Music Review: Analysis of Kendrick Lamar’s 2016 Grammy Performance

Abstract

Kendrick Lamar’s 2016 Grammy performance medley of his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright” – akin to a protest march and laden with powerful and moving imagery – is coming from a place of exhaustion. It speaks volumes regarding the plight of Black Americans and is a stark representation of the entrenched violence perpetrated against them by the United States government, allowing regular White folks to rape, murder, and pillage Black bodies without repercussions (Anderson 2016).