A new side to the good kid in a M.A.A.D city

Impulsive or ingenious?

This is the question fans found themselves asking late at night on March third, as Grammy winning artist Kendrick Lamar dropped his latest album; untitled unmastered.

This eight-track, 35 minute set begins in a bedroom. Soul jazz plays low, setting a smoky mood over the sounds of foreplay and dull laughter.

The track is southing, sexy and calm, until Lamar takes the mood to a screeching halt just before the two-minute mark. The listener is then jolted from what is expected into Lamar’s masterful world of “death faces screaming in agony,” “atheists” and “trains jumping off the track.”

Since the 2012 release of good kid M.A.A.D. city, Lamar has been mixing politics into his beats and shaking up the statue quo. His Grammy winning album To Pimp a Butterfly took the world by storm with confrontational hits like “The Blacker the Berry,” and “King Kunta.”

He is known for bringing some of today’s biggest social issues into speakers all over the World with fearless rhymes and bold statements. Lamar is provocative, controversial and blunt, but if you were expecting this unexpected album to pack the same social punch that his last two have you will be disappointed.

Untitled unmastered is a compilation of odds and ends. It’s funky, smooth and modernly soulful. While it doesn’t bring the same level of activism to the table that his former albums have, there is a beauty to it that makes it intoxicating.

This album is intimate. It is an eight-song glance into Lamar’s craft. If good kid M.A.A.D city and To Pimp a Butterfly were expressions of social grievances, untitled unmastered is an expression of Lamar’s groovier alter ego.

It reveals a softer side if the young rapper than his previous compilations haven’t, but don’t be fooled, Lamar still manage to weave his social two-cents into the mix even if disguised by jazzy vibes and soul beats.

Lines like “Preacher’s touchin’ on boys run for cover,” in track one; an ode to the strengths and weaknesses of each race in America in track three; and his address to the effect of fame in the brain in track seven remind us that this Compton native isn’t just spitting rhymes, he’s provoking change.

Is this new release the same culture shattering mix that Lamar has brought us in the past? No, but it is hot nonetheless.

It is an intimate glimpse into another aspect of his masterful mind, and a reminder that Kendrick Lamar can switch it up any day and in any way – because whether he’s commanding social change or simply dropping beats to groove to, we’ll be listening. 

Be a Taylor in a Trump world

The path to success is a cutthroat process.

In our society, in order to achieve personal goals and elevate both monetarily and socially one is expected to de-elevate others in the process.

And that makes sense. There is limited room at the top.

It is a rare thing to be able to climb the ladder of success without knocking others with each new rung.

Few can do it and those who can are worthy of admiration.

 

Taylor Swift is one of those people.

 

As a young millennial woman, I encourage my fellow leaders, trendsetters and go-getters to take note at how this young star has conducted herself on her journey to the top.

 

Upon receiving her second Album of the Year Grammy win; Swift addressed the crowd and the young women of the world with a simple truth; Nothing cocky or sappy, nothing overstated, flashy or glamorous.

“There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, some day when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world.”

Her words were a reminder to young women word-wide.

Stay strong, stay focused, stay true to yourself and remember the people that love you when you get where you want to be.

We live in a cutthroat world. As college students, as young professionals and as members of a money driven culture. Since elementary school it is instilled in us that in order to rise in the ranks, we must knock others out. Gossip and rumor are used to tarnish the reputations of some and shine the reputations of those who start them.

 

This mentality dominates the culture of academia, popular music, Hollywood and politics. It seems as if kindness and success are unable to coexist.

 

Fortunately in a world of Kenye’s, Kardahsians and Trumps – we can find an example worthy of following and a reprieve from status quo success in Swift.

 

Recently named one the world’s greatest female leaders by Fortune magazine, Swift stands among global giants like Apple C.E.O. Tim Cook, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, People’s Republic of China president Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and India prime minister Narendra Modi.

 

Swift has repeatedly used the spotlight shone on her to bring attention to pressing social issues, most recently through her commitment to making sure musicians are paid for their art by retracting her free streaming music from Spotify.

 

She is influential without having to be forceful, strong with out overpowering others, outspoken for the greater good yet soft spoken in ego. Her music is chart topping, yet she doesn’t have to include vulgar lyrics, slander or animalize sex to make into the headphones of men and women of all ages all over the world.

 

So take note, especially my female readers and leaders.

 

More can be taken from Swift than just a catchy 22^nd birthday Instagram caption or a song to cry to:

• Stay modest.
• Remember who helped you get you to where you are.
• Value people over money.
• Be generous with what you are given.
• Stay true to yourself, especially your nerdiest self
• Retain your values at all costs.

 

Being a leader is more than calling the shots.

Being a leader is about being the best version of you and helping others to do the same in the process.

Weather you’re the CEO of a major firm, the lead singer in a chart topping band or a student at Oklahoma State University- be kind, stay modest, stay honest and when the status quo comes knocking, shake it off.