A couple of days ago, Music Times reported that news anchor, Geraldo Rivera, criticized Kendrick Lamar's performance at the 2015 BET Awards for being "counterproductive" by sending the wrong messages to young African Americans. Kendrick Lamar heard about these attacks against his music and has something to say to the Fox News correspondent.
Today, during an appearance on TMZ Live, the "Alright" rapper defended his music and his BET performance and said it is a positive way to shed light on negative situations. He replied, "This is our music. This is us expressing ourselves. Rather than going out here and doing the murders myself, I want to express myself in a positive light the same way other artists are doing. Not going out in the streets, go in the booth and talking about the situation and hoping these kids can find some type of influence on it in a positive manner. Coming from these streets and coming from these neighborhoods, we're taking our talents and putting 'em inside the studio."
Geraldo claimed that Lamar's use of vandalized police cars and anti-police lyrics served as another example of how "hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years." He specifically pointed out one lyric of the song where Kendrick raps, "And we hate po-po/ Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho," and said lyrics like those send the wrong message. Lamar defended his lyric and said Rivera took that line out of context and focused on that one line instead of grasping the overall message of the song. Lamar said, "You can't dilute the message."
Kendrick released the visuals for his politically-charged single, "Alright" off his latest album, To Pimp a Butterfly. In this very cinematic video, Kendrick tackles heavy issues such as poverty, discrimination and police brutality as he flies over the hood like a rap superhero. Check it out below.
