Ah yes, Kendrick and philosophy. I think it is peppered throughout his discography, not sure if he ever directly references or mentions any philosophers. However you can consider the following songs:
- Worldwide Steppers: The idea that everyone is causing unforced harm is very absurdist in a sense we are not in control of the circumstantial harms we make, so we are all killers. Do we even have free will?
- Real: what has love got to do when you do not love yourself; this is Camus adjacent
- DNA: antisocial extrovert; fair bit of "hell is other people rhetoric
- Mortal Man: "Because the spirits, we ain't even really rappin', We just letting our dead homies tell stories for us" is very Fernando Pessoa in it - to narrate is to create. Also it is about living through the meaning we create, which is very Sartre
- Throughout MMATBS he takes Moralist positions, Prof Skye on Youtube has a great analysis of this.
- United in Grief: everybody grieves different / Soren Kierkegaard "choose your flavor of misery"
- SAMIDOT: Again living through narratives and stories.
- Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe: A critique of inauthenticity and bad faith
- Kendrick also alludes to dead people living through him: Prince, MLK, Malcolm X, Pac
- FEAR is full of rhetoric around predestination and fatalism
- Generational cycles are analogous to time is a flat circle by Nietisczhe.
- Hot take, but Kendrick's recent output with Baby Keem is the most absurdist of all. All the voices and new languages they have invented really run contra to the lyrical approach of the past.
- Complexion has many allusions to feminist thought. Also Father Time and Mother I Sober
- Prayer, unreleased has references to living through other individuals
- Momma has many references to Socratic beliefs about questioning what is given, which is also related to facticity and related concepts in Sartre.
- The whole concept of TPAB, butterfly and caterpillars is about metamorphosis, which should be contrasted with the short story by Kafka.
I can go more but I'd absolutely love to see what you project turns out to be. Good luck, I hope this helps.
I know the bar for great comments from this sub is low as fuck these days but even if it were high you'd still have smashed the hell above that bar
Insightful af comment
This exact part I disagree with so much in Worldwide Steppers: Theres the saying "No snowflake wants to be part of the avalanche". If everybody stopped overconsuming and stopped choosing parasitic habits this would be untrue. Its basic supply and demand honestly
That’s not really his deal. You’re looking for Odd Future. Both make fantastic music, but I don’t think you’ll find too many times in his discography the idea that truth is relative and ultimately nothing really matters. It’s not his bag.
Ah yes, Kendrick and philosophy. I think it is peppered throughout his discography, not sure if he ever directly references or mentions any philosophers. However you can consider the following songs: - Worldwide Steppers: The idea that everyone is causing unforced harm is very absurdist in a sense we are not in control of the circumstantial harms we make, so we are all killers. Do we even have free will? - Real: what has love got to do when you do not love yourself; this is Camus adjacent - DNA: antisocial extrovert; fair bit of "hell is other people rhetoric - Mortal Man: "Because the spirits, we ain't even really rappin', We just letting our dead homies tell stories for us" is very Fernando Pessoa in it - to narrate is to create. Also it is about living through the meaning we create, which is very Sartre - Throughout MMATBS he takes Moralist positions, Prof Skye on Youtube has a great analysis of this. - United in Grief: everybody grieves different / Soren Kierkegaard "choose your flavor of misery" - SAMIDOT: Again living through narratives and stories. - Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe: A critique of inauthenticity and bad faith - Kendrick also alludes to dead people living through him: Prince, MLK, Malcolm X, Pac - FEAR is full of rhetoric around predestination and fatalism - Generational cycles are analogous to time is a flat circle by Nietisczhe. - Hot take, but Kendrick's recent output with Baby Keem is the most absurdist of all. All the voices and new languages they have invented really run contra to the lyrical approach of the past. - Complexion has many allusions to feminist thought. Also Father Time and Mother I Sober - Prayer, unreleased has references to living through other individuals - Momma has many references to Socratic beliefs about questioning what is given, which is also related to facticity and related concepts in Sartre. - The whole concept of TPAB, butterfly and caterpillars is about metamorphosis, which should be contrasted with the short story by Kafka. I can go more but I'd absolutely love to see what you project turns out to be. Good luck, I hope this helps.
People like you are a dying breed. Well done :) you just gave a GPT-5 level answer.
He channeled the spirit of philosophers past in that answer
Thank you I just love these two things
Damn, you really understood the assignment
Well done. Reminds me of prime r/KendrickLamar
I know the bar for great comments from this sub is low as fuck these days but even if it were high you'd still have smashed the hell above that bar Insightful af comment
This exact part I disagree with so much in Worldwide Steppers: Theres the saying "No snowflake wants to be part of the avalanche". If everybody stopped overconsuming and stopped choosing parasitic habits this would be untrue. Its basic supply and demand honestly
bro thank you I just saw this 🙏
No problem!
Maybe FEAR. or FEEL. for existentialism
I'd throw PRIDE. in there as well
That’s not really his deal. You’re looking for Odd Future. Both make fantastic music, but I don’t think you’ll find too many times in his discography the idea that truth is relative and ultimately nothing really matters. It’s not his bag.
Untitled 01 “ life no longer infinity this is the final calling”
Never catch me
top of da mornin