Music, it is a very popular form of entertainment and it has often been that way throughout
history. Its main purpose is to cause an emotional reaction. The kind of reaction depends on
the kind of music the listener chooses to listen to. The reason why music is so popular
among all ages is because of the fact it causes the brain to release dopamine which is the
feel-good neurotransmitter. This means it can be addictive and when used positively
messages can very well be communicated through songs. Those messages will then easily
be remembered because of the fact that the cognitive and emotional neural systems are
very close connected and intertwined. Thus emotions have an immediate impact on the
formation of long-term memory. Kendrick knows this and makes very well use of this by
making sure his audience consume and retain lyrics with life lessons in them which he
learned throughout life in order to overcome difficulties in what he calls this complex world.
Even when people are focussing on something else than the content of the lyrics and are
just enjoying the rhythm of the song, the subconscious mind will still pick up a lot of this
information given through the lyrics. Thus music does not only affect your mood, it can also
change the way people perceive the world. This has also been confirmed by researchers
from the university of Groningen. Of course it needs to be known how Kendrick succeeds in
using this influence to convey his message. Especially in his album ‘Damn’ he went in a lot
of depth. In short it can be questioned: “How do Kendrick’s lyrics in his album ‘Damn’ inspire
his listeners in bad circumstances to transform their lives positively?”
Lamar creates hope for his dejected listeners by both mentioning the poor circumstances he
grew up in and the life he is living now with all his accumulated riches. In his song ‘DNA’
Kendrick states in line twenty-eight that he knows murder, boosters, burglars, fathers dead
with kids. Furthermore in ‘GOD’ he mentions that he wanted to be a gunman and that he
was caught with straps and aiming at people their heads with it to acquire stacks. Moreover
in his song ‘Duckworth’ Kendrick brings up the fact that times can be hard relating to Hail
Mary and marijuana. Then thirteen lines further down he mentions the words hard times
again. Now it is about his mom crack. Again five lines further down he states that when he
was fifteen he was already involved in drugs dealing. In contrast to this he mentions his
riches and the more admirable parts of his life. This is started in the song ‘DNA’ when he first
gets to say: “I transform like this.” Only afterwards he mentions his Corvette sports car, the
fact that when when he was nine he had nowhere to stay and that by the age of twenty-nine
he had done so well. This positivity goes on throughout the whole album by mentioning flying
the G5 business jet, his mercedes in ‘Humble’, his home on top of a valley peak in the song
‘God’. Normally people might get depressed when always hearing about the perfect lives
people live, because the less attractive or perhaps boring things are not shown. This makes
people feel drained of energy and motivation, because their lives seem to lack all that
excitement. By giving the fact that he has also been through very tough times concerning
murder, and burglary he makes sure the people who are going through these moments of
their lives can relate to him. After those people have been able to relate to him they also
start to hear about the material riches and privileges Kendrick has manifested. This creates
a feeling that their lives can also become unlimitedly great and make a hundred-eighty
degrees turn independant from how deep people are at that specific points in their lives. This
knowing that Kendrick who people look up to has not always been at those beautiful
moments throughout his life and the fact that he also had to go through tough times before
getting there creates hope. On the street people call such a person a baller. It is someone
who started out from the bottom and has afterwards made it to the top. Kendrick distributes
history. Its main purpose is to cause an emotional reaction. The kind of reaction depends on
the kind of music the listener chooses to listen to. The reason why music is so popular
among all ages is because of the fact it causes the brain to release dopamine which is the
feel-good neurotransmitter. This means it can be addictive and when used positively
messages can very well be communicated through songs. Those messages will then easily
be remembered because of the fact that the cognitive and emotional neural systems are
very close connected and intertwined. Thus emotions have an immediate impact on the
formation of long-term memory. Kendrick knows this and makes very well use of this by
making sure his audience consume and retain lyrics with life lessons in them which he
learned throughout life in order to overcome difficulties in what he calls this complex world.
Even when people are focussing on something else than the content of the lyrics and are
just enjoying the rhythm of the song, the subconscious mind will still pick up a lot of this
information given through the lyrics. Thus music does not only affect your mood, it can also
change the way people perceive the world. This has also been confirmed by researchers
from the university of Groningen. Of course it needs to be known how Kendrick succeeds in
using this influence to convey his message. Especially in his album ‘Damn’ he went in a lot
of depth. In short it can be questioned: “How do Kendrick’s lyrics in his album ‘Damn’ inspire
his listeners in bad circumstances to transform their lives positively?”
Lamar creates hope for his dejected listeners by both mentioning the poor circumstances he
grew up in and the life he is living now with all his accumulated riches. In his song ‘DNA’
Kendrick states in line twenty-eight that he knows murder, boosters, burglars, fathers dead
with kids. Furthermore in ‘GOD’ he mentions that he wanted to be a gunman and that he
was caught with straps and aiming at people their heads with it to acquire stacks. Moreover
in his song ‘Duckworth’ Kendrick brings up the fact that times can be hard relating to Hail
Mary and marijuana. Then thirteen lines further down he mentions the words hard times
again. Now it is about his mom crack. Again five lines further down he states that when he
was fifteen he was already involved in drugs dealing. In contrast to this he mentions his
riches and the more admirable parts of his life. This is started in the song ‘DNA’ when he first
gets to say: “I transform like this.” Only afterwards he mentions his Corvette sports car, the
fact that when when he was nine he had nowhere to stay and that by the age of twenty-nine
he had done so well. This positivity goes on throughout the whole album by mentioning flying
the G5 business jet, his mercedes in ‘Humble’, his home on top of a valley peak in the song
‘God’. Normally people might get depressed when always hearing about the perfect lives
people live, because the less attractive or perhaps boring things are not shown. This makes
people feel drained of energy and motivation, because their lives seem to lack all that
excitement. By giving the fact that he has also been through very tough times concerning
murder, and burglary he makes sure the people who are going through these moments of
their lives can relate to him. After those people have been able to relate to him they also
start to hear about the material riches and privileges Kendrick has manifested. This creates
a feeling that their lives can also become unlimitedly great and make a hundred-eighty
degrees turn independant from how deep people are at that specific points in their lives. This
knowing that Kendrick who people look up to has not always been at those beautiful
moments throughout his life and the fact that he also had to go through tough times before
getting there creates hope. On the street people call such a person a baller. It is someone
who started out from the bottom and has afterwards made it to the top. Kendrick distributes
