Kendrick Lamar - "Money Trees"

Kendrick Lamar is a rapper that grew up in Compton, California who began to gain major recognition in 2010. In October 2012 he released an album called good kid m.A.A.d city. In this album, the fifth song is called "Money Trees." Kendrick expresses this song as a way of talking about how money changes people and he assesses his situation in his home town of Compton, where he reflects on the immortalization of his uncle after he was shot. There are many ways in which this song could be considered poetry. There are many striking and clever lines that Kendrick uses to make his point.


         Money trees is the perfect place for shade and that's just how I feel
         A silver spoon I know you come from, ya bish
         And that's a lifestyle that we never knew
         Go at a reverend for the revenue


By saying this I believe that he is trying to express the fact that a person in his old situation is never really safe unless he has money to protect himself. In Compton there is a lot of poverty and it is a place known for its violence. A person living in that kind of environment seems to be in danger a lot of the time and Kendrick knows that first hand. He says this because the only way to get out of that dangerous situation is to make a lot of money so you can move away from that terrible place. The silver spoon is a lifestyle that many people in Compton do not have the luxury of receiving in their lives. These lines reflect how Kendrick felt as he was growing up.


         Dreams of living life like rappers do
         Back to reality we poor, ya bish
         Another casualty at war, ya bish
         Two bullets in my uncle tony head


In these lines we see that even though he dreamt of "living life like rappers do," he still had to realize that was an unlikely wish. He references to when his uncle was shot. Just "Another casualty at war" because that was such a normal thing around there. I feel like he is speaking to the general public about his experiences. He wants people to see that someone being shot is not really a huge deal around there. Life is a war in that situation and he accepts the fact that lives will be lost in the fight.


I believe that this song is a true representation of what poetry can be. This song has many lines in it that make you think about where he came from and the situation of these people living in that place. Kendrick Lamar uses many clever words and phrases to speak to the audience in a way that they can tell what he is feeling while he is speaking those lines. I think that is what poetry is all about, is being able to read something or listen to something and experience a feeling of what the author was trying to convey.