The Heart Part 5 by Kendrick Lamar

On May 8th Kendrick Lamar released his long awaited single The Heart Part 5.

The video opens with a red background, and Kendrick flush against it, as single opens, the familiar sounds of I Want You to Want Me by Marvin Gaye ring in the background. A sample that feels like a hug with big black arms: Loving and warm, and filled with soul. Something akin to Sunday mornings at grandma’s house with your favorite cousins. Kendrick starts the single by thanking his fans who have always been there and describing a lesson that he's learned in life. That lesson being that life is perspective.

Kendrick springs open into a jazz infused cadence as the drums kick in, his flow over the soulful sample coupled with his movements make him seem like a man possessed. As the video starts to escalate on the bar scale as we expect it to do with any Kendrick song, his face starts to shift and not in a, stank face “I’m getting it” type of face, but it ACTUALLY transforms. Deepfakes of Orenthall James Simpson, Will Smith, Jussie Smollett, Kobe Bryant, Kanye West, and Nipsey Hussle. All black men famous for one reason or another, whether that reason be good or bad:

• · OJ probably the biggest football star of his time, tried for the murder of his wife and best friend but found not guilty. “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.” Oj went on to make crude jokes about murder, and even went as far as to publish a book called, “If I Did it”. Some Bold ass shit if you ask me, especially when you factor in that he was tried for murdering two white folks. I honestly believe his son did it and that’s why the glove didn’t fit…but that’s just how I feel.

• · Will Smith has been a hot topic since his relationship with Jada has been exposed to the masses and those masses interpreting it in all the ways they see fit. Constant opinions on the couple’s situation can be heard echo chambering through the Twittersphere shallowly, it’s quite tiresome. And oh, who could forget the slap heard round the world which a lot of those masses believe to be a reclamation of Will’s “manhood”, insert obligatory eye roll here.

• · Jussie Smollett, the former Empire star was blasted in the media, tried, and convicted of a hate crime hoax, which I didn’t even know was a thing until this dude made this move. With all the racism in the world already you’re going to sit here and make one up? Come on, Jessie!

• · Kobe Bryant, a philosopher in his own right who changed the game of basketball forever, notably the greatest player of all time. His past also smacked with controversy with a rape allegation in 2003, that Kobe publicly apologized for but denied. Kobe later went on to mentoring and training high school, college, NBA, and WNBA players, coaching his daughter Gigi’s youth basketball team and creating the Mamba Sports Academy. He was tragically killed in a Helicopter accident on January 26, 2020, that also claimed the life of his daughter Gigi.

• · Kanye West best known for being Kanye West, and all the controversy that follows him: Fighting paparazzi, bi-polar episodes, married to a Kardashian, had kids with a Kardashian, divorced a Kardashian, silencing black women at his presidential campaigns, running for president, and finally that one time he said that slavery was a choice on TMZ. Kanye has been on spiral since his mother passed, she was the rock that grounded him to reality and without her he has been whipped around emotionally like a bag in the wind.

• · Nipsey Hussle the Neighborhood Crip, Family Man, Philosopher and Philanthropist. A legend who never missed a moment to spread knowledge and lift his fellow black man up during his revolutionary rap career. Before he was murdered by his assailant, he was slated to have a meeting with the LAPD for gang relations, he preached to the community to buy up the block, and he also owned a shopping center that housed multiple black owned businesses. I still think he was victim of co-intel pro if we’re being real here.

All these black men judged are just as Kendrick is judged within the media and even in the streets as he mentions “the streets got me fucked up...” Whether they be judged for their past, their relationships, their lies in the heat of the moment, allegations, mental illness, or their thuggish background all these men are victims to judgement. Though some of that judgement is very justified, they are judged nonetheless like most black men are in this country. Kendrick seems to stand as spiritual waypoint in this video, a place where these black souls can meet and feel as one expressing themselves. Kendrick knows that he is all these men, and all of these men are him because in another reality he could be in their shoes.

Kendrick also dives into the gang culture, describing it with epitaphs of the street as he always does. I resonate with these stories very much because I grew up in a neighborhood adjacent to Kendricks, so his stories are often parallel to some of the ones I have experienced in life. Hearing these words flow from a person who went through the things I had gone through as a youth is bittersweet though, on one hand I can connect, on the other I’d never wish the images that flash in my head on anyone. A line that resonated with me the most on this topic is when Kendrick says, “In the land where hurt people hurt more people, fuck calling it culture.” This lyric resonates with me so much because we are all in a cycle of hurt as black people; we judge our peers harshly, we fall victim to gangs, and ignore mental health issues and call it the culture.

Nipsey’s perspective at the end of the song creates a softness reassuring his loved ones, pushing his fans to greatness, and even forgiving his murderer. The words rapped are filled with so much love that its almost Jesus like in its delivery. Many believed Nip to be the savior of the hood, and it was on many occasions he was seen walking down Slauson talking to people and even giving them money. This song is a call for love, it’s a call to break cycles and create a culture that builds up instead of breaking down. “I Want you to Want me to” the chorus rings, “look what I did for you” the sacrifices made by us for us throughout the span of history. If we don’t have each other what do we have?

Album Review Coming Soon...