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channelyellow - kendrick lamar: master of dramatic structure lyrics

dramatic structure can be defined as the organization of certain events in a narrative. freytag’s pyramid states that there are 5 essential elements to the dramatic structure of a narrative: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement (resolution). though many mc’s utilize these elements in their storytelling songs, none can match kendrick lamar

there’s plenty of kendrick songs that demonstrate this, noteworthy ones including “how much a dollar cost”, “blacker the berry”, “swimming pools”, and “the heart pt.2”, but i’m going to break down the best example of this, the (depressingly) unreleased “unt-tled” song that was performed on the colbert report

exposition

introduction of background information

so i met this young lady, ya know, when i went back home. i was tryna spit my best game to her, you know, give her my best cap, but she kept on snapping her fingers like snaps. i said “you know what, girl? you crazy.” then she asked me what he said

kendrick starts out with a soft-spoken, relaxed intro, explaining what provoked the discussion in the rest of the song. one thing to pay attention to is the instrumentation- the lyrics aren’t the only thing experiencing a dramatic progression. the smooth, jazzy beat mixed with the snaps sets a calm tone for the beginning, as if it was the calm before the “storm”

rising action

culmination of events leading to the climax

the rising action consists of kendrick’s explanation of what the “minority” races believe success can be defined as. as kendrick slowly raises his voice, the instrumentation is slowly layered, adding on occasional hits and strums of different instruments until they become more frequent, leading to the climax

climax

point of greatest drama

as kendrick reaches the point of what the white man says, his tone immediately becomes more aggressive and is raised to it’s loudest point so far. all the instrumentation comes in together along with extra vocals, causing an intense moment that you just can’t help but get chills from. this is also the climax from a lyrical standpoint in that the white man contrasts all the other races, wishing to take from each of them out of greed

falling action

culmination of events leading to the resolution

kendrick cues in terrace martin to play the saxophone for a musical interlude. this break in the song allows for a path to a calm ending, the resolution

resolution

solution of previous drama

i holler, “what you do? what you say?”
i shall enjoy the fruits of my labor if i get freed today

kendrick repeats this line to act as an -ssertion of the solution, which is to live off the benefits of your own hard work. much like the exposition, the instrumentation is basic and kendrick is calm…

but wait, there’s more!

just when you think the song will end, kendrick adds on vocals from each member of the crew after each repeat of the hook. when everyone joins in together, they finish off the song shouting:

what the black man say?
tell ‘em we don’t die, tell ’em we don’t die
tell ’em we don’t die, we multiply
tell ’em we don’t die, tell ’em we don’t die
tell ’em we don’t die, we multiply
tell ’em we don’t die, tell ’em we don’t die
tell ’em we don’t die, we multiply
tell ’em we don’t die, tell ’em we don’t die
tell ’em we don’t die, we multiply

this outro is almost a repet-tion of the structure of the rest of the song. kendrick builds it up just to break it down once again

in conclusion

it’s hard to find someone who can structure a song as well as kendrick lamar. it’s hard not to appreciate his ability to organize songs so well, yet break from the normal while still being cohesive. this is one of the many attributes of kendrick lamar that makes him extremely exciting to listen to

- channelyellow lyrics

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