A deep dive into Kendrick Lamar’s 12-minute opus from 2012’s Good Kid M.A.A.D. City.
Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst by Kendrick Lamar is the 10th track off of his 2012 album Good Kid M.A.A.D. City. The album explores the truths of life growing up in Compton, that being gang violence, drug use, police brutality, and the cycles of systemic racism and incarceration. The album attempts to flesh out these ideas into digestible forms for public display, attempting to bring new light to the harsh realities of life in Compton. Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst, or SAMIDOT as it is often referred to, explores specifically gang violence and the unending broken system of racism and systemic discrimination. Throughout the entire song, especially in the second half, Lamar offers his friends and others who are suffering due to the system an out, an offer to hope, that being christianity, creating some very poetically worded verses about death and religion.
SAMIDOT is split into two parts, Sing About me, and I’m Dying of Thirst, separated by a fake conversation by his friend’s dead brother’s friends, saying that they want revenge against those that killed his brother, rival gang members. This separation by this fake conversation demonstrates the perpetuated cycle of war and violence in gang warfare. This anger and perpetuated cycle is demonstrated by the line in which he states, “Tired of runnin’, uh, tired of huntin’, uh My own kind, but retirin’ nothin’, uh Tires are steady screechin’, the driver is rubbin’, uh Hands on the wheel, uh, who said we wasn’t, uh Dyin’ of thirst, uh, dyin’ of thirst, uh, dyin’ of thirst, uh?” Lamar is using pathos, saying that he is tired of hunting his own kind, or in other words, he is tired of gang violence and warfare against other black people. This use of pathos works very well because it makes the listener feel the pain of Lamar going through the death of his friend, the pain of his friend’s brother, the anger that they feel against those who killed him. This understanding of emotions felt by those in Compton rames it in a way that many can understand, that killing your own kind for generations is a cycle that must end.
Another example of a “damaged system” in Lamar’s words, is when an anecdote is told in the form of a woman living in Compton. She says, “And I’ma need that forty dollars, Even if I got to ****, ****, and *******. In the parking lot, Gonzales Park, I’m followed By a married man, and father of three… This is the life of another girl damaged by the system, These foster homes, I run away and never do miss ’em.” In this verse, it goes through the life of a woman who lives in Compton, a woman who has been through a damaged system, one that supposedly offers help, but clearly does no good. This example of an anecdote works well because it frames the story in the eyes of an individual who has been harmed by this system of racism and discrimination, a system that says it offers help, but how is that help supported? How is that help truly helping? The foster homes clearly do not offer the help they say they do if they remain unmissed. This verse clarifies a major problem of systematic discrimination, that there is not any true support for those in need. A young girl offering sex to married men, fathers of three, one who will do anything for $40, is clearly damaged to no end. The example works especially well as it shows the truth of the situation from the point of view of someone who is living it, someone who is going through it, someone who has suffered the pain and agony of the broken system first hand.
Another example of rhetorical strategies used by Lamar in SAMIDOT comes from the same verse. When explaining the damage in the system, Lamar says, “See, my hormones just run away and if I can get ’em Back to where they used to be, then I’ll probably be in the denim Of a family gene that show women how to be women Or better yet, a leader, you need her to learn somethin’ Then you probably need to beat her, that’s how I was taught.” This line demonstrates how the system is damaged because the girl had to resort to a sexual service job due to the lack of parental figures in her upbringing. This is done through a double entendre of “denim” meaning both cloth, as in jeans, and genes, as in family genes, a related family. The meaning is also in the form of a metaphor that the double entendre is referring to, that being “cut from a cloth”. To be cut from a cloth means to adopt similar ideas and attributes as those you are around, that being in this situation a true family. Lamar says that if she (the girl doing the sexual deeds) had been cut from a cloth, then she would have been much more successful and potentially had a better and more fulfilling life had she not been raised through a broken system of racism and discrimination. The delivery of the message through a metaphor and double entendre creates more vivid and imaginative images for the listener to be able to comprehend the situation or example at hand. The use of a metaphor in this example is specifically rhetorically effective because it is more powerful and poetic than saying something to the likes of, she should’ve had parental figures to raise her correctly rather than raising her through a broken system. Rather than saying all of that, it is condensed into the line of, “the denim Of a family gene that show women how to be women.” This phrasing is much more imaginative and creative, creating a vessel for the message in a different and more digestible light, making the listener see the point in a new light, making them understand Lamar’s argument much more and making them more likely to agree with him.
Another example of rhetorically effective lyrics in SAMIDOT is when Lamar is telling a story through a man whose brother was just killed, a man who seeks revenge. Lamar says, “ When I ride it’s a murderous rhythm and outside became pitch black. A demon glued to my back, whispering “Get ’em!” I got ’em and I ain’t give a f***, that same mentality I told my brother not to duck In actuality it’s a trip how we trip off of colors.” This line acts as not only a metaphor but also imagery. The images created by the specific diction that Lamar uses forms a truthfully vivid image about how the system builds on itself and evolves to become a cycle of hatred and violence. In the line, “a demon glued to my back, whispering “Get ‘em!”” The specific word “glued” creates a sense that the “demon” is stuck to him, and it will spread once he follows his commands. This demon that is stuck to him, or perhaps has been stuck to him by someone else, has been telling him to continue the cycle of hatred and violence. It can be inferred that this demon is the anger and hatred from, “tripping off of colors.” These colors of course being gangs, those being Crips and Bloods. To “trip” according to the dictionary means to hallucinate. This line is saying, in short, that the anger of being different from others based on a superimposed color system, is what creates delusion and violence in a never ending cycle. Framing it in this specific manner allows for the audience to comprehend the true absurdity of the nature of the cycle of hatred and violence that is propagated in Compton. This comprehension allows for Lamar’s point to be accepted by the listener because they can see the other side of the fight, not just the violence but the mental aspect of the fight, that everyone is scared, everyone has a demon on their shoulder, everyone is being pushed by the same forces and they are all truly the same when it comes down to it, but ironically, color is what is separating them.
Another example of rhetorically effective lyrics in SAMIDOT is when Lamar says, “And you’re right, your brother was a brother to me, and your sister’s situation was the one that pulled me in a direction to speak on somethin’ that’s realer than the TV screen.” This line refers to the fact that on the TV, propaganda and lies are perpetuated, but in his songs and his lyrics, it is real, it is truthful, there is no sugarcoating or hiding of the vulgar truth in Compton. This allusion to the “TV screen” allows for the listeners to connect the lines prior to the allusion to the lies and perpetuated stereotypes on TV, the difference between the demon on people’s backs, the tripping off of colors, the urge to kill solely for revenge, verses on the TV screen, where their deaths become another statistic, another tally on the death counter, another story to tell as an example of Compton. Allusions not only work to make lines more concise and effective, but also they work to tap into cultural and historical knowledge of listeners and allow the listener to make connections and interpret the writing of the artist actively on their own, creating much more creative and involved listening. Allowing the listener to create the connection of ideas on their own allows for Lamar’s point to be accepted more readily because the listener may think of historic uses of propaganda, such as communists and fascists, and see the problem in America today.
Lamar’s solution to most of the problems that they face in Compton is religion. This message comes all throughout the song, whether it is the end of the song where an older woman walks them through a prayer after seeing them with a gun, or in the more poetic forms such as when Lamar says, “Sometimes I look in the mirror and ask myself am I really scared of passin’ away? If it’s today, I hope I hear a cry out from Heaven so loud it can water down a demon with the Holy Ghost ’til it drown in the blood of Jesus.” In this line, Lamar is a teenager who is afraid of dying in the gang violence that he is trapped in. He is coming to terms with the fact that death is inevitable if he does not change his ways therefore he turns to Christ, at which point he illustrates a truly magnificent painting with a poetic sequence of words. Lamar creates a picture of a “cry out from heaven” likely referring to the fact that people claim to hear angels when they are religious and are on the verge of death, and then he says that he hopes those voices are able to, “water down a demon,” with a spiritual being until that demon drowns in the “blood of Jesus,” something often celebrated in Christianity, as it signifies atonement, redemption, and forgiveness for sins. So, Lamar is saying through his candidly gorgeously framed words that he hopes if he is going to die that he hears angels come down from heaven and that they kill the demon attached to him (likely referring to the violence and sins he has committed) until they force him to atone and redeem himself through Christ. The solution for their perpetuated cycle of violence is not a call of action against the government, nor is it a call of action against themselves, but rather a call for internal change, a call for hope and faith. This is so effective simply for the beauty of the scene and the power behind the words. The wording makes the listener truly understand the power of Christ and religion through Lamar’s point of view, that Christ has the power to forgive even murder, even theft, even broken systems channeling entire cities into a funnel of failure.
In conclusion, in Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst, Kendrick Lamar uses pathos, anecdote, double entendre, metaphor, imagery, diction, allusion, and many other rhetorical devices to push the listener to accept his idea that gang violence, drug use, police brutality, and the cycles of systemic racism and incarceration must be stopped through Christianity.
