“Our history is storied with secret messages, instruction manuals, bound up in song, left out in the open by our ancestors, even before they were gone.”
This made me levitate mentally. Thank you for this and thank you to the ancestors for making it possible for me to be here for all of this.
Thank YOU, for reading. For highlighting that line, I took it for granted but as I look back, I think it's one of the lines I'm proudest of in the piece.
I love this commentary and makes me think about art as a form of mobilization— how creativity elevates + influences our ability to resist. how it invites everyone to sit at the table and continue the conversation. it’s bigger than Drake and forever will be
Sophie!!!! YES TO ALL OF THIS. Like can we talk about it? Art has such a luscious history of activating movements, keeping them going, fueling resistance and building community. It's about waaaaaaay more than a rap beef, it's an indictment of society as a whole!
I honestly think it was a multi-layered hit. The most obvious bit, Drake's baseless lawsuit proffering that the popularity of Not Like Us was bought/fake, that his record label rigged the algorithm to push the song and falsify it's popularity. But also, thinking socially, how influential marginalized communities become when they mobilize together. How the alt-right has had to rely on propagandizing their way into power via misinformation and restricting the vote and voices of the true majority. OR it could be argued there was a subtle callout to the NFL and its history of rigging games one way or another, looooooot of talk this season about refs favoring the Chiefs and they get to the top only to be blown out by the sheer skill of the least favored team. It could be any or all of those!
Absolutely worth the wait for (for anyone reading this after Monday it’s a joke). This was a beautifully, thoughtful and insightful essay. As a 44 yo white woman from the uk, who grew up during a time where we had education on the basics of the colonialism, and atrocities against black people in general (main memory is my whole school year being shellshocked watching Mississippi Burning and not understanding why people thought that behaviour was ever acceptable), I haven’t been able to get past how people my age and older online, didn’t get the symbolism of the 13minutes of genius that happened on that field last night and rather than just say that came in with the classic “I couldn’t understand a word he said” smh. When he said he controlled every element of that performance I believe it, you have the world watching, how will you use that time? The prez being there must have been the unexpected cherry on the cake. Thank you for sharing this insight, you are a beautiful writer, I listened to this on the play button, this read incredibly.
Thank you for such a thoughtful response! Also, holy wow at the fact that you watched Mississippi Burning in school?!?!?! I think the resistance is rooted in expectation. White audiences expect to be entertained, not taught, not challenged. I was listening to a really insightful observation about audience and Kendrick artistic focus. How the people at the Super Bowl, that main demographic is those with means, are not the traditional audience for Kendrick's work (hence the baseless assertions that he, an artist with 22 Grammys, 5 of which he won for 1 song in the last week, and a Pulitzer Prize, wasn't mainstream enough to headline). He knew his biggest audience would be watching from home, anticipated the naysayers response "too loud" "too ghetto" "too reckless" and told the story he wanted to tell anyways. Curated something so specific that he knew people would intentionally misunderstand, start conversation, shake the table, and come away with inarguable impact no matter what.
It crossed my socials feed recently, Samuel L. Jackson's words gave me actual chills & goosebumps there was so much power & emotion & weight behind it
& Kendrick while performing radiates joy which is so powerful in the face of everything we're dealing with right now, change will be carried by our joy not by our anger 💖
“A revolutionary cry, so loud and clear, but it seems only to appear as a grating buzz. The president was in the room and remains none the wiser. A clear rejection of the white gaze and commercial superficiality, a celebration of our shit and no one else’s, twisting away from America’s Conscience and stepping into our own. And anybody can be a part if they’re willing to sit down and pay attention. That’s the assignment here, I think. To clue in to the message: bravery as provocation.”
This whole piece is excellent. I especially love, love, loved this part. I appreciate the time and labor you invested here. I was shook in the best possible way by his performance. Truly iconic. I loved reading your thoughts on it almost as much. Thank you!
“Our history is storied with secret messages, instruction manuals, bound up in song, left out in the open by our ancestors, even before they were gone.”
This made me levitate mentally. Thank you for this and thank you to the ancestors for making it possible for me to be here for all of this.
Thank YOU, for reading. For highlighting that line, I took it for granted but as I look back, I think it's one of the lines I'm proudest of in the piece.
That is some gorgeous writing there for sure. ♥️🔥
Heather, thank you so much!
I love this commentary and makes me think about art as a form of mobilization— how creativity elevates + influences our ability to resist. how it invites everyone to sit at the table and continue the conversation. it’s bigger than Drake and forever will be
Sophie!!!! YES TO ALL OF THIS. Like can we talk about it? Art has such a luscious history of activating movements, keeping them going, fueling resistance and building community. It's about waaaaaaay more than a rap beef, it's an indictment of society as a whole!
This… thank you!!! I need a deeper understanding of “You can’t fake influence “. Like who/what was Kendrick referencing?
I honestly think it was a multi-layered hit. The most obvious bit, Drake's baseless lawsuit proffering that the popularity of Not Like Us was bought/fake, that his record label rigged the algorithm to push the song and falsify it's popularity. But also, thinking socially, how influential marginalized communities become when they mobilize together. How the alt-right has had to rely on propagandizing their way into power via misinformation and restricting the vote and voices of the true majority. OR it could be argued there was a subtle callout to the NFL and its history of rigging games one way or another, looooooot of talk this season about refs favoring the Chiefs and they get to the top only to be blown out by the sheer skill of the least favored team. It could be any or all of those!
Thank you for sharing this thoughtful write up! I think I’m gonna be mulling over those last three paragraphs for a long time.
I appreciate that those struck you, they were the hardest to write. There was so much more I wanted to say.
Thank you so much for your words. I’m so grateful you decided to share it.
I'm really grateful you gave it a read. I'm proud of it.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 thank you thank you!
ABSOLUTELY.
Absolutely worth the wait for (for anyone reading this after Monday it’s a joke). This was a beautifully, thoughtful and insightful essay. As a 44 yo white woman from the uk, who grew up during a time where we had education on the basics of the colonialism, and atrocities against black people in general (main memory is my whole school year being shellshocked watching Mississippi Burning and not understanding why people thought that behaviour was ever acceptable), I haven’t been able to get past how people my age and older online, didn’t get the symbolism of the 13minutes of genius that happened on that field last night and rather than just say that came in with the classic “I couldn’t understand a word he said” smh. When he said he controlled every element of that performance I believe it, you have the world watching, how will you use that time? The prez being there must have been the unexpected cherry on the cake. Thank you for sharing this insight, you are a beautiful writer, I listened to this on the play button, this read incredibly.
Thank you for such a thoughtful response! Also, holy wow at the fact that you watched Mississippi Burning in school?!?!?! I think the resistance is rooted in expectation. White audiences expect to be entertained, not taught, not challenged. I was listening to a really insightful observation about audience and Kendrick artistic focus. How the people at the Super Bowl, that main demographic is those with means, are not the traditional audience for Kendrick's work (hence the baseless assertions that he, an artist with 22 Grammys, 5 of which he won for 1 song in the last week, and a Pulitzer Prize, wasn't mainstream enough to headline). He knew his biggest audience would be watching from home, anticipated the naysayers response "too loud" "too ghetto" "too reckless" and told the story he wanted to tell anyways. Curated something so specific that he knew people would intentionally misunderstand, start conversation, shake the table, and come away with inarguable impact no matter what.
I haven't seen the performance, and I don't think I want to, I'd rather treasure the image you painted of a cry for revolution in motion.
The revolution will be televised/you picked the right time but the wrong guy 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
this is too kind, genuinely encourage you to check it out though! there's so much more that i didn't get to, it's like an easter egg hunt.
It crossed my socials feed recently, Samuel L. Jackson's words gave me actual chills & goosebumps there was so much power & emotion & weight behind it
& Kendrick while performing radiates joy which is so powerful in the face of everything we're dealing with right now, change will be carried by our joy not by our anger 💖
This piece is artistry as well. Thank you for sharing your words ❤️🔥
Thank you Ariel, that means a lot.
absolutely incredible breakdown, thank you so much for sharing with us!! 💕
Heck yeah, Shandra, thank you for reading.
I love this story great
“A revolutionary cry, so loud and clear, but it seems only to appear as a grating buzz. The president was in the room and remains none the wiser. A clear rejection of the white gaze and commercial superficiality, a celebration of our shit and no one else’s, twisting away from America’s Conscience and stepping into our own. And anybody can be a part if they’re willing to sit down and pay attention. That’s the assignment here, I think. To clue in to the message: bravery as provocation.”
This whole piece is excellent. I especially love, love, loved this part. I appreciate the time and labor you invested here. I was shook in the best possible way by his performance. Truly iconic. I loved reading your thoughts on it almost as much. Thank you!
This was such a beautifully written & thought provoking deep dive. Thank you for sharing!