GOOD Kid, m.a.a.d City-A brutally Honest tale
“ If I told you a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?”
Released 9 years ago on October 22, 2012, Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City was the major label debut for Compton-native Kendrick Lamar. Often regarded as one of hip-hop’s classic albums, it has a distinct sound which pays homage to K.Dot’s Compton roots.
Working with many producers such as TDE’s in-house production team consisting of Tae Beast, Sounwave, Dave Free and Willie B, the album also boasts contributions from legendary producers such as Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, Hit-boy and Pharrell just to name a few.
The album pulls from the history of the city to show what it was like for a young Kendrick Lamar making his way through his adolescence. Ironically, he would attend the high school where the Bloods originated from roughly 40 years prior and what only followed Kendrick’s adolescent years would be flirting with the lifestyle and influences surrounding him, while having conflicting thoughts and feelings. From a place that was once labeled a city where the ‘American Dream’ was a possibility, Compton was now labelled a “troubled suburb” with the rise of gang violence, dysfunctional schools, corruption, declining infrastructure and economic downturn. Harbouring the effects of these feelings, we enter Lamar’s troubled yet beautiful mind.
Preface - Sherane
As the album opens up, we hear Kendrick preface the story with the introduction of a pivotal character in the audiomatic universe with Sherane. The intro track Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter brings us into Kendrick’s point-of-view and his desire to hook up with Sherane, a girl he had met at a party a while back.
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, push an ‘04 Mercedes-Benz.
While it is clear that Kendrick’s motives are lustful, he starts to leave details to the universe he is bringing us into. In between the bars in which Kendrick is rapping about his sexual desires and motives, he gives us a glimpse into the realities of living in Compton with regards to gangbanging and territorial enforcement.
“Where you stay?” She said, “down the street from Dominguez High” / Okay, I know that’s borderline Compton or Paramount / “Well is it Compton?” “No” she replied
Her favourite cousin Demetrious is irrepetible / family history of gangbangin’ did make me skeptical
These lines provide heavy foreshadowing as towards the end of the song we hear how Sherane’s gang affiliations come to the forefront as Kendrick’s motivations lead him into rival territory and a predicament:
I’m two blocks away, two hundred and fifty feet / and six steps away from where she stay she wavin’ me across the street / I pulled up with a smile on my face, and then I see / two n*****, two black hoodies, I froze as my phone rang
Act 1 - The Art of Peer Pressure
Your Homies. Your Boys. Your Girls. Your Friends. We know the influence our closest friends have on us and as an adolescent, we are privy to the ideas of trying to fit in and finding your circle of peers. As the story progresses, we see Kendrick dealing with these issues of adolescenthood in trying to find himself and his place within his circle of friends.
Backseat Freestyle takes the listener into the backseat of his “friends” car where we hear Kendrick flowing aggressively over a Hit-Boy beat. As most backseat freestyle sessions with your friends go, the song lyrically focuses on mischievous and hedonistic activities. Kendrick is trying to fit in with his friends and the lyrical content of Backseat Freestyle is evident of that.
All my life I want money and power / respect my mind or die from lead showers
Damn I got b*tches / Damn I got b*tches / Damn I got b*tches / Wifey, girlfriend and mistresses
However, in the next track The Art of Peer Pressure the listener finally gets a sense of who Kendrick Lamar is deep down and his conflicted issues of morality start to arise as we hear the internal dialogue he begins to have with himself.
In the intro chorus of The Art of Peer Pressure, it is evident that everything Kendrick is doing is the total opposite of himself but the peer pressure from his friends create an internal power struggle with regards to staying true to himself or fitting in with the group.
Smokin on the finest dope ay-ay-ay-ah / drankin’ till I can’t no more ay-ay-ay-ah / Really I’m a sober soul / but I’m with the homies right now
And we ain’t askin’ for no favours / Rush a n**** quick then laugh about it later ay-ay-ay-ah / Really I’m a peacemaker / but I’m with the homies right now
Throughout The Art of Peer Pressure, we see the mischief which Kendrick becomes intertwined in from pressing others from rival neighbourhoods, indulging in drugs and alcohol and eventually becoming involved in a home invasion. The mob-mentality has taken over but moments of introspection shine through as Kendrick questions his intentions throughout the song as he tries to determine if this is really who he is as a person.
Slowly but surely, Kendrick starts to integrate within the crew and with that, his confidence blisters through on Money Trees as he reflects on living the fast and dangerous lifestyle which growing up in Compton can lead to. But again, we see the dilemma which Kendrick faces while looking inward with regards to the options life presents to him: pursue money or pursue meaning.
Money trees is the perfect place for shade / and that’s just how I feel / nah, nah / A dollar might just f*ck your main b*tch / that’s just how I feel / nah, nah / A dollar might just say f*ck them n***** that you came with / that’s just how I feel / nah, nah
Act 2 - A Good Kid in a ‘Maad’ City
As Kendrick continues to build on his audiomatic universe, with Poetic Justice we get transported back to his thoughts with regards to his relationship with Sherane. Over a sample of Janet Jackson’s Anytime, Any Place, and a feature from heartbreak Drake himself, Kendrick shows his lust and desire he has for Sherane.
If I told you a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?
However, there is a point to the song in which that lust and desire sets Kendrick up for disaster as being young, naive and oblivious leads him to a dangerous situation. Again, we see a young Kendrick being blinded by his own motivations while disregarding his surroundings. In the outro of Poetic Justice, we hear a skit in which Kendrick ends up getting jumped by the two men which were referenced in the first track of the album. This part of the album can be viewed as a parallel to a modern day telling of Romeo & Juliet, but instead of a feud between families of the Montagues and Capulets, instead it is now a feud between colours and territories with the Pirus and Crips.
It is this encounter that leads to another point of self-reflection and a realization for Kendrick needing to escape the craziness of his city; however, this is easier said than done as the next song on Good Kid establishes. It is evident that Kendrick is becoming conflicted with who he is as a person and what the environment he grows up in encapsulates.
But what am I posed’ to do when the topic is Red or Blue / And you understand that I ain’t / but know I’m accustomed to a couple that look for trouble.
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.
Guilty by association. How do you stay true to being a ‘good kid’ when all you're surrounded by is violence, gangs, corruption and poverty? The next song m.A.A.d. City is a representation of all this craziness that the city brings and also shows Kendrick’s breaking point in the story. Kendrick’s aggressive delivery and lyrical content emphasizes the frustration and despair that comes with being a product of his environment.
This is not a rap on how I’m slingin’ crack or move cocaine / this is cul-de-sac and plenty Cognac and major pain / Not the drill sergeant, but the stress that weighin’ on your brain.
As the stress builds up and a tipping point is reached, a fight or flight scenario ensues in which Kendrick chooses to ‘fly away’ in a sense by picking up the bottle. Swimming Pools, the lead single off the album, is a club anthem that ironically dives into the vice of alcohol and topics of escapism and societal pressure.
Some people like the way it feels / some people wanna kill they sorrows / some people wanna fit in with the popular, that was my problem.
As Kendrick has constantly reiterated through the album, growing up in Compton is growing up in an environment that sets people up for failure. In the final verse of Swimming Pools, Kendrick describes the pain he feels by losing control of his situation and his growing desire to change.
All I have in my life is my new appetite for failure / and I got hunger pain that grow insane.
Instead of trying to strive for change, those feelings of complacency and feeling trapped in your environment leads to an escapist route in which drugs and alcohol bring relief.
Makin’ excuse that your relief / is in the bottom of a bottle and the greenest indo leaf.
As Kendrick drowns his sorrows with alcohol, he eventually gets woken up by something realer and vivid - death.
Act 3 - Realization
As the outro of Swimming Pools plays we hear a conversation in which Kendrick and his friends are planning to get back at the men that jumped Kendrick earlier at Sherane’s house. This quickly goes wrong as in the aftermath of it all one of Kendrick’s friend’s, Dave, gets killed in the crossfire of the retaliation.
This part signifies a turn in the album as Kendrick realizes that his actions have profound consequences not only to himself but the people he cares about, this changes his determination and motivations to get out of the environment he is trapped in. This is expanded on in Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.
Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst is split into two parts. The first part shows off Kendrick’s storytelling prowess as he takes the perspective of two different people before going into his point of view to discuss these stories.
The first story is that of Dave’s brother and how he recounts to Kendrick how he was there for his brother as he was dying. The first verse emphasizes the reality of gang culture and what taking that path leads to - dead or in jail. As the verse ends we also hear Dave’s brother’s story being promptly interrupted by gunshots leaving the listener with the inevitable conclusion to Dave’s brother’s path of gangbanging.
N***** like me never prosper / prognosis of a problem child, I’m proud and well-devoted / This piru sh*t been in me forever / So forever i’ma push it wherever whenever.
And if I die before your album drop I hope -- (gunshots)
The second story is a sequel to Keshia’s Song off of Kendrick Lamar’s first full length LP Section.80 in which Kendrick tells the story of a young prostitute who is raped and slain. In verse 2 of Sing About Me we hear the tale of Keshia’s sister and her view on how Keshia’s Song had unfairly judged her.
How could you ever just put her on blast and sh*t? / Judgin’ her past and sh*t? / Well it’s completely my future / Her n**** behind me right now asking for ass and sh*t!
This verse also reiterates the choices in which adolescents are forced into trying to navigate the cycle of hopelessness and poverty within the ‘maad’ city. The inevitability of joining a gang or prostitution seems like the only path for youth when everything feels so far gone. Just like Dave’s brother’s fate, we also see the same ending with Keshia’s sister as her verse starts to fade out which can be interpreted in a couple of ways: her eventual death, her fading into the life of prostution, Kendrick walking away from her, or the listener themselves walking away from her making her irrelevant.
In the last verse of Sing About Me we hear Kendrick reflect on these stories and his reality living in Compton. That reality he is facing while looking at the mirror is the one of death. The fact that he is only an adolescent teen and that he could die at any moment. The whole story the album presents is that our actions have consequences, and Kendrick himself witnesses that with the death of his friend Dave.
Coming to grasp this idea is tough for Kendrick but we also see how it inspires him to break the cycle of hopelessness and despair which the city brings. He realizes that his gift has the opportunity to inspire and bring light to these stories that are rarely heard or represented.
When the lights shut off and it’s my turn to settle down, my main concern, promise that you will sing about me…
The second part of the song, I’m Dying of Thirst analyzes the never-ending cycle of violence which gang culture perpetuates. The metaphor for ‘dying of thirst’ is a reflection of his environment and that the sins that have been committed are neglectful of God. The desire for vengeance and retaliation brought about by Kendrick’s friend’s death and gang mentality will just end up in the perpetual cycle of violence that plagues their community in which eventually, they will all die of “thirst”.
The beef is bubblin’, / it’s no discussion / Hereditary, all of my cousins / Dyin’ of thirst, dyin’ of thist, dyin’ of thist.
However, an encounter with Kendrick’s neighbour (voiced by the late Maya Angelou) reveals to them that they are dying of thirst and leads them in prayer to let Jesus into their lives. This would be the change that Kendrick experiences within the story to shed his hood mentality and resolve his internal conflict to live his life as the person he really is.
To conclude the story, the track Real showcases the realization which Kendrick experiences after this encounter with his neighbour - to live his life as the person who he wants to be and not what the city, nor his friends dictate for him. Real can be viewed as the contrast to the Art of Peer Pressure as it is an indication of that break of conflicting thoughts he had of himself. Being real is carrying yourself in a way which you’re not influenced by anyone else, you have your own outlook, own path and loving one’s self.
I do what I wanna do / I say what I wanna say, when I feel, and I / Look in the mirror and I know I’m there / with my hands in the air, I’m proud to say yeah / I’m real, I’m real, I’m really, really, real.
Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d City is an album that is a reflection of the realities that those face while living in Compton. More often than not the stories and lives of these people are often neglected, ignored and overlooked. The cycles of violence, hopelessness and poverty that perpetuate urban ghettos are problems that are deep rooted with little to no solution in sight. Good Kid, m.A.A.d City can be seen as a street sermon and an illustration of the social relationships and complexities that occur within these environments. Also, the album serves as a piece of self-reflection for not only Kendrick himself, but the generation of youth that are forced to navigate the trials and tribulations brought about by their socio-economic condition. Most importantly, the album can also be seen as a piece of inspiration and hope as the experiences which Kendrick reflects on throughout the album are a way to show his generation that it does not have to be this way and that the cycle can be broken. In comparison to late Tupac Shakur, Kendrick embodies the representation of being “the rose that grew from concrete”, with his harsh reality and condition shaping who he is as a person, and that we should realize there is beauty and something real in that.