The Duality in Kendrick’s DNA
I love my Norton Anthology of William Shakespeare, 2nd Edition. This big red tome is filled with everything the bard wrote, plus tons of introductions, commentaries, arguments, and thoughts regarding those works. It’s amazing how much thought, work, and words have been written about one man’s writing.
I have this dream that one day they’ll be selling Norton Anthologies for rap lyrics. Every artist gets their own mega tome full of breakdowns, discussions, and commentary over every verse and hook from all of their work. There’d be a headphone jack where you can plug yourself in and listen as you read. Basically Genius, but with more oomph.
The first one I’d every buy would be the Norton Anthology of Kendrick Lamar.
It may seem like a stretch to compare the work of Shakespeare to rappers, but the rap I listen to is full of artists who deliver incredible wordplay, brutal social commentary, and magnificent prose mixed in with sex puns on par with Shakespeare’s dirty mind.
The fact of the matter is the best rappers put as much work into their writing as any novelist or playwright, playing with language to draw attention to themes, ideas, desires, and goals.
And Kendrick Lamar is the best rapper.
He’s aggressive, assertive, upsetting, and confrontational, yet hopeful, loving, and passionate. His potent phrases are always startling, intentionally so. He will not let you rest, not let you escape the realities of police brutality and racism in our country.
You cannot relax to Kendrick’s transformative music. You get put on edge, you get angry, maybe defensive, maybe offended. His music pushes you to confront yourself and the world you live in.
There’s no compromise with Kendrick: you either love him or hate him.
Last month, he dropped a music video for his song DNA featuring Don Cheadle which I’ve been watching and thinking about on a near daily basis at this point.
There’s so much to talk about this video, and Kendrick’s music in general, but I’m not going to say too much. It’s not my place. For today, I just wanna touch on one major theme throughout Kendrick’s work that is highlighted in this video: duality.
In the first part of this video, we have Kendrick and Cheadle facing off with Kendrick handcuffed to the table in front of a double-mirror facing Cheadle, in suit and tie, as he raps the opening lyrics to DNA:
I got, I got, I got, I got,
Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA,
Cocaine quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA,
I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA,
I got hustle though, ambition, flow, inside my DNA.
Although musically Kendrick delivers the verse, here the music’s divided up with Cheadle and Kendrick lyrically warring against one another.
I see this confrontation and think of all the things that divides Kendrick, that pulls him apart. Cheadle (perhaps symbolizing proper society, law and order, the world’s expectations, etc) appears as an embodiment of accusations delivering the opening salvo of lyrics—building up all that he is: riches, power, evil, darkness, poison, pain, ambition…
Then there’s Kendrick the rapper, sitting handcuffed, trapped, facing the man in a suit and tie as he screams all this stuff at him.
After unleashing this bombardment, Cheadle turns back to regard Kendrick and begins rapping, “I know how you work, I know just who you are,”
In Cheadle we see society tearing down Kendrick, much like the racist’s remarks on the Fox and Friends quote which has been plugged into the song’s transition point:
“This is why I say hip hop has done more damage to young African Americans
than racism in recent years…”
This is society’s racism that Kendrick must war with, the racism that blatantly says he’s a bigger problem than racism itself. This is the “institutionalized manipulation and lies” Kendrick raps about in his song “The Blacker The Berry”, the constant stream of nonsense people use to wave away the topic of racism itself.
It’s no wonder in the same song Kendrick repetitively asks White America, “You hate me don’t you?”
Society does hate him, because we’re claiming he’s the problem. Like how Cheadle’s up in Kendrick’s face, all this stuff, these accusations and expectations are building up within Kendrick himself, warring within the rapper.
Imagine it was you. Think about this person screaming all these things in your face. Think of turning on the TV and seeing people telling you you’re the problem.
How long could you handle this? How many times would you let it slide?
How long would you let the world tell you who you are?
This then, is the duality in the strands of Kendrick’s DNA — between what he’s made of and what the world has made of him. And like DNA itself, these strands are entwined together, the building blocks of his whole self.
This duality pulling him apart, society vs. Kendrick, is embodied by Cheadle and Kendrick themselves in the video. It’s important to note the scene takes place “in front of a dirty double-mirror”. Commonly used by police, a double-mirror allows others to look at you while you can only see yourself. In the same way, Kendrick as a successful rapper is watched by hostile unknown eyes at all times.
Despite the world’s hate, Kendrick carries on. He discusses the importance of finding self-worth and self-love while the world’s tearing you down at length in his song “i”.
“Everybody lookin’ at you crazy,
What you gonna do?
Lift up your head and keep moving,
Or let the paranoia haunt you?”
Society’s hatred and racism weighs heavily on the rapper, and his only option is to keep moving forward or be consumed by the weight of it all.
See, Kendrick is not some untouchable god. In the music video, we see he’s deeply traumatized, raising his hands in defense as Cheadle screams at him, covering his face with his hands as he recalls all he’s been through.
Kendrick’s video, like Kendrick’s music, demonstrates an inner turmoil—a duality between the world with its hatred and Kendrick’s own view of who he is and what he’s doing.
But how can you be yourself when the world puts so much pressure on you?
How do you keep doing the right thing—keep moving forward—when you are being told you are the problem?
DNA, the molecule which we are all made of, is a double helix that twists up and over itself. In Kendrick’s DNA, we see the perception of himself and what he’s doing with his music, and the reaction from a world that hates him, twisting up together inside him. Combining to make him who he is today.
This is the fusion of “power, poison, pain and joy” inside of Kendrick. All this anger, all this hate based on the color of his skin and the success of his music.
No wonder his music’s aggressive. No wonder he seems on edge at all times. With his powerful music Kendrick is locking eyes with every single person yelling at him, and asking:
