Kendrick Lamar: Storytelling Hip-Hop and the Fight for DEI  – ep.161

Join Melyssa Barrett on the Jali Podcast as she explores the monumental impact of Kendrick Lamar’s artistry, from his groundbreaking Pulitzer Prize win to his electrifying Super Bowl halftime performance. This episode delves into the deeper meaning behind his work, connecting it to crucial conversations about Black history, reparations, DEI, and the global fight for social justice.

We unpack the significance of “40 acres and a mule,” tracing its roots to broken promises and systemic racism. Discover how Kendrick Lamar reclaims these narratives through his music, using hip hop as a powerful tool for reparative justice and cultural empowerment.

We also celebrate the recognition of hip hop as a high art form, examining how Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize shattered perceptions and opened doors for marginalized voices.  His influence extends worldwide, inspiring global movements for change and highlighting the vital role of DEI in art and society.

From the Super Bowl stage to the halls of academia, Kendrick Lamar’s impact is undeniable.  He’s not just an entertainer; he’s a cultural revolutionary. Join us as we explore his legacy and what it means for the future of art, social justice, and inclusion.

#KendrickLamar #SuperBowl #HalftimeShow #PulitzerPrize #HipHop #BlackHistory #Reparations #40AcresAndAMule #DEI #Diversity #Equity #Inclusion #SocialJustice #GlobalActivism #BlackArtistry #CulturalImpact #Podcast #JaliPodcast #BlackCulture #Race #Justice #History #AmericanHistory #Music #Culture #Art #Representation #SocialCommentary #BlackVoices #GlobalImpact #SocialMovements #BLM #BlackLivesMatter #HumanRights #Activism #Equality #WorldMusic #International

Melyssa Barrett:  Welcome to the Jali Podcast. I’m your host, Melyssa Barrett. This podcast is for those who are interested in the conversation around equity, diversity, and inclusion. Each week, I’ll be interviewing a guest who has something special to share or is actively part of building solutions in the space. Let’s get started. Today I’m going to take a point of personal privilege. So I was married to an oral traditional storyteller for nearly 25 years, and he called himself the jolly. I would be remiss if I didn’t speak a little bit about Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl this past weekend in 2025. However, I’m not going to spend time talking about the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, or people’s reactions to what the performance meant for them. But I just want to spend a little bit of time talking about art. The saying, when a storyteller dies, it’s like a library.

Burning down means that when a person who shares stories and knowledge passes away a vast amount of history, wisdom and cultural heritage is lost. It’s literally like the destruction of a library by fire. It signifies such a significant loss of information and stories that can’t be easily replaced. I used to talk to my husband all the time seeing that he was an oral tradition storyteller. He didn’t write a lot of things down, and he didn’t write a lot of his stories down, but it’s so important. But a cultural aspect, the traditions we create live performances are incredibly empowering, impactful Kendrick Lamar’s impact on cultural art extends far beyond his Super Bowl. Halftime performance. His 2018 Pulitzer Prize for music was a groundbreaking moment. It redefined the artistic legitimacy of hip hop on a global scale. His album, damn, he became the first rapper and the first artist outside of classical or jazz music to win the award.

The achievement itself signaled a shift in how hip hop and by extension, black storytelling is recognized within high art institutions. So we’re talking black history. Let me give you some black history moment right now. This was a cultural milestone when he received the Pulitzer Prize. It was more than an individual accolade. It was a watershed moment for hip hop. Remember, traditionally, the Pulitzer Prize for music, honored composers and musicians from western classical and jazz traditions, no disrespect, but by awarding damn. The Pulitzer Board acknowledged hip hop as a powerful literary and musical art form worthy of the highest artistic recognition.

It was described as a virtuostic song collection, unified by its vernacular, authenticity, and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes, capturing the complexity of modern African-American life that is significant. The recognition challenged conventional definitions of high art and elevated hip hop to a new cultural status, reinforcing it as a vehicle for intellectual discourse, political critique, and storytelling and its impact on America and the world is incredible. So when we talk about hip hop, for decades, it was marginalized as street music. It was dismissed as lacking the artistic depth of other genres. And Kendrick Lamar winning that Pulitzer Prize shattered. That perception really cementing rap as a literary and musical force that it is, that it has been, and it has paved the way for institutions, universities, museums, symphonies to really explore and legitimize hip hop as part of the academic and artistic canon. Institutions like Harvard, Yale, the University of Cambridge, after he won that Pulitzer Prize, have incorporated hip hop into their curriculum, analyzing it alongside Shakespeare, Tony Morrison and James Baldwin, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture expanded its hip hop collections.

Recognizing the genre as an integral part of American history, it empowers black artists and marginalized voices. The win symbolized the institutional recognition of black artistry in a space that historically excluded black voices. So the precedent has encouraged other artists from marginalized backgrounds to push for their work to be taken seriously in elite cultural spaces. His work serves as an inspiration for new generations of rappers, poets, musicians, to use their art as a tool for social commentary. He has influenced artists across the world from African grios, modernizing their storytelling traditions to Latin American and Middle Eastern rappers, using hip hop as a platform for resistance against oppression. The global reach of hip hop as protest art, the themes that he explores with respect to racial injustice, spirituality, personal struggles. It makes his music relatable to oppressed communities worldwide. And his Pulitzer Prize winning album, reinforced hip hop’s role in global movements for justice hashtag n sars.

In Nigeria, protesters used Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics during demonstrations against police brutality. South Africa’s anti-apartheid legacy. His music resonates deeply in post-apartheid, South Africa, where hip hop is a crucial tool for social change, Palestinian and Latin American movements, his success inspired artists in regions where rap is a voice for those living under occupation and systemic oppression. His Pulitzer Prize win and his Super Bowl halftime performance both represent major cultural shifts. The Super Bowl put his art in front of mainstream America, while the Pulitzer solidified his intellectual and artistic genius. His ability to blend entertainment, activism, and high art has set a precedent for how hip hop and cultural art will be viewed and valued in the future. By redefining what is considered high culture, Kendrick Lamar has transformed living cultural art, ensuring that the voices of the streets, the marginalized and the historically silenced, are recognized on the world’s biggest stages.

His legacy is not just about music, it’s about changing the way culture is understood, valued, and preserved. And I know everyone is talking about different aspects of his performance in a variety of ways, but let me just take one reference where he highlights 40 acres and a mule. Many may not understand the significance of the phrase 40 acres and a mule. So let me give you some background. The phrase, 40 acres and a mule represents one of the earliest promises of reparations to formerly enslaved African-Americans. After the Civil War issued in 1865, under special field order number 15, by Union General William T. Sherman, the directive was meant to redistribute confiscated confederate land to newly freed black families, offering them a tangible foundation for economic independence. However, this promise was quickly revoked by President Andrew Johnson, forcing black Americans back into cycles of poverty and systemic exclusion from wealth building opportunities.

So we keep talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and why we need to be talking about it. This is exactly why this type of betrayal has echoed through generations shaping economic disparities that persist today. The absence of this promised land ownership left black communities vulnerable to discriminatory policies such as redlining, segregation, mass incarceration. It’s within this historical context that Kendrick Lamar’s work gains even greater significance. So his music is not just a reflection of present struggles, but a direct response to the systemic injustices that began with broken promises like 40 acres and a mule. And trust me, that was not the first promise that was broken.

Lamar’s artistry embodies a form of reparative justice through storytelling, reclaiming narratives that have been silenced and demanding equity in cultural, economic, and social spaces. His Pulitzer Prize and Super Bowl performance serve as modern day reminders that while America denied black people land and wealth, it could never strip us of our cultural power through hip hop. An art form born from struggle, yet rooted in resilience, Kendrick Lamar amplifies the voice of those who were denied a stake in America’s prosperity, proving that true inclusion is not about mere visibility, but about reclaiming power and rewriting history on our own terms. To further emphasize the impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion, let me just say that his influence extends beyond social impact. Hip hop is a multi-billion dollar industry that thrives on diverse voices, highlighting how DEI fuels innovation and economic growth in music, film, and fashion reinforces its tangible value.

Cultural art is a reflection of society. So DEI is not just about representation, it’s about reshaping narratives. His music and performance serve as a mirror to social justice. Movements serve as a mirror to social justice movements, which have inspired global activism from Brazil to France since his Pulitzer Prize win. More mainstream institutions such as the Grammys, the Library of Congress, academia have expanded their recognition of hip hop and diverse storytelling. His work has inspired marginalized artists worldwide to reclaim their own narratives. So whether we’re talking about afrobeats in Nigeria, reggaeton in Latin America, or indigenous hip hop movements in Canada and Australia, connecting his influence to global artistic empowerment strengthens the case for DEI as a worldwide cultural necessity. Despite these achievements, there is still resistance. Obviously, we have corporate gatekeeping censorship, the erasure of diverse contributions, which underscores why DEI is an ongoing fight.

Living cultural art is essential to the resilience of societies, keeping traditions alive while allowing for innovation and evolution. It is both a mirror of history and a pathway to the future. Reinforcing the collective memory of a people while inspiring new interpretations and creative expression. Kendrick Lamar’s Artistry is a seismic force in the fight for diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are not just cultural milestones, but undeniable proof that Black voices hip hop and the lived experiences of marginalized communities are the foundation of America’s artistic and social evolution, demanding not just recognition, but respect. I would love to hear back from you on this one. So let me know your thoughts, drop a response, let me know what you think. I would love to hear comments from you on DEI and how you think his performance impacted our conversation on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Thanks for joining me on the Jali Podcast. Please subscribe so you won’t miss an episode. See you next week.