BEFORE YOU READ THIS

Know that most of the words are the lyrics of the song and you can skip passed them...I highlighted the important parts.

In this song, Kendrick goes deep into a regular topic in Black America, CULTURE.

Culture has been defined as a people's way of life.

Kendrick describes certain activities that take place in the black community, that are very well known to represent "Culture".

In the first verse, he talks about walking away from home and somebody sleeping with your baby mama...He calls it culture.

In the second to the last verse, he says "fuck calling it culture". Apparently, it isn't culture and it is offensive to call it that.

The song appears to contradict itself. But does it?

What culture is he talking about and what does he not want to be called culture?

The Instrumental

The beat is derived from Marvin Gay's I want you which Dr. Dre holds exclusive rights to. A cool beat that has this jazz underlying that makes you get into thought listening to it alone.

The Lyrics

The song has many parts, many stories, and messages but I want to analyze all the parts of the song he makes mention of culture.

[Intro]
As I get a little older, I realize life is perspective
And my perspective may differ from yours
I wanna say thank you to everyone that's been down with me
All my fans, all my beautiful fans
Anyone who's ever gave me a listen, all my people

[Verse 1]
I come from a generation of pain, where murder is minor
Rebellious and Margielas'll chip you for designer
Belt buckles and clout, overzealous if prone to violence
Make the wrong turn, be it will or the wheel alignment
Residue burned, missed at a inner-city
Miscommunication to keep homi' detective busy
No protection is risky
Desensitized, I vandalized pain
Covered up and camouflaged
Get used to hearin' arsenal rain
Analyze, risk your life, take the charge
Homies done fucked your baby mama once you hit the yard, that's culture
Twenty-three hour lockdown, then somebody called
Said your lil' nephew was shot down, the culture's involved
I done seen niggas do seventeen, hit the halfway house
Get out and get his brains blown out, lookin' to buy some weed
Car wash is played out, new GoFundMe accounts'll proceed
A brand-new victim'll shatter those dreams, the culture
[Chorus]
(I want, I want, I want, I want)
But I want you to want me too (I want, I want, I want, I want)
I want the hood to want me back (I want, I want, I want, I want)
I want the hood
Look what I done for you (Look what I done for you)
Look what I done for you

[Verse 2]
I said I'd do this for my culture
To let y'all know what a nigga look like in a bulletproof Rover
In my mama's sofa was a doo-doo popper
Hair trigger, walk up closer, ain't no Photoshoppin'
Friends bipolar, grab you by your pockets
No option if you froze up, always play the offense
Niggas goin' to work and sellin' work, late for work
Workin' late, prayin' for work, but he on paperwork
That's the culture, point the finger, promote ya
Remote location, witness protection, they gon' hold ya
The streets got me fucked up, y'all can miss me
I wanna represent, for us
New revolution was up and movin'
I'm in Argentina wiping my tears full of confusion
Water in between us, another peer's been executed
History repeats again
Make amends, then find a nigga with the same skin to do it
But that's the culture, crack a bottle
Hard to deal with the pain when you're sober
By tomorrow, we forget the remains, we start over
That's the problem
Our foundation was trained to accept whatever follows
Dehumanize, insensitive
Scrutinize the way we live for you and I
Enemies shook my hand, I can promise I'll meet you
In the land where no equal is your equal
Never say I ain't told ya, nah
In the land where hurt people hurt more people
Fuck callin' it culture
[Chorus]
(I want, I want, I want, I want)
But I want you to want me too (I want, I want, I want, I want)
I want the hood to want me back (I want, I want, I want, I want)
I want the hood
Look what I done for you (Look what I done for you)
Look what I done for you

[Interlude]
Take the drums out
Phew, phew
Phew, phew
Phew

Kendrick has narrated before how he witnessed his first murder at the age of 5. He said this to NPR. He grew up around a lot of this, The things he calls culture in this song:

Infidelity
Murder
Murder killing dreams
Those who practice the culture
Snitching and hiding
Drinking

In the ending third verse, he however says, "Fuck calling it culture".

The video

In the video, He transforms through deep fake into Kanye West, Jussie Smollett, OJ Simpson, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle.

In a way, I feel he is still trying to address what the world sees as black culture and to stay that are these people, not the culture as seen with their way of life.

Every road the black man turns to as a way of life is his culture and they have all led to his destruction both in the public eye and literally as in the case of Nipsey.

The last verse

[Verse 3]
Celebrate new life when it come back around
The purpose is in the lessons we learnin' now
Sacrifice personal gain over everything
Just to see the next generation better than ours
I wasn't perfect, the skin I was in had truly suffered
Temptation and patience, everything that the body nurtures
I felt the good, I felt the bad, and I felt the worry
But all-in-all, my productivity had stayed urging
Face your fears, always knew that I would make it here
Where the energy is magnified and persevered
Consciousness is synchronized and crystal-clear
Euphoria is glorified and made His
Reflectin' on my life and what I done
Paid dues, made rules, change outta love
Them same views made schools change curriculums
But didn't change me starin' down the barrel of that gun
Should I feel resentful I didn't see my full potential?
Should I feel regret about the good that I was into?
Everything is everything, this ain't coincidental
I woke up that morning with more heart to give you
As I bleed through the speakers, feel my presence
To my brother, to my kids, I'm in Heaven
To my mother, to my sis, I'm in Heaven
To my father, to my wife, I am serious, this is Heaven
To my friends, make sure you countin' them blessings
To my fans, make sure you make them investments
And to the killer that sped up my demise
I forgive you, just know your soul's in question
I seen the pain in your pupil when that trigger had squeezed
And though you did me gruesome, I was surely relieved
I completed my mission, wasn't ready to leave
But fulfilled my days, my Creator was pleased
I can't stress how I love y'all
I don't need to be in flesh just to hug y'all
The memories recollect just because y'all
Celebrate me with respect
The unity we protect is above all
And Sam, I'll be watchin' over you
Make sure my kids watch all my interviews
Make sure you live all the dreams we produce
Keep that genius in your brain on the move
And to my neighborhood, let the good prevail
Make sure them babies and them lead us outta jail
Look for salvation when troubles get real
'Cause you can't help the world until you help yourself
And I can't blame the hood the day that I was killed
Y'all had to see it, that's the only way to feel
And though my physical won't reap the benefits
The energy that carry on emits still
I want you

He goes deeper into what he is trying to say. The last time he makes mention of culture, he says fuck calling all of that culture.

In this last verse in the video, he takes on the face of Nipsey Hussle and speaks through him and his point of view.

To my brother, to my kids, I'm in Heaven
To my mother, to my sis, I'm in Heaven
To my father, to my wife, I am serious, this is Heaven

He talks about the shooter who took his life.

And to the killer that sped up my demise
I forgive you, just know your soul's in question
I seen the pain in your pupil when that trigger had squeezed
And though you did me gruesome, I was surely relieved
I completed my mission, wasn't ready to leave

you see this common theme is all leaders, from Malcom X to Marthin Luther and Jesus Christ. They can sense that their time was coming and they made peace with it if not they would flee from the place were their lives were at stake but they chose to stay.

You see that in the life of Nipsey...he stayed in the hood to try to clean it up and the "culture" killed him.

In the second verse Kendrick called it Hurt people hurting people, right before he says, fuck calling it culture.

In the land where hurt people hurt more people

He also addresses America and how it is a land where no equal it you equal...

My take

I feel it is a beautiful song and explains a lot and collectively speaking the behaviour of black people can be explained through this lense.

But as a black man in Africa, I always feel this reluctance to participate in the movement.

All of those I have seen go abroad live successful lives and it makes me wonder if the black man in America in supposed to be that different from the black man in Africa.

Imagin me blaming my country's poor governance on the white man and slavery and oppression that took place hundreds of years ago.

But people do

Even in morden Africa, some people still believe that the problem of Africa is the white man.

The black man in Africa and the black man in America

Both of them kill their children, and beat up their wives...but in a lot of ways, so does the white man...at lease from what I see...

Its just seems to be a more popular narrative to accept the blackman's behaviour as a consequence of oppression.

But its bigger than I understand or can explain...But that is my take.

But That's not all

For me to totally understand his perspective, I have to have grown up like him and seen life as he has...from when he was a 5 year old who saw a dead body to the very point he is as a black man in America who has faced racism.

It is all about perspective

And many Africans do not want to even think for a mmoment that they might have been privilaged to have grown up the way they did...

We do not share the same perspective and he talks about this in the intorduction...

But look at it from his angle

Maybe you'll understand what he is trying to say...