By Jia D'Souza and Natalia George

Hi there! Jia and Natalia here, from the CO Journalism Team. We are pleased to present the first instalment of our series, “Casual Observations”, through which we run an intellectually stimulating and brutally honest review column of all your favourites in music, movies, literature and every art form in between, bringing interesting, and sometimes even controversial, pieces to the table. Stay tuned for a review every month! We hope you enjoy it!

This edition is Halloween themed, so what’s better than reviewing a musical masterpiece dealing with the raw stuff that leaves us shaking in our bones, FEAR. by Kendrick Lamar?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Lamar, he is a successful rapper known for his hits such as HUMBLE. and Alright, and is often considered to be one of the most influential rappers of his generation. He has 37 grammy nominations and 13 Grammy wins under his belt. He is associated with lyrical and conscious hip-hop.

FEAR. is a part of Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 album DAMN.The almost 8 minute long song with changing tempos, voices, the voicemail and instruments never fails to catch the listener off guard on the first listen but the depth of the lyrics draws the listener in. It’s easy to get a little baffled at all the different ideas being thrown straight at our faces, there are so many societal problems mentioned, but such little time to process all of them. 

The track hits your soul slowly with a funky, melodic, boom-bap instrumental backing, courtesy of The Alchemist, who produced it. The song is definitely a window to Lamar’s soul and it was awe-inspiring to listen to his thoughts that were so beautifully structured. Every word and verse has a deeper significance that also ties to other songs on his album, which all culminates into a larger picture. This track stands out because it deals with a lot of themes pertaining to Lamar’s personal life, and evidently, his fears, and how they evolve as he continues to age. There are three primary verses that represent his fears at three distinctly different phases in his life- at ages 7, 17 and 27.

Lamar grew up in a centre of crime, being born and brought up in Compton, California. Furthermore, his father Kenny Duckworth was associated with the gang “Gangster Disciples”, and hence, despite not being a part of a gang himself, Kendrick grew up around gang members in a violent, impoverished setting, which resonates throughout the song. 

The song does not begin in the conventional style, jumping straight into the verses, but rather, we hear a voice recording of Lamar’s cousin Carl Duckworth:

What’s up family, yeah it’s yo cousin Carl man, just given’ you a call man

I know you been havin’ a lot on yo mind lately

And I know you feel like ya know people ain’t been prayin’ for you

But you have to understand this man, that we are a cursed people

Deuteronomy 28:28 says

“The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness

And astonishment of heart.”

See family that’s why you feel like

You feel like you got a chip on your shoulder

Until you finally get the memo, you will always feel that way

This song is riddled with biblical allusions beginning with the heavy curse of the book of Deuteronomy. The song presents extremely heavy philosophical questions on the karmic entitlement of struggle, namely the struggle of being a part of a minority group in a world full of hate and division. Lamar may be hinting at the idea that the African American Community may have a curse befallen on it as a result of “disobedience” to God, an idea which can be paralleled to the Biblical tale of the Israelites who spent 40 years in the desert, in search of the promised land, after they lost faith in Yahweh and began worshipping idols.

However, those ideas previously mentioned were only the negative insinuations. Being an “Israelite” also translates into being accredited as God’s own chosen people. Black people have provided the world with some of the most critical elements of progression and art. It’s amazing to see a community with such a rich history of oppression emerge with some of the world’s best and most refined innovations. To be a part of such a movement demands a sense of pride.

The bridge also unconventionally alludes to the bible and is repeated twice, however the second time Lamar sings the words in reverse. For a first time listener of the song it seems as though he is speaking in tongues – again something that occurs two times in the Bible. First in the Old Testament, when the people of Israel became arrogant and tried to build a tower high enough to reach God. To punish them and wreak havoc, God gave people the ability to speak different tongues or languages, rendering them unable to communicate and finish the building. This ties in with the narrative of the disobedient Lamar, who must be brought back to the fold. Secondly, the ability to speak tongues was given as a blessing to the apostles of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, on a day now celebrated as the Pentecost. This could reference what he thinks of his life now and what he wants it to be forever- blessed. 

The first verse introduces Lamar’s earliest fear at the age of 7. Even at such a tender age, Lamar is not spared from having inhibitions and worries, largely caused by his mother and her means of disciplining him to make him a man.

I beat yo a*s if you tell them social workers he live here

Seven years old, think you run this house by yourself?

N*gga, you gon’ fear me if you don’t fear no one else

These lyrics portray Lamar’s mother as a strong headed woman who tried her very best to scare Lamar from getting into trouble in the rough neighbourhood of Compton, where they lived at the time. Obviously, she was extremely successful, as she has been used as one of the key fear inducers in Kendrick’s life. 

The second FEAR brought out in the song appears in the second verse, as Lamar is at the peak of his youth, age 17.

I’ll prolly die anonymous

I’ll prolly die with promises

I’ll prolly die walkin’ back home from the candy house

I’ll prolly die because these colors are standin’ out

Teens often feel the pressures of being on the brink of adulthood. Lamar fears that his presence in the world will go unrecognised and he will be unsuccessful in establishing a name for himself in the music industry. However, Lamar’s fears at 17 extend deeper than the basic textbook ones. He doesn’t expect to live very long because of his skin colour, reaffirming the fact that race hate crimes are an extremely prevalent cause of fear for young people of colour. It’s this fear of dying young that also makes Kendrick question whether he will be able to fulfill all the dreams and goals others have for him and the promises he has made to the people he cares about. Quite a heavy burden for someone who isn’t even an adult yet, don’t you agree?

The third and final personal FEAR addressed, is one at the age of 27, in the third verse, when Kendrick begins to have an introspective dialogue on how his career and future are set to unfold as he grows older and more successful. 

At 27, my biggest fear was losin’ it all

Scared to spend money, had me sleepin’ from hall to hall

Scared to go back to Section 8 with my mama stressin’

30 shows a month and I still won’t buy me no Lexus

At 27 years old, Kendrick Lamar was arguably one of the most well-known and talented rappers at the time, amassing fans by the millions. However, the former “Compton-loner”, was still afraid that he would one day wake up and find all his fame and fortune burned to the ground. Lamar stresses on his fear of losing his money and fame. Section 8 refers to the government subsidised housing that he fears he would be forced to return to. Lamar goes on to elaborate the fear of trusting his money with his accountants and references the Rihanna scandal, where her accountant went missing after declaring that $9 million dollars were lost. 

I read a case about Rihanna’s accountant and wondered

How did the Bad Girl feel when she looked at them numbers?

The type of sh*t’ll make me flip out and just kill somethin’

Drill somethin’, get ill and fill ratchets with a lil’ somethin’

Considering that he grew up in crime ridden streets and managed to escape drugs and death, one would expect him to be a braver man, but to the audience’s surprise and to his as well, Lamar is scared of how people see him. He is especially scared of how he will be remembered by the future generations. He fears the malignant tongue of the media as it has the power to paint his city, people and race in a bad light. This fear of judgement might also be a reference to the judgement of God. 

At 27 years old, my biggest fear was bein’ judged

How they look at me reflect on myself, my family, my city

What they say ’bout me reveal if my reputation would miss me

What they see from me would trickle down generations in time

What they hear from me would make ’em highlight my simplest lines

Lamar fears and his failure to comprehend his stardom causes him to make references to a famous Biblical character – Job. Job’s story is full of grief and struggle.  Satan brought his wrath on this innocent man by killing his children, livestock and destroying his house in an effort to prove that even God’s most faithful will not remain so when inflicted with grief and loss. Kendrick compares his fears to losing everything he has accumulated and earned over the years to Job’s story, doubting the fame and money he enjoys today as it seems to be too good to be true, as though God is playing a joke on him. His fear is of biblical proportions. 

One of our favourite parts is the ominous lyrics and the change in rhythm at 6:30 after the “Goddamn us all”. It gives us a change of pace, acting almost like a volta, after hearing all about the fears in Lamar’s life, he reminds us that we all eventually reach an inevitable death, where our fears come to the grave with us. Dark, but true.

…in fact every phase of life brings in a new fear just as another one is overcome…

Fear is such a relevant topic to us students. It is something everyone must overcome in their lives, and is a constant in life. In fact every phase of life brings in a new fear just as another one is overcome. Also, it’s interesting to see how different ages colour fear differently. The fears we feel as sixth graders as we walk through the secondary corridors slowly but surely shift towards the fears of what the outside world will throw at us as we graduate. It’s nice to know that such a famous musician goes through the “human experience” in such a similar manner to us. 

Kendrick is exceptional at bringing out his ideas through rap, he is truly an artist giving us poetry set to a satisfying rhythm and beat. This song definitely requires multiple listens and lyric readings to appreciate it deeper than the musical and rhythmic aspect of it (which, by the way, absolutely SLAPS).

If you’ve already heard the song, we hope that our review revealed to you a new interpretation of its profound lyrics. And if you haven’t heard it yet, we hope that we’ve inspired you to do so. Keep the lyrics open on another window to follow it thoroughly, and let us know in the comments what you think of it!

Till next time,

Nuts and Chia