Remember the bits and pieces of a narration by Kendrick at the end of each song in the album? “I remember you was conflicted, Misusing your influence” Remember these lines? Well, they are a part of a much bigger picture, which Kendrick reveals at the end of the “Mortal Man”. It’s worth taking a look into it, because it continues to the conversation later on with Tupac.
“I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in the hotel room
I didn’t wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home (a representation of the visit he made to south Africa)
But that didn’t stop survivor’s guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang colour than mine’s
Doesn’t mean I can’t respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us
But I don’t know, I’m no mortal man, maybe I’m just another nigga”
In the following week we decry-pt the conversation Kendrick has with Tupac….
