Reflection
I chose to write about What’s Going On and To Pimp a Butterfly as studying Kendrick Lamar was a key factor in my decision to take this module and I have always enjoyed the music of both artists. I thought it would be interesting to compare the same style of political concept album from two different African-American artists, produced thirty-four years apart. Due to their form, both albums engage in a socio-political commentary about the prevailing racism within our supposedly advanced society. Through studying the two albums, I looked at Gates’ theory of signifyin(g) and the deeper level of meaning ascribed to the audio and dialogue for members of the African-American community that have slipped under the radar of mainstream popular culture. I also explored the Snead’s concept of a ‘cut back’ against progress and the importance of repetition to see whether much had changed for African-Americans in those thirty-four years; parallel to Peck’s documentary it portrays a sad, unchanging society where racism endures. Finally I looked at Du Bois’ theory of the double consciousness to see if this was still relevant in modern times. What I have learnt is that as a society we still have a long way to go in order to reach equality, and that as a white person I am very lucky to have a huge amount of privilege that I often take for granted.
‘There is an endless fascination in the power of words and the impact of a perfect turn of phrase’: the significance of the language used in What’s Going On and To Pimp a Butterfly
Conscious art is a term that describes art with a desire for social awareness and change, which the albums What’s Going On and To Pimp a Butterfly fit the requirements for. Marvin Gaye and Kendrick Lamar made use of their position of influence to impact change within their contemporary societies through their concept albums, released in 1971 and 2015 respectively. Both albums were highly critically regarded and hailed as great historical works of African-American literature. The critic Henry Louis Gates Jr. has suggested a theory called ‘signifyin(g)’ which theorizes that the language used in African-American literature has a more significant meaning to people of that community than to white audiences.[1] This article will explore the language in What’s Going On and To Pimp a Butterfly in light og this idea. African-American music has a long history as a form of resistance due to its roots in the slave trade, and this is likely to be seen in both artists’ works.
Gaye’s album was initially dubbed too political for the radio, likely due to it concerning themes such as a sense of despair for the future (Save the Children), addiction (Flyin’ High) and pollution (Mercy Mercy Me). It is generally regarded as ‘the seminal black protest album’, and Lester even calls him ‘the Soul singer’ due to his ability to aurally synthesize the black protest movement.[2] Throughout Gaye’s album he drops the ‘g’s from his words ‘this ain’t livin’’, the exact phenology that Gates is drawing attention to in his theory title.[3] In Inner City Blues Gaye uses the phrase ‘makes me wanna holler, the way they do my life’, which has connotations of gospel choirs and church congregations that Gaye and many of his peers would regularly attend.[4] Gray says that in this context, ‘to holler a life is to appropriate the ability to name a subject’s worth’, clearly having connotations of slavery and putting a monetary value on a human being.[5] Gaye then combines this with the juxtaposition of the collective pronoun ‘they’ vs the singular ‘my’, which suggests not only an oppressed minority, but also implies a sense of lesser worth that many African-Americans in 1970s America would have been able to sympathize with.[6] The individual pronoun may also signify a sense of loneliness and isolation felt by Gaye from wider society due to racial ostracization. The phrase ‘trigger happy policing’ also speaks volumes, especially to African-American audiences in the racist late 1960s.[7] Gaye also references poverty ‘bad breaks, set backs | natural fact is | I can’t pay my taxes’.[8] In 1970, 33.6% of African-Americans lived in poverty, compared to 10% of whites.[9] Therefore, to Gaye’s contemporary audience, this line would have been a form of signifyin(g). The last lines, ‘everybody thinks we’re wrong | who are they to judge us | simply because we wear our hair long’ are significant as there is a historical connection between a person’s hair and their identity in African culture, ‘just about everything about a person’s identity could be learned by looking at the hair’.[10] This idea of white judgement then becomes more than just an aesthetic critique, but an oppressive commentary on the significance of other cultures. This again is something that can easily be overlooked by white audiences, but it is likely to be signifyin(g) much more to African-American audiences.
Kendrick Lamar is phenomenally popular in mainstream society and his track Alright has become a social anthem of sorts and has been used as part of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, even being sung at police at Cleveland State University when they arrested a 14-year-old and at an anti-Trump rally in Chicago.[11] The use of the word ‘we’ in ‘Nigga we gon’ be alright’ acts as a unifying force for the movement and becomes a self-affirming chant instilling positivity for the future.[12] It is even more powerful considering the context of violence and oppression the album portrays, and this message of acceptance and resilience provides a powerful voice for the BLM movement. Lamar’s use of the word ‘nigga’ is an example of signifyin(g) as defined by Gates, as if it had come from a white person it would be seen as a racial slur and this has been the cause of recent troubles in the context of Lamar especially.[13] However, in our recent climate of acceptance, it has been modified somewhat, dropping the -er in favour of -a and putting the same weight on each syllable. The modified version has been reclaimed as a colloquialism within the African-American community.[14] The song as a whole depicts the struggles of a modern-day black man in contemporary America, with the memories of the struggles of the past constantly in the background. An example of this is the line ‘forty acres and a mule?’ which refers to an 1865 Special Field Order which essentially promised former slaves agrarian reform, forty acres of land and a mule once war had ceased, which was reneged on and the land was widely restored to its white owners.[15] This line is another example of signifyin(g) as it is unlikely white people will understand the significance or even meaning. Lamar doesn’t just use his lyrics to reminisce about the past, the jazz saxophone used in Alright sets up a nostalgic tone. As hip-hop evolved from jazz, this may be Lamar’s way of linking the past and the present and reminding the listeners not to forget their origins. His voice throughout the song follows a similar pattern to that of a blues riff, potentially another subtle parallel to the past he is trying to draw.
Although this has only touched upon the songs contained within the albums, both Gaye and Lamar show evidence to support Gates’ theory of signifyin(g) throughout. This arguably increases their cultural significance to people of African-American descent as there are many cultural references included in both works that are prevalent within the community. Through their subtle allusions to black culture, they have made their works accessible to people of all races, whilst providing a deeper level of significance for people that share their cultural heritage. Despite being produced thirty-four years apart, both artists present similar portraits of contemporary black experience and the everyday oppression they face within society. Gaye and Lamar have elegantly crafted politically motivated concept albums that speak about contemporary black experience and the struggles that they still face.
‘Bleeding through the music’: Explorations of police brutality in What’s Going On and To Pimp a Butterfly
Marvin Gaye and Kendrick Lamar have both cited incidents of racially motivated police brutality as a core inspiration for songs on their albums. Awareness of police brutality is increasing, however the sheer number of news stories depicting racially motivated violence show clearly that it is an omnipresent element of black life. In Raoul Peck’s 2016 film I Am Not Your Negro he puts together a montage of police brutality from the 1960s and 2010s, to highlight how little has changed for minorities within society. This idea of ‘cutting back’ against social progress is shown in Snead’s On Repetition in Black Culture which suggests society goes around in a cyclical route and highlights the importance of repetition to African-American literature.
The inspiration for What’s Going On was not originally Gaye’s, but the Four Tops’ Ronald Benson’s when he witnessed police officers beating up peaceful protestors in San Francisco.[16] Marvin Gaye immediately agreed, and his protest album began. There are explicit references to brutality combined with the lyrics ‘picket lines and picket signs’ showing the passivity the protestors were displaying and highlights the disproportionate level of force used against them.[17] ‘Brutality’ has connotations of ruthlessness, a lack of compassion and excessive force being used which is likely to resonate very strongly with the persecuted black communities. This line also suggests the lack of political voice that African-Americans are afforded, as even peacefully expressing their opinions results in physical violence against them. Gaye repeats the phrase ‘right on’ many times throughout the song, a phrase that indicates you are a politically left-wing supporter which would have resounded with many of his peers as a form of rallying cry against the oppressive, capitalist America and its brutal treatment of its citizens.[18] The title phrase, ‘what’s going on’ is an underlying mantra to the song (and the album), and gives it a sense of confusion and entrapment, as if Gaye is trapped within the cyclical sequence of events with no way out and no answers. When read like this, there is a powerful message of despair at the way law enforcement officials treat African-American citizens and how frustrating it is that their voices are not getting heard. Benson once said of the song’s power ‘you could see the people and feel the hurt and pain’ which shows clearly how relevant and deeply devastating the consequences of racially motivated police brutality are on everyday civilian life.[19] What’s Going On is also a wider critique of the Vietnam War which had claimed over three million lives. This was the reason for the protests and in turn, the police brutality epidemic that was posing such a threat to the lives of African-Americans.
Gaye’s response to police brutality is mirrored today, Lamar’s The Blacker the Berry was written as a response to the murder of Trayvon Martin.[20] There is a certain sense of unity presented in the lines ‘I know you hate me, don’t you | You hate my people, I can tell cause it’s threats when I see you’, but it’s unity in the face of adversity and blind hatred.[21] Lamar once said ‘it’s already in your blood because I am Trayvon Martin, you know. I’m all of these kids’, a sentiment that comes across clearly in this track.[22] There are many lines within the song that are reminiscent of slavery ‘how you no see the whip, left scars ‘pon me back’, likening the submission of black citizens to white police officers and abuse at the hands of officials to that of the treatment of slaves by slave owners.[23] Lamar’s line ‘the blacker the berry, the bigger I shoot’ reads as a sardonic critique of the racial profiling done by police officers, suggesting that the darker your skin the more likely you are to be carrying a weapon.[24] By using the pararhymes ‘juice’ in the previous line and ‘shoot’, Lamar draws a morbid parallel between a tiny berry being squashed and a life being extinguished, potentially a commentary on how insignificant the African-American community seems to be in comparison to white society. The references to whips and chains get reversed in the chorus, from being symbols of oppression to being status symbols indicating wealth in the modern world. The last lines of the song, ‘So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street | When gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me? | Hypocrite!’, especially when contrasted with the earlier ‘how can I tell you I’m making a killin’? | You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga’, reinforces Snead’s ideas of repetition within black culture.[25] In this instance, Lamar has extended this theory and is showing how through oppressive and abusive rule from white ‘superiors’, the African-American community is becoming trapped in an endless self-fulfilling prophecy of violence and death. The title line, ‘the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice’ is repeated many times throughout the track and is a reference to the 1929 book of the same name by Wallace Thurman. Skin bias is a key theme of this novel, and Lamar is likely trying to make the same point in reference to police brutality and contemporary African-American life where this is a daily issue.
In conclusion, both artists explore Snead’s ideas of repetition and a ‘cut back’ from progress. Both Gaye and Lamar use repetition to advance and reinforce their ideas about political allegiance and racial injustice within society. The message presented in both songs is incredibly similar, and when compared draw striking parallels to Peck’s documentary montage. From 1971 to 2015 very little has changed within society for African-Americans, and fighting racial prejudice is a daily struggle. The fact that even with a thirty-four year gap between the two works there is little difference in the message presented shows a true ‘cut’ away from progress and highlights the stagnation of our contemporary racial politics. By doing so, both artists are attempting to motivate a social change in racial attitudes and law enforcement policies. By showing the horror endured by their community, they are aurally highlighting the blood that has unnecessarily been spilt due to the racist attitudes that are still prevalent in our contemporary society.
‘Behind the veil’: the double consciousness of What’s Going On and To Pimp a Butterfly
In his 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois posed the concept of a ‘two-ness of being an American, a Negro; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder’.[26] The concept suggests that African-Americans do not only have to think about how they see themselves, but must also take into account the view of wider society (‘the world that looks on in amused contempt and pity’).[27] This essay will examine the ‘double consciousness’ found in Gaye and Lamar’s concept albums in order to see how this ‘split identity’ is still prevalent in contemporary African-American society.
In regards to Gaye’s album, Neal said the ‘mimicking of the diversity of communal voices popularizes the dominant social paradigms […he] synthesized an era of black protest narratives and the conflict between those narratives’.[28] He is referring to Wholy Holy in which Gaye recorded three vocal layers, the polyphony creating a kind of vocal community in order to suggest a united force supporting his message. In Gaye’s Flyin’ High (In the Friendly Sky) he makes allusions to heroin, ‘the boy who makes slaves out of men’.[29] This is doubly referential as not only does he mention the slave trade, by alluding to heroin he is likely commenting on the opiate epidemic in black urban areas of America during the sixties and seventies.[30] This links both past and present, whilst drawing attention to the contemporary public view of his community as drug abusers in this track. Gaye uses the contrasting lines ‘some of us were born with money to spend […] some of us feel the icy wind of poverty blowing in the air’ potentially in an attempt to show the impact of being born into an African-American community and the associations that come with this, namely the increased likelihood of living in poverty.[31] In What’s Happening Brother, Gaye uses the line ‘when will people start getting together again?’, a clear call for peace during wartime.[32] However, it could also be read as an appeal for unity amongst all people of all races, or potentially as a pacifist statement in response to the violence of the Black Panthers. Immediately after is the line ‘What’s Going On includes the line ‘father, we don’t need to escalate’, using father as a metaphor for white America.[33] Gaye may be using this as an argument against rising crime levels in order to suggest that the rise is not necessary, but simply a cry for help, implying that if the ‘father’ paid more attention then there would not be an issue.
This sense of double consciousness is explicitly referenced in Lamar’s track The Blacker the Berry ‘I’m African-American, I’m African’, showing Du Bois’ theory in action and potentially Lamar mirroring the ostracism from general society that African-Americans face on a daily basis.[34] The last lines of this song are more subtle but present the same message ‘why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street | when gang banging made me kill a nigga blacker than me?’.[35] Through using contemporary events to bring the message closer to home, Lamar is looking at himself through the eyes of white America and commenting on his hypocrisy for feeling upset when he has played a role in black-on-black crime, an issue that is used in defence of racial prejudice. Throughout the song, Lamar is using a self-reflexive tone to present his struggles to unite his sense of black pride and the mistakes of the past, something very relevant to Du Bois’ theory. In For Sale, Kendrick uses multiple voices in order to aurally split his identity and similarly in Institutionalized he makes it very difficult to distinguish between the two main voices. Institutionalized shows two different sides to Lamar, his roots ‘trapped inside the ghetto’ and his current affluent lifestyle ‘constant big money talk ‘bout the mansion and foreign whips’.[36] This was culturally relevant due to an incident at the BET awards involving Lamar’s friend, and as such appears to be Lamar’s internal conflict between his ties to the poverty and crime in his community and the new social status he has acquired.[37] In u Lamar sings in a reflexive, second person tone verbalizing his internal debates, clearly showing Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness. The line, ‘the world don’t need you’ may be Lamar mirroring the way he perceives societal attitudes towards the African-American community, ‘where was the influence you speak of?’ however appears to be a personal self-attack and may imply Lamar’s struggle to connect his newfound social influence with the real world impact it is having.[38] u is highly emotional and raw, with Lamar’s voice breaking and the sound of suppressed sobs audible on the recording. It draws critical attention to the struggles still faced by African-American individuals both within modern society and on a personal level, and as such, makes for difficult listening.
In conclusion, both Gaye and Lamar demonstrate evidence of Du Bois’ double consciousness theory throughout their concept albums. They touch upon the effects of institutionalized racism as a limiting factor, implying that these stereotypes condemn many African-Americans to continue in the same cycle as their predecessors. By emphasizing the drug and crime epidemics in African-American communities Gaye shows how it feels to be on the other side when it does not seem like a choice and more like an inevitability. Lamar uses a self-reflexive tone throughout and makes repeated references to the inextricable nature of past and present. Both artists use a multiplicity of voices in order to create a sense of an endless stream of consciousness with people clamouring to be heard but being ignored. This may be their way of making a social commentary on how oppressed and silenced the African-American community is, and suggests that this may be a key factor in limiting the community from reaching its full potential. Through their albums, both artists have managed to lift the veil on contemporary African-American life and show the weight of the past on their present day social struggles, whilst also reminding of the importance of remembering their cultural heritage.
Bibliography
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Beaumont-Thomas, Ben, ‘Slut, white power logos, the N-word – can everything be reclaimed?’, The Guardian (2015), <https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/may/12/slut-white-power-logos-n-word-reclaimed> [accessed 25 May 2019]
Broz, Dita and Ouellet, Lawrence J., ‘Racial and Ethnic Changes in Heroin Injection in the United States: Implications for the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Drug and Alcohol Depend, 94.1-3, 221-233
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Bump, Philip, ‘The Source of Black Poverty Isn’t Black Culture, It’s American Culture’, The Atlantic (2014), <https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/04/the-source-of-black-poverty-isnt-black-culture-its-american-culture/359937/> [accessed 25 May 2019]
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Gaye, Marvin, ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ from What’s Going On (1971)
— ‘Flyin’ High (In the Friendly Sky)’ from What’s Going On (1971)
— ‘Right On’ from What’s Going On (1971)
— ‘What’s Going On’ from What’s Going On (1971)
Gilbert, Ben, ‘Kendrick Lamar’s civil rights anthem ‘Alright’ almost didn’t happen’, Business Insider (2016) <https://www.businessinsider.com/kendrick-lamar-alright-2016-10?r=US&IR=T> [accessed 25 May 2019]
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<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-31438273> [accessed 25 May 2019]
Lamar, Kendrick, ‘Alright’ from To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
— ‘For Free?’ from To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
— ‘Institutionalized’ from To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
— ‘The Blacker the Berry’ from To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
— ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ from To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
Li, Stephanie, ‘Introduction: What Is Twenty-First-Century African American Literature?’, American Literary History, 29.4 (2007), 631-639
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References
[1] Henry Louis Gates Jr., ‘The Signifying Monkey and the Language of Signifyin(g): Rhetorical Difference and the Orders of Meaning’, The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, ed. by Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg (Bedford: St Martin’s, 2001), pp.1543-1580, p.1543.
[2] Mark Anthony Neal, ‘Trouble Man: The Art and Politics of Marvin Gaye’, The Western Journal of Black Studies, 22.4 (1998), pp.252-259, p.253.
[3] ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ from Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971).
[4] Ibid.
[5] Emily Gray, ‘The Father and The Son: The Rhetoric of Rebellion in Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On’, Enculturation, 2.2 (1999).
[6] Ibid.
[7] ‘Inner City Blues’, Gaye.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Philip Bump, ‘The Source of Black Poverty Isn’t Black Culture, It’s American Culture’, The Atlantic (2014), <https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/04/the-source-of-black-poverty-isnt-black-culture-its-american-culture/359937/> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[10] ‘Inner City Blues’, Gaye.
Rumeana Jahangir, ‘How does black hair reflect black history?’, BBC News (2015) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-31438273> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[11] Jack Shepherd, ‘Kendrick Lamar fans sing ‘Alright’ in protest against police at Black Lives Matter conference at Cleveland State University’, Independent (2015), <https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/rapper-kendrick-lamar-fans-sing-student-alright-in-protest-against-police-at-black-lives-matter-10423615.html> [accessed 25 May 2019].
Ben Gilbert, ‘Kendrick Lamar’s civil rights anthem ‘Alright’ almost didn’t happen’, Business Insider (2016) <https://www.businessinsider.com/kendrick-lamar-alright-2016-10?r=US&IR=T> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[12] ‘Alright’ from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
[13] Denise Clay, ‘Kendrick Lamar put a white fan in check over the N-word. Here’s the reasoning’, ABC News (2018), <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-24/kendrick-lamar-n-word-hip-hop-inevitable/9794446> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[14] Ben Beaumont-Thomas, ‘Slut, white power logos, the N-word – can everything be reclaimed?’, The Guardian (2015), <https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/may/12/slut-white-power-logos-n-word-reclaimed> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[15] ‘For Free?’ from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
Sarah McCammon, ‘The Story Behind ‘40 Acres and a Mule’’, National Public Radio (2015) <https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/01/12/376781165/the-story-behind-40-acres-and-a-mule?t=1558831828545> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[16] BBC World Service, ‘Celebrating 40 years of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On’, BBC (2011), <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13444339> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[17] ‘What’s Going On’ from Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971).
[18] ‘What’s Going On’, Gaye.
Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary [online], Cambridge University Press (2019) <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/right-on> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[19] Stewart Maganga, ‘Marvin Gaye’s 1971 “What’s Going On?” remains unanswered today’, The Conversation (2018), <http://theconversation.com/marvin-gayes-1971-whats-going-on-remains-unanswered-today-88732> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[20] Stephanie Li, ‘Introduction: What Is Twenty-First-Century African American Literature?’, American Literary History, 29.4 (2007), pp.631-639, p.637.
[21] ‘The Blacker the Berry’ from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
[22] Miles Marshall Lewis, ‘Kendrick Lamar Talks Politics, Spirituality, Music + More [INTERVIEW]’, Ebony (2015) <https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/kendrick-talks-politics-spirituality-music-more-333/#axzz3bHdEkxUe> [accessed 25 May 2019].
[23] ‘The Blacker the Berry’, Lamar.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Dickson D. Bruce Jr., ‘W.E.B. Du Bois and the Idea of Double Consciousness’, American Literature, 64.2 (1992), pp.299-309, p.299.
[27] Thomas C. Holt, ‘The Political Uses of Alienation: W.E.B. Du Bois on Politics, Race, and Culture, 1903-1940’, American Quarterly, 42.2 (1990), pp.301-323, p.301.
[28] Mark Anthony Neal, ‘Trouble Man: The Art and Politics of Marvin Gaye’, The Western Journal of Black Studies, 22.4 (1998), p.254.
[29] ‘Flyin’ High (In the Friendly Sky)’ from Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971).
[30] Dita Broz and Lawrence J Ouellet, ‘Racial and Ethnic Changes in Heroin Injection in the United States: Implications for the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Drug and Alcohol Depend, 94.1-3, pp.221-233, p.222.
[31] ‘Right On’ from Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971).
[32] ‘What’s Happening Brother’, Gaye.
[33] ‘What’s Going On’, Gaye.
[34] ‘The Blacker the Berry’, Lamar.
[35] Ibid.
[36] ‘Institutionalized’ from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
[37] Jacob Sillyman, ‘Loving You is Complicated: The Aesthetics of Personal and Political Tension in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly’ (unpublished senior thesis, University of South Carolina, 2017), p.21.
[38] ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).