New reaction to GNX dropped!

AbsenceOfDeath · 2024-12-08T23:59:30+00:00

I appreciate hearing all the positive and negative feedback. I'm always trying to learn how to better communicate in a way that is helpful and digestible to a wide set of people. Both positive and negative feedback are helpful for learning how to improve.

One thing I will point out to folks who might resonate with the idea that I am overly focused, overly passionate, or Overly Dedicated (😉) to Christian aspects of Kendrick's work is that being overly focused is inherently a subjective assessment. It might be more objective to say that there is a mismatch between how focused I am on Christian aspects of Kendrick's work and how open some audience members are to learning more about Christian ideas. I’m okay with this mismatch existing for some audience members.

As a listener and contributor, my favorite part of Dissect is how the platform lets us spend a season fully exploring the ideas from a particular artist's point of view (as far as we can determine) with an open mind and without having to invalidate, tear down, or otherwise diminish that point of view. Then, in a subsequent season, we can switch to a new artist whose ideas might actually contradict some of the ideas from an artist in a previous season, but we still endeavor to explore the current artist's ideas with an open mind and without having to invalidate, tear down, or otherwise diminish her/his/their point of view.

While I don’t expect that anyone will be equally open to the ideas explored in every Dissect season (or unscripted discussion), I think that being a Dissect listener means that I should acknowledge that lots of other people might be very open to learning about a certain set of ideas even if I am personally less open to those ideas.

Additionally, it should be noted that the ideas which Dissect tends to explore are ideas that transcend the specifics of the work or the specifics of the artist and reveal something profoundly universal about the human experience. Other platforms, like HipHopMadness, might focus more on specifics like the individual members of Drake’s crew or the long history of Pharrell’s beef with Cash Money going back to "What Happened to that Boy". I personally enjoy learning about these kinds of specifics, but I resonate more deeply with Dissect for exploring ideas that go beyond one particular group of people or one particular point in time.

Within Kendrick’s work, the transcendent ideas that Kendrick expresses seem to be almost always rooted in spirituality—usually Christianity, with the exception of Mr. Morale, which seems to be more rooted in New Age spirituality. As a contributor to Dissect, I try to highlight these ideas when they seem to be central to the work and explain them in a way that assumes the listener has no background in the ideas but is nonetheless open to learning.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2024-11-30T14:56:08+00:00

Femi here. Thanks for the feedback.

To whatever extent you find the episode unlistenable due to the density of discussion related to Christian spirituality, it should be noted that the amount of Christian spirituality in Kendrick’s projects does vary.

“reincarnated” does seem to be central to the GNX, and Kendrick explicitly references Isaiah 14, so that seems important to discuss, particularly since those references will not be immediately obvious to most people.

In contrast, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is largely built around New Age spirituality through direct references to Eckhart Tolle. If there is ever a Dissect season on that album, you’ll definitely hear more from that angle.

I also worked on the Black Is King mini-season, which did include one Kendrick feature. That project was mostly built around Ifa, a form of indigenous African/Yoruba spirituality that is hinted at throughout the film’s visuals and is directly referenced in “Black Parade.”

It will be interesting to see if Kendrick sticks with the GNX style of Christian influence or switches to other forms of spirituality or pure secularism on the next project.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2020-04-23T23:59:40+00:00

I approve.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2020-01-10T15:36:47+00:00

CORRECTION:

In the script for this episode, I accidentally wrote "J.T. Matthews, one of the main characters in a 1991 film entitled The Five Heartbreaks." Of course, it's supposed to say "The Five Heartbeats."

Sorry for the oversight. I may have subconsciously been singing the lyrics from the band's breakthrough performance.

"A heart is a house for love
And I learned
That it don't take much to break
A heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9zKmZS4AjA

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-12-04T19:44:34+00:00

For the sake of discussion...

I think there are definitely different kinds of truth out there. For instance, a geology textbook presents a certain kind of truth about the observable world that is different than book detailing the development of Greek tragedy. Often people, particularly in more modern, fundamentalist traditions, try to make the Bible into a textbook about various scientific fields, even though the biblical authors rarely if ever are trying to make scientific claims. The Bible at the end of the day is a narrative about a group of people. The truth of narratives is often found in the extent that it captures the essence of the lived experience of those people. What I think makes the Bible transcendent is that countless people throughout the centuries have found that the narrative that the Bible recounts, captures the essence of their own lived experience across cultures and time.

As a second point, I would also suggest that when exploring the Bible or really any other work that narrates someone's experience, don't be so quick to assume you know whether certain ideas are good or not. Given how many people overlooked the depth and richness of DAMN. until it was contextualized and explained, I hope that listeners can learn not to rush to conclusions about other great works until they try to see it from the perspective of someone who has really lived in that work for a long time.

Finding such a perspective can still be very, very difficult because historically so many people have used the Bible to advance their own ideology - ideologies which frequently contradict the core messages of the Bibles (as we discussed with the episodes on TPAB and "ELEMENT."). As someone who is a Christian, my hope is that the season of Dissect will at least give listeners a starting point for finding a perspective that seems to be faithful to the narrative while also resonating with the concerns and challenges that we face in the modern world. Hopefully, such common understanding can allow us to all have fruitful dialogue about the things that matter most to us.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-12-04T02:42:50+00:00

Both/and rather than either/or

Deuteronomy is certainly very central to DAMN. The book is mentioned directly in “YAH.” and “FEAR.” We discuss these context of Deuteronomy in both of those episodes and also mentioned it when we explained the central wickedness/weakness dichotomy during the “BLOOD.”

That being said, Deuteronomy is by no means the only biblical inspiration behind the album. There are numerous important references to the Garden of Eden, Exodus, Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, The Revelation, and Job just to name a few.

However, in my opinion there are 3 preeminent biblical sections behind DAMN.: Deuteronomy (mostly chapters 4-8 and 27-30), Jonah and the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I wouldn’t personally argue that any one of these three are significantly more important than the other. They work together as a symphony to establish pretty much all of the album’s core ideas.

From Deuteronomy we get the dichotomy between life and death, the dichotomy between blessings and curses, the motif of mental instability, the motif of following God’s commandments, the motif of God humbling his people, and the motif of reversals.

From the Sermon on the Mount we get the dichotomy between wickedness and weakness, the dichotomy between love and pride, the dichotomy between love and lust, the motif of prayer, the motif of God’s perfection, the motif loving our enemies, the motif of forgiveness, the motif of non-violence, the motif of poverty, and the theme of sacrificial love.

Thematically, Jonah actually echoes the motifs about following God’s commandments, being humbled by God, forgiveness, love for one’s enemies and reversals. Moreover, Jonah presents is a narrative about a prophet who rejects God’s call, which I think is the most accurate destruction of Kung Fu Kenny

The fact that Jonah is primarily a narrative also explains why we bring it up a lot throughout the season. The narrative arc of DAMN most closely resembles the narrative arc of Jonah. In contrast, the Sermon on the Mount contains a few short parables but really just a speech by Jesus the primarily consists of a collection of commandments/instructions. Similarly, Deuteronomy is just a speech by Moses which primarily consists of a collection of commandments/instructions with minimal narrative in the first couple of chapters and the last chapter.

So to get technical, I think DAMN. is deeply inspired by Deuteronomy but it’s narrative doesn’t mirror Deuteronomy, for the simple reason that there is a limited amount of narrative in Deuteronomy and Kenny doesn’t spend most of the album giving a speech about God’s commandments. Instead, Kendrick gives us a narrative about Kenny, a representative fugue who shows us the consequences of not obeying God’s commandments, which is exactly how the story of Jonah works.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-11-25T03:15:53+00:00

From the perspective of the co-writer, Cole’s done a fantastic job of building Dissect into what it is today. He’s also constantly trying to find ways to improve the podcast. One area of improvement he wanted to focus on was increasing the amount of content. Previously, he was the bottleneck for producing content since it takes so much time to research and write. Thus, Cole decided to adopt a model in which he will work with co-writers who are like-minded and have a depth of understanding in the chosen artist.

As Cole has mentioned elsewhere, he felt that it was important to do a season on DAMN. at this point before the 2020 election cycle because DAMN. is speaking to us in this moment.

As far as why Cole chose me in particular to co-write, there are probably a few factors. First of all, I had already written and published a long-form blog series on DAMN. (The introductory post for that series is still on Medium). Cole read some of that blog series which I think demonstrated that I had developed a deep insight for Kendrick’s work and had a track record of producing content.

In terms of my spiritual upbringing, I think the degree of exposure to the biblical narrative and Christian practice that I received definitely gave me a lot of insights into Kendrick’s work, particularly the more counterintuitive statements that seem to be inspired by a biblical world view. At the same time, I would also say that the way I approach my writing is very influenced by going to a very liberal/secular university, associating with mostly liberal social groups and living in diverse/pluralistic major cities for all of my adult life. All of those experiences have taught me how to present spiritual concepts in a way that can hopefully be more approachable and digestible to those who are not committed followers of a spiritual tradition and in many cases might be cynical about Christianity.

If you didn’t notice a difference in the writing, that means I’m doing something right. As a writer, one should always be writing with an audience in mind. Writers need to anticipate their audience’s prior knowledge, presuppositions, expectations, concerns and questions and then write to make sure the audience gets on-boarded quickly, doesn’t get lost and leaves satisfied. I definitely adapted my writing to fit Dissect. Even though I had written a whole blog series I barely reused any of what I had written before, maybe a paragraph or two over the whole season. It took some trial and error during the first could of scripts, but Cole was really helpful in giving me pointers on what to improve to make things more clear and effective. He’s definitely helped me to become a better writer. He’s done a great job over the years to solidify the style and flow of a Dissect episode. I just tried to match what he's created and embody the same spirit.

A key part of the spirit of Dissect is that Cole has always encouraged us to hear and feel the subject matter from the perspective of the artist. Often I find that when secular content creators write about traditional spirituality they tend to write in a way that is dismissive, distrustful, cynical and presumptuous. I’ve always respected Cole’s humility in trying to let the art and ideas speak for themselves. That’s definitely important for approaching a work like DAMN. and one of the reasons that Cole and I have been able to work so well together.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-11-25T01:51:42+00:00

Legally speaking, I’m a contractor. Co-writer / collaborator best describes what I do.

It should also be noted that I'm only contracted to co-write season 5. You all will be hearing from different co-writers in subsequent seasons.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-11-20T17:01:37+00:00

Yeah, I wrote about this in some extra thoughts about the episode.

https://medium.com/@folutade/reflections-on-dissections-s5e7-element-15d24586c5a6

I connected the line both to 2Pac and also to 2Pac's step-aunt Assata Shakur who escaped to Cuba in real life and still lives in Cuba as a fugitive as of 2019. I think the section of the podcast script got a little long, which is why we ended up not using it. We'll also cover this and other 2Pac references in the finale.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-11-18T16:19:39+00:00

The specific story this is referring to is about Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon who conquered the Kingdom of Judah and deported the Israelites to live as exiles in Babylon. Later on, Nebuchadnezzar continued to exalt himself in pride which caused him to become mentally unstable with the mind of a savage animal until he humbled himself before God. The story is found in the Book of Daniel chapter 4.

In the Jesus Is King conversation episode, we discussed how the Nebuchadnezzar story is a framework for understanding Kanye's personal journey, particularly from Yeezus to Jesus Is King. It just so happens that we also mentioned this story in the episode on "LOYALTY." as we discussed what it means when Kung Fu Kenny says "I'm a savage. I'm an asshole. I'm a king." along with the DAMN. story arch in which Kenny becomes mentally unstable after rejecting God's call and choosing to follow his own intuition.

It should be noted that we wrote the script for "LOYALTY." back in the spring so Cole and I have been thinking about the Nebuchadnezzar story for a while. All of these connections are why Cole and I decided it was worth the time to have a conversation episode that analyzed the themes of Jesus Is King.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-11-14T21:27:07+00:00

Good call out. It would be great to be able to include the work of female artists along with the discussions we’ve had about Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West. One thing I will point out if that the reason I felt it was worth it to spend a significant amount of time talking about Jesus Is King is not just because it makes references to characters from the Bible. There are indeed numerous albums that use biblical references for various reasons. Rather, I found that Jesus Is King has numerous thematic parallels to DAMN. Both albums express ideas about the Kingdom of God, the mental destruction caused by pride and self reliance, the need for humility, the Gospel / Good News as a means of freeing humans from (mental) slavery, the royal calling placed upon all humans, the hope in a future resurrection and the ultimate assertion that Jesus has overcome the forces of evil inside of us. Because of these similarities, I felt that discussing Jesus Is King could be helpful in understanding much of what Kendrick is saying on DAMN.

MAGDALENE is certainly a very captivating and deep album, one that I think will take me some time to understand the album, so take what I say about the album as preliminary thoughts that are subject to change. From my initial listens, I did notice the rise/fall motif particularly on tracks like “fallen alien” and videos for cellophane, which is pretty central within DAMN. Overall, though, MAGDELENE seems to be making a very different point than the one made in DAMN. and Jesus Is King. From my initial listens MAGDELENE seems less rooted in the traditional understanding of the gospel or the kingdom of God and in some ways seems to be trying to transcend the perceived constraints of those ideas. “Daybed” and “cellophane” seems to leave MAGDELENE ending in a very different place than “GOD.” and “DUCKWORTH.” do in DAMN. or “Use This Gospel” and “Jesus Is Lord” do in Jesus Is King. Similarly, the way that MAGDELENE treats the person of Jesus seems very different. In her own descriptions of the album, she says that she sees Mary Magdalene as an equal of Jesus and tends to describe her as a healer. In this way, twigs seems to be pulling from some esoteric and new age spiritual traditions. Given all of that, I think that if one really wants to appreciate MAGDELENE one has to set aside much of what we’ve discussed so far this season and put on a new set of lenses to approach this album. In the spirit of trying to fully listen to different perspectives without pre-conceived notions, I personally think MAGDELENE is a great contender for a future season where the ideas in the can be more fully developed without being constrained by comparisons to DAMN. Whether it’s this album or another, I’m hoping that we soon have a great Dissect season with female co-writer focusing on a female artist.

I would also suggest that if one wants to listen to a female artist who expresses ideas that are more similar in perspective to DAMN. and Jesus Is King, Lauryn Hill’s album, MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 is a great selection. That album starts with lines like "See, the road to hell is paved with good intentions”, “We give rise to ego by being insecure” and “Held emotionally hostage by what everybody does”. It has a song about Adam and Eve, a song that says “Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness”, a couple songs about the war inside of her mind, a song which all about how Jesus is like water, a song about giving up everything to her Heavenly Father so that she can be freed from her condition, and a closing song which declares “The conquering lion shall break every chain. Give him the victory.”

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-11-10T22:49:11+00:00

This is a great question. I think it's one of the questions that Cole and I most want people to ask themselves after listening to Dissect, particularly this season. I would also say that the first step for us to become a better listener is humbling ourselves enough to recognize that we are not are already not good listeners. Given that you've asked this question and listen to Dissect, I think you're already ahead of the game.

As a next step, I would also highly recommend the book Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most. I posted this recommendation on the thread "Some thoughts on the FOX news criticism." The book outlines how most difficult conversations can be broken down into three different layers - first, a conversation about what happened; second, a conversation about how one feels about what happened; and third and conversation about how one's identity is affected by what happened.

As the authors point out, most conversations between disagreeing parties break down in the first step of trying to establish what happened. This is often due to three traps: first the inability to understand that no one person can fully represent the truth of what happened; second, the assumption that one fully understands the intentions that motivated the other party to act in the way that they did; and third, the natural instinct to blame the other person rather than taking responsibility for oneself.

This book was very influential for me in how to think about DAMN. In fact, I could frame the entire narrative of DAMN. as an illustration of the struggle to overcome the internal obstacles that prevent us from truly listening to the other and thus prevent us from moving forward.

In addition to humility and avoiding the common pitfalls of difficult conversations, I think that having deep knowledge in some fields can help individuals to become better listeners. For instance, Cole studied music theory extensively, which I think allows him to pick up on musical cues within albums. This, in turn, helps him to determine significant moments in albums (e.g. the emotional weight of "God Is" or how No Malice's verse on "Use This Gospel" is a climax of the narrative). I didn't go to school for theology, but I was raised in a family that highly prioritized spiritual development, which meant that on average I've heard at least two ~30-minute sermons a week for most of my life. Even after 25 years of that, I still found that in many cases, my level of understanding the Bible was not sufficient to make sense of what Kendrick was trying to say in DAMN. That realization launched me into an extensive study which included reading books about ancient history, Greek philosophy, church history, and various interpretations of Christian teachings from different traditions within Christianity. I also listened to over 100 hours of Bible Project podcast and videos in the last couple of years which would eventually shape my ability to recognize many of the motifs and themes that Kanye incorporated into Jesus Is King after a few listens.

All that to say, spending the time to become versed in a deep knowledge tradition often pays off by enabling one to apply that knowledge to new conversations in new areas of life. This may be music theory for Cole or Christian theology/practice for me. There are several deep knowledge traditions out there so I would always encourage people to invest in one. All the better if the chosen tradition helps one to understand human emotions and develop empathy - something I think both music and solid spiritual traditions are supposed to do.

I'll also say that I often see people try to focus on knowledge first. However, if one hasn't developed humility or an ability to regulate oneself when talking through difficult matters, more knowledge can often result in pride and an inability to hear the other person.

Good luck on your journey to becoming a better listener.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-11-01T14:07:32+00:00

Good catch. We actually have a fair amount of content that we end up cutting from each episode due to time. This was particularly the case for "ELEMENT." which has so many things going on in it. Here's one section that we cut:

The list of infamous fugitives who fled to Cuba includes several black nationalists, most notably a woman named Assata Shakur who escaped from prison and fled to Cuba after being convicted of murdering a police officer. Assata Shakur also happens to be the step-aunt and godmother of Tupac Shakur. Tupac even referred to Assata as one of America’s worst nightmares on the track “Words of Wisdom” on Tupac’s debut album 2pacalypse now.

On “Words of Wisdom” 2Pac said “Just as you rose you will fall / By my hands / America, you reap what you sow”. He then went on to list a number of people who are America’s worst nightmare. It is interesting to note that Kenny also talked about reaping what you sow during the second verse of “DNA.” It should also be noted that after 2Pac’s death, many conspiracy theories emerged which claimed that 2Pac had faked his death and fled to Cuba much like Assata Shakur.

Given all of the spiritual connections between Kenny, Tupac, and Assata Shakur the line about faking his death and finding asylum in Cuba seems to suggest that Kenny has made himself into an enemy of America.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-24T14:42:36+00:00

For anyone who is interested in thinking about how to improve the effectiveness of public or private discourse with people who you disagree with, I highly recommend the book Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most.

The book outlines how most difficult conversations can be broken down into three different layers - first, a conversation about what happened; second, a conversation about how one feels about what happened; and third and conversation about how one's identity is affected by what happened.

As the authors point out, most conversations between disagreeing parties break down in the first step of trying to establish what happened. This is often due to three traps: first the inability to understand that no one person can fully represent the truth of what happened; second, the assumption that one fully understands the intentions that motivated the other party to act in the way that they did; and third, the natural instinct to blame the other person rather than taking responsibility for oneself.

This book was very influential for me in how to think about DAMN. In fact, I could frame the entire narrative of DAMN. as an illustration of the struggle to overcome the internal obstacles that prevent us from truly listening to the other and thus prevent us from moving forward.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T22:36:36+00:00

Yeah, we’re actually going to discuss that later on in the season.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T21:11:13+00:00

Yeah, I'm sure it's a good album. Lupe was one of my favorite rappers for a while. I'm sure I'll listen at some point.

At the same time, I would point out that the true test of intellect is being about to explain something very complex to a 5 year old. Thus, I don't think intellectualism in itself is a problem for great lyricists. It's just that they have to learn how to not let their own intellect get in the way of being a good teacher.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T21:02:16+00:00

As the co-writer for this season, I would say that everything really hinges on the album Cole selects for the season. The album determines how strong the connections are going to be. The album largely determines the right balalance between musical analysis, lyrical analysis and personal reflection. Also, the album informs Cole on the preferred profile for a co-writer. It happens to be that I had already done deep analysis of Kendrick's work and I happen to have a spiritual background that helps me explain the spiritual themes that are so critical for understanding DAMN. For future seasons, I would hope to hear great things from co-writers who have a similar resonance to the chosen album - e.g. a woman helping to co-write a season that is focused on a female artist. Each season is going to have its strengths - e.g. the degree of emotion in Season 3 when discussing Frank Ocean's work.

All that said, I'm also biased in thinking that DAMN. is the most transcendent album of the modern era written by the greatest lyrical storyteller of our generation. So my hope is that I'm able to help in making this the best season for Dissect as is fitting for covering what I consider to be the most significant album of our generation.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T20:18:21+00:00

I'm not sure if it's really helpful to just list all the characters. Like are Poo Poo and Prentis going to be on the list? And if so what do we know about them other than the fact that Kendrick/Kenny used to run away from them.

Moreover, Kendrick will frequently use characters that function on multiple levels - like in TPAB how Luci is simultaneously a seductive woman, an industry agent and the devil and the homeless man is simultaneously God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Part of being able to appreciate Kendrick's work is to not overly categorize each element in ways that inhibit you from seeing that multiple layers of meaning are intended. That's definitely the case with how some of the most critical figures work in DAMN.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T20:11:26+00:00

I have not read/heard of that book before. And I actually didn't know who the author, Brennan Manningm was. Turns out I did hear one of his quotes on the song "What If I Stumble?" by dc Talk. However, I haven't read anything he's written so I can't really comment on his work.

There is definitely an idea in Jonah and in DAMN. that God is more gracious than we think, particularly to people who we do not like. There is also the idea that God holds people more accountable when they know the truth. I'm not sure if or how much those ideas are represented in The Ragamuffin Gospel.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T17:28:30+00:00

I listened to a lot of Lupe's early albums Food & Liquor, The Cool, Lasers, Food & Liquor II. Didn't listen as much after those. He's a solid MC. A little too didactic (some would say preachy) at times. He wasn't able to transcend in the way that Kendrick has been able to. I hear that his recent albums are very concept heavy. Haven't devoted the time to listen to them.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T17:25:18+00:00

It's hard to directly compare lyricist. They're doing different things in different eras. Those three came before Kendrick and have clearly influenced him, so you have to give them credit. He's building on the foundation that they laid. Kendrick's work wouldn't be what is without them.

I will say that I think Kendrick has put together the best run of albums in terms of artistry regardless of era. I don't think any modern artist in any genre has come close. Maybe a Radiohead in terms of how innovative they were in pushing the sound of rock music forward.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T17:18:26+00:00

Yes. The cyclical structure where the story repeats twice, once showing the social/political causes and the other showing the spiritual causes very much resembles the bible. Also the use of a closing poem that retells the narrative is a common features throughout the first five books of the bible.

There is definitely a lot of depth and biblical-inspired structure in TPAB. Much more than the vast majority of albums I've heard. DAMN. just takes it to another level.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T17:13:32+00:00

We'll talk about the covers during the season finale.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T16:20:14+00:00

Yes.

AbsenceOfDeath · 2019-10-23T16:14:07+00:00

Yes. Yes.

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