The Beauty of Hate: A Literary Analysis of Kendrick Lamar’s “Euphoria.”

On Tuesday, rapper Kendrick Lamar caused an Internet storm with the words “Euphoria,” the newest clip in Lamar’s ongoing rap battle with Aubrey “Drake” Graham.

One of essentially the most remarkable things about this argument is that it will not be about an idea. Unlike Tupac vs. Biggie or Gucci Mane vs. Young Jeezy, this conflict didn’t start with an act of violence. There is not any breakup within the history of its founding just like the spat between NWA and Ice Cube or Lauryn Hill and Wyclef. In some ways, the argument between K-Dot and Drizzy over who must be considered the second best rapper alive (Black Thought remains to be alive and rapping, right?) is definitely about Black excellence, which is a component of the rationale all of them fell into state …

You know.

First of all, let’s get this out of the way in which. While anyone can have an opinion about any art form, not every opinion is valid. Just as anyone has the suitable to consider that the Earth is flat or that systemic racism doesn’t exist, I actually have the suitable to say to white people and non-astronomers, “I don’t value your opinion on this.” And since Drake fans place his lyrical depth somewhere between the Declaration of Independence and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, there’s nothing mistaken with disagreeing with my colleague Touré’s opinion that “Euphoria” is “one “one of the perfect diss songs in hip-hop history.”

As a poet, I actually have all the time believed that hip-hop practitioners are undoubtedly the best wordsmiths and musicians of all time. They combined music and poetry to create a brand new art form, construct instruments, invent language and construct business models. In my opinion “Lupe Fiasco”Newsstand” is than Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be.” The highschool band can play every little thing Beethoven ever composed, and I can count on one hand the number of Earthlings who can replicate what DJ Jazzy Jeff does on stage every night. If Edgar Allen Poe was so great at rhyming, why is not there a single 10-minute freestyle?

However, there may be a difference between opinion and opinion. The former is just a worth judgment based on an individual’s individual preferences. Conversely, criticism is conscious evaluation using a set of commonly accepted objective standards. This doesn’t necessarily require an evaluative judgment or conclusion as as to if it is sweet. And relating to Clapback Kenny’s latest beef, whether you are black or white, Drakeonian or KenFolkEveryone who has listened to “Euphoria” can objectively agree with one indisputable fact:

Kendrick Lamar Drake.

Of all the varied chemical reactions that the human brain produces, perhaps hate is the purest and most human emotion of all. A wildebeest could also be afraid of a lion and even a puppy may love its owner, but hatred is barely human. While its byproducts are sometimes toxic and unhealthy, hate may also be useful. Hating an opponent – ​​and even the thought of losing – can motivate an athlete to boost their game. It can poison the minds of a lynch mob, but it might also encourage others to fight oppression.

Most importantly, this universally identified passion can be the premise of essentially the most beautiful art. If it weren’t for the hatred of the Montagues and Capulets, “Romeo and Juliet” could be an enthralling play about teenage crush. Without the simmering anger that hate generated, Killmonger would have been just one other second-generation African immigrant who grew up in a fatherless home. Kobra Kai hates Daniel-san as much as Obi-Wan Kenobi despises Darth Vader. Shirley vs. Barbara is similar as Tom vs. Jerry or Jason Whitlock vs. his Blackness.

Hate .

While it’s okay to hearken to rap for the sake of the wordplay or to get you dancing, if you happen to’re the sort of one that doesn’t like diss songs, I do not respect your opinion on the matter. Beef is a staple of hip-hop. This is why people love battle rappers and why breakdancing is an Olympic sport. And in a genre and culture that’s partly based on competition, “Euphoria” must be discussed as one of the best artistic expressions of hate we’ve got ever seen.

The song’s title refers to Drake’s role as executive producer within the HBO series “Euphoria”, which tells the story of the exploits of a bunch of California teenagers involved in drugs, sex and… well, sex. This could also be a bull’s-eye on the baseless rumors circulating around 6ix God’s friendships With teenage white girls. Before the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet begins to sing, the song opens with Richard Pryor’s climactic scene from the 1978 musical “The Wiz,” during which the nice and powerful Oz is revealed to be a fraud. But as a substitute of hearing Pryor scream, “Everything you say about me is true!” Lamar plays the clip backwards.

Kung Fu Kenny opens the discussion by painting Drake as a fraud who creates soulless, uninspired music – a criticism often leveled on the Toronto rapper. Over Teddy Pendergrass’s sample¹ Lamar explains his neutralization plan “Degrassi” actor. “superpowers”,² noting that Drake only began talking about his personal life after listening to Kendrick’s famous, highly personal album “Mr. Morale and big steppers.” King Kunta not only paints Drake as ‘degenerate’³ a culture vulture with money and power but no respect, but throughout the song he equates Drake with Satan.⁴ But that quadruple slogan is nothing compared to the line: “I got Benjamin and Jackson at home like I used to be Joe, APPROX

1. This could also be a reference to Ghostface Killer Supported by Teddy Pendergrass tirade against Caucasian rapper Action Bronson. Pendergrass, like Drake’s character on Degrassi, used a wheelchair.
2. In the song “For free”, Drake borrowed an old too-short phrase to elucidate: “I must have superpowers…”
3. In geometry A degenerate shape is basically a straight line. However, Kendrick claims that he can predict Drake’s angles because Drizzy, like a degenerate, has no weight or mass.
4. He says Drake’s homies sold their souls to turn into “demons” for “Hellcat,” who can be a model Dodge Challenger which is accessible in a more powerful version, Avoid the Demon. “DeMun” can be the center name of Future, who produced Kendrick’s first shot at Drake, “Like That.”
5. “Benjamins” refers to Benjamin Franklin, slang for $100 bills, and Michael Jackson’s 1972 song from the film “Ben” which is about a rabid rat (look, those were simpler times). “Jackson” doesn’t just refer to Drake, to whom he repeatedly compares himself Michael Jackson, but also refers to President Andrew Jackson and the $20 bill. By calling himself “Joe”, he is essentially calling Drake his son while invoking the name of another powerful man from Benzoin ia Jackson in his home – Joe Biden.

If you are keeping count, this single measure comprises a six-fold sentence.

Typically, Kendrick’s music is a patchwork of metaphors and multi-layered allegories, and at this point, “Euphoria” is just that – a densely packed, pointed rebuke from a talented rapper. But these complicated lines are only the precursor from which Lamar goes from making a straightforward diss record to turning hate into art. In the song that began this whole beef: “First-person shooter“, Drake portrayed himself as a fake gangster, boasting that he “pulled the trigger on the (gun) stick like high beams.” In his next “Taylor created freestyle“, Champagne Papi (as AI Snoop Dogg) stated that Kendrick “has never been to prison… He’s never shot anyone, he’s never stabbed anyone, he’s never done anything to anyone…”

This is what Kendrick hates.

In addition to rapping about growing up in a poor neighborhood riddled with gang violence, Kendrick often talks about trauma witness to a murder in age of 5. IN “A blacker berry“, “Hol’ Up“And”city“, “good kid” even seems to check with an incident during his teenage years when he could even kill someone, which explains why he prefers to stay “low” and refuses fear the reaper” Here, K-Dot invokes his hostility by rapping:

– Kendrick Lamar, “Euphoria”

Music

From there, Kendrick pulls out a flamethrower. He calls out Drake for the way in which he’s raising his son. He recalls how Drake repeatedly tricked himself theses in Black women Megan Thee Stallion, Rihanna AND Serena Williams. She tells him that he makes songs that “calm down” his white fans. Kendrick even accepts beef on Pharrell Williams’ behalf (truthfully, the Compton emcee admits he prefers Drake’s singing discography). When it involves high-level insulting, it’s all normal. Most people accuse themselves of being worse than an anti-black, culturally appropriating fraud. I used to be called the N-word thrice every week and I used to be sucker punched once (which is far worse than a sucker punch). But out of all of the hostility, contempt, and hostility I experienced, the one thing I never saw was what Cornrow Kenny did in “Euphoria.”

He just said, “I hate you.”

Kendrick’s list of things he hates about Drake includes:

1. Drake’s Canadianness
2. I’m buying a Tupac ring.
3. How Drake appropriates the language, accents and culture of Black Americans
4. How he treats black women
5. His cosmetic surgery
6. The way Drake walks
7. The way he talks
8. The way he dresses
9. The way he sneaks disses
10. The way he says the word “nigger”

Publishing an in depth list of why you hate is essentially the most brutal piece of poetry in recent memory – wished young Maya Angelou “that Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner killed all the white people in their beds, and that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, that Harriet Tubman died from a blow to the head, and that Christopher Columbus drowned in the Saint Mary’s Water.”

Imagine how much hatred and resentment a talented wordsmith and Pulitzer Prize winner should have in his heart to place aside his entire vocabulary and distill his hatred into its most concentrated form. “I Hate You” is amazing in its simplicity. It’s more offensive than “yo mom” and more despicable than “That’s why I fucked your bitch, you fat…”. It’s a technique to express essentially the most human emotions.

And yes, it’s

After all, what’s art?

The accurate portrayal of someone’s pain is usually as charming as their joy and humor. Some songs should make you cry. A well-written tragedy is as charming as a well-crafted satire. In fact, all black art, including blues, jazz and stand-up comedy, has a component of pain and suffering.

But not like this.

It was essentially the most brutal version of hip-hop as an art form. It was the alternative of a love song; a psalm of hatred in its purest form. He didn’t even attempt to denigrate the rapper we all know as Drake; he attacked Aubrey Graham and who he’s as “Euphoria” proves why King Kendrick deserves to wear the crown Drizzy tried to assert. But as an adversary and rival, Lamar was cruel, ruthless, merciless, cold-blooded, vile and full of rage. He didn’t just record a diss track concerning the person; he created a creative act of terror, an excellent murder.

And was it beautiful?