I am trying to understand the musical, lyrical, and contextual texture of hip hop music by using Kendrick’s work, and his album To Pimp a Butterfly in particular, as a case study. As of now I am trying to collect writings from the Black Diaspora that speak to his music and in doing so I will attempt to trace the influence, impact and necessity of his work. A particular attention to lyrical analysis will be paid that is underpinned and informed by other works, both fiction and non-fiction, which articulate the black experience.
This project is important because i) it is an attempt to give us a glimmer into the pain, anguish, hate and despair that makes such art possible. ii) it will allow us to understand that art making of this kind is an affirmation of oneself and will, hopefully, allow us to uncover the mechanisms in place that make such an affirmation possible. iii) it will allow us to map what we have learnt in class to the work of a contemporary artist and finally iv) it will help us develop a more nuanced understanding of an art form that has a terrible image problem.
This project can only really be presented in two forms. Either a video essay or a podcast. As of now I think the former is definitely a superior way to go because it lends itself to the usage of imagery (album art, music videos, interview excerpts), something which is central to the work being discussed. However, such a form requires much more work, and more importantly, much more time. What is more likely, though, is that a podcast will be recorded wherein different recordings from interviews, fiction, commentaries and music will be knitted together, and overlaid by my own analysis in the form of a voice over.
Decoloniality and Decolonization 