Is it time for the culture to reset?

I woke up from a quick nap after putting my daughter to sleep. The timeline is going crazy. I don’t know what’s going on. All I see is Pat Bev worn Black Air Forces and Kendrick trending. The song was easy to find but I went to Apple to see if I can download this new potential heat. No where to be found. After reading the timeline Kendrick has done it again with another IG drop similar to “6.16 in L.A.”. After Kendrick in his Super Bowl Ad saying “No Round 2’s” I thought that maybe this was the track that was the nail on top of the nail in the coffin. To my surprise this song was something bigger.

The beat starts like an outro to a 007 movie. He starts off saying “I think it’s time to watch the party die“. From there in the first verse I think he is speaking about what should happen to the culture and giving answers to why we shouldn’t spare it. “Why reason with these n*ggas if they can’t see the future first? Why argue with these clowns if the circus is well at work?”. Earlier he references burning the whole village down and saying its time. He also talks about people who glorify their riches without giving the kids who watch them the truth. He then gets into influencers who don’t like his style because of what he thinks he stands for.

“Influencers talked down ’cause I’m not with the basic shit
But they don’t hate me, they hate the man that I represent
The type of man that never dickride ’cause I want a favor
The man that resides in patience, so where the soldiers at?
The one’s that lost it all and learnt to learn from that
A thirst for life, head inside a book ’cause he concerned with that
Information that’ll change his life because he yearns for that
Dedication, findin’ out what’s right ’cause he can earn from that“

It wouldn’t be right if he didn’t end the first verse with “Would trade all of y’all for Nip, I can’t be proud of you niggas“. The chorus is a prayer pleading with God to separate himself from the chaos and make other not put him in discussions with others he deems inferior.

“God, give me life, dear God, please give me peace
Dear God, please keep these lame niggas away from me
Dear God, keep me shinin’, the fuck do they really think?
Pocket-watching, you must be the police
God, bless these words, dear God, bless how I think
Dear God, draw the line, they tryna confuse ’em with me
Dear God, please forgive me, you knowin’ how hard I tried
I think it’s time for me to watch the party die (Uh-huh, huh)
Get ’em gone, we gon’ watch the party die (Uh-huh)
Send ’em home, we gon’ watch the party die“

Going to be honest. The second verse sounds like he is speaking to the Cam and Mase, Akademik’s and Adam 22’s of the world. “Street niggas and the corporate guys, the rappers that report the lies“. All three of these platforms gossip and report on things that aren’t always true. “No more pillow-talkin’, jump-startin’ neighborhood wars“. Can be a direct shot to Adam 22 whose platform is built around hood politics while having gang affiliated people talk about opps and create pressure to slide. Lastly,”The radio personality pushin’ propaganda for salary
Let me know when they turn up as a casualty“. This I feel was the shot at Ak who even though he live streams he can be looked at as a modern day radio personality for the youth. This second verse is just a continuation of the theme of burning down the culture to start anew. This verse just focuses on the people who carry the bad messages to their followers.

In the third verse Kendrick asks hisself “What would Lecrae do” and wishing he had the heart of Dee-1. Lecrae the famous grammy winning Christian rapper and Dee-1 a conscious rapper who constantly challenges other rappers to give out a message that can help the youth. He gets into the reason why he is not too close to the culture with lines like “They wonder why I’m not enthused to drop. The more visible you get, the more your spiritual is tried“. In the next line he says rappers are petrified knowing their future is jail because of a “jezebel ” or drugged up full of lies. He name drops artists like Terrace Martin and Jay Estrada who he says called him layered and giving Kendrick confirmation of what he must do. He ends with saying “The kids live tomorrow ’cause today, the party just died“. Overall I think this song is very layered. Almost like he got tired of everyone throwing dirt on his name and spreading rumors about his Super Bowl invite over Lil Wayne. I don’t know if the culture will ever change but I like Kendrick rapping about it and how far he will go to change it. Hopefully this means we are getting more music consistently but for now I’m happy with this change of pace.