apr 28, 2017 - Kendrick Lamar's Letter

Description:

This section is a summary and analysis based on this article "Kendrick Lamar Responded to Our Article About His Fear of God"

This association had been communicating with Lamar following the release of his album DAMN. They published an article about Lamar and his beliefs. Lamar wrote a letter to the association in response to the articles they had written about him. With his permission, they published his full response. I did not want to summarize this article because like his songs, this response is his feelings and emotions which a summary would not capture fully. This is Kendrick Lamar’s writing.

"Long time no talk. Congrats on the work. Honored to say I still enjoy the write-ups. Y'all accuracy lets me know this site has a deep respect for the culture. Much appreciated. 
Your latest read is really interesting to me. I didn't expect anyone to catch it. How I express God. I went to a local church some time ago, and it appalled me that the same program was in practice. A program that I seen as a kid the few times I was in service. Praise, dance. Worship. (Which is beautiful.) Pastor spewing the idea of someone's season is approaching. The idea of hope. So on and so forth.
As a child, I always felt this Sermon had an emptiness about it. Kinda one-sided, in what I felt in my heart. Fast forward. After being heavily in my studies these past few years, I've finally figured out why I left those services feeling spiritually unsatisfied as a child. I discovered more truth. But simple truth. Our God is a loving God. Yes. He's a merciful God. Yes. But he's even more so a God of DISCIPLE. OBEDIENCE. A JEALOUS God. And for every conscious choice of sin, will be corrected through his discipline. Whether physical or mental. Direct or indirect. Through your sufferings, or someone that's close to [sic] ken. It will be corrected.
Hence the concept "The wages of sin is Death." It shall be corrected. As a community, we was taught to pray for our mishaps, and he'll forgive you. Yes, this is true. But he will also reprimand us as well. As a child, I can't recall hearing this in service. Maybe leaders of the church knew it will run off churchgoers? No one wants to hear about karma from the decisions they make. It's a hard truth. We want to hear about hope, salvation, and redemption. Though his son died for our sins, our free will to make whatever choice we want, still allows him to judge us.
So in conclusion, I feel it's my calling to share the joy of God, but with exclamation, more so, the FEAR OF GOD. The balance. Knowing the power in what he can build, and also what he can destroy. At any given moment.
I love when artists sing about what makes Him happy. My balance is to tell you what will make Him extinguish you. Personally, once that idea of real fear registered in my mind, it made me try harder at choosing my battles wisely. Which will forever be tough, because I'm still of flesh. I wanna spread this truth to my listeners. It's a journey, but it will be my key to the Kingdom. And theirs as well. I briefly touched on it in this album, but when he tells me to react, I will take deeper action. 
So thank you for your great work. It inspired me to reply with this long ass message. Hopefully, you'll take the time to read mines like I do yours.” Kendrick Lamar
(Zisook, 2017)

Analysis:
This article is incredible. So rarely do we get an honest explanation for one’s religious beliefs. Here Lamar focuses on the darker side of God that people rarely talk about. Thinking back on the material we have read in this class, the question was asked (#3) in Chapter 2 of Raising Cain, Fleeing Egypt, and Fighting Philistines, whether God would intervene for humanity. This section talked about saving humanity in connection to the story of Noah and the Flood. Lamar might have said that God would not intervene for humanity because this is what we deserve. We were flawed when man ate the fruit and Cain killed Abel, and Lamar believes that the sins we commit will always catch up to us, and even though Jesus died for us, we will still be judged by God. Keeping with that, the singer’s point is proven with the story of Noah. He is given a chance to escape sin and death by riding on the arc, but his sin still comes back to haunt him, “The serene but brief portrait of peace and wholeness is immediately shattered in the perplexing story of Noah’s sons in (Genesis) 9:18-27.” (McEntire/Emerson pg.12) Thinking of the Flood and Noah’s story with the framework of Lamar’s analogy, other musicians would rap about the arc and salvation, but it is Lamar’s duty to remind listeners of stories like the one mentioned above with Noah’s sons.

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