What We Can Learn From "good kid, m.A.A.d city".

By | Sydney Stevenson

With Kendrick Lamar’s Grand National Tour underway, it is necessary that we take a trip back to Lamar’s debut album and arguably what solidified him as the musical powerhouse he is now heralded as, good kid, m.A.A.d city.

The album’s cover is a childhood Polaroid picture of Lamar and his family. In the photo, next to a baby bottle on the table is a 40-ounce bottle of liquor. Sitting at the table is Lamar’s uncle, who is holding Lamar in one hand and throwing up a gang sign in the other. At the bottom of the Polaroid reads the title of the album along with the subtitle, “A short film by: Kendrick Lamar”. “Good kid, m.A.A.d city is a self-reflection of my life, my neighborhood, the people I grew up with, and the transition from being in a dark space to being in a positive one.”

The album explores themes of gang violence, peer pressure, substance abuse, grief, faith, and community, and asks the question, Can you ever escape your circumstances or are you doomed to repeat the cycles of those who came before you? 

The story begins with Kendrick and his friends succumbing to the cycle of greed, lust, and crime that their environment surrounds them. In The Art of Peer Pressure, they rob a house, get into a police chase, and smoke a blunt laced with cocaine. Kendrick wants to be a “good kid” and not participate in these activities, but due to the pressure to fit in, he does anyway. He feels hopeless to escape the life of violence laid out before him and decides to give in instead. 

“Really, I’m a peacemaker, but I’m with the homies right now.”

Later that day, as detailed in Sherane, a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter, Kendrick meets a girl named Sherane, who invites him over to her house. When he arrives, he is greeted not by Sherane but by two men in black hoodies who jump him. Eventually, Kendrick is saved by his two friends, Dave and his unnamed brother, who vow to retaliate against the men who did this to him. Swimming Pools ends with Dave’s brother hatching a plan to pull up on the men and shoot them. The trio finds the men on the street and starts shooting. Only the men shoot back. Dave’s brother, excited that his plan seemingly worked, asks Kendrick if he’s okay. Kendrick, unscathed, then asks if he’s okay, and he is. Then, he asks Dave the same and is met with silence. Dave is shot in the crossfire and later dies in Kendrick’s arms. 

The second-to-last track on the album, Sing about Me, I’m Dying of Thirst, tells the story of multiple people from Kendrick’s life in Compton, including Dave’s brother. They each ask that he tell their stories (“sing about them”) when he makes it big. Otherwise, they believe, their hardships will be in vain and they will be forgotten. 

“When the lights shut off and it’s my turn to settle down, my main concern: promise that you will sing about me.”

The song ends with Dave’s brother, a gun in his hand, surrounded by Kendrick and the rest of their friends, screaming uncontrollably. He shouts that he is tired of running, tired of living the life that got his brother killed. The group is then approached by an older woman, voiced by Maya Angelou. She concludes that the men are “dying of thirst” and are lacking spiritual guidance in their lives. After guiding them through the “Sinner’s Prayer”, common in Christian doctrine, she says to them: “Remember this day: The start of your new life, your real life.”

This moment of retrospection is one we are all bound to face someday in our lives, whether through religion, therapy, or another measure. It is the moment we actively choose to rid ourselves of our past mistakes and trauma, and to finally begin to live the life we were destined to. However, freeing this moment may feel, it is important to note that this does not mean erasing your past, but rather learning and growing from it. 

Good kid, m.A.A.d city teaches us that it is possible to break the generational curses before us, and to not only save ourselves from these circumstances, but to help those who come after us. 

“Tell your story to these black and brown kids in Compton. Let 'em know you was just like them, but you still rose from that dark place of violence.”