DELISA: In 2017, Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar released his critically acclaimed
album ‘DAMN’ which boasted his impressive lyricism and wide range of flows.
DELISA: In an interview he broke down the twelfth track “FEAR.”
On the cut he tells a story from his perspective at three different times of his life, 7 years old,
17 and 27 and said that quote:
KENDRICK: I’d rather talk about my reality. When you hear these stories, it’s a little bit deeper than just the music.
DELISA: But don’t let the simplicity of the concept fool you.
PROF BRADLEY: Kendrick's rhyme style on "FEAR." is old school.
And I don't mean like Biggie and Tupac old school, I mean like Cicero and Aristotle old school.
DELISA: That’s Adam Bradley, director of the RAP Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder
and author of the Anthology of Rap.
DELISA: He joined us to breakdown Kenny's
complex lyricism on "FEAR." verse by verse.
DELISA: The Compton rapper uses a number of devices in his lyrics, going beyond traditional
rhyming patterns and structures.
PROF BRADLEY: When people analyze the poetics
of hip hop, we often focus on rhythm and rhyme and really obvious forms of wordplay but there
are all these other exotic figures and forms going on that stretch back really millennia
in terms of their lineage.
DELISA: Throughout the track, Kendrick uses a device that dates back to the Biblical times
called anaphora, which is defined as quote:
DELISA: That biblical tie plays a huge part in the 8 minute track that serves as a sort of prayer -
from the lyrical mentions of God to the opening moments with Kenny’s cousin Carl Duckworth.
Kendrick Lamar is if nothing else also a preacher at times.
And his sermon is in everything that surrounds it that he consciously structures to communicate
a message of faith.
DELISA: This repetition of phrases like “Why God?” and “I beat yo ass” limits the
track’s vocabulary which ultimately results in the words holding more meaning.
I mean if you look throughout "FEAR." Kendrick is really putting together a master class on this form.
To me that's such a kind of basic technique, in his hands it's a high form of art.
DELISA: Notable literary giants like Cormack
Mccarthy, Ernest Hemingway, and Langston Hughes often intentionally confined their language
to a few root words like Hughes repeating “Does it” for emphasis
DELISA: Along with anaphora, Kung Fu Kenny employs another literary device called assonance, which is defined as:
DELISA: That assonance shows up with words
“Prentice,” “Finished,” and “Bitchin,” with the -i- sound being repeated.
KENDRICK: I just love words.
I just love how to bend them.
I love how to break them.
I love how to twist them.
You can manipulate it and that shows the true craft and your swordsmanship.
DELISA: Back on the verse, he catches the listener off guard yet again, trading the
repetition of “i beat yo’ ass” for “better not.”
Instead of continuing the same pattern, he chooses to break it up and slip into a similar,
but different pocket.
The brain itself is wired to respond to patterns and to break some patterns.
Kendrick knows when the repetition is on the
verge of becoming too much.
He pulls it back, gives us a refresher and then goes right back into it
DELISA: Next up is the chorus that brings us one of his trademarks, his vocal distortions
that act as an aid of relief and transition, which Genius News has covered in the past.
DELISA: Kenny warps his voice all over the cut and each verse brings a new character.
Verse 2 sits in a deeper register to underscore the mortality of the repeated "I'll prolly die."
PROF BRADLEY: He’s rapping in a tone that's almost nihilistic, that's almost a sense of
teenage despair.
PROF: You write these lyrics from a place
where it’s your true raw emotions.
Every time I put the pen to the page, it’s raw emotions.
DELISA: Kendrick intentionally uses alliteration to deliver a poignant message about police
brutality in a clever way.
PROF: Alliteration with that “b” sound "body," "black," "bones," it's just that that echo
of that sound creates a subtle connection that says pay attention to me.
Pay attention to this line.
DELISA: The next verse gives us the first instance of end rhyme, the most commonly used
rhyming scheme, with “all” and “hall.”
It’s completely unexpected, and he does so right before sliding into a moment of incredible
vulnerability.
DELISA: While the rest of the song is deeply rooted in insecurity, the final bars of “FEAR.”
intensify and go beyond the constraints of a normal verse, further cementing his individuality
as a lyricist.
PROF: He's just rapping beyond all means of what we have conditioned rappers to do with
a 16 bar verse.
He's just saying, fuck it.
I got things to say and I'm going to take my time saying ‘em.
DELISA: Kendrick Lamar is arguably one of the best lyricists in the game and it’s
because he hones his craft, taking writing forms from different genres, time periods,
and prose and “FEAR.,” even in its simplicity, gives us one of the most complex and nuanced
verses of Dot’s career.
PROF: Where you have a continuity in form that connects poets from across centuries
no one is better at that now than Kendrick Lamar.
DELISA: I’m Delisa with Genius News bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.