
The Black Aesthetic: Lyrical Dominance in Kendrick Lamar’s Damn
Kendrick Lamar’s latest album Damn maintains his position as the most profound rap lyricist alive. With songs such as “DNA” Kendrick asserts his Black male dominance despite the media’s emphasis on Black male inferiority. When Kendrick says, “I got millions, I got riches buildin’ in my DNA,” he pushes back against their genocidal stereotypes of black demise. And, in “God,” he promotes the theme of his preeminence as a small “g” god in the rap industry, while emphasizing the l