Cultural Divide

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I have three Kendrick Lamar songs in my collection on my phone, and I listen to them every time they pop up. In fact, one of them ‘I’ has a great hook, and I turn it up and sing along.

The songs were sent to me, by Jake, as something I might like. Jake was just looking for my approval with a few songs he enjoyed.

So, when I heard Kendrick Lamar would be the featured act at the Super Bowl I was curious.

I was also curious to see what those at the party thought. I was at a table with 5 guys who grew up listening to Frank and Dean sing songs.

They liked Elvis and the Beatles as high schoolers as well.

“What the f*ck is this?” One mentioned as Kendrick got started.

Try as I might, I couldn’t make out the lyrics.

“Is he singing in English?” Was the second comment, and later on, another man asked:

“Is this just one long song?”

“Do they even call it a song?” Another asked.

We all watched the halftime show all the way through, and I mentioned that I had a few Lamar sings, but that I hadn’t recognized anything.

“What the hell was Samuel L. Jackson talking about?”

The six men gathered around the table - all born well before the new century, were all a bit lost.

“The music world has passed me by,” someone else mentioned.

Immediately, the reviews were in:

“Worst halftime show ever!”

Was balanced by:

“Kendrick is an artist. Anyone who didn’t like it, didn’t understand it. He put on the best performance ever!!”

I read through a lot of the comments, shaking my head at the huge gap between the lovers and the haters.

I asked my boys.

“It was all a shot at Drake,” Sam said. “He did the whole thing to humiliate Drake.”

That didn’t help me.

I thought Drake was a coffee cake.

“He made the fat, orange guy leave the stadium,” one of Sam’s friends said.

Which was true.

The took the ‘End Racism’ signs out of the end zone so that it wouldn’t offend the racist-in-chief…

…so, in the end, if Kendrick Lamar’s act was all set up just to perplex old white guys, and to offend racists…

..then it hit the mark.

Download “I” while you’re at it…

…it’s a lot of fun.

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