrick continues to reflect with lyrics like "They killed Braze, they killed Chad, my big homie Pup, puppy eyes in my face, bruh, and I've really been drinking, muthafucka, I really been smokin', what the fuck? I'm the sober one, man, I'm so stressed out, I can't focus."
Back to his own album on the track(s) "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst," Kendrick takes inventory of his life and reflects on all his past actions. On the third verse of "Sing About Me," Kendrick tries to figure out why he raps as well as questions his own actions. He finds it harder to look at himself in the mirror every day because of his actions and asks God if rapping to send a message will ever help repent for his sins and asks is he even worth repentance. "I'm Dying of Thirst," features Kendrick reflecting on all the dreams he gave up or lost like basketball and starts to wonder if he's going to Hell.
On the track "Real," Kendrick has calmed down and starts to come to a realization about who he is as a person. He's not the person who fell to peer pressure. However he still isn't sure if he loves himself. However he went on to finally love himself as evident by the track "i," where he finally admits to loving himself. In addition to realizing who he is, he also reconciles with his parents or at least comes to the conclusion that they love him and had good advice. His father tells him:
Kenny, I ain't trippin' off them dominoes anymore. Just calling, sorry to hear what happened to your homeboy, but don't learn the hard way like I did, homie. Any nigga can kill a man, that don't make you a real nigga. Real is responsibility. Real is taking care of your motherfucking family. Real is God, nigga. Alright, that's all I wanted to tell you. Just make sure you call us back when you get this message. Here go your momThis is important because it's what Kendrick has been struggling with. Kendrick has been falling to peer pressure and wondering if he was going to hell this whole time. He also ignored his father's advice earlier. Only for his father to give him advice here which backs what he learned after Dave and Dave's brother's deaths. He realizes that maybe his father isn't too far away to offer good advice. His dad hands the phone off to Kendrick's mother who tells him about Top Dawg calling then drops this on him:
"If I don't hear from you by tomorrow, I hope you come back and learn from your mistakes. Come back a man, tell your story to these black and brown kids in Compton. Let 'em know you was just like them, but you still rose from that dark place of violence, becoming a positive person. But when you do make it, give back with your words of encouragement, and that's the best way to give back. To your city... And I love you Kendrick, if I don't hear you knocking on the door you know where I usually leave the key. Alright? Talk to you later, bye."It's important to note that she talks about loving Kendrick and wanting to see him again. Kendrick has been wondering if he deserves to die and go to Hell but his mother assures him that she wants to see him again. Kendrick also asked "what's love if you don't really love yourself?" Only for his mother to assure him that she loves him. She also asks him to come back a man, not the boy he left as. Both of his parents place emphasis on what it means to be a man or as his father put it, a real nigga. The tape ends and it's clear that Kendrick did go back, as a man, and this story is just him looking back at what made him a man.
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You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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