by Raquel Willis for CuePoint on Medium

If music is the product of its original environment, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar has become the quintessential arbiter of this notion. Through his storytelling abilities and lyrical prowess, his latest release, To Pimp a Butterfly, seeks to elucidate the current state of black consciousness and liberation in his most combative effort to date.

by Ashley Elizabeth

“We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. […] If colored people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.” -Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”

by Aisha N. Davis, Esq.


When it comes to “fixing” the problems facing Black people in America, scholars, activists, and politicians have weighed in for centuries. Since our arrival on this continent, our bodies have been used to build economies, our image has been used to elicit fear and inspire lust, and our voices have been, by and large, silenced. And, along the way, we became responsible for shedding the layers of racism and injustice through our own actions. This is evident in the existence of respectability politics.