Reflections on Dissections: S5E17 “FEAR.” pt. 2
How I learned to stop worrying and love the Lord’s discipline
< Previous: S5E16 — “FEAR.” pt. 1
This post is a companion to Dissect Podcast Season 5 Episode 17
At the tail end of our last post on the first half of “FEAR.”, we discussed how the chorus seems to have been inspired by Nas’s 1994 song “Life’s a Bitch” particularly the line “Life’s a bitch and then you die, that’s why we get high, cause you never know when you gonna’ go.” Fittingly, the second verse of “FEAR.” presents a litany of ways that Kenny could die.
I’ll prolly die anonymous, I’ll prolly die with promises
I’ll prolly die walkin’ back home from the candy house
I’ll prolly die because these colors are standin’ out
I’ll prolly die because I ain’t know Demarcus was snitchin’
I’ll prolly die at these house parties, fuckin’ with bitches
As we begin to absorb this new litany, one noticeable difference from the first verse is that this verse seems to be from the perspective of Kenny rather than Kenny’s mom. Additionally, it seems the verse comes from a time when Kenny IS much older than seven years old. In particular, we notice that Kenny is now old enough to be afraid of being identified as a gang member based on the color of his clothes. This detail likely means that Kenny is now a teenager. Similarly, Kenny’s fear of dying at a house party while “fuckin’ with bitches” also seems to be consistent with Kenny being a teenager. Moreover, we should note that the lines about trying to have sex with a girl from a house party is most likely a reference to the first line of the first track on good kid, m.A.A.d. city.
I met her at this house party on El Segundo and Central
She had the credentials of strippers in Atlanta
Ass came with a hump, from the jump she was a camel
I want to ride like Arabians- Kendrick Lamar from “Sherane a.ka. Master Splinter’s Daughter”
As we have noted in previous posts, the narrative of good kid, m.A.A.d. begins with Kendrick meeting a girl named Sherane at a house party and subsequently fantasizing about having sex with her. Additionally, the first verse of “Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter” confirms that Kendrick was a teenager when he was attending these house parties.
Seventeen with nothin’ but pussy stuck on my mental
My motive was rather sinful, “What you tryna get into?”
She didn’t tell, just gave me her Nextel
Dropped the number, we chirped the whole summer, and, well
The summer had passed, and now I’m likin’ her
Conversation we havin’ probably enticin’ her
Who can imagine? Maybe my actions’ll end up wifin’ her
Love or lust, regardless, we’ll fuck ’cause the trife in us- Kendrick Lamar from “Sherane a.ka. Master Splinter’s Daughter”
In particular, the verse reveals that Kendrick met Sherane when he was 17, which interestingly enough is exactly ten years older than Kenny was when his mother repeatedly threatened to “beat his ass” in the first verse of “FEAR.” The first verse of “Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter” also goes on to describe how Kendrick and Sherane continued to talk on their Nextel phones until it was a forgone conclusion that they were going to have sex. The use of the phrase “love or lust” again connects back to the song “LOVE.” here in DAMN. and reminds us that 17 year old Kendrick still had an immature understanding of what love is. Moreover, the remainder of the verse depicts how Kendrick ignored the fact that he could probably die fuckin’ with Sherane.
Her favorite cousin Demetrius is irrepetible
Family history of gangbangin’ did make me skeptical
But not enough to stop me from gettin’ a nut
“I wanna come over, what’s up?”
That’s what I told her soon as this episode
Of Martin go off, I’m tryna get off
I was in heat like a cactus
My tactics of bein’ thirsty probably could hurt me
But fuck it, I got some heart
Grabbed my mama keys, hopped in the car, then, oh boy- Kendrick Lamar from “Sherane a.ka. Master Splinter’s Daughter”
In these lines we learn that Sherane’s cousin and other family members were known to be dangerous gangbangers. However, Kendrick’s lust overpowered his fear. Kendrick then proceeded to ask Sherane if he could come over to have sex. After Sherane proved to be receptive, Kendrick borrowed his mom’s minivan and drove to Sherane’s house. The song then jumps forward in time to when Kendrick approaches Sherane’s house.
I’m two blocks away, two hundred and fifty feet
And six steps from where she stay, she wavin’ me ‘cross the street
I pulled up, a smile on my face, and then I see
Two niggas, two black hoodies, I froze as my phone rang- Kendrick Lamar from “Sherane a.ka. Master Splinter’s Daughter”
As Kendrick parks in front of Sherane’s house, he notices two Black teenage boys in black hoodies are approaching his car. Later on in the album at the end of “Poetic Justice,” the narrative picks up where “Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter” left off as the two teenagers in black hoodies accost Kendrick.
Black hoodie teen #1:
“I’m gon’ ask you one more time, homie, where is you from? Or it is a problem.”Black hoodie teen #2:
“Ayy, you over here for Sherane, homie?”Black hoodie teen #1:
“Yo, I don’t care who this nigga over here for. If he don’t tell me where he from, it’s a wrap! I’m sorry.”Black hoodie teen #2:
“Hol’ up, hol’ up, hol’ up, we gon’ do it like this, okay? I’ma tell you where I’m from, okay? You gon’ tell me where you from, okay? Or where your grandma stay, where your mama stay, or where your daddy stay, okay?”Black hoodie teen #1:
“Enough with all this talkin’. Matter of fact, get out the van, homie! Get out the car before I snatch you out that motherfucker, homie!”- from the skit at the end of “Poetic Justice”
The finals lines of this dialogue seem to imply that the two teenagers in black hoodies are about to physically assault Kendrick. This assault is later confirmed in a skit that plays at the end of “Swimming Pools (Drink).”
Homie # 1:
“They stomped the homie out over a bitch? K-Dot, you good, blood? Now we can drop, ye we can drop you back off.”Homie #2:
“That nigga’s straight, man, that nigga ain’t trippin’.”Homie #1:
“We gon’ do the same ol’ shit. I’ma pop a few shots, they gon’ run, they gon’ run opposite ways. Fall right in ****’s lap. And he gon’ tear they ass up, simple as that.”Homie #2:
“And I hope that bitch that set him up out there. We gon’ pop that bitch too.”Homie #1:
“Wait hold up, ayy, I see somebody.”[Car door opens and gunshots are fired]
Homie #1:
“Aha! Got them niggas, K-Dot, you good? L****, you good?”Homie #2:
“Yeah, blood, I’m good — Dave, you good?”Homie #1:
“Dave? Dave, say somethin’ — Dave?. These bitch-ass niggas killed my brother!”- from the skit at the end of “Swimming Pools (Drank) - Extended Version”
This skit appears to take place after Kendrick met up with his homies and revealed that he had been “stomped out” at Sherane’s house. Kendrick and his homies concluded that the whole situation was a set up. The teenagers in black hoodies were gang members from a rival neighborhood who had convinced Sherane to lure Kendrick to their neighborhood so that they could stomp Kendrick into the ground.
Throughout the skit, we hear Kendrick’s homies addressing each other as “blood,” which seems to suggest that the homies are directly or indirectly affiliated with the infamously Bloods gang. This gang affiliation seems to be one of the inspirations behind their decision to drive to Sherane’s neighborhood to get revenge against the teenagers in black hoodies. When the homies catch sight of the teenagers in black hoodies, one of the homies gets out of the car and fires several shots at the teenagers. This homie then gets back in the car, which quickly drives away as we hear the return fire.
As the car drives away, one of the homies checks to make sure everyone is ok. It is at this point that the homie discovers that his brother, Dave was hit by the return fire and is now dead.
It is at this point of good kid, m.A.A.d. city that we are able to look back and see that Kendrick’s attempt to have sex with Sherane after meeting her at a house party ultimately led to Dave’s death. This real life history thus further explains why Kung Fu Kenny says “I’ll probably die at these house parties fuckin’ with bitches.”
Later on in the verse Kenny also goes on to say:
I’ll prolly die from one of these bats and blue badges
Body-slammed on black and white paint, my bones snappin’
Here Kenny expresses his fear of dying as a result of police brutality at the hands of officers wearing blue law enforcement badges. In particular, Kenny envisions a gruesome scene in which a police officer hits Kenny with a baton and then body slams Kenny into the street’s black asphalt with so much force that Kenny’s bones snap. Within the Black community in the Greater Los Angeles area, such fears seemed to be well founded based on historic cases of police brutality, most notably the 1991 beating of Rodney King by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Much like the threat of dying from trying to have sex with girls at house parties, the threat of dying at the hands of police officers is also highlighted in good kid, m.A.A.d. city, particularly in the second verse of the song “good kid”:
I can never pick out the difference and grade a cop on the bill
Every time you clock in the morning, I feel you just want to kill
All my innocence while ignorin’ my purpose to persevere
As a better person; I know you heard this and probably in fearBut what am I ‘posed to do when the blinkin’ of red and blue
Flash from the top of your roof and your dog has to say woof
And you ask: “Lift up your shirt,” because you wonder if a tattoo
Of affiliation can make it a pleasure to put me through
Gang files, but that don’t matter because the matter is racial profile
I heard ’em chatter: “He’s prob’ly young, but I know that he’s down
Step on his neck as hard as your bullet-proof vest
He don’t mind, he know we’ll never respect
The good kid, m.A.A.d. city.”- Kendrick Lamar from “good kid”
In this verse, Kendrick details the pattern of racial profiling that he and his peers routinely faced as teenagers growing up in Compton. Kendrick notes how the cops would stop him and check for tattoos so that they could accuse him of being gang affiliated. If the cops found reason to allege gang affiliation they were then emboldened to “kill [Kendrick’s] innocence” and “step on [Kendrick’s] neck.” At the same time, the verse also notes that the reason that these cops are so quick to use violence against seventeen year old Kendrick is that the cops are living in fear. Hence, the police contributed to an already overwhelming environment of fear and made death seem like an inevitability.
I’ll prolly die ’cause that’s what you do when you’re 17
All worries in a hurry, I wish I controlled things
In the same way that the first verse of “FEAR.” ends with Kenny’s mom off handedly revealing that Kenny is 7 years old, the second verse of “FEAR.” ends with Kenny off-handedly revealing that he is 17 years old. This ending thus seems to confirm our theory that the second verse depicts the exact same time period as the one depicted in good kid, m.A.A.d. city. We might also notice that the second verse takes place exactly a decade after the first verse. The significance of this ten year time interval is then confirmed at the beginning of the third verse.
When I was 27, I grew accustomed to more fear
Accumulated 10 times over throughout the years
My newfound life made all of me magnified
How many accolades do I need to block denial?
Rather than waiting to the end of the verse as he did in the first two verses, Kenny begins the third verse by revealing the age from which he is rapping. Specifically, Kenny states that he is rapping about what he experienced when he was 27 years old. Fittingly, the 27 year old perspective of verse three is ten years older than the 17 year old perspective of verse two, which is ten years older than the 7 year old perspective of verse one. 27 is also a significant age for Kenny because Kendrick was 27 years old when To Pimp a Butterfly was released.
The third verse thus seems to run parallel to the narrative events in To Pimp a Butterfly, much like the second verse ran parallel to the events of good kid, m.A.A.d. city. We can see the thematic connection to To Pimp a Butterfly, in the references to “new found life” filled with “accolades.” Recall that the narrative of To Pimp a Butterfly revolves around Kendrick struggling to adjust to the new pressures caused by the fame and fortune that he gained following the success of good kid, m.A.A.d. city. While 17 year old Kendrick/Kenny thought that becoming successful would assuage his fears and allow him to control things, 27 year old Kendrick/Kenny found that success only caused his fears to accumulate 10 times over, like the number of years between the verses of this track.
The shock value of my success put bolts in me
All this money, is God playin’ a joke on me?
Is it for the moment, and will he see me as Job?
Take it from me and leave me worse than I was before?
In order to explain how financial success caused him to be more fearful, Kenny theorizes that God has given him lots of money with the intention of later taking all the money away from him as some kind of cruel joke. As proof that this fear is a a real possibility, Kenny points to Job (pronounced Jobe), a biblical character who famously lost everything.
Job’s narrative is found in the Book of Job which is included in the Old Testament. The book starts by introducing us to a man named Job who is described as “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” In addition to being morally upright, Job was known for being one of the wealthiest men in the Near East, with seven sons, three daughters, “seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and very many servants.”
This great wealth is attributed to God’s blessing on Job’s life. However, this blessing suddenly reverses into a curse when a spiritual being known as “the adversary” (or in Hebrew ha-satan) questions Job’s character by claiming that Job would cease to act righteously if God removed his blessing from Job’s life. In response, God allows the adversary to cause calamities which lead to the deaths of Job’s livestock, servants and children. After Job continues to worship and trust in God, “the adversary” is then allowed to afflict Job with a painful skin disease.
As the news of Job’s great suffering spreads, three of Job’s friends come to visit Job with the intention of comforting him. However, when Job laments how God has kept him alive only to torture him and questions whether God is absent or unjust, Job’s friends provide no comfort. Instead Job’s friends accuse Job of committing some secret act of wickedness. The friends reason that God is just and runs the world by a system of strict retributive justice where those who practice wickedness are punished and those who practice righteousness are rewarded. Since they assume that Job’s great suffering is punishment from God, they conclude that Job must have committed some great act of wickedness.
Job vehemently rebukes the accusations of his so-called friends and asserts that he has consistently acted with righteousness and justice. Job then demands for God to answer if he is a just God and explain why Job is suffering.
After Job demands an answer from God, the narrator introduces us to a fourth friend who has apparently been listening to the conversation between Job and the first three friends. This fourth friend is upset both by Job’s accusations against God and by the three friends’ accusations against Job. The fourth friend declares that God has breathed God’s Spirit into him so that he is now compelled to answer Job.
Why do you complain to God That He does not give an account of all His doings? Indeed God speaks once, Or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls on people, While they slumber in their beds, Then He opens the ears of people, And horrifies them with warnings, So that He may turn a person away from bad conduct, And keep a man from pride
- Job 33:13-37
According to the fourth friend, God often communicates with humans by allowing them to experience some terrible things not necessarily to punish them for past wrongdoings but to warn them away from wrongdoings they might commit in the future and to keep them from pride.
Moreover, the fourth friend tells Job to humble himself and recognize God’s incomprehensible power which can be heard when God’s voice speaks like thunder in a storm.
Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth. Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, And His lightning travels to the ends of the earth. After it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain the lightning when His voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with His voice, Doing great things which we do not comprehend.
- Job 37:2-5
The fourth friend’s speech seems to set the stage for God, who subsequently speaks from the midst of an approaching thunderstorm and responds to Job.
Then the Lord answered Job from the thunderstorm and said
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the measuring line over it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”- Job 38:4–7
Interestingly enough, God does not provide any additional explanations for why Job has to suffer. Rather, God essentially tells Job that the world is too complex, too vast, and too ancient for any human to understand how God operates the world. God’s response makes Job realize that he is in no position to question God. Job them humbles himself and recommits himself to trusting in God.
After Job humbles himself, God restores Job’s fortunes, allows Job to father ten more children and blesses Job with twice the number of livestock than what he has lost. The story ends with Job living into old age, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
As with other Biblical references throughout DAMN., Job’s narrative clearly has numerous connections to the current track. Like Job, Kenny has been living under a curse. Like Job, Kenny suddenly began to experience severe and mental anguish for no clear reason. Like Job, Kenny asked God to explain why he has to suffer. Like Job’s fourth friend, Kenny’s cousin Carl said that God is allowing Kenny to suffer so that Kenny will learn to follow God’s commandments.
It’s also interesting to note that even though Kenny is afraid that God will take everything from him like Job and leave him worse than he was before, the story of Job ended with Job actually being better off than he was before in terms of his material possessions. Thus, even as Kenny is still fears losing it all, knowing the full story of Job seems to suggest that Kenny’s suffering will eventually allow him to become a better person.
I’m talkin’ fear, fear of losin’ creativity
I’m talkin’ fear, fear of missin’ out on you and me
I’m talkin’ fear, fear of losin’ loyalty from pride
’Cause my DNA won’t let me evolve in the light of God
I’m talkin’ fear, fear that my humbleness is gone
I’m talkin’ fear, fear that love ain’t livin’ here no more
Later in the verse, we are able to witness Kenny’s entire perspective on suffering and fear begin to evolve. After spending most of the third verse discussing his fears of losing his riches and fame, here Kenny finally realizes that the things he should be most concerned about loosing are not things that anyone else can take from him. Rather the things that he should most fear losing are creative abilities, relationships and virtues that would only be lost if Kenny succumbs to his own vices.
As Kenny expresses this new realization, we note that these lines happen to include the me names of exactly half the tracks on the the album: “FEAR.”, “LOYALTY.”, “PRIDE.”, “DNA.”, “GOD.”, “HUMBLE.”, “LOVE.”
The direct reference to these seven tracks seems to suggest that the moment of realization that we are witnessing in the current track is the culmination of the entire album’s narrative. Moreover, as we’ve seen throughout the album, these lines suggest that pride is the central vice that Kenny must overcome in order to hold onto that which is truly valuable — namely humility, love and loyalty to God.
I’m talkin’ fear, fear that it’s wickedness or weakness
Fear, whatever it is, both is distinctive
Kenny follows the references to these 7 tracks by restating the central dichotomy between wickedness or weakness for the first time since the opening moments of the album. The inclusion of the dichotomy at this point in the current track further cements the idea that Kenny’s emotional journey has now brought him to the culminating moment of the entire album, the moment where he finally commits to choosing weakness, humility, and love instead of wickedness, pride, and lust. Kenny’s choice brings with it a renew sense of peace to Kenny’s emotional journey as can be seen in the subsequent lines.
What happens on earth stays on earth
And I can’t take these feelings with me, so hopefully, they disperse
Within fourteen tracks, carried out over wax
Here Kenny again quotes the phrase “What happens on earth stays on earth.” In an interview with BigBoyTv, Kendrick revealed that the phrase “What happens on Earth stays on Earth” was actually the original name of the album. Thus, the appearance of the phrase here in the final verse of “FEAR.” once again suggests that we have reached the culminating moment of the entire album.
Additionally, we should recall that we first heard the phrase “What happens on earth stays on earth” during Kid Capri’s intro to “ELEMENT.
Kid Capri:
New Kung Fu Kenny
Ain’t nobody prayin’ for me
Y’all know, what happens on Earth stays on Earth
Here we go!Kung Fu Kenny:
I don’t give a fuck, I don’t give a fuck
I don’t give a, I don’t give a, I don’t give a fuck
- from “ELEMENT.”
In the context of “ELEMENT.”, the phrase “What happens on Earth stays on Earth” came just before Kenny expressed how he didn’t care what would happen to him as he tried to take revenge on his enemies. In this context, the phrase “What happens on Earth stays on Earth” seemed to imply that Kenny could resort to violent retribution because his actions would not matter after he died and left this earth.
This tendency of resorting to violent retribution is something we also heard earlier in the current verse on “FEAR.” when Kenny mentioned Rihanna’s real life story of her accountant mismanaging her money and leaving Rihanna in debt.
These lines confirm our analysis of the track “LOYALTY.”, where we suggested that Rihanna’s inclusion as a guest feature was a subtle reference to the depictions of violent retribution on the music video for “Bitch Better Have My Money.” Kenny resonates with Rihanna’s reaction and imagines that he would do the same thing if a financial advisor “fucked him over and left his finances in debt.”
At first, we might assume this reference to violent retribution combined with the phrase “What happens on earth stays on earth” is another instance of Kenny’s claiming that he can do whatever he wants while on earth. However, the next line in “FEAR.” makes it clear that Kenny now realizes that his feelings are what will stay on earth. Meanwhile, the consequences of his actions here on earth will have eternal significance in the heavens. Since the feelings are temporary and the consequences of his actions are eternal, Kenny recognizes that it is foolish to let temporary feelings dictate his eternal destiny. In particular, it would foolish to allow temporary feelings of pride cause him to lose his eternal relationship with God.
Kenny’s new understanding of the role of feelings in his life should remind us to look back at the song “FEEL.” Recall that the chorus of “FEEL.” featured Kenny repeatedly saying “I feel like ain’t nobody praying for me.” Additionally, at the beginning of “FEAR.” we heard a voicemail from Kenny’s cousin who acknowledged Kenny’s feeling that nobody was praying for him but ultimately asserted that his feelings were misplaced and that his struggles were actually a result of the curse that Kenny experiences when he does not follow God’s commandments. By realizing that feelings are temporary and will eventually disperse, Kenny seems to have come to some degree of resolution to the emotional journey that he has been on since the track “FEEL.”
Furthermore, Kenny seems to confirm that the tracks on the album are meant to represent his emotional journey when he hopes that his feelings will disperse “Within fourteen tracks, carried out over wax.” Here the “14 tracks” refer to the 14 tracks on “DAMN.”:
Meanwhile, the term “put it on wax” is often used in hip hop to refer to the act of recording lyrics in a finalized form that is ready to be distributed— since the earliest phonographs used wax cylinders as a recording medium.
Hence, Kenny is saying that he recorded the 14 tracks on DAMN. as a way to disperse the feelings that are distracting him from God. Given that the next track after “FEAR.” is a track called “GOD.”, we might initially conclude that Kenny’s emotional journey has finally arrived at a resolution. However, as the following line indicates, Kenny’s journey on this earth does not have a neat conclusion.
Searchin’ for resolutions until somebody get back
Here Kenny seems to conclude that his emotional journey will continue throughout his life. As a result, Kenny — and by proxy all of us — will always be searching for resolutions as long as we are on this earth. In particular, Kenny says that he will be searching until “somebody get back.” Fittingly, the idea that someone will come back to bring final resolution to suffering, pain, death and loss was something that Job expressed in the middle of his own suffering.
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And in the end, He will stand on the earth.
And after my skin is destroyed,
Yet in my body I will see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
Whom my eyes will see, and not another.
How my heart years within me!- Job 19:25–29
This passage from Job is particularly notable since it is one of the only passages in the Old Testament which seems to speak of a future day when God will come to earth in a visible form to be seen by humans who have experienced a bodily resurrection from the dead.
It’s also interesting to note that Job refers to God as his “Redeemer,” which in the context of the Hebrew Bible is a term used to describe someone who pays the price to free another person or a group of people from slavery or oppression. The term was first used in this way when God spoke to Moses from a burning bush and told Moses:
Say to the children of Israel “I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great justice”
- Exodus 6:6
Centuries after the Israelites were freed from the Egyptian oppression, they found themselves living under the oppression of one violent empire after the next leading up to the Roman Empire conquering Israel some 60 years before Jesus was born. Thus, when Jesus walked through his homeland declaring that the Kingdom of God was arriving with him, many people including Jesus’s closest disciples expressed their hope that Jesus would be the one to “redeem Israel” from the oppression of the Roman Empire (see Luke 24:21).
Even after Jesus rose from the dead and spent 40 days teaching his disciples, the disciples still asked Jesus if he would now restore the kingdom of Israel. Jesus refused to answer their question and instead told the disciples that they would be the ones to spread the Good News of Jesus’s Kingdom to people from all nations. Jesus then lifted up off the ground and ascended to his throne in the heavens, disappearing behind a cloud. As his disciples continued to stare into the sky in search of Jesus, two angelic messengers appeared beside the disciples and said:
Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the heavens? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into the heavens, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into the heavens.
- Acts 1:11
This promise that Jesus will one day return and rule over a unified heaven and earth is the expectation that propelled the disciples to spread the Good News, or Gospel, of Jesus’s Kingdom throughout the known world even as they routinely faced suffering, death and loss. After almost all of the disciples were killed for the roles as Jesus’s messengers, the last remaining disciple had a vision in which he saw how one day Jesus would do away with evil and bring justice to the earth when he comes back.
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
- Revelation 20:11–21:5
In this passage from the final chapters of the bible, the last of Jesus’s twelve disciples had a vision of Jesus coming back to earth on his throne to rid the world of all injustice and death. The vision then showed Jesus creating a new heaven and earth, where God lives in close relationship to God’s people. Moreover, the entire earth is transformed into a paradise garden where there was no suffering, death or loss. Hence, the entire biblical narrative ends with Jesus’s followers searching for resolution until Jesus gets back and opens up the gates of paradise to those who have been living in poverty.
Verse 2 says,
“You only have I known of all the families of the Earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
So until we come back to these commandments — until you come back to these commandments — we gonna feel this way. We gonna be under this curse.
Soon after the conclusion of Kenny’s final verse we hear an audio clip taken from the same voicemail from Cousin Carl that we heard at the beginning of “FEAR.” Recall that Cousin Carl quoted from Deuteronomy 28:28 during the audio clip at the beginning of “FEAR.” However, here at the end of “FEAR.” Carl has jumped forward in the Old Testament and is now quoting from a book of prophetic poetry written by a prophet named Amos.
Amos lived centuries after Moses died, after the Israelites settled in the Promise Land, after King David established a unified kingdom with a capital in Jerusalem, and after the poor leadership of King David’s grandson led the kingdom to split into a Northern Kingdom of Israel and a Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Fittingly, Amos was a contemporary of the Prophet Jonah and was sent to prophesy a curse over a king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel over whom Jonah had prophesied blessings. In particular, God sent Amos to inform the leaders of Israel that their kingdom would be conquered by foreign enemies as punishment for the rich Israelites exploiting the poor and oppressing those in need (see Amos 4:1). To further explain why God planned to punish them, Amos told the Israelites.
Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:
“You only have I known among all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you for all your wrongdoing.”- Amos 3:1–2
Here, Amos reminded the descendants of Israel that God had revealed Himself to them in a way that he had not revealed Himself to any other family or ethnic group. Despite having the chance to know God’s character and receive clear commandments on how to live by God’s standard of justice and righteousness, the Israelites chose to disobey God’s commandments. While other people groups could claim to be ignorant of God’s commandments, the descendants of Israel had no excuse. Experiencing punishment seemed to be the only way for the Israelites to turn away from wickedness and turn back to God.
This pattern of a prophet predicting that the Israelites will experience suffering because of their special relationship with God seems to be founded on earlier biblical passages like Deuteronomy 28. Hence, we should not be surprised that Cousin Carl once again ties the biblical story of the Israelites directly to the stories of oppressed ethnic groups in America.
Because He said He’s gonna punish us — the so-called Blacks, Hispanics, and Native American Indians are the true children of Israel. We are the Israelites, according to the Bible. The children of Israel, He’s gonna punish us for our iniquities, for our disobedience, because we chose to follow other gods.
Here Cousin Carl doubles down on his earlier claims that Black people are the biological descendants of Israel by also claiming that Hispanics and Native Americans are also biological Israelites. The inclusion of Hispanics and Native Americans along with Blacks in the family of Israel is a distinctive teaching of a Black Hebrew Israelite subgroup known as the OneWest Camp.
The 1 West Camp was originally founded in Harlem, New York in 1969 by a man who went by the name Eber Ben Yomin and also the name Abba Bivens. Abba Bivens had earlier been a member of another Black Hebrew Israelite group known as the Commandment Keepers. However, Bivens eventually left to start his own group which met at 1 West 125th St in Harlem and taught that Blacks, Hispanics and Native American were the true children of Israel. The 1 West Camp even went so far as to map each of the 12 tribes of Israel to various modern nationalities and ethnic groups.
Over the years, the 1 West Camp splintered into a variety of new groups which differed in some beliefs and practices but maintained Abba Bivens’ teaching on the modern identification of the 12 tribes of Israel. Currently, one of the most visible of these offshoots is a group called Israel United in Christ (IUIC) which was founded in New York in 2003 by a man who goes by the name Bishop Nathanyel. Israel United In Christ became notable for using YouTube and other forms of social media to spread their teaching and soon became one of the fastest growing and one of the most organized Black Hebrew Israelite groups in America. As it turns out, a few years before the release of DAMN. Cousin Carl joined Israel United in Christ in real life and began to refer to himself as Karni Ben Israel.
Given that Kendrick decided to prominently feature his real life cousin at such a pivotal moment on DAMN. we might initially assume that Kendrick has also joined Israel United in Christ or some other Black Hebrew Israelite group. However, both Carl and Kendrick have maintained that Kendrick has never affiliated himself with any Black Hebrew Israelite group. Kendrick specifically addressed this question in an interview with Rolling Stone.
ROLLING STONE:
Your cousin Carl is a member of the Hebrew Israelites, who believe that African-Americans are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites. Carl pops up in a voicemail on “FEAR.” You call yourself an Israelite on the album. How much of his theology have you embraced, and how much of it is just you playing with the ideas?KENDRICK LAMAR:
Everything that I say on that record is from his perspective. That’s always been my thing. Always listen to people’s history and their background. It may not be like mine, it may not be like yours. It was taking his perspective on the world and life as a people and putting it to where people can listen to it and make their own perspective from it, whether you agree or you don’t agree. That’s what I think music is for. It’s a mouthpiece.ROLLING STONE:
So what’s your opinion about the idea that Carl brings up, that black people are cursed by God as per Deuteronomy?KENDRICK LAMAR:
That shit’s truth. There’s so many different ways to interpret it, but it’s definitely truth when you’re talking about unity in our community and some of the things we have no control over. Where there’s fighting against the government, where there’s fighting against our own political views, there’s always a higher being, right there willing to stop it.
From that interview, we can see that Kendrick does not fully agree with Carl’s Black Hebrew Israelite perspective. However, Kendrick is convinced that some of what Carl says is unquestionably true. In particular, Kendrick seems to be convinced that Black people in America are living under a curse like the one outlined in Deuteronomy. While it might initially appear to be disheartening or even racist to believe that Black people are cursed, as a prophet to the Black community, Kenny seems to believe that this curse is evidence of a special relationship, a relationship that Cousin Carl highlights in the last section of the voicemail.
Like a man chastens his son, so the Lord, thy God, chasten thee
Here Cousin Carl again quotes from the Bible as he compares the way that God deals with his people to the way that a father deals with his son. In particular, Carl says that a father will often “chasen” his son, which is an archaic way of saying that a father will discipline his son in order to make his son pure. This idea of God disciplining the Israelites like a father disciplining a son is a recurring theme throughout the Bible. Fittingly, the first instance of the theme occurs in Moses’s introductory speech within Deuteronomy.
All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you may live and increase, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
- Deuteronomy 8:1–6
In this passage from Deuteronomy, Moses reflects on the entire 40 year journey that the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness without a stable supply of food other than the food that God miraculously provided. Moses asserts that God allowed the Israelites to be hungry so that they would learn to depend on God for all of their needs and in doing so become humble. The hope was that if the Israelites became humble through God’s discipline, they would learn to “fear / revere God” and follow God’s commandments. Moreover, as the passage goes on, Moses asserts that this period of experiencing hunger was only temporary.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
Deuteronomy 8:7–10
Moses reminds the descendants of Israel that God promised to bring them into the “Promise Land” where there would be an abundance of food. At first we might wonder why God didn’t bring the Israelites into the Promise Land immediately and prevent them from suffering for 40 years. However, as the passage goes on, we learn about the risk of receiving abundance without discipline and humility.
Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, and you build good houses and live in them, and when your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have increases, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you are to remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
- Deuteronomy 8:11–14, 17–18
Here Moses warns the Israelites that when they enjoy the abundance of the Promise Land they may be tempted to become proud. They may convince themselves that they became wealthy through their own strength and power. Hence, they may lose their humility and begin to disregard God’s commandments, which will eventually lead to their own destruction.
And it shall come about, if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. Like the nations that the Lord eliminates from you, so you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
- Deuteronomy 8:19–20
Moses ends this particular section of his speech, by asserting that if the Israelites become proud and worship the gods of sex, money, and military power, they will be choosing wickedness and death. Given the dire consequence of disobeying God’s commandments, the biblical authors all concluded that God allowed the Israelites to temporarily suffer because he loved them and wanted the best for them in the long run, which is exactly what Cousin Carl goes on to assert.
So, just like you chasten your own son, He’s gonna chasten you, because He loves you.
This idea that God’s discipline is evidence of his love, is itself a quote from a biblical proverb.
My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord
Or loathe His rebuke,
For whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
Just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.- Proverbs 3:11–12
This same Old Testament Proverb is quoted in the New Testament by the writer of Hebrews who goes on to say
You have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are punished by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He punishes every son whom He accepts.”It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
- Hebrews 12:6–11
Hence, the Old and New Testament both agree that being purified by discipline and temporary suffering is what allows humans to become sons and daughters of God. Thus, if God’s children have not yet learned to follow God’s commandments, we should expect that these children will eventually experience some painful form of discipline. This expectation of God’s discipline is something that Kendrick wrote about extensively in response to an article on the site DJ Booth.
I went to a local church some time ago, and it appalled me that the same program was in practice. A program that I seen as a kid the few times I was in service. Praise, dance. Worship. (Which is beautiful.) Pastor spewing the idea of someone’s season is approaching. The idea of hope. So on and so forth.
As a child, I always felt this Sermon had an emptiness about it. Kinda one-sided, in what I felt in my heart. Fast forward. After being heavily in my studies these past few years, I’ve finally figured out why I left those services feeling spiritually unsatisfied as a child. I discovered more truth. But simple truth. Our God is a loving God. Yes. He’s a merciful God. Yes. But he’s even more so a God of DISCIPLINE. OBEDIENCE. A JEALOUS God. And for every conscious choice of sin, will be corrected through his discipline. Whether physical or mental. Direct or indirect. Through your sufferings, or someone that’s close to then. It will be corrected.
Hence the concept “The wages of sin is Death.” It shall be corrected. As a community, we was taught to pray for our mishaps, and he’ll forgive you. Yes, this is true. But he will also reprimand us as well. As a child, I can’t recall hearing this in service. Maybe leaders of the church knew it will run off churchgoers? No one wants to hear about karma from the decisions they make. It’s a hard truth. We want to hear about hope, salvation, and redemption. Though his son died for our sins, our free will to make whatever choice we want, still allows him to judge us.
So in conclusion, I feel it’s my calling to share the joy of God, but with exclamation, more so, the FEAR OF GOD. The balance. Knowing the power in what he can build, and also what he can destroy. At any given moment.
I love when artists sing about what makes Him happy. My balance is to tell you what will make Him extinguish you. Personally, once that idea of real fear registered in my mind, it made me try harder at choosing my battles wisely. Which will forever be tough, because I’m still of flesh. I wanna spread this truth to my listeners. It’s a journey, but it will be my key to the Kingdom. And theirs as well. I briefly touched on it in this album, but when he tells me to react, I will take deeper action.
- from “Kendrick Lamar Responds to DJBooth Article About ‘DAMN’ Album”
As noted in this response, Kendrick believes that he has been called to help people understand that God disciplines his people through suffering. Suffering is thus an opportunity for God’s people to learn the “Fear of the Lord” and enter into God’s kingdom.
So that’s why we get chastised. That’s why we’re in the position that we’re in. And until we come back to these laws, statutes, and commandments and do what the Lord says, these curses is gonna be upon us. We gonna be at a lower state in this life that we live here, in today, in the United States of America. I love you, family, and I pray for you. God bless you. Shalom.
Cousin Carl ends his voicemail by once again asserting that Kenny along with all other Black individuals in America need to follow God’s commandments in order to free themselves from the curses that are upon them and reverse those curses into blessings.
As we have already detailed, the idea that God’s people must follow his commandments in order to experience God’s blessing is a consistent theme throughout the Old and New Testaments. However, the excerpts from Carl’s voicemail that we hear on “FEAR.” do not specify which exact commandments Black people are meant to obey. Israel United In Christ and other Black Hebrew Israelite groups tend to distinguish themselves by focusing on the commandments that Moses gave to the Israelites, including the kosher food laws, symbolic clothing, annual festivals and other distinctive laws given to Ancient Israel. Meanwhile, many Black Hebrew Israelite groups, particularly those in the 1 West Camp, continue to see White people as their enemies and teach that Jesus will come back one day to kill or enslave all White people.
However, if we take Jesus’s teachings on the kingdom of God to heart, particularly the teachings found in the Matthew 5:17–48 section of the Sermon on the Mount, we will see that Jesus called his followers to live at a standard that exceeded the standard set by the laws given to the Ancient Israelites.
Rather than focusing on the outward appearance of keeping the ancient commandments, Jesus called his followers to focus on the inner virtues that would allow them to refrain from pride, lust, rage and hatred; virtues that would allow them to love their neighbors and even to love their enemies. Moreover, as Jesus taught, it is by loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us, that we “prove ourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:45).
Resources:
- “Overview: Job” video by Bible Project
- “Overview: Amos” video by Bible Project
- “Overview: Deuteronomy” video by Bible Project
- “Overview: Proverbs” video by Bible Project
- “Overview: Matthew 1–13” video by Bible Project
- “Kendrick Lamar: The Rolling Stone Interview”
- “Kendrick Lamar Responds to DJBooth Article About ‘DAMN’ Album”
