Kendrick’s work yesterday reminded me of his collab performance with Beyonce at the 2016 BET Awards, “Freedom.” Heres an excerpt from an analysis I wrote about Prophetic Lament in his period piece.
Lament is also threaded throughout his Super Bowl performance last night, but it is layered, revolutionary and meant to be More Than Entertainment. It is a Message to America.
We have been using “performances” and music as message since the spirituals, gospel music, folk, the blues and now through hip-hop.
What others think is entertainment is our internal freedom language in code.
Kendrick’s art was a reflection of the times in 2016 (during a shift in governmental power & great political divisiveness) and his art is a reflection of the times in 2025.
If you read through this excerpt you will see similiarities between both performances. Why? We are still facing the same oppression. This is Art as Resistance, not just Entertainment:
“Kendrick Lamar’s verse, “Meet me at the finish line” mirror the eschatological theology of hope seen in the scriptures and are congruent with Dr. Dwight Radcliff’s definition of black music, “God raises up voices of people who are outsiders to get God’s people back on track.” Lamar is getting people to focus on the end. In the end, we will cross the finish line and win.
But as is true of Hip-Hop, the Spirituals and black theology, this hope is not only other-worldly, “the future hope remains “this-worldly,” because expectation leads to a new setting forth and a transformation of the present, and therefore takes in history,.” This call to hope and move forward is further extended to mothers who have loss sons and daughters to police brutality as he preaches a message of strength similar to the spirituals,
But mama, don't cry for me, ride for me
Try for me, live for me
Breathe for me, sing for me
He reminds the mothers experiencing the harshest pain to be strong and find a purpose for life, this is a theology of hope in the present, knowing we will pass through these waters to the other side. Cone highlights a very similar spiritual whereas the hope theme is frequented in the black community. If God could use Moses to bring the Children of Israel out of slavery then he will bring us out of present oppression as well:
Oh Mary, don’t you weep, don't you moan…
Pharaoh's army got drowned,
Oh Mary, don't you weep.
Again, the symbolism of water reappears in both the above spiritual and Freedom visuals. As Kenrick raps men fall to the stage and women dancers exit. This is a clear demonstration of a die-in, a nod to the fight for liberation on the streets of America. Yet he also speaks words of healing over the people saying,
Fellow Americans, hello,
This is heritage for my medicine.
He is sharing that if the people keep consuming their heritage, practicing the art of how they overcame in the past then they will be made free. But they will also be healed. This is congruent with biblical theology whereas the book of Deuteronomy is a book of remembrance. The songs of Miriam, Deborah and Moses are also a narrative retelling and story of praise to keep the people encouraged. On a psychological level, Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary also emphasizes that remembering is an important part of healing from what she titles, “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome”, as she emphasizes the “need to heal ourselves.”
Telling our stories can be redemptive. Telling our stories can free us. Telling our stories can lift others up. I believe an integral part of racial socialization is learning the histories of those in our family and community. Storytelling is an important part of our education; it strengthens us and helps us build resilience. It helps us put things in proper perspective.
In short, telling our stories is our heritage and our heritage is our “medicine.” This medicine only comes as we do the hard work that Beyoncé describes in her chorus:
Freedom! Freedom! I can't move
Freedom, cut me loose! Yeah
Freedom! Freedom! Where are you?
'Cause I need freedom, too!
I break chains all by myself
Won't let my freedom rot in hell
Hey! I'ma keep running
'Cause a winner don't quit on themselves
Here she is directly speaking to Freedom and asking it to cut her loose, then she partners with it to “break chains all by myself.” Could she be inadvertently talking to God? He promises freedom and that if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. But her message seems to be one of partnership. You can pray but also need to do something if you want to be free. She is giving the spirit of Jesus’ message to the poor, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Jesus came to give us freedom that will heal and set us free. With hell surrounding her and death on the ground beneath her, she declares, “I won’t let my freedom rot in hell.”
The spiritual implications of this performance and song are vast and as Dr. Ralph Watkins shares in Hip-Hop Redemption, “there is much we can learn from hip-hop culture about how to effectively communicate—not just with the hip-hop culture but with the culture as well. Hip-hop knows how to use concepts, metaphors, and the power of storytelling to affect life. Hip-hop artists know how to speak into the lives of their followers as they riff with the ebbs and flows of popular culture.” I agree that Beyoncé successfully spoke truth, love and hope into her audience while the performance alone prophecies the need for the church to embrace an art form and a message that tells these tears, "Go and fall away, fall away," oh May the last one burn into flames. It also reminds the Hip-Hop generation of God’s words, “ the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.” A day is coming where God will bring justice for the inequalities, brutality and dehumanization of his people; the church should be the active voice on the front lines proclaiming a social gospel of love.
Rather than be separated in silence, the church needs to answer Kendrick’s closing prayer with love rather than judgment:
What you want from me?
Is it truth you seek?
Oh, Father, can you hear me?
What you want from me?
Is it truth you seek?
Oh, Father, can you hear me?
Hear me out
He repeatedly wonders if the Father can hear him or if perhaps God is silently watching without hearing him out. This is the cry to God that Daniel White Hodges emphasizes in The Soul of Hip Hop, frequenting this genre of music in songs like “Keep Your Head Up,” “Dear Momma” and “How Long Will They Mourn Me”. If we are to move forward in healing as a nation, it is time for the church to respond.”
Today's analysis is an excerpt from my original piece on Beyonce & Kendrick Lamar's 2016 BET Performance. Read it in entirety for more, coming soon.
Comments