s“u”
Obliterated by his own sorrow and empathetic to the affliction of his entire race, Kendrick Lamar is in his darkest hour. The song, which is the polar opposite of his Grammy Award-winning self-love anthem “i," finds K. Dot excavating his soul to purge out his flaws, impurities and deepest insecurities. The track is split into two parts, with the latter featuring a raging, inebriated Lamar as he freaks out in a hotel room and debates suicide on the Whoarei production. Bilal, Jessica Vielmas and TDE’s own SZA offer background harmonies, which if not to assuage Kendrick’s anguish, helps soothes listeners who are distracted by his high-pitched wails.
“Alright”
His depression under wraps, Pharrell Williams' production chops helps the rhymer turn over a new leaf. He's armed and ready to face another day in this Hades of a society. He turns to Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple for the opener. “Alls my life I had to fight,” Kendrick recites. While he recognizes all the wrongs surrounding him, Lamar, like the enslaved ancestors before him, is confident that with God on his side everything will be “Alright.” Sounwave also has production creditss on the track, however Pharrell appears on the hook of this jazzy hip-hop infusion.
"For Sale? (Interlude)”
What is not “For Free?” must be “For Sale?” Lamar continues to strategically reticulate elements of institutionalized racism and ongoing African-American oppression with his own battles with stardom and his responsibilities as an artist and black man. He ends the Taz Arnold production with words of reflection: “I remembered you was conflicted / Misusing your influence, sometimes I did the same / Abusing my power full of resentment / Resentment that turned into a deep depression / Found myself screamin' in the hotel room / I didn't wanna self-destruct.”
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