Kendrick Lamar releases scathing new single, ‘The Blacker the Berry’

Kendrick Lamar’s most recent single “i� was a jubilant, Isley Brothers-sampling (and Grammy-winning) ode to self-respect. But his follow-up, “The Blacker the Berry,� is a darker, more complicated self-assessment.

The single, which Lamar’s label, TDE, posted to YouTube on Monday afternoon, is almost the inverse of “i� — it’s built on sinister synth pads and gained-up, martial drum samples. The sonic mood, from producer Boi-1da, owes a bit to the more evil sides of ‘90s New York rap. But the relentlessly tense, self-aware lyricism is all Lamar’s.

“I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015� is his opening line, and the self-interrogation only escalates from there. More than an overt protest song, “Berry� attempts to understand how a white-dominated society sees him and the toll that takes on his mind and heart.

“I’m African-American, I’m African, I’m black as the moon,� he raps. “Heritage of a small village, pardon my residence / Came from the bottom of mankind, my hair is nappy, my ... nose is round and wide.� And because of that, he says, “You hate me, don’t you, you hate my people / your plan is to terminate my culture.�

It’s righteous and cutting and gets at something even more basic than a overtly politically minded song might. With his hoarse, fiery mike presence, Lamar is giving flesh and blood to the range of emotions that come with being a young black man in America in 2015. It’s an endlessly compicated mix of ideas, angst and ultimately affirmations of his own power.

Anyone who heard “i� and thought that Lamar’s follow-up to “good kid, m.A.A.d. city� would be more easygoing just had their assumptions corrected. Language forbids us from posting the song, but you can listen to it here.

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