In Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly album I chose his song "How Much a Dollar Cost" to exhibit his poetic lyricism. In "How Much a Dollar Cost" Kendrick tells his story in South Africa when a homeless man asks for 10 ren, South African currency, (equating to $1) and Kendrick doesn't give him the money, assuming he was a crack addict.
"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"
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"
The homeless man begged for a dollar so he could eat but Kendrick assumed he was intending to buy crack. He even says he couldn't see the pipe so he had no justifiable reason to jump to such an assumption other than him being homeless. The homeless man promises to Kendrick that he defeated temptation and he will use the dollar for good. In the line "My son, temptation is one thing that I've defeated" Kendrick's specific diction creates a bigger meaning. The homeless man uses "son" making it seem like they have a closer bond. And using "temptation" and "defeated" it sounds sort of like he is saying he defeated the devil. This sounds like a stretch but another line supports this interpretation.
"Have you ever opened up Exodus 14?
A humble man is all that we ever need"
Now the homeless man begins to reference the bible. Exodus 14 talks about having humility, something Kendrick is not expressing in his confrontation with the homeless man. Putting the pieces together the homeless man beat the devil and now he quotes the bible... hmmm... sounds like a religious man, a devout one, and maybe Jesus? or God?
"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"
The homeless man tells Kendrick that he's God! He even tells him that the dollar he refused to give to him cost him his afterlife when he says "how much a dollar cost the price of having a spot in Heaven". And using "how much a dollar cost" it shows that if Kendrick had humility and gave the man a dollar he could have gotten his spot in Heaven.
His song also works within his album as he makes connections with this song and his other song, featured in this album, "For Sale (Interlude)". When God shuts the doors of heaven on Kendrick. This song was featured before "How Much a Dollar Cost" so it explains the reason why his spot in heaven was taken from him; Because Kendrick became too greedy to give a man a dollar. POETIC, with different layers, and on different levels.
It seems like Kendrick himself is struggling to defeat temptation as the homeless man has. Even though he's rich, he's still less humble and selfless then the lowly beggar, exaggerating his own weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Kendrick Lamar chose to write this song in it of itself is to prove a point about stereotypes, and how he is guilty of stereotyping people. Although there is no real reason to believe that the homeless man is going to buy drugs with the money given to him, Kendrick Lamar still believes this is what the man will do, and refuses to give him the money even though the man keeps trying. The song's references to religion are very poetic, and again show that Kendrick Lamar believes he made a mistake and did the wrong thing, because he did not follow the bible. The entire song seems to be a metaphor for life, that humility is a very important trait or value.
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