Genius Meanings
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Dr. Dre) – Compton
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As a closing track for the album, Kendrick teams up with the executive producer and West coast legend Dr. Dre.
Other than “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”, this is the only track from
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. MC Eiht) – m.A.A.d city
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“m.A.A.d” is an acronym for both “my Angels on Angel dust” and “my Angry Adolescence divided.”
“m.A.A.d” is also a reference to the 90s Compton based hip-hop group “WC and the
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Kendrick Lamar – Compton Chemistry
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“Compton Chemistry” serves as the eighth track on Kendrick Lamar’s third solo mixtape, C4—inspired by Lil Wayne’s June 2008 album, Tha Carter III. This song is a remix of Lil Wayne
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. RZA) – Ronald Reagan Era (His Evils)
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Kendrick once again vividly paints the dystopian picture of Compton, while simultaneously telling us that he’s on the good lists of all the local gangs. Ab-Soul provides the song
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. George Clinton & Thundercat) – Wesley's Theory
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“Wesley’s Theory” establishes the album’s theme by describing how racist American institutions upheld by white supremacy exploit Black creators for profit.
The first verse pictures
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Kendrick Lamar – Momma
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“Momma” tells of the personal growth and self-realisation that Kendrick experienced after having persevered against the internal struggles he described as “Lucy” in the preceding
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Anna Wise, Bilal & Snoop Dogg) – Institutionalized
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While “King Kunta” shows Lamar at a high, confidently claiming his throne atop the rap game with the influence and success he has acquired, “Institutionalized” is the dramatic
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Kendrick Lamar – Black Boy Fly
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The second bonus track off of Kendrick Lamar’s major-label debut album Good Kid, m.A.A.d city. It focuses on Kendrick seeing people from his neighborhood rise up and achieve
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Kendrick Lamar – u
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The sixth track on Lamar’s third album, “u” acts as a complete contrast to its lead single “i,” an anthem of peace, positivity, and prosperity starting with self-love.
With more
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Kendrick Lamar – untitled 07
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“untitled 07 | 2014-2016” is a three-part track that captures the arc of an emotional rush: the initial elation, the inflated confidence, and coming down. It also works well with
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Kendrick Lamar – Monster Freestyle
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Kendrick Lamar freestyles over the beat of Kanye West’s hit single “Monster” from his album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Rapsody) – Complexion (A Zulu Love)
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This song is about educating society on beauty standards, especially colorism. Colorism affects the black community profusely due to its roots, which spawn from the history of
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Kendrick Lamar – Crown
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In “Crown,” the Compton native Kendrick Lamar gives us insight into his psyche, portraying his deeply conflicted inner-self while performing over a prominent sample from the 2016
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Kendrick Lamar – Backseat Freestyle
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In the outro of the previous song, “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”, one of Kendrick’s friends asks him to rap. “Backseat Freestyle” serves as a flashback. The freestyle is not
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Kendrick Lamar – Hood Politics
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Kendrick states in his poem that he dealt with survivor’s guilt by reiterating to himself that he earned his success and stayed true to his A-1 foundation.
“Hood Politics” is just
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Kendrick Lamar – For Sale? (Interlude)
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This song offers a deeper insight into the previously introduced figure of Lucy (a character representing Lucifer).
As the song goes on, it is understood that Lucy is short for
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Alori Joh) – Compton State of Mind
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Appears on the unoficial Kendrick Lamar compilation mixtape, “Compton State Of Mind”.
Kendrick Lamar puts his own CPT twist on the classic Jay-Z track, Empire State of Mind
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Kendrick Lamar – God Is Gangsta
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On “God Is Gangsta,” Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar discusses a relationship with a girl that is difficult to understand, as the two aren’t clear about their expectations. He also
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Kendrick Lamar – untitled 02
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This track is about Kendrick’s confliction between his life at home in Compton and his life as a global superstar.
In 2014, he was prophesying the success of To Pimp a Butterfly
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Kendrick Lamar – Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter's Daughter
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The story opens as a flash-forward. K.Dot has known Sherane for a number of months by this point. He met her at a party where they flirted and exchanged numbers. They kept in
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Kendrick Lamar – Compton Life
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[Intro] / Uh, oh, y'all know what it is / Uh, it's that Compton—ish (Woo!) / [Chorus] / Chevy lights, women you like / Husslin' nights (Yeah) / Rollin' dice, gangsta rights / Hood
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Hope (Ft. Kendrick Lamar) – Compton's Finest
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[Verse 1: HOPE] / I’m a Nestor Ave tibby rock thrower / Nightlife liver, still waiting to throw up / 25 cents, Now & Later, and a soda / Snotty-nosed kids slap boxing on the
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Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar – The Hillbillies
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“The Hillbillies” is a collaboration between Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar on which they go back and forth, comparing themselves to Neymar and Messi respectively. The cousins rap
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Anna Wise) – Real
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This song denotes an incredibly important realization that Kendrick Lamar has felt. The song as a whole stresses the importance of loving yourself (and how this is a necessary
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Kendrick Lamar – ELEMENT.
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On “ELEMENT.,” Kendrick asserts himself as the most dominant rapper in the game, taking his contemporaries to task and daring them to call him out on wax.
Kendrick delves into his
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. JaVonté) – She Needs Me
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This is the fictional (maybe true) tale of Kendrick finding a girl who is perfect and has everything in place. Despite her success, she finds that she still needs Kendrick or so it
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Kendrick Lamar – FEEL.
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On “FEEL.,” Kendrick catalogs the wide range of feelings, particularly the negative ones, that his stardom has elicited.
He feels like nobody is looking out for him, yet cites a
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Kendrick Lamar – The Blacker the Berry
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Released via Empire star Taraji P. Henson’s twitter, this comes the day after Kendrick won Best Rap Song & Performance for “i” at the 2015 Grammy Awards. The song shares the name
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. BJ the Chicago Kid & Punch) – Faith
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Produced by King Blue of the group Sore Losers, “Faith” is found on the Kendrick Lamar EP, the first project he released by after the name change.
It details stories of faith and
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Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 1
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This is the first installment in what has become known as Kendrick’s “The Heart Series.”
It samples Mos Def’s song “UMI Says” from his debut album Black On Both Sides, released in
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DJ Critical Hype – My Name Is
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The first track combines the chorus of Eminem’s “My Name Is” with the song “Kendrick Lamar” from the Compton State of Mind mixtape.
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Kendrick Lamar – i (Album Version)
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“i” is the first single from Kendrick’s third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly. Kendrick received two Grammys for the studio version of the song at the 57th Grammy Awards for Best
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Kendrick Lamar – Ignorance is Bliss
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The eighth track on Kendrick’s first full-length mixtape, Overly Dedicated, is titled after a popular idiom which translates to “what you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Kendrick raps
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Kendrick Lamar – The Jig Is Up (Dump'n)
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J. Cole and Kendrick are at it again, with the former and Canei Finch on the beat and Ali on the mix. They be dump'n out the roof! Do-do-do-do-do!
https://twitter.com/
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Kendrick Lamar – The Art of Peer Pressure
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The song where the album’s narrative truly begins to set itself in motion, Kendrick takes you through a vivid story of how he learned ‘Peer Pressure’ the hard way.
This samples
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Kendrick Lamar – Worldwide Steppers
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“Worldwide Steppers” is the third track on Kendrick Lamar’s fifth and final studio album with Top Dawg Entertainment, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
The track features a brief
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Kendrick Lamar – Kendrick Lamar
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This song comes from Kendrick Lamar’s mixtape Compton State of Mind. Here Kendrick makes a statement by not using a a false moniker in his music and by following his own dreams and
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Dash Snow) – The Heart Pt. 2
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This is the first song from Kendrick Lamar’s official mixtape, sometimes stylized as O(verly) D(edicated), where he raps over an extended version of The Roots' 2010 instrumental “A
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Jay Rock) – I Do This
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Recorded in 2009, Kendrick Lamar’s “I Do This” is a boastful realization of his success as an artist. Fellow TDE labelmate and Black Hippy artist, Jay Rock tags along with Lamar
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Kendrick Lamar – Wanna Be Heard
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“Wanna be Heard” is the sixth track off of The Kendrick Lamar – EP.
The song displays a then relatively-unknown, even hungrier Lamar, whose masterful storytelling and mixture of
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Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 4
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On “The Heart Part 4,” Kendrick Lamar floats across four distinct beat changes, describing his industrious lifestyle while challenging his contemporaries. He finishes the song with
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