A Rhetorical Analysis Of Kendrick Lamar

The voices that differ from our own may initially ignite some feeling of fear or apprehension within us because these voices differ from what we perceive to be the norm within our society. Growing up, we are generally taught to sit down and remain silent, and to refrain from risking what we have for those who have nothing. In the past decade, social media has become a prominent source in revealing worldly injustice and has served as a medium through which stories that we may have never heard can be shared. Furthermore, universities such as the University of Arizona provide platforms through which students are able to voice their beliefs, no matter what those beliefs are, upholding our nation’s provision of free speech for all. Typical high

Traditionally African American music, such as the music produced by Lamar, has recently become increasingly prominent and popular, giving Lamar a platform with a fairly diverse audience due to the current popularity of the rap genre. Lamar’s powerful music video for his hit song “DNA” presents as argument against those who are inclined to make assumptions about African American people based on their race. Lamar uses his platform as an influential rapper in our society to blatantly say what other people are afraid to say and maintains an anthem that can best be characterized as historicity. He reminds his audience of the past and brings attention to the present, and in doing so, calls out white people, who listen to his music and look up to him. Furthermore, Lamar is able to do this without completely excluding white people from his audience. The music video for “DNA” itself includes a soundbite directly from a white male news reporter, who states, “This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years” (2:57-3:04). Thus, Lamar utilizes the platform he worked for and speaks out to his audience, addressing what people in the past have wanted to

A lot of people are simply not aware of the extent of or have not been educated on concepts such as racism as it has and does exist in the United States. Lamar’s platform gives him a position to educate and provide a candid perspective, which he is actively using to speak out to his audience. Similarly, college classrooms provide a platform for students, who are far more likely to have different backgrounds and cultures than they are in a local high school, to debate and question each other in a more positive environment. As the progression of the past year has shown me personally, college freshmen are essentially exposed to a whole new system of living and get the opportunity to experience real adulthood for, in some cases, the first time. Along with the new personal experiences come the new social experiences through the classes that we take as freshmen. For example, in English 109H, our video project essay allowed for each student to discuss a topic that they care about as well as for all other students to respond to that topic through a Q&A session. These two different types of platforms, the platform created by a celebrity and the platform created by a University, both directly and indirectly promote the interchange of opinions within a positive