The Lesson of “Her Pain”
Okay so am I the only one who thinks that Kendrick Lamar’s ability to tell vivid stories is out of this world?!? For those of you under a rock that don’t know Compton’s champion rapper Kendrick Lamar, you going to learn today! Lamar has been dropping apex quality music since the late 2000’s. His ability to tell the story of another person’s life is surreal. Today I will be breaking down one of my personal favorite songs by Lamar “Keisha’s Song (Her Pain)”. This work of art describes the difficult lifestyle of a young woman, Keisha, and her misfortunate story. Let’s get into it.
The song begins with melodic vocals by singer Ashtro Bot. Bot sings, “Fancy girls on Long Beach Blvd. Flagging down all of these flashy cars”. This sets the melancholy tone that is a theme through the rest of the track. Lamar follows Bot with the opening verse, “And Lord knows she’s beautiful. Lord knows the usuals leaving a body sore. She take the little change she make to fix her nail cuticles, Lipstick is suitable to make you fiend for more”. Lamar begins by describing the female tailored gender norms that Keisha engages in to start her day. As Lamar continues to tell Keisha’s song, he reveals that she is only 17-years-old running the streets of Long Beach selling her body for money. Lamar then goes in depth on how Keisha emotionally, spiritually, and internally has to cope with her demons. Lamar states, “In her heart she hate it there, but in her mind she made it where. Nothing really matters, so she hit the back seat. Rosa Parks never a factor when she making ends meet”. The reference Lamar makes to Rosa Parks describes the lack of positive female role models in Keisha’s life. This point also makes me question the lack of job opportunities and Keisha’s seeing prostitution as her only means of economic prosperity. The song only gets deeper in the second verse!
Verse 2: Highlights the wicked relationship between police officers and women selling their bodies for money. Lamar describes the encounter between Keisha and a police Sgt, in which the male officer takes advantage of the young women. Lamar states, “Remember the sergeant let her slide, Said if he seen what’s between her thighs he’d compromise, To no surprise she took the ultimatum around the alleyway and gave him. A warm welcome to fill him right below the navel”. The way I interpret this verse, I realized that in a male dominated society, Keisha as a woman feels her most “valuable” asset or trade is unfortunately her body. Rather than attempting to mentor or help an underaged woman, the cop instead abused his power. Lamar is not only telling the experience that many young African American girls endure within the hood but also the instilled patriarchal rule that our society promotes.
Verse 3: Lamar vividly describes the fatal death of Keisha and how “her pain” can be told as a lesson to young women. Lamar states, “Block away from Lueders park, I seen a El Camino park. And in her heart she hate it there but in her mind, she made it where. Nothing really matters, so she hit the back seat. And caught a knife inside the bladder, left her dead, raped in the street Keisha’s song”. This verse never fails to bring raw perspective. Without Lamar attempting to tell Keisha’s song, her infamous story perhaps would have never inspired many fans of Hip-Hop to appreciate the art of story telling. The power of one individual’s story is undermined and forgotten with time. Lamar finishes the song by saying, “My little sister eleven, I looked her right in the face. The day that I wrote this song, set her down and pressed play”. And this is the lesson of “Her Pain”.
