2024 05 09
Woman finds the light in downtown Chicago, Illinois. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I’m taking a break from listening to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track on repeat to post this blog entry. The song is incredible and so full of detail, things are still emerging after a few dozen listens. My dumb brain, prone to overthinking, at first interpreted the “A-minor” line as an insult that Drake likes to use the same key all the time (yeah, I’m dumb, and also not really familiar with Drake’s music). Then, when it clicked, the song sizzled a little bit more! It’s a layered art piece that evolves over time and seemingly has the whole world talking about it.
…Further detail about this line from genius:
Lastly, on a piano, both the A-Minor chord and scale don’t have any black keys, only white ones. Additionally, the A-Minor scale is considered to be the easiest scale to learn as a beginner in music theory.
At the very end of the line, the main beat cuts out and switches to a jazz tune for a few seconds—this might be a reference to this popular tweet by comedian Zack Fox:
@zachfox: kendrick bout to call him a pedophile over some free jazz
Also, how crazy is it that this beef has already led to someone getting shot and how little people seem to care. Did the shooting even happen? I’m not sure. And if it did, it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. There are way too many distractions and shit happening for us to collectively care about almost anything anymore, so when a song breaks through the clutter to catch the attention of the world, it’s a big deal.
Some artists are motivated by hate. It seems like Kendrick is at his best when he’s being attacked. Some of my best motivation has come from people not believing in me. It makes me wonder if this is why I’m usually drawn to darker themes and embrace negativity, acknowledging it’s real and natural, opposed to portraying the world only though a bright, colorful, and optimistic lens. When you embrace the darkness, it makes the light moments all the more profound.
Am I making any sense here? Probably not. Back to listening, I go.
-Clayton
