May 20, 2015 yeah i know it doesnt really go deeper than that, but doesnt it being effective count for anything? and he didnt really chastise anyone, just seemed to outline different generic scenarios that occur on a daily basis. i cant help but feel like the simplicity helps it to some degree but i get where you're coming from. just like HMADC, its heavy-handed and portrays a false sense of depth...even the fact that the last bits of the song are structured as some sort of revelation (this time she got killed!, he was actually jesus!) is a turn off. but both of these still work sonically, and yes, thematically, to some degree. Im not arguing that they're ***flawless (funny enough "flaws" just came on), just that they're not horrible. they dont go the extra mile lol, and yes he should be criticized for that. I personally think the simplicity helps Keisha's song more than HMADC (because the entire concept of HMADC is trite whereas Keisha's song is framed as a cautionary tale to his sister etc which has some potential), but in the end they arent perfect -- you're right
May 20, 2015 it's not effective. it's a man lecturing women about her behavior, chastising her for her supposed moral failings, all under the guise of "being protective." oldest trick in the book. i'm sorry to pull this out because it irks me when people do this in arguments, but: do you really feel that way, or are you just doing mental contortions to not criticize kendrick? before hearing the song, everyone in the world knows that poor, black women are taken advantage of by law enforcement. kendrick didn't illuminate abuse in any new arenas, nor did he make the victims real characters, nor did he write about old stories artfully, nor did he do it in a technically impressive way, etc etc etc. he could have taken any one of a million angles to make the song new or vital or incisive. he took none.
May 20, 2015 I understand the thought process here but where is he chastising her? It may very well be in the song, but Im gonna need help to see it. I guess I can kind of see how the entire premise of the song being to warn his sister not to be as "far from good" as these girls on the boulevard and the verses not offering any defense for the women themselves can be problematic. I dont think its me doing too much mental "contortions" because the story being framed as a tale to his little sister kind of justifies the simplicity to an extent for me. But I mean you're right, he didnt approach from an original angle
May 20, 2015 the whole song argues that if you're amoral (sexual, basically, if you're a woman) you're gonna end up r---d and killed.
May 20, 2015 Tammy was molested as a kid and it affected her throughout her life, to the point where she had a misconstrued view of sex and probably life in general.. But @WPG said it, so it MUST be true
May 20, 2015 yes it does. if you don't see how the song is deeply patriarchal, that's on you and something that should make you take lots of long looks in mirrors. that doesn't disqualify it from being a good song. i was pointing that out in response to @Narsh's argument that the song's message excused its technical failings.
May 20, 2015 Quit being condescending for two seconds guy, climb off your horse and you explain this to me. "the whole song argues that if you're amoral (sexual, basically, if you're a woman) you're gonna end up r---d and killed"
May 20, 2015 you know what, dude? 60% of your posts are you trying to "get me," argue with me, paint me as arrogant, whatever. that's fine. but literally any time someone tells you "hey this ______ says some f----- up things about women," you should take a second to step back and evaluate. it's deeply ingrained in so much of our culture, even storytelling, even this song. i know you're going to turn around and call me condescending, but i'm not going to waste too much time explaining that a song that says "you can blame her mother" about a man molesting a girl internalizes a lot of sexism.
May 20, 2015 60% of my posts revolving around you in any way is false, in fact I've liked quite a few of your posts. Your last sentence in this post gets me tho, you've got a point. I still think the quote I asked you to explain isn't being explained, at all.
May 20, 2015 the men in the story molest, r---, and k--- women. the ones who are judged for and burdened with their actions are women.
May 21, 2015 Though I respect you're opinion, I wholeheartedly disagree that Kendrick is victim blaming. Towards the end of the last verse, Kendrick states "this MFer is the f---ing reason why Keisha rushing through that block away from Lueders Park...." That should tell us that the blame has been placed on the mother's boyfriend. The entire last verse drives home the point that her mother's boyfriend is to blame and on a larger scale, men who do this to young women, f--- their minds up and Keisha's story is what sadly becomes an end result for some (not all) girls. He plays the song for his sister to show the f----- up things that happen to some girls via the negative actions of terrible men. Him blaming Keisha's mom, is likely from the standpoint of her naively letting a guy, give her daughter candy late at night(a man Keisha barley knows), which then gave way to him freely doing what he wants without the mother being suspicious. The very fact that he mention Brenda's Got A Baby, is an indication that Keisha's song is not a condemnation of her, but one of understanding to her situation and urging listeners to think deeper than envisioning her as just some worthless prostitute on the corner. That's why in the 2nd verse of Sing about me, Keisha's sister going off on him, because she thinks he's demonizing Keisha, when really he's telling her story of pain.
May 21, 2015 I'm not sure how much I can. The song deconstructs the idea of love and talks about how people use it against themselves all the while thinking they're doing something positive. In my mind, he does it without getting corny and I think it fits on the tracklist by exploring the emotional transition he makes at the end of the album. It wraps things up. I agree with most people that the hook could be better. I guess it just never bothered me that much. Never understood the hate it gets.
May 21, 2015 Section 80 is rife with paternalism. It's not just Keisha's Song. It's practically the theme of the album. The entire tape has K-Dot playing the white knight, explaining all the ills of his generation to the kids who are listening to him (represented by two children, Keisha and Tammy). Keisha, Tammy, come up front. Daddy Kendrick is gonna explain the world to you. Take off that make-up. Smile more! Respect yourselves! Most of the project is on some nauseating savior s---.
May 21, 2015 this reads to me like an awful lot of mental gymnastics. the song is victim blaming. the end of your first paragraph is a terrrrrrrrrible justification of kendrick's lyrics.
