DNA. by Kendrick Lamar

The music Video: Kendrick Lamar's video for DNA is the second video off his new album, "DAMN." The music video gained over 7 million views in less than 24 hours. The video stars Don Cheadle; the actor lip syncs to Kendrick's first verse in the piece. Commenters on Reddit and YouTube have speculated the symbolism behind the video. Many are alluding to Kendrick's messages of the complexity of the black experience in America. Others are picking up ties to the movie, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" starring Keanu Reeves.

In the music video, the scene starts out with Kendrick Lamar chained to a metal chair, set up at what appears to be an interrogation table. A black man in a suit, an agent of some sort, enters the room and starts probing at Kendrick and says, “Do you even know what DNA stands for? Dead Nigger Association”. There is a sort of lie detector machine on the table which begins to run wild with the sound of a news broadcast talking about police brutality. That is when the very beginning of the song begins to play.

What is interesting with the music video is when Don Cheadle is lip syncing to the first verse of the song, but it is portrayed as an argument/conversation between himself and Kendrick. Cheadle speaks on being raised in poverty, but then Kendrick argues back how he sees how such a man was “born outside a jelly fish” and has no backbone. One could decipher that these two men are arguing about their different opinions on being black males in America, and how their experiences have changed their outlooks on life. Their differences give the audience two unique views which are being seen through the black perspective, something not everyone can experience.

Another interpretation of this however is that Cheadle is representing not only power, but more specifically the scenario when blacks take on the role of being white. His argument could therefore be the white argument against the black. Overall the scene is a power struggle, one which relates back to the flaws within the justice system, as well as a commentary on how black people are perceived within American society. 

The Lyrics: Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics are unabashedly violent, and much of this violence is tied directly to race. When Kendrick says “You ain’t shit without a body on your belt” we see Kendrick painting violence as a necessity for respect. Moreover, Kendrick goes so far as to tie violence to race when he says that “Sex, money, murder – our DNA”. Kendrick Lamar paints himself as being violent due to his intrinsic code.

DNA can now be interpreted as not only an abbreviation of deoxyribonucleic acid but also as “dead nigger association”. Bringing dead nigger association and genetics together suggests that genetics are the explanation for black violence. The news clip in which can be heard in the music video is that of Geraldo Rivera speaking on Fox News. Most notably, Geraldo says right in the middle of the song that “hip hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years”. This insane line from Rivera really helps put the song into perspective. (Look out for a future post with the video clip from Fox News). 

The ending scene of the music video is of Kendrick standing with a group of young black males in a neighborhood street corner. One of them begins to follow the camera, aggressively sauntering towards it until he punches the camera out with the last words of the song saying, “Real niggah inside my DNA, ain’t no hoe inside my… DNA” with DNA being said in an automated voice message that sounds like a white woman. Kendrick’s masterpiece is showcasing how black people are painted as at fault for things such as black on black crime rate, all through his music.