Kendrick Lamar Responds To Fox's Geraldo Rivera's Criticism Of His Music As Harmful To Blacks

Kendrick Lamar: “How Can You Turn A Song That's About Hope And Turn It Into Hatred?”

Written by Thomas Bishop

Published

Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar responded to criticism from Fox's Geraldo Rivera that hip-hop has damaged young African-Americans more than racism. Lamar explained that hip-hop is an expression that actually keeps young black men out of the streets so that kids can find a more positive influence.

On June 29, Geraldo Rivera attacked Lamar's performance at the BET Movie awards, asserting that his lyrics were “not helpful at all” to public discourse, and added that “this is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years.”

Lamar responded to Geraldo's remarks during an interview on the July 2 edition of TMZ Live, explaining, “This is our music. This is us expressing ourselves.” He continued:

LAMAR: How can you take a song that's about hope and turn it into hatred? ... The overall message is, “we gon' be alright.” It's not the message of “I want to kill people.”

[...]

Hip-hop is not the problem. Our reality is the problem of this situation. This is our music. This is us expressing ourselves. Rather [than] going out here and doing the murders myself, I want to express myself in a positive light the same way other artists are doing. Not going out in the streets, go in the booth and talking about the situation, and hoping these kids can find some type of influence on it in a positive manner. Coming from these streets and coming from these neighborhoods, we're taking our talents and putting them inside the studio.

Rivera has a history of racially charged and outrageous comments about the black community. In 2012, Rivera suggested that unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin would not have been killed had he not been wearing a hoodie. In 2014, Rivera blasted NBA players, including Lebron James, for protesting the death of another unarmed black man, Eric Garner, saying that they should wear "be a better father" shirts instead of shirts supporting Garner. And recently Geraldo Rivera said that the death of another unarmed black man, Freddie Gray, and the outrage that followed will mark “the decline into irrelevancy of the modern civil rights movement.”