Each year a Grammy Award Ceremony is held to honor those with great achievements in music. In between awards, different music artists/bands will perform for the audience. At this past year’s Grammy Awards in February of 2016, Kendrick Lamar had a performance that sparked a lot of attention from the media. During this time, the media was covered with the Black Lives Matter movement and many other events dealing with the equal rights of African Americans and other minorities. This is what motivated Kendrick Lamar to create a performance that would deliver a message to the audience and public about the rights and liberties of African Americans. Kendrick Lamar used various lighting to highlight the issue concerning the mass incarceration of African Americans 

As Kendrick Lamar stepped onto the stage and approached the microphone, there were three lights which limited the amount of visibility. The audience was able to make out the prison setting and see Kendrick Lamar with four other performers dressed as inmates in the prison. There were also four other inmates in prison cells. This establishing long shot showed how all of the performers were dressed as prisoners wearing blue on blue prison uniforms with incarceration numbers, and how they were all African American. With the three bright lights, one was on Kendrick Lamar and the other two were on the center of the stage. This made it somewhat difficult to see the rest of the prison and the other inmates. All of the other lights were dimmed and used as prison props. This lighting caused the attention to focus on Kendrick Lamar. While he was performing, he was staring into the crowd which is considered an extra-diegetic gaze. By doing this, Kendrick Lamar was singing directly to the crowd and other viewers. Kendrick Lamar helped construct his performance in this way in order to send a message about prisons and jails consisting of mostly African Americans and other minorities. By using lighting that makes the prison uniform standout, it is directing attention to the prison uniforms of the inmates. During this first part of the performance, Kendrick Lamar was rapping the song, “The Blacker the Berry” where he rapped “Trap our bodies but can’t lock our minds” (1:24). He meant that no matter how many African Americans the government incarcerates, the views and beliefs of those people will never be able to be locked away. That even though the government can lock away their physical bodies, their minds will always be free. Then seconds later Lamar rapped “And man a say they put me in a chain, cah’ we black” (1:32). This obviously expresses Kendrick Lamar’s feelings towards racism and the mass incarceration of African Americans. And since he directly said “cah we black”, he inferred that non-African Americans were the cause of the problem. That he believes white people have it easier than black people when it comes to the law and they are more likely to be arrested as opposed to white people. By using the lighting, clothing, props and lyrics, Kendrick Lamar was able to further drive home his message to the audience about the mass incarnation of African Americans being current problem that needs to be resolved. Lamar also did not provide any solution to the problem until the next part of the performance.  

After approximately one and a half minutes, the lights shut off during the performance and a UV-light turned on. Once this happened, the performers’ prison uniforms lit up white and light blue. Two of the performers’ clothing lit up very bright colors such as red, neon green, neon orange, and blue. Since the normal lights were turned off, the prison cells were hardly visible along with the rest of the prison props. This establishing long shot focused the attention of the audience onto the performers and their clothing. Throughout this portion of the performance, Kendrick Lamar occasionally turned back towards his backup dancers but he primarily faced the crowd and viewers, which is considered an extra-diegetic gaze. Again, this shows Kendrick Lamar singing directly to the audience rather than just singing to himself or to a specific person. The paint shown by the UV-light portrays African Tribal patterns. The purpose of the African tribal paint was to contradict today’s stereotypes of African Americans and to show the roots of African Americans and the beauty of their culture. During this part of the performance, Kendrick Lamar rapped “We gon’ be alright” (2:00) several times. He also rapped “Tell the world I know it’s too late” (2:36). When Lamar used the word, “we”, he was referencing to African Americans and meant that even though there are problems concerning them, in the end, it will turnout okay. In the second quote, Lamar expressed how he felt about any solutions for the mass incarceration of African Americans. That it is too late and nothing can be done. 

Kendrick Lamar used various lighting, clothing, and props during his Grammy performance to speak out against the unjust treatment with African Americans. Throughout the performance different lighting, props, clothing, UV-lights and paint were all used to send a message to the public that the mass incarceration of African Americans is a problem that needs to be resolved. Initially there was limited lighting which drew attention to the setting of the prison, the prison uniforms, and the black prisoners. Once Lamar began to perform, he sang directly to the crowd sending a message about the mass number of African Americans in prisons compared to white people. After about one and a half minutes into the performance, the lights simmered and a UV-light turned on which revealed the African tribe like paintings on the performers. By doing this, the audience was able to see the beauty of the black culture rather than an African American criminal in prison which is a stereotype for black people. Kendrick Lamar took it to himself to address the issue with equal rights and the mass number of incarcerations of African Americans, which was why the overall purpose of this performance was to bring attention to the mass number of African Americans and other minorities in prison compared to white people. That African Americans make up the majority of prisons which is not okay. Lamar also hinted at who is responsible for this problem. He indirectly said non-black people were responsible when he rapped “cah’ we black”. He also said that it is too late to resolve this problem but that that it will be okay. This performance was not only designed to bring awareness to several racial problems in society but to also show that it does not take anyone special to express them self and deliver a powerful message to society.
12 Oct. 2016.