Dope.
Kendrick Lamar Feat. Alori Joh 'HiiiPOWER' (Prod. by J. Cole) [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO].
The People's Verdict: A powerful video for a powerful song. Imagery of struggles against injustice from around the world and from different eras form a complex tapestry in this visual barrage-montage.
The key to understanding this video, I believe, is Mohamed Bouazizi (click here), the man who set himself on fire and inaugurated the unrest in Tunisia - the man whose desperation ignited the Middle East, creating what is being called the "Arab Spring." Footage of chaos in the Middle East with a caption reading "MAN'S SELF-IMMOLATION LAUNCHED PROTESTS" opens the video proper and Lamar ends it by pouring gasoline on his head and holding a lit match towards the camera.
When Kendrick Lamar says, "Who said a black man in the Illuminati? / last time I checked that was the biggest racist party / [...]" the video takes the viewer from a still image of Jay-Z throwing up the Roc diamond sign to a short clip of Sean Hannity on Fox News (the astute observer may notice that the topic of "discussion" is the "controversial" invitation of Common to the White House by Michelle Obama for a poetry reading - click here for coverage of this issue on The Daily Show). When he returns to the same lines a second time later on there is a quick shot (a theme throughout the video) of a sign that has "OBAMA HALF-BREED MUSLIN" written on it, followed by a shot of Bill O'Reilly.
To take it a step further and break the line down some for you in case you weren't aware, the Internet is rife with conspiracy theories. In one such theory the "Illuminati" control the world. This explains the success of affluent African Americans like Jay-Z and Oprah Winfrey for envious Internet idiots. Lamar's point is more specifically (I think) that the Freemasons, which are the group from which the Illuminati supposedly derives its ranks, is in some places, to this day, still segregated and thus the absurdity of these anonymous e-accusations becomes apparent.
Do the knowledge: Malcolm X (click here), Huey Newton (click here), Martin Luther King, Jr. (click here), Bobby Seale (click here), Marcus Garvey (click here), and Fred Hampton (click here).
I wrote #Section80
because I was ordered to do so. You'll never understand my life and my world. Have you ever seen a new born baby kill a man? Kendrick Lamar. The very next scene is a visual of me with the eyes of a 6 year old. My mother told me to keep this outtake because it said who I was. An infant looking for answers. Will you forgive m? I don't give a fuck about too much nowadays because of the world. Heart. Honor. Respect. Family. I'll die for that though. Will you forgive me, twice? Probly not. I watch this video and reminis[c]e on that krazy am hour of september 13, 2010. I got a visit from Lesane Parish Crooks. Rese[a]rch this name. I remember being asleep. His image said "Don't let me die." I was paranoid. I said "why"? He said "because you the....."
- KENDRICK LAMAR
R.I.P. Lesane Parish Crooks
Kendrick Lamar Feat. Alori Joh 'HiiiPOWER' (Prod. by J. Cole) [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO].
First of all, props go to my brother for putting me onto this video.
As the numbers count down before the video starts there appears the hieroglyph for the eye of Horus ("Cause we've been off slave ships / got our own pyramids, write our own hieroglyphs / [...]") with an arrow pointing upwards crossed by two parallel lines, which could represent an equals sign (the significance of which I must profess ignorance).
Click here for the Wiki.
(Via.)
This is followed by the paragraph at the top of this post.
When Kendrick Lamar says, "Who said a black man in the Illuminati? / last time I checked that was the biggest racist party / [...]" the video takes the viewer from a still image of Jay-Z throwing up the Roc diamond sign to a short clip of Sean Hannity on Fox News (the astute observer may notice that the topic of "discussion" is the "controversial" invitation of Common to the White House by Michelle Obama for a poetry reading - click here for coverage of this issue on The Daily Show). When he returns to the same lines a second time later on there is a quick shot (a theme throughout the video) of a sign that has "OBAMA HALF-BREED MUSLIN" written on it, followed by a shot of Bill O'Reilly.
To take it a step further and break the line down some for you in case you weren't aware, the Internet is rife with conspiracy theories. In one such theory the "Illuminati" control the world. This explains the success of affluent African Americans like Jay-Z and Oprah Winfrey for envious Internet idiots. Lamar's point is more specifically (I think) that the Freemasons, which are the group from which the Illuminati supposedly derives its ranks, is in some places, to this day, still segregated and thus the absurdity of these anonymous e-accusations becomes apparent.
Do the knowledge: Malcolm X (click here), Huey Newton (click here), Martin Luther King, Jr. (click here), Bobby Seale (click here), Marcus Garvey (click here), and Fred Hampton (click here).
(Via.)
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