LUMPENPROLETARIAT—Coming to a movie theatre near you, if not already playing at your favourite cinema… Straight Outta Compton is the quintessential narrative of inner city/urban economics, rebellion, working class life, and thug life, taking some of us down memory lane, flashing back to the 1980s.
Notably, Ice Cube’s son, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., plays his father on screen. Also starring Paul Giamatti, who smashed in Sideways, also Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell.
Directed by F. Gary Gray.
Produced by Ice Cube, F. Gary Gray, Dr. Dre, et al.
Kendrick Lamar has returned with some heat on his third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly. Kendrick continues to grow, develop, and expand his musical powers. Of course, Kendrick Lamar’s first No. 1 album has benefited from an eclectic array of producers, from Bilal to Dr. Dre and Thundercat. This elaborate, deeply fonky, and complex production demands, and deserves, your consideration.
—Messina
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“Wesley’s Theory” [track 1]
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“Free?” (censored version, apologies) [track 2]
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“King Kunta” [track 3]
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“Institutionalized” (with Bilal, Anna Wise, & Snoop Dogg) [track 4]
What money got to do with it
When I don’t know the full definition of a rap image?
I’m trapped inside the ghetto and I ain’t proud to admit it
Institutionalized, I keep runnin’ back for a visit
Hol’ up
Get it back
I said I’m trapped inside the ghetto and I ain’t proud to admit it
Institutionalized, I could still kill me a nigga, so what?
[Anna Wise:]
If I was the president
I’d pay my mama’s rent
Free my homies and them
Bulletproof my Chevy doors
Lay in the White House and get high, Lord
Who ever thought?
Master take the chains off me
Life can be like a box of chocolate
Quid pro quo, somethin’ for somethin’, that’s the obvious
Oh shit, flow’s so sick, don’t you swallow it
Bitin’ my style, you’re salmonella poison positive
I can just alleviate the rap industry politics
Milk the game up, never lactose intolerant
The last remainder of real shit, you know the obvious
Me scholarship? No, streets put me through colleges
Be all you can be, true, but the problem is
A dream’s only a dream if work don’t follow it
Remind me of the homies that used to know me, now follow this
I’ll tell you my hypothesis, I’m probably just way too loyal
K Dizzle would do it for you, my niggas think I’m a god
Truthfully, all of ’em spoiled; usually, you’re never charged
But somethin’ came over you once I took you to the fuckin’ BET Awards
You lookin’ at artists like the harvests
So many Rollies around you and you want all of them
Somebody told me you thinkin’ ’bout snatchin’ jewelry
I should’ve listened what my grandmama said to me
[Hook – Bilal:]
Shit don’t change until you get up and wash your ass nigga
Shit don’t change until you get up and wash your ass
Shit don’t change until you get up and wash your ass nigga
Oh now, slow down
[Snoop Dogg:]
And once upon a time in a city so divine
Called West Side Compton, there stood a little nigga
He was 5 foot something, God bless the kid
Took his homie to the show and this is what they saidWhat I’m s’posed to do when I’m lookin’ at walkin’ licks?
The convicts talk ’bout matchin’, money and foreign whips
The private jets and passports, presidential glass floor
Gold bottles, gold models, sniffin’ up the ass for
Instagram flicks, suck a dick, fuck is this?
One more suck away from wavin’ flashy wrist
My defense mechanism tell me to get him, quickly because he got it
It’s the recession, then why the fuck he in King of Diamonds?
No more livin’ poor, meet my .44
When I see ’em, put the per diem on the floor
Now Kendrick, know they’re your co-workers
But it’s gon’ take a lot for this pistol go cold turkey
Now I can watch his watch on the TV and be okay
But see I’m on the clock once that watch landin’ in LA
Remember steal from the rich and givin’ it back to the poor?
Well that’s me at these awards
I guess my grandmama was warnin’ a boy
She said…
[Hook][Snoop Dogg:]
And once upon a time in a city so divine
Called West Side Compton, there stood a little nigga
He was 5 foot something, dazed and confused
Talented but still under the neighborhood ruse
You can take your boy out the hood but you can’t take the hood out the homie
Took his show money, stashed it in the mozey wozey
Hollywood’s nervous
Fuck you, goodnight, thank you much for your service
“These Walls” (with Bilal, Anna Wise, & Thundercat) [track 5]
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“u” [track 6]
[Hook x8:]
Loving you is complicated
I place blame when you steal
Place shame when you steal
Feel like you ain’t shit
Feel like you don’t feel, confidence in yourself
Breakin’ on marble floors
Watchin’ anonymous strangers tellin’ me that I’m yours
But you ain’t shit I’m convinced your talent’s nothin’ special
What can I blame him for
Nigga I can name several
Situation had stopped with your little sister bakin’
A baby inside, just a teenager where’s your antennas
Whats your intentions where is the influence you speak of
You preached in front of 100,000 but never reached her
I fuckin’ tell you, you fuckin’ failure you ain’t no leader
I never liked you, forever despise you I don’t need you
The world don’t need you, don’t let them deceive you
Numbers lie too, fuck your pride too, thats for dedication
Thought money would change you, made you more complacent
I fuckin’ hate you, I hope you embrace it
[Hook]
Lovin’ you, lovin’ you, not lovin’ you, one hundred proof
I can feel you vibin’, recognize that your ashamed of me
Yes, I hate you too
“House keeping… [knocks]
“House keeping
“¡Abre la puerta! ¡Abre la puerta tengo que limpiar el cuarto!
“¡Es que no hay mucho tiempo tengo que limpiar el cuarto¡
“!Disculpe!
Are you the reason why mama and them leavin’
No, you ain’t shit; you say you love them; I know you don’t mean it
I know you’re irresponsible, selfish, in denial, can’t help it
Your trials and tribulations a burden, everyone felt it
Everyone heard it, multiple shots, corners cryin’ out
You was deserted, where was your antennas again?
Where was your presence, where was your support that you pretend?
You ain’t no brother, you ain’t no disciple, you ain’t no friend A friend never leave Compton for profit or leave his best friend
Little brother, you promised you’d watch him before they shot him
Where was your antennas, on the road, bottles and bitches?
You faced time, the one time, that’s unforgiven
You even faced time, instead of a hospital visit
You should thought he would recover, well
The surgery couldn’t stop the bleeding for real
Then he died; God himself will say: “You fuckin’ failed”
You ain’t try
I know your secrets, nigga
Mood swings is frequent, nigga
I know depression is restin’ on your heart for two reasons, nigga
I know you and a couple block boys ain’t been speakin’, nigga
Y’all damn near beefin’, I seen it and your the reason, nigga
And if this bottle could talk *gulp* I cry myself to sleep
Bitch everything is your fault
Faults breakin’ to pieces, earthquakes on every weekend
Because you shook as soon as you knew confinement was needed
I know your secrets
Don’t let me tell them to the world about that shit you thinkin’
And that time you—gulp—I’m bout to hurl
I’m fucked up, but I’m not as fucked up as you
You just can’t get right, I think your heart made of bullet proof
Shoulda killed yo ass a long time ago
You shoulda filled that black revolver blast a long time ago
And if those mirrors could talk it would say: “You gotta go”
And if I told your secrets
The world’ll know money can’t stop a suicidal weakness
Alls my life I has to fight, nigga
Alls my life I…
Hard times like God
Bad trips like: “God!”
Nazareth, I’m fucked up
Homie, you fucked up
But, if God got us we, then, gon’ be alright
[Hook – Pharrell Williams:]
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
We gon’ be alright
Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alright
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
Huh? We gon’ be alright
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alrightUh, and when I wake up
I recognize you’re lookin’ at me for the pay cut
Behind my side we lookin’ at you from the face down
What mac-11 even boom with the bass down
Schemin’! And let me tell you ’bout my life
Painkillers only put me in the twilight
What pretty pussy and Benjamin is the highlight
Now tell my mama I love her, but this what I like
Lord knows, 20 of ’em in my Chevy
Tell ’em all to come and get me, reapin’ everything I sow
So my karma come and Heaven no preliminary hearing
So my record and my motherfucking gang can stand in silence for the record
Tell the world I know it’s too late
The hoes, the girls think I gone crazy
Try and fight my vices all day
Won’t you please believe when I say
[Pre-Hook:]
When you know, we been hurt, been down before, nigga
When my pride was low, lookin’ at the world like, “where do we go, nigga?”
And we hate Popo, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure, nigga
I’m at the preacher’s door
My knees gettin’ weak and my gun might blow, but we gon’ be alright[Hook]What you want, a house or a car?
40 acres and a mule, a piano a guitar?
Anything, see my name is Lucy, I’m your dog
Motherfucker, you can live at the mall
I can see the evil, I can tell it; I know when it’s illegal
I don’t think about it; I deposit every other zero
Thinkin’ of my partner, put the candy, paint it on the regal
Diggin’ in my pocket, ain’t a profit, big enough to feed you
Everyday my logic, get another dollar just to keep you
In the presence of your chico… ah!
I don’t talk about it, be about it, everyday I see cool
If I got it, then you know you got it, Heaven, I can reach you
Pet dog, pet dog, pet dog, my dog, that’s all
Pick back and chat I shut the back for y’all
I rap, I’m black, on track and rest assured
My rights, my wrongs are right ’til I’m right with God
[Pre-Hook]
[Hook]
I keep my head up high
I cross my heart and hope to die
Lovin’ me is complicated
Too afraid, a lot of changes
I’m alright and you’re a favourite
Dark nights in my prayersI 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; the evils of Lucy was all around me
So, I went runnin’ for answers
LUMPENPROLETARIAT—Coming to a movie theatre near you, if not already playing at your favourite cinema… Straight Outta Compton is the quintessential narrative of inner city/urban economics, rebellion, working class life, and thug life, taking some of us down memory lane, flashing back to the 1980s.
