Self-Discovery Through Violence: An Analysis Of “Element” By Kendrick Lamar
Music videos, personally, tend to detract from the music itself and what the music is trying to convey, distracting me from the message (if any) of the song and being mainly a way to promote the song and the album. The visuals tend to be disconnected from the lyrics and sounds and limiting the number of ways to fully interpret the song for each person. However, there is one artist that has always been able to elevate his music with his narrative structured videos: Kendrick Lamar. Part 1: Collaboration Following on the ride of his rapturous reception of his 2015 album “To Pimp A Butterfly,” Kendrick Lamar was soon heralded as the Crown Prince of Compton with his powerful verses on controversial and difficult topics such as race relations, politics, money, fame and more. “To Pimp A Butterfly” won the Best Rap Album of the year at the 58th Grammy’s and was named as the best album of the year on dozens of publications including Billboard and Rolling Stone, and it soon became a certified Platinum Record soon after its release.
This has led Kendrick’s 2015 album considered to be one of the greatest works of American music and art. His most recent album, “Damn. ” followed a more personal exploration of himself from the avant-garde approach in “To Pimp A Butterfly. ” The album “Damn. ” was more of Kendrick’s way of growing within himself using humility, exploring deeper and deeper into his life and the way the forces around him have influenced him to be who he is today and on to tomorrow. Kendrick had become an artist that depicted the life many young African Americans grew up in a sensitive but real manner, illuminating details of his life and those influenced by it with cautious sensibility unheard of in Hip Hop.
In June of 2017, Kendrick released a music video for his song “Element. ” from his album “Damn. ” This music video is one that expanded my experience of the song, rather than limiting it. Part of what makes Hip Hop, especially Kendrick’s work, stand out so much, is its necessity on the role of collaborating with others, requiring the artist to be able to fuse the lyrics and production seamlessly. Although he in generally praised for the quality and integrity of his work, not so much is heard of his ability to work together with others. As a marquee artist, he is able to control the lyrical content and its delivery himself, but it’s also up to him which artists he chooses to work with according to their strengths and help them realize their own creativity.
