 Genius Meanings
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Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 5 (Original)
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On “Prayer,” Kendrick Lamar reflects over “the voices of art” and personifies a song by Michael Jackson and a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., respectively. In each of the first
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Kendrick Lamar – Rich Spirit
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“Rich Spirit” depicts an irreverent Kendrick talking about his own qualities while trying to stand firm against the criticism against him.
Kendrick utilizes ethereal melodies and
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Kendrick Lamar – Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst
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Kendrick Lamar’s two-part “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” depicts life in an urban ghetto. From beginning to end, Lamar breaks down the stories that pulled him away from gang
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The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me
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“Pray For Me” preaches loyalty, sacrifice and redemption—with both artists taking on the voice of a despondent hero. Kendrick knows a thing or two about a hero/Messiah-complex from
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Kendrick Lamar – Alright
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“Alright” provides a moment of hope amid To Pimp a Butterfly’s battle to find higher purpose. After “u” – where Kendrick lays out his burdens – “Alright” responds by detailing how
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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 – HiiiPoWeR
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The first song released from Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80, “HiiiPower” talks of self enlightenment through reflection and active work. It constantly touches on racial subjects
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Kendrick Lamar – FEAR.
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On “FEAR.,” Kendrick explores three instances of true terror at ages 7, 17, and 27, respectively. In the first verse, he explores the fear he experienced growing up in the hood
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Kendrick Lamar – United in Grief
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Throughout his first release in exactly 1,855 days, Kendrick muses on his many achievements covering a 19-year career, as well as the pitfalls of fame. He goes into great detail
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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 – 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 – 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, Blxst & Amanda Reifer – Die Hard
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In a very Nipsey track, Kendrick opens up about his insecurities and struggles involving honesty and sharing in a relationship. He is having doubts as to whether he will still be
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Beyoncé (Ft. Kendrick Lamar) – Freedom
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“Freedom” is an anthem dedicated to black women. The song brings Beyoncé’s visual album to an apex with the scene ‘hope’ and features the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown
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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 – untitled 06
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A song about embracing one’s unique traits.
Written in the form of a plea to a lover, they purport talking about the character traits that come across as odd rather than see them
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Kendrick Lamar – Untitled 2 (Blue Faces)
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Originally performed on the January 7, 2016 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a studio version of this track was released as “untitled 08 | 09.06.2014.”, the
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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 – LUST.
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“LUST.” can be seen as Kendrick Lamar’s perspective on the repetetive nature of life. Centered around themes of sexual intimacy, Kendrick explores the monotonous routine of daily
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Beth Gibbons) – Mother I Sober
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“Mother I Sober” is the eighth track on disc two of Kendrick Lamar’s fifth and final studio album with Top Dawg Entertainment, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, and the seventeenth
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Kendrick Lamar – DNA.
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On “DNA.,” Kendrick Lamar adopts multiple viewpoints; celebrating, critiquing, and exploring his black heritage and culture. In the music video, Kendrick and actor Don Cheadle
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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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ScHoolboy Q (Ft. Kendrick Lamar) – Blessed
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ScHoolboy Q gets pretty emotional on a track dedicated to a friend of his who lost a son. This causes him to take a minute and realize how much good he has going for him, and urges
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. U2) – XXX.
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Kendrick teams up with rock legends U2 on “XXX.,” which delves deeper into the political and religious themes heard throughout DAMN. In an August 2017 interview with Rolling Stone
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Kendrick Lamar – Savior (Interlude)
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On “Savior (Interlude),” Baby Keem delivers a long, well-rhymed verse starting about his problems growing up and his family and then delves into recent experiences, overcomings
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Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem & Sam Dew – Savior
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On “Savior,” Kendrick teams up with Sam Dew and Baby Keem to inform his listeners about the brokenness of society. The song comes directly after “Savior (Interlude),” which Baby
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Kendrick Lamar – King Kunta
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Kunta Kinte is the main character in the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. Haley’s said that Kunta Kinte was his own great, great, great grandfather and
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SZA & Kendrick Lamar Drop ‘Forrest Gump’ References On “Doves In The Wind”
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She recently said that the song is “dedicated to vaginas.”
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Kendrick Lamar – I Hate You
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A creative track by Kendrick where he writes a letter to Death and how he hates it. He communicates many feelings that most have when death occurs, especially at random
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Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Kent Jamz) – Collect Calls
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This iTunes bonus track from good kid, m.A.A.d city finds K.Dot’s friend, Dante, facing prison time and desperately reaching out to his mother for help. It was produced by THC.
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Kanye West (Ft. Chance the Rapper, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin & The-Dream) – Ultralight Beam
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“Ultralight Beam” is about Kanye’s faith in God. This track establishes strong parallels for The Life of Pablo with the life of Saint Paul the Apostle. Paul (Saul at the time) was
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Kendrick Lamar – Swimming Pools (Drank)
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On this lead single from good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick addresses the psychological connection between peer pressure and alcoholism. What sounds like a club anthem is actually an
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Mike WiLL Made-It, Pharrell Williams & Kendrick Lamar – The Mantra
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Mike WiLL Made-It first teased “The Mantra” via Instragram on November 7, 2018. The track reunites Pharrell Williams and Kendrick Lamar, whose previous collaborations include 2017’
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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 – Somebody
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[Intro] / I woke this mornin' undecided / My demons takin' over my life, yeah / Sooner or later it's a family divided / These patterns gettin' hard to hide, yeah / [Chorus] / They
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Kendrick Lamar & Tanna Leone – Mr. Morale
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“Mr. Morale” covers such themes as generational trauma and excess. Lamar cites R. Kelly and Oprah Winfrey, both of whom are known for their proximity to abuse.
It features Tanna
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Kendrick Lamar – Rigamortus
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From Team Kendrick:
When rigor mortis occurs within a corpse, its muscles tighten, causing the body to become stiff and very difficult to move. The chemical reaction makes all
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