Kendrick I Love Myself Lyrics

[Charo Lemucchi]

Whenyou think of music in 2015, you have to think of Kendrick Lamar. To Pimp a Butterfly recently scored 11 Grammy nominations, more than any other artist, and "Alright" became an anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement against police abuse.

"You grow up inside these neighborhoods and these communities, and you have friends, friends that you love, friends that you grew up with since elementary. And you have their trust, and you have their loyalty. So it brings influence. So no matter how much of a leader I thought I was, I was always under the influence, period. Most of the times, when they were involved in these acts of destruction, I was right there."

Kendrick Lamar doesn't have a rap sheet himself, but he says he's hurt people. Music saved him: He spent long nights in the studio instead of on the streets, and two years ago, his album good kid, m.A.A.d city went platinum. But for a young man who grew up in Compton, sudden success was overwhelming.

On To Pimp a Butterfly, Lamar confronts these emotions. There's a refrain that he keeps coming back to, a spoken-word piece of sorts: "I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence. Sometimes I did the same, abusing my power, full of resentment, resentment that turned into a deep depression." Then there's a night in a hotel room, where he describes himself literally screaming out in agony.

"What was the feeling? The feeling was missing home," Lamar says. "The feeling was, I should be with my family right now when they're going through hardships, with the loss of my dear friends that's constantly passing while I'm out on this road. The feeling was, 'How am I influencing so many people on this stage rather than influencing the ones that I have back home?' That's the feeling: being inside the hotel room, and these thoughts I'm just pondering back and forth while I look at the ceiling all night."

"Chad Keaton. He was like my little brother; we grew up in the same community," Lamar says. "I was actually best friends with his older brother, which is incarcerated right now. And him just always telling me to make sure that Chad is on the right path. And, you know, he was on the right path. But, you know, things happen where sometimes the good are in the wrong places, and that's exactly what happened. He got shot."

"It's not me pointing at my community; it's me pointing at myself," Lamar says. "I don't talk about these things if I haven't lived them, and I've hurt people in my life. It's something I still have to think about when I sleep at night.

Kendrick Lamar's song 'i' is a powerful anthem of self-love and resilience in the face of adversity. The lyrics reflect Lamar's personal struggles and broader social issues, weaving together themes of self-acceptance, perseverance, and the search for peace amidst turmoil. The repeated refrain 'I love myself' serves as a mantra, reinforcing the importance of self-worth and inner strength.

The song opens with Lamar acknowledging the trials and tribulations he has faced, including his battles with depression and the temptations of evil, symbolized by Satan. Despite these challenges, Lamar maintains his faith and refuses to be brought down by negativity. The 'dirty double-mirror' could represent self-reflection and the distorted ways in which one might view oneself due to external pressures. The chorus juxtaposes images of a violent and oppressive world with the assertion of self-love, suggesting that recognizing one's own value is crucial in a world that often tries to devalue individuals.

Lamar also addresses societal issues such as police brutality, addiction, and violence, painting a picture of a world in chaos. Yet, he emphasizes the power of maintaining a positive outlook ('the strong in me, I still smile') and the importance of moving forward despite the hardships ('lift up your head and keep moving'). The song culminates in a declaration of overcoming internal and external battles, with Lamar finding solace in the act of self-love and encouraging others to do the same. 'i' is not just a personal testament; it's a call to action for listeners to find strength within themselves and to confront life's challenges with courage and self-compassion.

Everybody lookin' at you crazy (crazy!)

What you gonna do? (what you gonna do?)

Lift up your head and keep moving (keep moving)

Or let the paranoia haunt you (haunt you)?

Peace to fashion police, I wear my heart

On my sleeve, let the runway start

You know the miserable do love company

What do you want from me and my scars?

Everybody lack confidence, everybody lack confidence

How many times my potential was anonymous?

How many times the city making me promises?

So I promise this

They wanna say it's a war outside and a bomb in the street

And a gun in the hood, and a mob of police

And a rock on the corner, and a line for the fiend

And a bottle full of lean, and a model on the scene yup

These days of frustration keep y'all on tuck and rotation

I duck these cold faces, post up fi-fie-fo-fum basis

Dreams of reality's peace

Blow steam in the face of the beast

The sky could fall down, the wind could cry now

The strong in me, I still smile

I went to war last night

With an automatic weapon, don't nobody call a medic

I'ma do it till I get it right

I went to war last night

I've been dealing with depression ever since an adolescent

Duckin' every other blessin' I can never see the message

I could never take the lead, I could never bob and weave

From a negative and letting them annihilate me

And it's evident I'm moving at a meteor speed

Finna run into a building, lay my body in the street

Keep my money in the ceiling, let my mama know I'm free

Give my story to the children and a lesson they can read

And the glory to the feeling of the holy unseen

Seen enough, make a motherfucker scream, "I love myself!"

This, we knew. But after June's promises of radical change and widespread racial reckoning in the face of President Donald Trump's blatant bigotry, I have to admit I had a glimmer of hope for a landslide Joe Biden victory hope was quickly dashed.

Though I'm disappointed by the revealing closeness of this election, at least it offers no more scapegoating, no more hiding from the prevailing reality of American bigotry. This time, as compared to 2016, Trump voters knew what they were getting (blatant white supremacy), and they checked "Donald J. Trump" on the ballot box despite.

Yet, I still have hope. Mostly because I've been listening to Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly on repeat all week. Kendrick's three most notable albums are all distinct. 2012's good kid, m.A.A.d city is a masterpiece of storytelling about growing up in Compton that revitalized the concept album. The most recent, 2017's DAMN., is Kendrick's ƒPulitzer Prize winning and most commercially successful work. But To Pimp a Butterfly remains his most culturally significant work, arriving as the anthem to the summer of racial protest in 2015.

It's hard to think of a contemporary rapper with more (positive) political influence than Kendrick Lamar. To Pimp a Butterfly is unrestrained. The political commentary in good kid, m.A.A.d city was artful and anecdotal, but TPAP is brazen while retaining lyrical nuance.

The marginal results of the 2020 election might just be the revelation needed to spark revolution, but only if we push for it. And while it's been hard enough to get out of bed this week, when the revolution comes, these are the Kendrick lyrics reminding us that the revolution continues...

In "Wesley's Theory," the opening track of the album, Kendrick is searingly self-aware. The song role plays the expectation of excessive spending and posturing by Black celebrities, both from the perspective of himself and Uncle Sam. This line comes from the Uncle Sam character and is repeated later in the album in "Alright" and "Lucy."

This line from "u" feels unbelievably prescient in the wake of rappers like Ice Cube and Lil Wayne endorsing Donald Trump for President. Again, Kendrick is critical of the profit motive but not surprised or mourning his losses. He's unapologetic and leaves no room for anything less in return.

Kendrick pulls no punches in "Hood Politics." Despite frequent invitations to the White House under the Obama administration and photographs with the then-president himself, Kendrick does not hesitate to name Obama as complicit in an oppressive system of power.

What Kendrick conveys through all his music is the interconnectedness of the micro and the macro, the personal and the political. His anecdotes, skits, and observations are all vehicles through which to see the larger societal structures of oppression.

And again, it all comes back to the dollar. To make a killing depends on the killing and incrimination of Black people. This rhetoric rings especially loud and clear in the wake of a summer of protests, which were framed as riots defined by looting.

"Complexion" addresses colorism, desirability politics, and generational trauma, but it all comes back to this: Blackness is multidimensional. Drawing on his criticisms of commodification in the first track, this time success does not mean status symbols. This time the goal is healing for our own sake.

The first single from the album, "i," is a celebration of Blackness. To love oneself in this song isn't a small thing. It comes after realizing that, despite the odds and the systematic barriers, we have potential and we have ourselves. Kendrick doesn't count on the city or the structure; he counts on the community; he counts on himself.

About three years ago, I started composing this album and I realized that people knew about all my accomplishments, my affiliations and my reputation, but I didn't feel like they knew my sound. Producing on a song like "Mercy," you kind of get overshadowed if they don't outright put "Produced by the Twilite Tone." And I said, you know, forget always celebrating the things I've done and who I'm affiliated with. I want people to respect me now. Let me make an instrumental album where I don't have to depend on anyone and nothing is on top of it to deter you, or distract you, or deflect you, of who and what this is. So when I say instrumental album, I mean that, these aren't beats, these are instrumentals.

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