KENDRICK, THE HEBREW ISRAELITES AND FEAR

IT HAD TO BE KENDRICK IT HAD TO BE FEAR

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, kung fu Kenny revealed that the Lyrics which make up the song FEAR are entirely from another’s point of view. Who? His cousin Carl. He goes further to give his take on a burgeoning school of thought; one on the reason behind the current condition of the Black Man.
Kendrick made this known during what I consider the high point of the interview and his words are sure to lay Credence to his ever expanding reputation as one of the realest to bless the mic.

The Rolling Stone interview was part of a cover story on Kendrick Lamar and as the interview wore on, the conversation touched on the concept of the Hebrew Israelites and the following exchange occurred:
RS:
Your cousin Carl is a member of the Hebrew Israelites, who believe that African-Americans are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites. Carl pops up in a voicemail on “FEAR.” You call yourself an Israelite on the album. How much of his theology have you embraced, and how much of it is just you playing with the ideas?
K.Dot:
Everything that I say on that record is from his perspective. That’s always been my thing. Always listen to people’s history and their background. It may not be like mine, it may not be like yours. It was taking his perspective on the world and life as a people and putting it to where people can listen to it and make their own perspective from it, whether you agree or you don’t agree. That’s what I think music is for. It’s a mouthpiece.
RS:
So what’s your opinion about the idea that Carl brings up, that black people are cursed by God as per Deuteronomy?
K.dot:
That shit’s truth. There’s so many different ways to interpret it, but it’s definitely truth when you’re talking about unity in our community and some of the things we have no control over. Where there’s fighting against the government, where there’s fighting against our own political views, there’s always a higher being, right there willing to stop it.

For those not familiar there’s a school of thought that traces the origins of the black man to Mizraim (Aramaic name for Egypt) Cush (Ethiopia) and Puth (Libya), all descendants of Noah and children of Ham. The teaching stresses that the black man exercised dominance in the early foundations of the world, citing the dominance of Egypt, Ethiopia and the exploits of Nimrod (a black man) the son of Cush who is on record historically as a great hunter who founded Babel. The school of thought believes that the Black Man fell from abundance and his current woes and subjugation are punishment for the sin of disobedience and idolatry.

This teaching has been the subject of scholarly discuss and countless texts exist on the subject, for those who want to get a thorough grasp I recommend the book “What is Wrong with Being Black” by Matthew Ashimolowo and a reading of the following Bible Passages: Isaiah 19:3, Jeremiah 46:14–18,Genesis 10:8–10, Ezekiel 30:4–5 and Deuteronomy 28.

Deuteronomy 28 is the centre piece to all this. The chapter begins with the promises and blessings God was willing to bestow on his people if they harkened to his voice, Midway there is a rundown of curses that would operate against the people if they became disobedient or served other gods. Scholars have among other things gone ahead to interpret the wordings of verse 68 as an explanation for the slave trade as ordained by God to be a punishment to the Black Man.

The Hebrew Israelites are without doubt adherents to this teaching and on intro and outro to FEAR we hear Cousin Carl expounding on the warning God gave in Deuteronomy 28 to the multitude.
This is not the first time the discourse surrounding the heritage of the black man is being discussed by Kendrick Lamar, remember his Spoken Word delivery on the album version of “I”?.

“N-E-G-U-S definition: royalty; King royalty — wait listen
N-E-G-U-S description: Black emperor, King, ruler, now let me finish
The history books overlook the word and hide it”

While I may not be an expert on this discourse, i can boldly state that music has always being a tool for dissemination of knowledge, enlightenment and sparking conversations and it’s a pleasure to behold King Kendrick constantly pushing the envelope in that regard. That being said, my dilettante perspective is that there’s definitely a Divine direction to all that goes on in life, most of all the current condition of the Black Race.

By Nico for UrbanCentral follow him on twitter @wordsbyAG

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