"U" By Kendrick Lamar (Psychoanalytical Theory)

"U" By Kendrick Lamar (Psychoanalytical Theory)

2nd Critical Question: In what ways does Kendrick vocalize his inner "superego" as a harsh, punishing voice?

Vocabulary: Mood Swings (This word represents a daily representation of Kendrick's life, his mood changing from happy to sad to depressed, to all over the place).

"You ain't try. I know your secrets n**** Mood swings is frequent n**** I know depression is restin' on your heart for two reasons n****."

"You ain't try" Kendrick being very blunt and honest

Relationship With Self (Kendrick has lost any self love for himself which can be seen in this line when he claims "shoulda killed yo ass a long time ago").

"Shoulda killed yo ass a long time ago You shoulda filled that black revolver blast a long time ago"

As a coping mechanism, Lamar decides to act as though a solution to his problems would be suicide.

"Shoulda killed your ass a log time ago" extremely harsh and critical

Theme (The theme of this song is projection, struggle and guilt, and how the effects of our environment can shape the way we think about ourselves.

"And if those mirrors could talk it would say you gotta go. And if I told your secrets. The world'll know money can't stop a suicidal weakness."

Thinking about suicide when Lamar is struggling to realize all of the things he has built for himself

The world know money can't stop a suicidal weakness "is again a very harsh point

Refusing to get help in order to keep his image, is holding Lamar back and in turn creating his inner critic to become more harsh.

Diction & Detail (Throughout the whole song, Kendrick is constantly criticizing himself, almost as if it's another person who is talking to him).

"Where was your presence, where was your support that you pretend? You ain't no brother, you ain't no disciple, you ain't no friend. A friend never leave Compton for profit or leave his best friend"

Developing that feeling sorry for yourself mentality, instead of trying to grow from his decisions and commend himself for who he has become.

"You ain't no friend" is harsh and straight to the point

The guilt of not being there for his family and community starts to weight Lamar down, as he continues to get aggressive and emotional towards himself.

Tone (Kendrick's aggressive tone while rapping the second verse, tells the listener's that he is cruel to himself and is dealing with a strong form of hatred towards his inner self).

1st Critical Question: How do Kendrick Lamar's lyrics, vocal delivery, and musical elements in 'u' reflect psychoanalytic themes of guilt, self-punishment, and inner conflict?

Inner Thoughts (Lamar has a dialogue with himself throughout the entirety of the song where he goes from acknowledging how he struggles to love himself to threatening suicide).

Kendrick expresses his inner feelings claiming "I know depression is restin' on your heart." Lamar identifies that he is aware he is depressed and it affects him deeply in his personal life, further contributing to the negativity he feels about himself

Repression

The fact that Kendrick is aware of his depression but hasn't brought himself to get help shows that Lamar is repressing his feelings and not letting them "breathe" out into the open. Because of this, Lamar is struggling even more because he feels alone on top of all the other things he feels.

Conscious

Acknowledging that he is depressed shows that Lamar is aware about how he feels. He understands that he is struggling to live a happy and fulfilled life and embraces it instead of pretending like it's not happening

Setting (Lamar locks himself in a hotel room while reflecting upon all of his miseries in his life)

"House Keeping. Abre la puerta! Abre la puerta tengo que limpiar el cuarto!" House keeper trying to get in to clean Lamar's hotel room, but he is presumably passed out due to the effects of drinking. (May even have died).

This setting gives the audience a feeling of depression and hopelessness. Lamar locking himself in a hotel room, while he drinks and cries out his emotions gives the audience a very unsettled feeling.

Cleaning ladies who come around for "house keeping are usually only found in hotel rooms. Another thing to note is that house keeping usually comes in the morning, which means the fact that Kendrick wasn't opening the door may have been because he wasn't able too.

Tone (Kendrick is crying while delivering his second verse, mixed in with the added drink from a presumed alcoholic bottle).

"You faced time the one time, that's unforgiven. You even faced time instead of a hospital visit You should thought he would recover, well. The surgery couldn't stop the bleeding for real. Then he died, God himself will say you fuckin' failed. You ain't try"

Id

In this instance, we could see that Kendrick's Id (his personality) is one that is very negative, fearful, and depressed.

Neurotic Anxiety

"God himself will say you fuckin' failed. You ain't try" represents Lamar experiencing negative consequences and in turn failing to move beyond them. The fear of failure has overcome Lamar and he has accepted his life to be viewed as a "failure."

Superego

Lamar recognizes that he could've done more to support his brother "in his brother's last moments alive." The guilt of his brother being gone and his values of family trigger Lamar to start criticizing himself and hating himself for feeling like he could've been a better brother.

Imagery (Towards the end of the song, Lamar displays to the audience the he is heavily intoxicated which all adds to the emotions that he is dealing with).

(Bottles slamming and being opened) represents that Kendrick is drinking, and in turn is acting unstable as a result of being drunk.

Ego

Refusing to acknowledge the way you feel is a representation of one's decision making ability

Lamar is finding it difficult to accept his own reality. Instead of understanding and seeking for help in his struggles, he buries the brunt of it on his own shoulders. This could be a representation of pride (as it's a common world stereotype that men aren't allowed to be emotional).

Comping with the use of alcohol shows that Kendrick is still immature when it comes to dealing with his own world issues.

Diction & Detail (Throughout the song, Kendrick uses specific detail to convey his guilt and depression)

"Are you the reason why mama and them leavin' No you ain't shit, you say you love them, I know you don't mean it"

Regression

Childish like behaviour in the way Lamar is coping with his feelings (blaming himself for everything(negativity), drinking (which we see more of towards the end of the song), and threatening to end his life.

Displacement

All of Kendrick's anger is directed towards himself as he looks for someone to blame for all of his problems

Moral Anxiety

Anxiety also ties to depression (Anxious thoughts are what cause people to develop depressive thoughts)

Struggling to accept the reality of his life, as a reaction Lamar starts to blame himself for the position he is in today