Reflections on Dissections: S5E16 “FEAR.” pt. 1
Why God, why God do we have to suffer?
< Previous: S5E15 — “XXX.” pt. 2b
This post is a companion to Dissect Podcast Season 5 Episode 16
In our last post we discussed how Kung Fu Kenny ignored the leading of the Holy Spirit and incited acts of violent retribution when he told his friend to buy a gun and murder the men who killed the friends son. We then witnessed the ironic moment when Kenny arrived at a convention and began to talk to young children about gun control. This exaggerated form of irony helped us to see that “XXX.” in particular and DAMN. in general is a satire much like the Book of Jonah. We discussed how the Book of Jonah uses the story of a prophet who delivered a prophecy against the violent Assyrian empire as a way to hold up a mirror to the reader and reveal the seeds of hatred and unforgiveness that grow inside each one of us. In a similar way, the second verse of “”XXX.” was a prophecy against the violent American empire and ended with Kenny rapping “America’s reflections of me. That’s what a mirror does.” This prophetic statement effectively exposes the systematic injustice that plagues America. At the same time, Kenny’s prophetic statement turns our attention to those who have suffered as a result of America’s injustice.
Fittingly, as “FEAR.” begins, we hear a sample of the track called “Poverty’s Paradise” by The 24-Carat Black from an album entitled Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth. “Poverty’s Paradise” itself opens with a spoken word performance that expresses the pain, anguish and trauma of growing up poor in urban America.
Poverty’s paradise
Hey, it seems to me like ever since I was a little child
I’ve been starving
I’ve never known anything but hunger
I’ve been hungry all my life
Yeah, starved to the bone
Somewhere on this raggedy earth
Somebody said something once
About some kind of paradise
Where everything would be nice
And together
But I’ll be damned if I can find it
I’ve grown up into adulthood now
And I don’t seem to be able to find my way to anything
Much less somebody’s paradise
One thing for sure
I’d like to go to sleep just once on a full stomach
I get mighty tired of these belly wrinkles, dig?
And my babies
I don’t know what I’m gonna do about them
I’ve run out of ways to keep them fed
Used to be I could find a way when there wasn’t any way
After several instances of a chorus and bridge section, the track ends with another spoken word performance which highlights how American’s stated ideals prove to be empty rhetoric when one considers the systematic disenfranchisement of African-Americans.
Poverty’s paradise
Whoever said it was nice?
That human was a fool
I don’t think I could find a way to make it on this earth
It’s been one continuous delay
Ever since my birth
Hungry, Hungry, Hungry
Lonely, lonely, lonely
My love’s been in doubt
I’ve had to do without
Only pain, only shame
My babies look at me and cry
All I could do is laugh
I tell ’em, son, one day we’ll be rich
Daughter, oh, daughter
Nobody to be fare
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, yes yes
That’s what they tell me
Liquidation and distress
That’s what they sell me
Free speech, constitutional rights, ain’t nowhere to be found
Only hunger and grind
Global fight after fight
Look around
The president said, the president said, the president said
Don’t worry, Don’t worry, Don’t worry, Don’t worry
But worry’s all I know
Hurt, Hurt Hurt, hurt hurt hurt
Poverty’s paradise
Whoever said it was nice?
That human was a fool
From these two spoken word verses, Kendrick samples three separate lines which we hear throughout “FEAR.”
Poverty’s paradise
I don’t think I could find a way to make it on this earth.
I’ve been hungry all my life. Yeah, starved to the bone.
It’s interesting to observe that each one of these lines directly questions Jesus’s teachings about the Kingdom of God. Most notably, the phrase “poverty’s paradise” is used to ridicule the idea that poor people could ever find the peace and provision implied by the word “paradise”. Here, the word “paradise” is derived from an Ancient Greek word parádeisos, which originally referred to a style of walled gardens that were owned and cultivated by kings, queens and other royal members of Persian society.
This association of the word parádeisos with royalty seems to be one of the reasons that the scholars who originally translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek a few hundred years before Jesus’s birth chose to use the word parádeisos to refer to the garden that God planted in Eden in the second chapter of Genesis.
Thus, throughout the Roman empires those who read Genesis in Greek would refer to the garden as the Paradise of Eden. This established use of the word parádeisos is exactly why the Gospel according to Luke includes a passage in which Jesus uses the word parádeisos in a pivotal exchange that occurred while Jesus hung on the cross.
The soldiers also ridiculed Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JUDEANS.” One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other responded, and rebuking him, said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our crimes; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise (Greek: parádeisos).”
- Luke 23:36-43
In this passage, we read how the Roman soldiers ridiculed Jesus by nailing a sign to the top of the cross which mockingly read “King of the Judeans.” In addition to Jesus, there were also two other thieves who were being crucified on Jesus’s left and right. One of the thieves joined the soldiers in ridiculing Jesus. He proudly mocked Jesus by saying that he should save all of them if he is the Christ, which refers to the anointed king of God’s people as we mentioned in our discussion of “XXX.” Pt 1. However, the other thief displayed remarkable humility by acknowledging that he was suffering because of his own wrongdoings. He then asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus reigns as the anointed king over God’s Kingdom.
In response, Jesus declared that on that very day the humble thief would be with Jesus in parádeisos, i.e. in the royal garden reserved for the king and other rulers within God’s kingdom. In other words, Jesus was inviting the humble thief to enter the Paradise of Eden. Recall that Humanity (Hebrew: Adam) was exiled from the Paradise of Eden and sentenced to death because Humanity took fruit that they was not supposed to have. Fittingly, this thief who was sentenced to death for taking things which he was not supposed to have seems to represent all members of Humanity who are invited back into the Paradise of Eden when they repent of their wrongdoings.
It is important to recognize that the thieves who were crucified with Jeusus likely resorted to criminal activity due to the widespread poverty caused by the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. The humble thief could have tried to justify his wrongdoings or shift the blame to his oppressors. However, by choosing to take responsibility for his own contributions to the problems of the world, this thief was able to enter into the Kingdom of God.
In contrast, the other criminal seems to represent all members of Humanity who refuse to repent or humble themselves before Jesus. Thus, as we hear the members of The 24-Carat Black ridiculing the idea of paradise, we recognize that the song is speaking from a perspective quite similar to the thief who ridiculed Jesus. Moreover, by specifically rejecting the idea that those living in poverty will be able to experience paradise, the song rejects the very first blessing that Jesus declares in his teachings about the kingdom of God
Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God
- Luke 6:20
Additionally, the sampled line which says “I’ve been hungry my whole life, starved to the bone” seems to cast doubt over Jesus’s statement:
Blessed are you who hunger now for you will be satisfied
- Luke 6:21
Finally, the sampled line which says “I don’t think I could find a way to make it on this earth” seems to cast doubt on Jesus’s statement:
Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth
- Matthew 5:5
All together, The 24-Carat Black sample points to the suffering of Black people in America in a way that implicitly questions how Jesus’s teachings could be true in the face of such suffering. This underlying question about personal and collective suffering leads directly to a voice mail by Kendrick’s real life cousin Carl Duckworth. Recall that on “YAH.” Kendrick rapped
My cousin called, my cousin Carl Duckworth
Said know my worth
And Deuteronomy say that we all been cursed- From “YAH.”
Here in “FEAR.” we seem to be hearing the voicemail that Carl left when Kenny did not pick up the phone call. This interpretation seems to be confirmed when we hear Carl talking about the curses in Deuteronomy.
What’s up, family?
Yeah, it’s your cousin Carl, man, just givin’ you a call, man
I know you been havin’ a lot on yo’ mind lately
And I know you feel like, you know
People ain’t been prayin’ for you
But you have to understand this, man, that we are a cursed people
Deuteronomy 28:28 says, “The Lord shall smite thee with madness And blindness, and astonishment of heart”
See, family, that’s why you feel like you feel
Like you got a chip on your shoulder
Until you follow His commandments, you gonna feel that way…
Here Carl acknowledges that Kenny is experiencing very negative feelings, including the sense that no one is praying for him. Carl thus reminds us of the emotional journey that Kenny has been on since the song “FEEL.”when he repeatedly said “Ain’t nobody praying for me.”
Carl seems to dismiss the idea that Kenny’s emotional unrest is due to a lack of people praying for him. Instead, Carl asserts that Kenny will keep feeling this way until he follows the commandments. Carl also asserts that Kenny’s mental state is an indication that he is experiencing the curses spoken of in Deuteronomy, particularly the “madness And blindness, and astonishment of heart” mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:28.
Here it’s helpful to understand where Deuteronomy 28:28 fits within the literary design of Deuteronomy. In chapters 1 through 11, Moses retells the Israelites history of wandering in the wilderness for 40 years since being freed out of Egyptian slavery. Moses also used this section of the book to establish the importance of obeying the commandments that the Lord has given them, particularly as they prepare to enter the “Promised Land”. In chapters 12 through 26, Moses restates many of the commandments that were previously given to the Israelites during their 40 year journey. In chapter 27, the Israelites agreed to accept the blessings that would come from following the commandments and the curses that would come from disobeying the commandments
After the Israelites agree to the stipulations of the law, Deuteronomy 28 begins with Moses describing the blessings that will come if the Israelites follow the commandments.
Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the LORD your God will put you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings will come to you and reach you if you obey the LORD your God:
Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the country.
Blessed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, and the offspring of your animals: the newborn of your herd and the young of your flock.
Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.- Deuteronomy 28:1-6
However, soon after Moses lists the potential blessings, the chapter takes a sudden turn as Moses describes the curses that will come upon the Israelites if they disobey God’s commandments.
But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to be careful to follow all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the country.
Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
Cursed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, the newborn of your herd, and the offspring of your flock.
Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out.- Deuteronomy 28:15-19
Here we see that each of the blessings in the earlier section of Deuteronomy 28 will be reversed into curses if the Israelites disobey the Lord’s commandments. This reversed section then leads into a particularly intense illustration of what it will mean to be cursed.
The LORD will cause you to be defeated by your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways from their presence, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Your dead bodies will serve as food for all birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, the festering rash, and with scabies, from which you cannot be healed.
The LORD will strike you with insanity, blindness, and with confusion of heart; and you will be groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you.
You will betroth a woman, but another man will violate her; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not make use of its fruit.
Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey will be snatched away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.
Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them constantly; but there will be nothing you can do.
A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your ground and every product of your labor, and you will never be anything but oppressed and mistreated continually.
You will also be driven insane by the sight of what you see.
- Deuteronomy 28:25-34
Here Moses describes in excruciating detail how the Israelites will suffer unimaginable oppression and trauma due to plagues and foreign invasions. It is as a direct result of these plagues and foreign invasions that the Israelites will experience the “madness and blindness, and astonishment of heart” mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:28. The rest of the section zooms into the personal trauma of an Israelite man who will be driven to insanity after he is forced to watch the foreign invaders eat his crops, slaughter his animals, confiscate his land, occupy his houses, and rape his fiancée. Still the passage continues to build in intensity until it reaches the ultimate curse.
Furthermore, the LORD will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known. Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. So your lives will be hanging in doubt before you; and you will be terrified night and day, and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the terror of your heart which you fear, and the sight of your eyes out which you will see. And the LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.
- Deuteronomy 28:64-68
In this final section of Deuteronomy 28, Moses warns the Israelites that if they continue to disobey the Lord’s commandments and worship the gods of other nations they will be scattered across those other nations in a worldwide diaspora. Moreover, Moses warns that many of the Israelites will be taken from their homeland, placed on ships and taken back to Egypt where the Lord first freed the Israelites from slavery. Upon their return to Egypt, these Israelites will have no choice but to sell themselves as slaves.
After hearing all of these curses, one might expect that the Israelites would resolve to follow God’s commandments. However, after the Israelites settled in the Promised Land, generation after generation Israelites turned away from the Lord and followed other nations in worshiping gods of sex, money and military power. This pattern disobedience until all of the curses mentioned in Deuteronomy 28 finally came upon the Israelites. In 740 BC, the Assyrian Empire invaded the northern Kingdom of Israel and began taking Israelites captive until the northern Kingdom was finally conquered (see 2 Kings 17:1–18). Then in 598 BC, the Babylonian Empire invaded the southern Kingdom of Judah and began taking Israelites captive until the Kingdom of Judah was conquered along with the destruction of the Temple in 587 BC (see 2 Kings 24:1–25:21)
In both cases, the invading armies committed unspeakable atrocities against the men and women living in Israel. Moreover, the deportation practices of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires led to the Israelites being scattered across the known world, including a large community of Israelites who found themselves living in Egypt as a subjugated people group (see 2 Kings 25:26).
Given that the events prophesied in Deuteronomy 28 were spoken specifically about the ancient Israelites and were fulfilled more than 500 years before the birth of Jesus, it might be unexpected for Cousin Carl to use Deuteronomy 28 as an explanation for Kenny’s current mental state. However, we should also recall that just before Kenny first mentioned Carl on “YAH.” Kenny said
I’m an Israelite. Don’t call me black no more
- from “YAH.”
Earlier in our discussion of “YAH.” we noted that these lines seem to characterize Kung Fu Kenny as someone who wrestles with God just like the biblical Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. At the same time, here in “FEAR.” it seems important to note that there is a long history of African-Americans claiming to be Israelites.
After slavery was abolished in America, former enslaved Africans around the country founded religious groups which taught that black people were the true Israelites. As proof, these groups pointed to Deuteronomy 28. They claimed that the history of Africans being taken away from their homeland, transported on ships and sold into slavery meant that African-Americans were the true descendants of the ancient Israelites. Over the decades these teachings would spread to a diverse set of groups which mixed Jewish and Christian practices. These groups commonly referred to themselves as Black Hebrew Israelites.
In the years leading up to the release of DAMN. Black Hebrew Israelite groups began to attract an increasing number of African-American men through street preaching, events and online media. Cousin Carl seems to be one such African-American man who has adopted the beliefs of the Black Hebrew Israelites and is now using the group’s teaching to explain why Kenny is suffering.
However, Kenny never answers Carl’s phone call. Instead, as “FEAR.” goes on we hear the voice of Charles Isom Jr. who happens to also be one of Kendrick’s real life cousins. Rather than trying to explain Kenny’s suffering like Cousin Carl did, Cousin Charles joins Kenny in asking why he and — by proxy — countless other African-Americans are suffering.
Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?
Pain in my heart carry burdens full of struggle
Here, we should note that the repetition of the phrase “why God, why God” seems to mirror Jesus’s own words when he hung on the cross.
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabaktanei?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
- Matthew 27:46
On the surface, this quote from Jesus might suggest that Jesus also seemed to question why God allowed him to suffer. However, if we dig more into this quote, we will discover that Jesus is actually quoting the first line of Psalm 22.
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear- Psalm 22:1–2
Aside from the first line, Psalm 22 seems to mirror the scene of Jesus’s crucifixion, particularly in verses 16 through 18.
For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
They divide My garments among them,
And gamble for My clothing.- Psalm 22:16–18
This description of adversaries piercing the speaker’s hands and feet and gambling for his clothes directly mirrors Jesus’s own experience of having his hands and feet nailed to a cross while watching the Roman soldiers gamble for his clothes. These similarities convinced the writers of the New Testament that Psalm 22 was a prophetic statement that was fulfilled by Jesus’s crucifixion. Moreover, as we read deeper in to Psalm 22, we see that the initial questioning of God’s faithfulness in the first verse begins to fade away in later verses as the speaker becomes assured of God’s faithfulness to those who are poor.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Let your heart live forever!
All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
And He rules over the nations.- Psalm 22:26–28
Ultimately, the Psalm declares that one day all the families of the earth will come under the Lord’s rule in the Kingdom of God, a kingdom where the poor will eat and be satisfied, a kingdom which — as Jesus declared — will belong to the poor. Once again thebelief in God’s care for the poor contrasts with the skepticism that we heard in “Poverty’s Paradise” and continue to hear in Cousin Charles’s section of “FEAR.”.
Why God, why God do I gotta bleed?
Every stone thrown at you restin’ at my feet
Cousin Charles laments the fact that the stones which his adversaries throw at God end up landing at Charles’s own feet. Here the act of throwing stonesat a person likely refers to stoning, a form of capital punishment that was employed by legal courts and angry mobs in many ancient societies. Within the Gospel according to John, there are two separate occasions where a crowd picks up stones to throw at Jesus (see John 8:31–59 and John 10:22–39). In both cases, Jesus managed to escape — through he would eventually be crucified based on the accusations of another angry mob.
After Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension up into the heavens, Jesus’s followers began to spread the good news about Jesus‘s resurrection and kingship. However, this message so angered the Judean religious leaders that they began to persecute anyone who preached about Jesus. This persecution intensified after the Judean religious leaders incited a mob to stone one of Jesus’s followers named Stephen (see Acts 6:7–7:60). Fittingly, just before he died, Stephen followed Jesus’s example of praying for God to forgive those who were killing him.
They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”
- Acts 7:59–60
Stephen’s life thus became an icon of the idea that the stones thrown at Jesus invariably land at the feet of Jesus’s followers. While Stephen was able to speak words of forgiveness to the men who threw stones at him, Cousin Charles can’t help but express how he feels.
Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?
Earth is no more, why don’t you burn this mufucka?
Here at the end of Cousin Charle’s section of “FEAR.”, Charles asks God to send fire down to earth to burn up his oppressors. This idea of God sending fire from the heavens to burn up violent oppressors goes back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis. In that story, the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah were full of violent men who routinely raped men and women until God put an end to their violence.
Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew (Hebrew: hāp̄aḵ) those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
- Genesis 19:24-25
If one were to only read this early story from the book of Genesis, one might assume that burning up entire cities is God’s preferred way to deal with human evil. Indeed, if one pays close attention to the words that Jonah proclaimed to the people of Nineveh, one can see that Jonah was anticipating a fate similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown (Hebrew: hāp̄aḵ).”
- Jonah 3:4
Notice that Jonah described what would happen to Nineveh by using the Hebrew word “hāp̄aḵ”, which is the exact same word that was used to describe the Lord raining fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah. However, unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, the people of Nineveh listened to the word of the Lord, repented and turned away from their “evil way and the violence of their hands.” Because of this repentance, the Lord relented and did not rain fire and brimstone. Hence, the people of Nineveh were not violently overthrown but instead were transformed into new kinds people, as the Hebrew word “hāp̄aḵ” implies in other passages, such as when the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as Israel’s first team and told him:
The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will …be changed (Hebrew: hāp̄aḵ) into a different man.
- 1 Samuel 10:6
As it turns out, Jonah really had been hoping that the word hāp̄aḵ implied that God would destroy the people of Nineveh. Jonah then became very angry when he found out that God instead preferred to transform the people of Nineveh. In the words of Cousin Charles, Jonah wanted God to “burn this motherfucka” as an act of retribution against the empire that had brought poverty, starvation and death to Jonah’s people.
After expressing his frustration and anger towards God, the text says that Jonah left Nineveh, sat down some distance outside of the city gates and “waited to see what would happen to the city.” The implication here is that Jonah seemed to be hoping that God or the people of Nineveh would change their minds in a way that would lead to the city being burned up by fire falling from the heavens. The fire never came and God eventually explained to Jonah that He cares deeply about the people living Nineveh.
Yet despite the inclusion of Jonah’s narrative in the Hebrew Bible, most Israelites continued to think that God was inclined destroy the people from all the nations and ethnic groups that were opposed to the Israelites. We see this pattern of thought expressed by Jesus’s own disciples when Jesus began his fateful journey to Jerusalem in the Gospel according to Luke.
When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. And they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
But [Jesus] turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you belong to. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy human lives but to save them.”
- Luke 9:51-56
In this passage, two of Jesus closest disciples seemed eager for God to rain down fire and burn up people from the Samaritan ethnic group. This Samaritan ethnic group descended from foreign peoples who repopulated the land that formerly belonged to the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Samaritans would later make several attempts that sabotage the efforts of the Judeans who returned to rebuild the Temple (see Ezra 4). The Samaritan sabotage continued to pose a threat as the Judeans tried to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls (see Nehemiah 4). This history of sabotage led the Judeans — later referred to as the Jews — to develop a strong sense of hatred toward the Samaritans. Thus, just like some Black Americans feel justified in hating White Americans who historically sabotaged the attempts to rebuild Black communities in the wake of slavery, the Judeans of Jesus’s day felt justified in hating the Samaritans.
However, Jesus rebuked his own disciples for wanting God to rain fire on the Samaritans. Jesus then declared that he did not come to destroy human lives but to save them.
Jesus’s words stand in direct opposition to Cousin Charles request for God to “burn this motherfucka,” which quite literally mirrors the request that Kenny goes on to make.
Akcuf’hum siht nrub uoy t’now ,erom on si htraE
Reffus attog I od doG yhw ,doG yhW
Teef ym ta ‘nitser uoy ta nworht enots yrevE
Deelb attog I od doG yhw ,doG yhW
Elggurts fo lluf snedrub yrrac traeh ym ni niaP
Reffus attog I od doG yhw ,doG yhW
Teef ym ta ‘nitser uoy ta nworht enots yrevE
Immediately after Cousin Charles’s section, we hear Kenny’s voice speaking in reverse. This use or reversed vocals is the most noticeable instance of the reversal theme thus far. However, we should also recall that we have heard reversed audio on three earlier tracks: the reversed sample of Billy Paul’s “How Good Is Your Game” on “YAH.”, the reversed sample of Bruno Mars’s “24K Magic” on “LOYALTY.”, and Beastie Boys “Paul Revere” inspired reversed 808 kick drum on “LUST.”
In the case of “FEAR.”, if we play the track in reverse we can hear the original recording, which turns out to be a recording of Kenny repeating the same lines that Cousin Charles said in the previous section. The fact that Kenny says these lines seems to be an indication that the lines — particularly the final request for God to “burn this motherfucka” — represent a backwards way of thought. This association between vengeful and backwards ways of thought is something that Kendrick described homies who constantly carry a TEC-9 semi-automatic pistol on the track “m.A.A.d. city” from good kid, m.A.A.d.
You movin’ backwards if you suggest that you sleep with a TEC
- Kendrick Lamar from “good kid”
Fittingly, this idea of “moving backwards” and the subtle nod to good kid, m.A.A.d. city which we hear from the reversed lyrics also signal that time itself has now moved backwards to when Kenny was a kid growing up in Compton. We then hear Kenny rapping from the perspective of his mother who issues a litany threats to “beat his ass”
I beat yo’ ass, keep talkin’ back
I beat yo’ ass, who bought you that?
You stole it, I beat yo’ ass if you say that game is broken
I beat yo’ ass if you jump on my couch
I beat yo’ ass if you walk in this house
With tears in your eyes, runnin’ from Poo Poo and Prentice
Go back outside, I beat yo’ ass, lil’ nigga
Much like the “I feel” litany that we heard in “FEAR.” the “beat Yo’ ass” litany allows us to be immersed in Kenny’s mental state. We can now implicitly recognize how feelings of fear — particularly fear of physical punishment — were instilled into Kenny at an early age. This implicit understanding of fear being instilled into Kenny at a young age is then made explicit in the final lines of the first verse.
Seven years old, think you run this house by yourself?
Nigga, you gon’ fear me if you don’t fear no one else
Here in the final lines of the verse we find out that the verse represents Kenny’s experience when he was seven years old. We also hear Kenny’s mother directly express her intention to make Kenny fear her. The implication is that if Kenny learns to fear her he will avoid doing the actions which his mother has forbidden.
Within Western culture this idea of parents trying to teach their children to fear those in authority can largely be traced back to the biblical idea of the “fear of the Lord” or in the original rendering, the “fear of Yahweh.” There are passages which speak positively about the “fear of Yahweh” throughout the Hebrew Bible and even an entire psalm which expresses the importance of teaching children the “fear of Yahweh.”
I will bless Yahweh at all times.
His praise will always be in my mouth.
My soul shall boast in Yahweh.
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh magnify Yahweh with me.
Let’s exalt his name together.
I sought Yahweh, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to him, and were radiant.
Their faces shall never be covered with shame.
This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him,
and delivers them.
Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good.
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints,
those who fear him do not lack anything,
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger,
but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.Come, you children, listen to me.
I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
Who is someone who desires life,
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking lies.
Depart from evil, and do good.
Seek peace, and pursue it.
Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous.
His ears listen to their cry.
Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil,
to cut off their memory from the earth.
The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart,
and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.
He protects all of his bones.
Not one of them is broken.
Evil shall kill the wicked.
Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants.
None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.- Psalm 34
In this psalm, the author offers praise Yahweh for protecting and providing for the poor and the humble. The author encourages the listener to enjoy the benefit of following Yahweh by saying “taste and see that Yahweh is good.” Moreover, the author encourages children to learn the “fear of Yahweh”so that they will enjoy long life. Those who fear Yahweh will do what is good, will refrain from doing or speaking evil and will be delivered from all of their troubles. In contrast, those who do not fear Yahweh will invariably do things that are evil. In doing so they will become “enemies of the Lord” — in the words of James 4:4 which Kenny mentioned at the end of “LUST.” Moreover, those who commit acts of evil will ultimately be killed by evil.
Psalm 34 thus suggests that choosing whether to fear Yahweh or not is a choice between wickedness and weakness, between life and death. At the same time, after hearing about how Kenny’s mom constantly threatened to beat seven year old Kenny’s ass for things that may not have even been his fault, we can also recognize that these negative childhood experiences likely complicated his understanding of the fear of Yahweh. Such experiences would likely convince Kenny that God is an overbearing Father who is to be avoided rather than a protective and nurturing Father who invites us to taste and see that He is good. Having been perpetually overcome by this unhealthy type of fear at such a young age, Kenny seems to have subsequently suffered from what psychologists refer to as “learned helplessness.” This learned helplessness would eventually lead Kenny to use drugs and sex to temporarily escape from his fears
If I could smoke fear away, I’d roll that mothafucker up
And then I’d take two puffs
I’m high now, I’m high now
I’m high now, I’m high now
Life’s a bitch, pull them panties to the side now
Here the idea of getting high as a form of escape combined with the line “Life’s a bitch” suggests that Kenny is alluding to Nas and AZ’s classic track “Life’s a Bitch”
Even though we know, somehow we all gotta go
But as long as we leavin’ thievin’
We’ll be leavin’ with some kind of dough
So, until that day we expire and turn to vapors
Me and my capers will be somewhere stackin’ plenty papers
Keepin’ it real, packin’ steel, gettin’ high
’Cause life’s a bitch and then you dieLife’s a bitch and then you die, that’s why we get high
’Cause you never know when you’re gonna go
Life’s a bitch and then you die, that’s why we puff lye
’Cause you never know when you’re gonna go- AZ from “Life’s a Bitch”
“Life’s a Bitch” was a single for Nas’s album, Illmatic which is widely hailed as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. The “Life’s a Bitch” single and Illmatic album were both released on April 19, 1994, less than two months before Kenny would have turned 7 years old, which was the exact age that Kenny was when is mother repeatedly threatened to beat his ass as depicted in the first verse of “FEAR.” Moreover, after Kenny got high in an attempt to smoke fear away, the hook “life’s a bitch and then you die, that’s why we get high” seems to foreshadow the second verse of “FEAR.” where Kenny will tries to escape the fear that he could die in a multitude of ways. We’ll discuss that verse and more in the next post.
Resources:
- “Poverty’s Paradise” by The 24-Carat Black
- “The Story of the Bible” video by the Bible Project
- “Overview: Revelation 12–22” video by Bible Project
- “Overview: Deuteronomy” video by Bible Project
- “The Book of Deuteronomy” video by Bible Project
- “Overview: 1–2 Kings” video by Bible Project
- “Life’s a Bitch” by Nas ft. AZ
