Colorism In 'Complexion (A Zulu Love'

In the hook of the song, Kendrick reveals the contrast between the past and present of African-American life. In the past, black people have gone from being whipped by slave masters to owning “whips”, which are luxurious and flashy cars, and from slaves being put “inna chains, cah’ we black” to “imagine now, big gold chains full of rocks” as he is alluding to owning expensive jewelry made of diamond and gold. Whips and chains were tools of domination and oppression used against slaves, but Lamar highlights the certainty of the other meaning as now they represent something else- tools of a different kind of oppression. This leads to the belief that slavery stills exist in America but has shifted into the form of mental slavery. Many black youths,

In the first verse Lamar refers to the different shades of colour that black people possess; some black people have a dark complexion similar to the “midnight hour” while some are lighter and resemble “the mornin’ sun”. This relates to the notion of colorism which has had a social impact on black people and their community. Colorism is defined as the discrimination or prejudice against humans based on the social meanings and connotations attached to their skin colour. Colorism usually takes place within the same ethnic group; within the black community colorism is “skin tone discrimination against dark-skinned but not light-skinned blacks” (Banks 1998) and has its roots in slavery. Lighter-skinned slaves were picked to be the “house slaves” (it should also be noted that majority of house slaves were the kin of the white masters therefore most likely favoured and tended to) because white masters thought their light skin was more aesthetically pleasing (but this notion did not make them equal to white people). While on the other hand, “field slaves” were typically dark-skinned Africans and they were tasked with the burdensome work and were less tended to. House slaves were also more likely to be given an education and “because they had accumulated more skills, had an economic advantage