Since its creation, the genre of Hip Hop uses black culture and its people as its sole source of inspiration. The stories of unnerving violence, social unrest, rags to riches and living life to the fullest are creatively shared through the beats and lyrics of artists of many generations. However, more often than not, these stories only tell one side of the culture. It is due to this that the media’s portrayal of black culture is filled with hatred, violence, and poverty. However, in the year of 2017, Kendrick Lamar released his song “Element” from his Grammy-Award winning album DAMN, shedding a light on the true culture of black people in America.
Before diving into the contents of the song, it is vital to understand how and why it came to be. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born on June 17th, 1987 in Compton, California. His parents originally were from Chicago but moved to Compton in hopes of getting away from the city’s gang culture. However, with the increase of West Coast gangs and the crack trade, Lamar was surrounded by gang culture nonetheless. Despite his parents' initial worry, Lamar was more influenced by the culture rather than harmed. He continued on a steady path in school and his love for writing led him to release multiple songs under the stage name “K-Dot”. His lyricism caught the attention of Dr. Dre and soon enough, Kendrick was releasing his first studio album. In his first three albums, Lamar spoke only of one side of black culture, never both. That is until the release of DAMN on April 14, 2017. This album speaks about all aspects of black culture: the good, the bad and the ugly truth. His second song on the album, “Element”, lyrically expresses the beauty that lies within all facets of black culture and how he appreciates the environment that made him who he is. In addition, he explains how it is essential to show all sides of black culture in the hip hop genre as it is inspired the most by its people.
When it was time to produce “Element”, Lamar worked with producers who would not only take the song to the next level but understood and experienced his vision. He teamed up with two California natives, Sounwave (Mark Spears) and Ricci Riera to produce the song. The two each have unique styles of producing. Sounwave loves to reinvent his style for each project so no two projects sound the same, leaving listeners in shock when they find out that a song is his work. Riera, on the other hand, does have a signature sound which is made up of layers and reverb, both of which are very apparent in “Element”. Besides being amazing producers with impressive resumes and skills, the two also understood Lamar’s personal experiences in the song and related to his vision which made it easy for the trio to come up with lyrics and a sound to match. However, Sounwave felt that there was an element missing to the song. To find it, he contacted UK musician and producer James Blake. Blake has said in interviews that initially “Element” sounded very “jazzy” and he felt it needed depth to match its deep, moving lyrics. His style of producing is minimal as he keeps beats, cords, and tones simple in order to have the artists’ voice and lyrics stand out. He added hollow, almost haunting piano chords, bringing the needed and appreciated depth one hears when listening to the song. It was when the music video for “Element” was released, people everywhere could hear, feel, and now see the beautiful yet ugly truth the song tells.
The music video for “Element” was released on Lamar’s Youtube channel on June 27, 2017. In collaboration with its lyrics, the visuals do wonders at showing the three main elements of what Lamar rapped about: the good, the bad, and the ugly truth of black culture. The first verse of the song feeds into the stereotypical “dysfunctional ghetto culture” of black culture. The first few lines of the song reflect the violent and hostile environment in which Lamar comes from. He talks about how he has felt the violence of his community first hand as he has been “stomped out” in front of his mother. His family was aware of his dealings with violence in the community as his aunt warned him to be cautious of his surroundings. However, Lamar feels that because all his “grandmas”, or elders who would once pray for his safety, were gone then he is to protect himself and his craft as he says “I'll take your f***in' life for this sh*t, n***a”. Outside of his declaration to incite violence, Lamar glorifies the selling of drugs as a main source of income when he says “We ain't goin' back to broke, family selling' dope”. The stereotype of Black people, especially in America, having no drive or desire to have legal sources of income is reinforced in this line. However, the lines in the song served as narration to the images in the music video.
The visuals for “Element” are the 21st century rendition of the late Gordon Parks’ historical depictions of African-American life and The Civil Rights movement. In paying homage to Parks and his work, there are several negative images that appear: a young Black boy aiming a gun, a large group of Black men fighting in the street, Black men in handcuffs, Black men training in what could be seen as self defense, a Black father teaching his young son self-defense, this same father lying in the street after being beaten, and white officers, which are known to be symbols of aggression in America, crowding outside of a vehicle. With these visuals explained and the lyrics “If I gotta slap a p*ssy-a** n***a, I'ma make it look sexy / If I gotta go hard on a b**ch, I'ma make it look sexy / I pull up, hop out, air out, made it look sexy” as the narration, Lamar glorifies the dysfunction that lies within Black culture in America. He constantly repeats these lines, inferring that the violence and chaos the culture depicts is cool and appealing. If anyone is to wonder why this way of life is glorified by Lamar, he made it known as he said “They won't take me out my element”, clarifying that the life he describes made him who he is. The first verse and images of the song reinforces the stereotypes that black culture is filled with violence, chaos, a great lack of work ethic, and that those who are living in the hood will never make it out. However, the second verse of the song expands on another side of black culture that the media rarely speaks about.
The second half of “Element” showcases black culture and its people in an entirely different light. Lamar starts by showing the beauty of black love. The couple embraces each other softly and are gentle with their touches, a polar opposite to the violent and overly sexual depiction the media publishes about black people in love. Black nuns also make an appearance in the music video. This, sadly, is rare to see in music videos as anytime Black women are introduced, they are often in minimal clothing and behave overly sexual. As these nuns are real women and not mere props for a video, their appearance also combats everyday depictions of black women as they are often portrayed as acting “ratchet” or “ghetto”. The last positive image shown in the video is of the same young Black boy who learned to fight, now standing in the rain. While the actual description of the scene is minimal, the significance of it is major. Where we have seen black men of different ages exhibit violent behavior in the video, the rain that pours on the young Black boy could symbolize the end of generational anger and violence. One can infer that the rain symbolizes the cleansing of negativity and violence and that he is born again with a clean slate. Just as the rare but beautiful visuals in the second half differ greatly from those in the first half, the lyricism does the same.
Lamar raps about how much his life has changed since being discovered by Dr. Dre. He mentions making seven figures from selling both digital and physical copies of his music, his eagerness to plane-hop in order to travel the world, and how those who doubt him do so because they are not him. He also expresses how much harder it is for Black people to break away from the environment and stigmas around them. Lyrics like “You know this’ll never be a tie, just look at they laces'' and “You know careers take off, just gotta be patient” shows the unfairness that lies ahead for black people but emphasizes the importance of having patience. Finally, the lyrics “Most of y'all ain't real, most of y'all gon' squeal”, “Because it's all in your eyes, most of y'all tell lies”, and “Last LP I tried to life the black artists/But it's a difference between black artists and wack artists” calls out hip hop artists who choose to glorify negative stigmas that surround Black culture. Holding artists accountable for their actions happens often in Hip Hop but never to the degree that Lamar does with these lyrics. He presses the issue that glorifying violence and gang culture with elements Black culture as the backdrop does a disservice not only to the culture, but everyday people as well.
Lamar’s impeccable lyricism and visual intelligence in the making of “Element” showcases both the good and bad sides of black culture. He confirms that there is great violence and chaos within black culture. Black men, women, and children are fighting for their lives and sanity each day in America. They are making ends meet by any means necessary, even if they do so illegally. He confirms that there is struggle in the black culture. He also explains that great beauty lies within black culture. There is pure, unfiltered, gentle love shared between black people. There are chances for black men, women and children to become more than the opportunities their environment supplies them with. He emphasizes that there is growth in black culture.
However, most importantly, Lamar paints a beautifully gruesome picture of black culture and uses his own personal, but relatable, experiences to narrate. He explains that no matter how ugly or beautiful the picture of our culture may be, it is ours. We should not glorify one side over the other only when all sides deserve to be told. The new age artists who make music about only one side of the culture paints an inaccurate picture of real-world Black people, leaving the media to use those songs for reference when enforcing stereotypes. Kendrick Lamar’s constant repetition of the lines “They won’t take me out my element” after each verse is his plea to those within black culture to be proud of it in its entirety for it, too, is our element.
Listen to the lyrical masterpiece that is "ELEMENT" here.
This paper was prepared for the History of Hip Hop Music course at College of Charleston taught by Dr. Nathan Michel
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