Alright. I will be straight with you.

One thing that hasn’t quite sat right with me is people listening to the exact things Kendrick said and just thought “well that was fun what else is on”

Like do you genuinely understand the gravity and significance of MTG verse 2? No one and I mean NO ONE at the peak of their celebrity has highlighted and spoke about corporate sponsored trafficking before and directly accusing another well known public figure and associates.

This is not something you do for a cash grab, people have lost lives and their careers off of even hinting at these activities. Why Kendrick chose to do this is becoming clearer and clearer by the day but we are yet to get the full picture, I hope we do but we may never do.

Truthfully this was NEVER about a rap battle.

yeah thats a different argument but fairs

?

no fair enough I didn't wanna say there is nothing to dig. I mean more that it's a trend I'm seeing with his music from then on

I can also just say gkmc and TPAB is imo god tier writing, DAMN still had a lot of that, Mr Morale was cool w many moments of greatness but I see it as a declining trend atm

Just say you didn’t like his last album and cut this out bro lol. You have no issues with Kendrick’s content. You used that as a red herring because you didn’t like morale.

His last album was his most relatable.

It’s crazy because white people pretending to relate more to gkmc is funny to me.

Ding ding ding

also about trans identity tho the track about his uncle is rly misguided btw

like, maybe it was well-intentioned, but also he clearly didn't learn his lesson misgendering him throughout the track and so it comes off more as using his trans identity as a "plot-twist" for his storytelling which is rly icky

Fair critique.

He did call her a she towards the end of that verse btw tho

he literally repeats "my auntie is a man now" throughout the entire track and called it auntie diaries.. and then you also have the f-slur, which is questionable to repeat. and like it's not even like I think he should be cancelled for that, I'm even a bit ambivalent if it's creative license to try and reach ppl where they at, he probably succeeded getting ignorant ppl to have sympathy for trans identity

but it's still being really clumsy with his language. like everyone now just thinks of him as "Kendrick's auntie", he never even calls him uncle once. yeno. that's just kind of the damage which misgendering does at the end of the day that it makes things which are clear (this is a man) confusing and so puts the identity into question

My auntie is a man now
I asked my momma why my uncles don't like him that much
And at the parties why they always wanna fight him that much
She said, "ain't no telling
Niggas always been jealous because he had more women
More money and more attention made more envy
Calling him anything but broke was less offending"

Critiques about the f slur are valid tho. But the pronouns going back and forth was literally intentional.

auntie is feminine fam, that's also misgendering is my whole point

and I mean again I get the creative impulse and the storytelling techniques behind it I just think they're misguided and still ultimately damaging

Word we arguing semantics. Im done lol

Going back to this blackstarkids album. See ya back in slums thread when you actually tryna discuss from a genuine place

I fit in the LGBTQ s*** and f**uete is like nigga to me

Word police need to get something real to be upset about

I literally liked it a lot lol. I just think it showed cracks.

the beauty of gkmc is that his storytelling made his very specific experience extremely universal. his pen allowed him to paint an extremely emotionally raw and wise beyond his years, just a very real picture of life in the ghetto. that's what makes it such an amazing work of art. and it came together with pushing the sound structure of a hip-hop song and album too

you can call me paranoid and cynical and maybe I am but I just feel like he's slowly becoming too much of a brand. it's not that I think he's suddenly a s*** artist it's just a lot of little things coming together giving me this impression and slowly putting me off being genuinely excited about his career.

my problems lowkey have prob always been there, I mean he's always been a commercial and successful artist at the end of the day, I've just grown and changed as a person and find more issues with it now

I can only say majority of my friends are queer and they're p much evenly split on loving and hating the track. I don't hate it, because I see the intention but it still makes me cringe.

a lot of talking w my trans friends is about how much the subtleties of language can do a lot of damage so I just find it disappointing coming from such a great writer, even if overall commendable given his background and platform.

I just rly think it's at least questionable to hail it as "Kendrick made being trans cool"

I'm also done lol whatever

Being trans should never be a cool thing to do. It's a very life altering personal choice

But currently humanity is very NOW orientated because the future is seemingly dim

Damn this thread grew fast asf

with cool I mean in the way of "oh he's trans, that's chill".

In the context of hip hop and pop culture as a whole Odd Future did pave the way for this being where things are heading with sexuality at least. they had Syd, Frank and later Tyler just being like "this is me and if you have a problem with that that's your problem".

but there's def still ways to go with gender. Kendrick opened a discussion but the way he dramatized it all also and made it almost more about his challenges accepting than rly taking it also shows that it is in fact not yet "cool" for him.

nah this really is condom eyes alt. man snuck in palestine in there

Ur real for pointing out the odd future influence. add in Steve lacy hardcore

walking the fine line with this one dawg you should probably chill with that.

it absolutely should be a cool thing to do, a dear friend I had would still be here on Earth if she had known this was an option earlier in life and was in a more accepting family.

I mean cool as in trendy, u know that. Sorry about your friend. I'll chill as I please, oppressor