For Free?, Kendrik Lamar
Double entendres abound in this song.The pimp, the butterfly, the trick, the figure of Lucy that Lamar discusses throughout the album, the subjugation of America, and his lover are all symbols for those who criticize Lamar's work, as are any other consumers of people who are devoured by the corporate takeover of hip-hop. Kendrick, who is here on behalf of his forefathers, has forgotten that America, a.k.a. Lucy, brought her to where she is. Slavery of African Americans contributed to this nation's riches. Due to Kendrick's knowledge of the music he is rapping over, his stanza is delivered in a slam poet-like manner.
It's genuine jazz.
1. "Fuck you, motherfucker, you a hoe-ass nigga
I don't know why you tryna go big, nigga you ain't shit"
“For Free” opens with a monologue from a stereotypical gold digger deriding Kendrick for his lack of talent/originality/power/money-give-to-her. The rest of the track is Kendrick’s response. The woman is symbolic of America and Kendrick of black people.
2. "This dick ain't free
You lookin' at me like it ain't a receipt"
Kendrick's genitalia stands for his strength, dignity, and readiness to engage in intimate relationships.
Kendrick is saying "no more" by bringing attention to the reality that black people have been badly oppressed by America for a very long time, depriving them of their power and dignity.
3. "Like I never made end's meet, eatin' your leftovers and raw meat"
Kendrik refers fairly frequently to the notion of constantly feeling opressed, and treated as barely a human, as someone lesser than the white population of America. He refers to eating leftovers and raw meat as referemce to both unequal treatment in general, but also, and more importantly, a highly unequal juridicial treatment, as African Americans were given a much harsher treatment in prison.
4. "Livin' in captivity raised my cap salary
Celery, tellin' me green is all I need
Evidently all I seen was Spam and raw sardines"
In these lines, "Livin' in captivity is a double entendre, as it refers both literally to having a much higher rate of imprisonment as an African American, but furthermore to the fear of going outside due to the possibility of facing a highly unequal and unjustified court treatment. The next two lines refers to the time were the American police force would consistently plant drugs at scenes involving innocent African Americans, as an excuse to be brought to jail for trial.
5. "More divorce courts and portion
My check with less endorsement left me dormant"
These lines are powerful as they bring to light the false hope the court gave towards African Ameican. The court promised equal rights towards abortion rights and child care, yet continued to render it much more difficult both in a juridical manner and a monetary manner to deal with court issued such as divorces.
1. “We were not brought here to be made citizens. We were brought here against our will. We were not brought here to enjoy the constitutional gifts that they speak so beautifully about.”
— Malcolm X, 13th
This quote exposes the harsh reality many African Americans are afraid to shed light upon, regarding the oppression they endure in their day to day lives. Sepcifically, how they fail to be give the freedom they were once promised in the United States.
13th, Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay's powerful Netflix documentary, 13th, sheds light on an inhumane clause in the 13th amendment of the United States constitution that essentially legalizes slavery through criminalization.
2. “In many ways, the so-called war on drugs was a war on communities of color, a war on black communities, a war on latino communities.”
— Angela Davis, 13th
The film discusses how the police force of the United States was utilizing drug use as an excuse to falsely accuse and imprison people of color. This state level of corrution directly caused the rate of conviction of the African American community to soar, and although many fear to face this fact, this state level of corruption is something we still see in today's America.
3. “The United States is home to 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners. Think about that.”
— Barack Obama, 13th
This quote by president Obama himself is just one of the terrifyingly true facts present in DuVernay's documentary. This statistic only sheds more light on the ever-growing issue that unfair conviction is. In a society with 'equal rights' and 'fair treatment', the African American community is subjected to treatment that can only be referred to as inhumane, yet the majority of the government chooses not to shed light on this fact, knowing the consequences it may have, and thankfully has been having on them.
4. “The Bureau of Justice reported that one in three young black males is expected to go to jail or prison during his lifetime".
— Bryan Stevenson, 13th
Although the number itself, one in three, is already a truly shocking statistic, the most horrifying part of this quote is the use of the word 'expected'. As this has been an issue present in the United States for such a long time, it has become a generalized fact that African Americans are much more likely to experience time in prison throughout their lives and white Americans. Evidently, this ties back to the idea of unfair convictions, as white individuals are treated much more fairlt by the American justice system than people of color.
5. “So many aspects of the old Jim Crow are suddenly legal again once you’ve been branded a felon. And so it seems that in America we haven’t so much ended racial caste, but simply redesigned it.”
— Michelle Alexander, 13th
In the United States, it seems that people of color have equal rights, up until the moment where the criminal justice system kicks in. The documentary discusses this, bringing to light how all signs of fair treatment seem to dissapear once an African American has been branded a 'criminal', criminal being in quotations, as more often than not arrests and accusations against an African American will be tampered with or unjustified.
