Yo Pops,
I hope you know that there has never been a greater I-told-you-so than when I texted you the other day, “Kendrick won a Pulitzer.”
Because DAMN … I told you so!
I tried telling you during his "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" days, when you were on one of your diatribes about how all hip hop today is nothing more than music about dance moves and violence. I told you then, “You should listen to Kendrick Lamar. He’s different. He’s good.”
But you didn’t listen.
I tried forcing you to listen to "To Pimp A Butterfly" during its peak spins. I played you "The Blacker the Berry" and tried showing you how K-Dot not only critiques institutional racism, but also takes a look at some of the hypocrisy he sees in himself and the black community. I wanted you to see that the song (and the album as a whole) was much deeper than you might be able to grasp on a first run-through.
But you didn’t listen.
Then, Monday came and it was announced that Kendrick would become the first non-classical, non-jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album "DAMN."
You heard them loud and clear.
You responded to my text with, “He’s finally done something to make me envious. DAMN!”
Good joke, by the way. Not as good as mine earlier, but good nonetheless. But that doesn’t exonerate you for your inability to listen.
The Pulitzer organization called "DAMN" “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.”
I’ve been telling you that with a lesser vocabulary since it dropped last year on April 14, 2017. You could’ve been on "DAMN" long before the Pulitzer win. You could’ve come across as young and hip to your friends in your generation. Told them about this hidden gem amongst what you call “noise.”
You failed to listen to me, but most importantly, you failed to listen to Kendrick. You failed to hear the layers of content he puts on every song. You failed to hear the complex themes he was deliberating on every track. Shoot. You simply failed to hear the hypnotic beat that Mike WiLL Made-It produced on "HUMBLE."
To be honest, I hate knocking you like this, but had you listened you may have found that Kendrick has many of the characteristics of a strong journalist. On "DAMN," he paints vivid pictures, he critiques everything from our culture to our politics, and he tells a story (that *spoiler alert* can be listened to backwards).
You could actually learn a thing or two from Kendrick, but I think the most important lesson may be that next time I come to you and try to put you on somebody new, listen to me.
Sincerely,
Your son,
Mat
Listen to some tracks from "DAMN."
