♪ (rock music) ♪
- Oh, wow. This sounds like rap. (clears throat)
(rapping) "How much a dollar really cost?
The question is detrimental, paralyzin' my thoughts.
Parasites in my stomach keep me with a gut feeling, y'all."
- I'm guessing it's probably like hop hop.
- Probably a rapper or something, talking like that.
- It's like an existential crisis.
How much does a dollar really cost?
You know what? A lot more than you actually would think.
- He's talking about the value of a dollar,
like how much are you willing to do for a dollar?
Just the idea of that makes me sick.
- "Gotta see how I'm chillin' once I park this luxury car.
Hopping out feeling big as Mutombo. '20 on pump 6.'"
- I like the Dikembe Mutombo reference, you know?
'Cause of basketball.
Feeling pretty awesome if they're as big as Mutombo.
That's a seven-footer.
- It sounds like someone who is doing well now.
- When it says, "20 on pump 6,"
I'm thinking about $20 on pump 6.
But he's driving a luxury car, and he's only putting $20.
It's kind of a front, like he just stunting.
- That seems kind of like proletariat, working class.
Like, "$20 on pump 6."
Like, "Not fill it up using my black card."
- "Walked out the gas station, a homeless man
with a semi-tan complexion asked me for ten rand,
stressin' about dry land."
- "Deep water, powder blue skies that crack open a piece of crack
that he wanted. I knew he was smokin'.
He begged and pleaded, asked me to feed him twice.
I didn't believe it, told him, 'Beat it.'"
- He's using the word "crack" in a couple different ways
to get to the fact that this guy looks like he's on crack.
- So he's saying, "Oh, the homeless man was like,
'Give me money. I haven't eaten.'" And this guy's going,
"Uh-uh, you want to buy and smoke a crack pipe, so beat it."
- He or she probably feels that he's worked for what he has
and that that person is there because he can do the same thing,
which isn't necessarily the case, but people have that attitude.
"Contributin' money just for his pipe. I couldn't see it.
He said, 'My son, temptation is one thing that I've defeated.'"
- "'Listen to me, I want a single bill from you.
Nothin' less, nothin' more.'
I told him I ain't have it and closed my door."
- A guy walked up on him and was like, "Hey, come on, for real.
Just one single, or can you just give me a little bit?"
- Damn, that's cold.
He's asking for a dollar.
Maybe he's gonna go buy a burger with it.
Maybe he's gonna go buy crack with it.
So maybe, "I just shut the door,
'cause I go, I'm not gonna feed your habit.
But maybe I'm making the wrong assumption."
- This could be like a relation to Jesus,
like some scripture stuff, saying,
"Oh, Jesus came and asked me for a dollar, and I said no."
That sucks.
- If he's rolling around in that luxury car,
he obviously has it, and he just doesn't want to give it to him.
My own philosophy is somebody's hurting enough to ask,
I'm probably gonna give.
- "I never understood someone beggin' for goods,
askin' for handouts, takin' it if they could.
And this particular person just had it down pat,
starin' at me for the longest until he finally asked..."
- "'Have you ever opened up Exodus 14?
A humble man is all that we ever need.'"
- Really? Okay, sorry.
I just can't believe he put the Bible in this. (chuckles)
- The artist, I guess, is a person
who's always done things for themselves
to try to make their own-- doesn't understand
how you can ask for something without anything else in return.
- The guy asking for money busts out a Bible verse.
Okay? Really trying to play the conscience card.
- Now what they've done is they've actually stooped to the level
of using the Bible.
- Now scripture's in there, and that is some heavy,
'cause if you know your scripture, right,
you're supposed to take care,
you're supposed to feed the hungry.
"Are you a religious man? I don't know."
That's what that guy's asking.
- We have all begged for handouts.
Now, sometimes people need help with money.
Other times, you need help for emotional support.
So stop judging people who need handouts.
- "Tell me how much a dollar cost. It's more to feed your mind.
Water, sun, and love-- the one you love.
All you need, the air you breathe."
So he's back to the, "Tell me how much a dollar cost,"
from the first line.
- It's more like the value of life.
Like, how much do you love yourself?
How much could a dollar feed you?
How much could love feed you?
- Money isn't worth a lot, like material things.
But it meant something to the homeless man.
So I don't-- it's kind of contradictory.
- The artist is challenging the listener
to ask himself that question. Like, what is more important:
to be materialistic or to not be materialistic?
- That is a very simplistic way to look at life.
It's very easy to say this when you have a full belly
and a roof over your head. Once those things are taken care of,
then you start going,
"Oh, well, now I can appreciate the beauty of the world."
- "Guilt-trippin' and feelin' resentment.
I never met a transient that demanded attention.
They got me frustrated, indecisive, and power-trippin'."
- Now, this is poetry, guys.
- He's really upset at his own ego,
because he's being challenged on it.
- He's power-tripping 'cause he's like,
"Well, I got to where I am because of the work I put in.
What work are you putting in?"
- It's not even about the homeless man anymore.
It's about himself. It's like, "Do I want to do the right thing?
What is the right thing to do?
And now I feel guilty about it, and I feel bad about it."
- "Sour emotions got me lookin' at the universe different.
I should distance myself. I should keep it relentless.
My selfishness is what got me here. Who the [bleep] I'm kiddin'?"
- He's looking at his own emotions now
about what he did or didn't do, how he reacted.
- "Who the [bleep] am I kidding with this show of this car?
Who the [bleep] I think I am that I'm not helping this person?
Am I any better than him? Like, why shouldn't I believe him?"
- He probably saying, "I know I've done dirt before,
and I probably sold drugs before,
and I'm trying to act like I'm so innocent and I'm so holy
to try to stop this person. But in real talk,
I probably do the same stuff that he do."
- You kind of feel like, when you work hard, you busted your ass
and you feel like everybody else should to get where you got.
It's not just work. Sometimes it's luck.
- "So I'ma tell you like I told the last bum:
crumbs and pennies, I need all of mines."
- "And I recognize this type of panhandling all the time.
I got better judgment. I know when [bleep] hustlin'."
- "Keep in mind, when I was strugglin',
I did compromise. Now I comprehend."
- Maybe this guy knows from experience
what it's like to be down and out.
- He was on that same end of the homeless person,
that he was there struggling.
But he compromised. And instead of asking for handouts,
he worked really hard to try to get to the top,
and then he made it.
- He worked for his, and he's gonna keep all of his.
But you have something. Congratulations, you have something.
You did it. That's all your hard work.
But what are you giving back?
- "I smell Grandpa's old medicine, reekin' from your skin.
The jig is up. I seen you from a mile away losin' focus.
And I'm insensitive, and I lack empathy."
- "He looked at me and said, 'Your potential is bittersweet.'
I looked at him and said, 'Every nickel is mines to keep.'"
- He's trying to be strict with him. He's trying to tell him,
"Shape up. I'm not gonna be giving you anything."
- He's completely put up that wall.
- "Medicine" is the alcohol.
- "I smell what's happening, I see your out-of-focus eyes,
and I know you're not getting any dime of mine."
And I'll say I've been in that place too, right? Who hasn't?
- "He looked at me and said, 'Know the truth; it'll set you free.
You're lookin' at the Messiah, the son of Jehovah,
the higher power.
The choir that spoke the word, the Holy Spirit.'"
- "'The nerve of Nazareth,
and I'll tell you just how much a dollar cost.
The price of having a spot in Heaven, embrace your loss.
I am God.'"
- Wow. If he wasn't messed up before, he's really messed up now.
- He's trying to give everyone some spiritual lectures.
- It's interesting because we don't know who that is.
So if you're telling me you're God,
how the [bleep] do I know if you are or not?
- God is in all of us, right? God is everyone?
So that's what the homeless man is pulling out of his hat.
That's some heavy, heavy stuff right there.
- The person who's asking for the money is letting him know
that money is not that important.
What he's giving up to get that money
is costing him his place in Heaven.
- "Shades of grey will never change if I condone.
Turn this page, help me change, so right my wrongs."
- He's looking for assistance to try and move forward.
- He's thinking about things more and saying,
"Okay, I do need it. I need help with this."
So rather than being the one giving the help,
he's become the one needing the help.
- Considering what it took him to get that dollar,
what that dollar cost him, how he got there in the first place,
if he condones this, if he hands this guy a buck
and the guy goes out and scores,
it's just perpetuating a problem.
Damn. That is PROFOUND right there.
- (Finebros) So what was this song about?
- It's about a man who obviously worked for what he has,
and he has lots of material wealth
and feels like he shouldn't share it
to perpetuate society's ills.
- Not relating to people, relating to people,
being able to put ourselves in someone else's shoes,
and accepting the fact that we do not know it all.
- Choices along life, whether they are minor choices
that don't really seem like much at one point.
They could be major choices that
could affect you later on down the road.
- (Finebros) Do you know the song's title and artist?
- Mm-mm.
- I have no clue.
- No.
- I do not.
- I don't!
- I have no idea, and I'm impressed, whoever it is.
I want to know.
- That Diddy guy?
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis?
- (Finebros) So this song is "How Much a Dollar Cost"
by Kendrick Lamar. - Kendrick Lamar.
- Okay, I've heard the name.
- I can't believe I don't know this.
- Oh man. (chuckles)
Oh, my daughter's gonna kill me.
- I don't listen to Kendrick that much, but perhaps I should.
- (Finebros) Lamar told MTV that this song is based
off a true experience which made him reflect on his career
and his relationship with others.
Lamar has struggled to reconcile with his newfound fame
and status with the circumstances
under which he grew up in Compton.
- I'm sure that's a real struggle.
I mean, people think, once you have money,
everything gets solved.
But you tend to go inwards and reflect a lot,
and that's what he's doing.
- It's kinda nice when you listen to a song
and you know that it comes from their heart.
- When you're raised in a certain area
and you finally make it on top,
"I bust myself so hard, bust my butt so hard to get where I'm at.
You know, you could do the same thing.
You're no different than me."
- When you dissect it and you have a better understanding,
then you see that this song is really another mask
to hide your insecurities.
- You got it all, right?
So doesn't the Lord tell you to share it all?
Isn't that what we're supposed to do?
But do you really want to? 'Cause how much did that dollar
cost you to make in the first place? That is the human condition.
Kendrick Lamar, genius.
- Thanks for watching us break down "How Much a Dollar Cost"
on the React channel.
- What song should we break down next time?
Let us know in the comments.
- (rapping) It doesn't cost a dollar to hit that Like button,
so hit it.
- See you next time!
♪ (rock music) ♪