words.
"To speak prophetically is daring—the times in which we live may not be equal to the weight of prophetic language. More than a vision of the future, prophecy requires an accurate reading of the present. Even two years ago, “To Pimp a Butterfly” might have sounded, to all but a handful of listeners, out of joint with the times, but right now, after Ferguson and Eric Garner, it sounds fitting.
Time bends. Tupac, speaking to us from the past about the present, calls up the spirit of the rebel slave Nat Turner, as Lamar, speaking from the present but looking to the future, invokes “the ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it.” Tupac might have been alone, him against the world, but Lamar gathers his brethren round him."
THE NEW YORKER: Kendrick Lamar’s Capacious New Record
SEE ALSO:
THE PITCH: On Kendrick Lamar and Black Humanity
No comments:
Post a Comment