Kendrick and His DNA

On April 14, 2017, Kendrick Lamar released his new album “Damn” which has taken the music charts head on.  This album features the song “DNA” which presents themes pertaining the enlightenment of one’s self and what hip hop is.  The first bridge of the song features an excerpt from Geraldo Rivera who said in a 2015 FOX News segment that “This is why I say that hip hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years” while Kendrick raps the lines “I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA// I live a better life, I'm rollin' several dice, fuck your life// I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA// I live a better, fuck your life// 5, 4, 3, 2, 1// This is my heritage, all I'm inheritin'// Money and power, the mecca of marriages.”  The quote from Rivera, which was said as a direct response to Kendrick’s 2015 album, highlights the overwhelming sense felt by individuals such as Rivera whom assume ideas about a group of individuals without understanding the very thing that they are commenting on.  To say that hip hop is more damaging then the oppression of an entire race not only belittles racial equity movements, but it also belittles an entire genre of music that emerged as a response to racial inequity.   Kendrick addresses this in DNA by asserting his own autonomy and power that he feels in himself and his work. Rather than allow comments from people such as Rivera go unchallenged, Kendrick shines full light on the comment and all it implies and then shows why such comments are wrong as noticed in the lyrics “This is my heritage, all I;m inheritin’// Money and Power, the Mecca of marriages.”  The earlier lines of “I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA” assert that his work in the hip hop genre comes from a place within himself characterized by loyalty and royalty meaning that it cannot bring about harmful change.  In this song, Kendrick essentially says that the work he does is one of greatness and that Rivera is ignorant in his own racist ideologies.