In order to understand the connection between Kendrick Lamar’s album and the blues tradition, I first define what mental health is and what it means to Black people historically. In this paper, I argue that the blues tradition is the primary entity that catered to Black people’s mental health and ability to survive the oppression that they faced in post-slavery America. In a country that exploits, ostracizes, and oppresses people of color through systemic racism, Kendrick Lamar’s lyrical expression of personal heroic tragedy is an inspiration to process self-love while combating larger racial issues in order to truly belong in America. According to the blues tradition, the personal testimony of heroic tragedy is used to find a sense of belonging or, as noted Black novelist Ralph Ellison explained, it is “an autobiographical chronicle of personal catastrophe expressed lyrically” (Ellison 1992 :62). In keeping with the Black Lives Matter movement, the album strives to combat issues plaguing the mental health of people of color, specifically Black men, regarding the cycle of gang violence and the power of self-actualization as exhibited in the rural and classic blues era. Lamar falls down from the post as he finishes his monologue that he was saying that the beginning of the video and then ending with him smiling.Winner of the 2017 Lise Waxer NECSEM Prizeĭuring the era of the Black Lives Matter movement, which strives to combat and expose the structural and personal oppressions of racism that impact the mental health of people of color, Kendrick Lamar released his message of self-love in his 2015 album, To Pimp A Butterfly (henceforth T P AB ). The video ends with Lamar standing on top of a lamppost as a police officer shoots him down. Lamar then flies through California while his crew throws out money and dancers perform in the streets. While police and destruction flood the streets as the music starts with Lamar rapping a new verse along with members of Black Hippy in a car being carried by four police officers. The video opens with shots of life in a neighborhood of Los Angeles, then shows a young African-American man being seen lying on the ground while Lamar is speaking in a voice-over. The song also received four Grammy nominations, only winning two latter including "Best Rap Song". The song's accompanying music video premiered on the same day which has received critical acclaim and over 54 million views on YouTube. The song was released to radio stations as the album's fourth single on June 30, 2015. The song features uncredited vocals from the song's co-producer Pharrell Williams during the chorus. Duckworth, Mark Spears, Pharrell WilliamsĪlright is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, taken from his third album To Pimp a Butterfly. Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope
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