King Kunta Keeping in Formation

Swaying oak trees set in cotton plantations, calico dresses smeared with dirt and visuals of the New Orleans flooding, these were some of the visuals used by influential black musicians to depict racism and it is causing a stir within the international community.

Breaking away from the usual plethora of lyrics that glorifies the struggles between East coast and West coast gang rivalries once dominated by Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, Kendrick Lamar speaks instead about the existential crisis within a person of colour.

Police Officer taking an aim at Kendrick [ http://www.mtv.com/news/2201127/kendrick-lamar-alright-video-colin-tilley/ ] 

In King Kunta he raps about hatred, racism and hypocrisy within the black community by alluding to the death of Trayvon Martin through Gambian slave Kunta Kinte and the ease it slid down a person of colour’s consciousness.

His album “To Pimp A Butterfly” would go on to win the 2016 Grammy Album of The Year, was applauded throughout for speaking about black struggle and black acknowledgement which lends about a sense of connection with all people of colour for the struggles faced by these minorities are shockingly similar, what with escalating racial tension around the world, police brutalities and racial profiling.

Southern Gothic standoff at a Magnolia Plantation [ http://www.vibe.com/2016/04/beyonce-lemonade-hbo/ ] 

 A Southern Gothic aesthetic complete with kinky hair, Beyoncé’s Lemonade album highlights the historic struggle within a person of colour and how it has set precedence for the current generation.  

Both artists are using their international stardom to shed light on the corrupting practice of racism through the depiction of struggle of the people of colour as a form of counter-racism.

Since music is often used to highlight social issues, it can be said that what Lamar and Beyoncé are doing is nothing new. However, Lamar and Beyoncé has gone further than any other musician by exposing the skeletons in the closet of a person of colour, where traditionally there has been a lot of hesitancy, one lyric and one visual at a time.