Kendrick Lamar Songs - The Blacker the Berry Lyrics

Kendrick Lamar - The Blacker the Berry

Kendrick Lamar - The Blacker the Berry Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: To Pimp A Butterfly
Released: 2015

The Blacker the Berry Lyrics

Everything black, I don't want black
I want everything black, I ain't need black
Some white some black, I ain't mean black
I want everything black
Everything black, I don't want black
I want everything black, I ain't need black
Some white some black, I ain't mean black
I want everything black

Six in the morning, fire in the street
Burn baby burn, that's all I wanna see
And sometimes I get off watching you die in vain
It's such a shame they may call me crazy
They may say I suffer from schizophrenia or something but homie you made me
Black don't crack my nigga

I'm the biggest hypocrite of 2015
Once I finish this, witnesses will convey just what I mean
Been feeling this way since I was 16, came to my senses
You never liked us anyway, fuck your friendship, I meant it
I'm African-American, I'm African
I'm black as the moon, heritage of a small village
Pardon my residence
Came from the bottom of mankind
My hair is nappy, my dick is big, my nose is round and wide
You hate me don't you?
You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture
You're fuckin' evil I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey
You vandalize my perception but can't take style from me
And this is more than confession
I mean I might press the button just so you know my discretion
I'm guardin' my feelins, I know that you feel it
You sabotage my community, makin' a killin'
You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga

The Blacker the Berry, the sweeter the juice
The blacker the berry, the bigger I shoot
I said they treat me like a slave, cah' me black
Woi, we feel a whole heap of pain, cah' we black
And man a say they put me in a chain, cah' we black
Imagine now, big gold chain full of rocks
How you no see the whip, left scars pon' me back
But now we have a big whip, parked pon' the block
All them say we doomed from the start, cah' we black
Remember this, every race start from the block, just remember that

I'm the biggest hypocrite in 2015
Once I finish this, witnesses will convey just what I mean
I mean it's evident I'm irrelevant to society
That's what you're telling me, penitentiary would only hire me
Curse me till I'm dead
Church me with your fake prophesizing that I'mma be another slave in my head
Institutionalize manipulation and lies
Reciprocation of freedom only live in your eyes
You hate me don't you?
I know you hate me just as much as you hate yourself
Jealous of my wisdom and cards I dealt
Watchin' me as I pull up, fill up my tank then peel out
Muscle cars like pull ups, show you what these big wheels bout
I'm black and successful, this black man meant to be special
CAT scans on my radar bitch, how can I help you?
How can I tell you that I'm making a killin'?
You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga

The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice
The blacker the berry, the bigger I shoot
I said they treat me like a slave, cah' me black
Woi, we feel a whole heap of pain, cah' we black
And man a say they put me in a chain, cah' we black
Imagine now, big gold chain full of rocks
How you no see the whip, left scars pon' me back
But now we have a big whip, parked pon' the block
All them say we doomed from the start, cah' we black
Remember this, every race start from the block, just remember that

I'm the biggest hypocrite in 2015
When I finish this if you listenin' I'm sure you will agree
This plot is bigger than me, it's generational hatred
It's genocism, it's grimy, little justification
I'm African-American, I'm African
I'm black as the heart of a fuckin' Aryan
I'm black as the name of Tyrone and Dareous
Excuse my French but fuck you, no fuck ya'll
That's as blunt as it gets
I know you hate me, don't you?
You hate my people, I can tell because it's threats when I see you
I can tell because your ways deceitful
Know I can tell because you're in love with the Desert Eagle
Thinkin' maliciously, he get a chain then you gone bleed him
It's funny how Zulu and Xhosa might go to war
Two tribal armies that want to build and destroy
Remind me of these Compton crip gangs that live next door
Beefin' with Piru's, only death settle the score
So don't matter how much I say I like to preach with the Panthers
Or tell Georgia State "Marcus Garvey got all the answers"
Or try to celebrate February like it's my B-Day
Or eat watermelon, chicken and Kool-Aid on weekdays
Or jump high enough to get Michael Jordan endorsements
Or watch BET cause urban support is important
So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street?
When gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me?
Hypocrite!

Writer/s: SAMUELS, MATTHEW / CAMPBELL, JEFFREY / LEWIS, KEN / KOZMENIUK, STEPHEN / EPSTEIN, ZALE / KOLATALO, BRENT / DUCKWORTH, KENDRICK
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Blacker the Berry Song Chart

This impassioned, racially charged song features lyrics that celebrate Lamar's African-American heritage, and takes on social issues and hatred. The Compton rapper concludes by referencing his own hypocrisy of being outraged over the 2012 killing of African American teenager Trayvon Martin while gang violence still plagues neighborhoods.

The song title and its ideals are pulled from Wallace Thurman's 1929 novel of the same name, which explores colorism and racial discrimination within the black community.

Lamar quotes 2Pac's 1993 single "Keep Your Head Up," when he raps, "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice." That line most likely references The Jungle Brothers song "Black Woman," which includes the lyric, "the darker the berry, the sweeter the juice."

The single art shows a mother and her twins, from the tribe of the Surma, in the Valley of the Omo of Ethiopia. It was taken by Italian photographer Giordano Ciprian.

Boi-1da came up with the beat with the help of Stephen "Koz" Kozmeniuk, whilst Terrace Martin added the jazz part at the end. Martin explained his contribution to Billboard magazine: "I was listening to the record, zoning out... what he's talking about is a perfect time for what's going on in life. It's a soulful record, it's a record that needed to be done, and it's like the modern times of Public Enemy. It's a black record. It's a record about being black and being proud at the end of the day."

"It inspired me to counteract what he was doing with something hella jazzy. He just got done talking about 'hypocrites' and pro-black s--t, and I'm like, 'Let me calm that down because we [are about to] cause a riot out here!'"

The song's hook is performed by Jamaican Dancehall artist Assassin, who is notable for his vocal contribution on Kanye West's Yeezus track, "I'm In It."

This is the official song of the NBA 2014-2015 regular season.

Lamar told Rolling Stone that he begun writing the song's lyrics when he saw the news of Trayvon Martin's murder. "It just put a whole new anger inside me," he said.

Lalah Hathaway, often referred to as the First Daughter of Soul, sings the track's intro. The daughter of soul singer Donny Hathaway and a classically trained vocalist, the songstress' performance on Snarky Puppy's "Something" garnered widespread praise due for her astonishing ability to sing multiple notes at one time and earned Hathaway her first Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance.

Jazz pianist Robert Glasper is a frequent collaborator of co-producer Terrace Martin and he ended up contributing to this song. He recalled to Billboard magazine: "Terrace was like, 'Let's get a band together and go in the studio, and just try to come up with some ideas for Kendrick's record.' [The riff] was a little something I came up with in the studio, and we just started jamming on it. It was just something to have, and in the end it was like, 'Oh, I don't think we're going to use any of it for the songs.' But then they ended up tagging it on the end of 'The Blacker The Berry.'"

Lamar concludes the song by rapping:

So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street
When gang banging make me kill a n---a blacker than me, hypocrite

MTV News asked the Compton rapper who he was talking about on the last verse? "A few people think it's just talk and it's just rap; no, these are my experiences," he replied. "When I say, 'Gang banging made me kill a n---a blacker than me,' this is my life that I'm talking about. I'm not saying you, you might not even be from the streets."

"I'm not speaking to the community, I'm not speaking of the community," K-Dot added. "I am the community."