No one knew it, until Kendrick Lamar made it clear. The coming of a generation seemed to boil up and spew out of the Grammy evening that Kendrick Lamar felt empowered to perform a piece in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement. Kendrick only knows Kendrick himself, but his stylistic and lyrical approach he brought to his show proved that he wanted to let it be clear that no matter how mistreated and falsely accused African Americans will be, everything is alright. Now this can be assumed ironic just because the countless tales that are reported almost daily about black brutality is neither seamless nor okay at all. In fact, Kendrick's aggressive demeanor and body language throughout the performance further enhanced his rather more clearer stasis: we will not wilt to injustice, actions must be taking place to diffuse such situations from occurring in the future. In the beginning of the performance Kendrick's walk out in formation with his other African American male performers, chain-gang style affirming the idea of how many African Americans feel like in American society today, trapped and misunderstood by the typical stereotypes that come by Blacks. He alludes to his stasis on Black Lives Matter through his next transition in his performance into what the American Society actual sees of those of color. He talks about pain killers and gangs, as the way of life that over saturates the black community which further deepens the gap between minorities and whites. Kendrick ends the performance in hope that his stasis for the BLM movement to take another step in controlling injustice by posing in front of a symbol of the African continent with the words Compton in it as a sign that he chooses to continue the fight and hopes others will too.
-Okeze Nwofor
I really enjoyed watching and listening to your texts. I also enjoyed reading this blog post because in was a good insight. I think Kendrick Lamar's performance is very influential and definitely engraved in people's minds. His performance made me reflect on today's society.
ReplyDeleteI like how you guys chose Kendrick Lamar instead of any other rapper because Kendrick speaks the truth about life in our society.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest in saying I had not seen Kendrick Lamar's Grammy performance before reading this analysis. But after watching it I can see all of the meaning behind his lyrics and think he's a perfect fit for the black lives matter movement. The stasis theory analysis you gave is very well thought out and accurately captures Kendrick's performance.
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple of lines i thought were especially interesting. "No one knew it, until Kendrick Lamar made it clear" because at first i assumed everyone knew, but then it did occur to me that a lot of americans dont pay attention to these issues until their on the grammys or a program of that sort. Another line: "chain-gang style affirming the idea of how many African Americans feel like in American society today", i thought that was an interesting way of putting it. I would maybe say they felt oppressed instead.
ReplyDeleteI genuinely agree with many of the points made in this post, especially regarding the strong-willed motivation to move forward with fighting for equal rights and the Black Lives Matter movement. This idea of perseverance really stands true to be and is a powerful aspect that needs to be held onto throughout this movement.
ReplyDelete-Gujri Chadha
I was personally blown away by the performance of Kendrick Lamar at the Grammy's when I saw it. His ability to do and say things that many people are afraid to say because they may feel it will create controversy or start some kind of race war is unmatched. His song is a call to action which fits perfectly with the action aspect of stasis theory.
ReplyDelete-Aaron Israel