Kendrick Lamar On Film

Certified LA Boy? Certified Cinephile

How many rappers act? In a movie is one thing, playing yourself on a show is another. Some notable names that play genuine characters I’ve witnessed are; Childish Gambino, Ice-T, Will Smith, Ice Cube, Ludacris, Andre 3000, the RZA, Queen Latifah, Method Man, Jack Harlow, Common, LL Cool J, Andy Samberg, Snoop Dog, Tupac, Drake and finally Kendrick Lamar. Of these, there are 100 more who qualify but aren’t mentioned. The connection has always existed, some actors may have turned down big music deals and vice versa.

Where you’re from in hip-hop has meant something more so than any other genre. Hip-hop is all about your perspective, what you represent and how you navigate life. Proximity is key, so being in LA or NY is its own pipeline to being on screen. Making it out of Wichita, Kansas isn’t the same as being able to audition for a commercial from a young age. Few are successful at both. Typically being better at one trade means you do the other less, but there are exceptions.

Watching movies on the west coast is completely different than watching them in the midwest. It's a major industry out here, “from Diego to the Bay.” Sometimes befriending one of the producers from The Croods is as close as your parents going out to dinner with a friend, whose kid brother married into that. Los Angeles is the home of Hollywood. Being a rapper born out here you watch movies differently and it translates in the music. Diving deeper into the discography of Kendrick Lamar shows how deep this connection is.

Fresh off a grammy win in one of the most petty outfits (Canadian tuxedo) Kendrick Lamar isn’t peaking just yet. This Sunday is one of the most anticipated Super Bowl halftime shows of recent memory, the culmination of a year spent calculating records, videos and performances, Kendrick deserves it all. All the praise and the accolades that come with winning the beef, having the biggest record of the year and refreshing a genre that’s been quite stale in ingenuity.

To hop into any discussion regarding the beef would not only be late, it'd be… off topic. Chalamet gets an interview with Kendrick, I’ll settle for genius.com.

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https://letterboxd.com/izzroyalewchz/list/hip-hop-lyrics-mentioning-movies/

Two years ago I began compiling a list of movies that get referenced in hip-hop lyrics. One of my crowning achievements, if they ever give out a Pulitzer for Letterboxd lists my only hope is that this would be nominated. Like all good lists there are some specifics, the details of these listed below:

• The cap for a single artist is 3 or 4 songs. A lot of artists like working in film references to every song, when you notice this trend it's pretty obvious who is a cinephile and who isn’t. The subgenres that do this are rooted in backpack and blog era rappers. There’s even a small point in time where soundcloud rap took this trend on too, when it was in its early weirdo, anti-industry phase, eventually morphing into the mumble rap that we know it as today. The key to appropriately capturing the world of hip-hop is understanding the different eras, and where to look. Limiting each artist on the list allows me to spread it out, representing the whole menu and not just the mozzarella sticks (the GOAT appetizer).

• I can only do 1 movie for 1 song. A lot of rappers stick to the theme of movies in a single verse. Or trading bar for bar with this theme might keep up with the song. Scarface is probably one of the most referenced movies in hip hop overalll, but repeating each mention seems silly. Maybe when the list hits 500 we’ll open up a bit but for now we sit at 1 for 1.

• For franchises I don’t really add general titles. It has to be a specific one pertaining to the specific film. There are 20 Star Wars movies and I'm sure there are 21 examples of rappers rapping about Star Wars. I wanna keep this list pure, if it’s earned it’ll get added but just mentioning how you “got the force,” doesn’t really mention a movie. The only exception being Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for the lyrics, “Missions, miss my brothers, die for colors/quidditch, catchin snitches do him vicious.” from Taking Trips off of Vince Staples’ self titled album.

• Last but not least no soundtracks. Shell Shocked by Wiz Khalifa doesn’t count as the Ninja Turtles. Some cartoons are iffy? Just cuz you mentioned Scooby-Doo doesn’t mean you’re talking about the classic, 2002 Scooby-Doo Live Action film.

The list is explicit. There’s some crazy shit in there. Censoring artists is the same as book burning to me and I work in a library so that hits close to home. An artist’s words “as is” should never be changed, edited or misquoted.

As a writer I think AI misses the nuance to understand the search criteria for movies in hip-hop. It takes a human ear to point out all the examples because sometimes the reference is buried, not on the surface. It would also limit this search to the genre labeled Hip-Hop when artists have bridged the gap from pop to hip-hop to alternative. SZA, The Weeknd and Kehlani are featured because they do use rap in their music especially for these specific examples. I’m not tempted to add 21 Pilots, but it has crossed my mind.

Beyond that there are particular artists who view film as a way of life too. I could pinpoint a few who have really taken it upon themselves to spit about the most cultish obscure films, forcing you to look up the lyrics and confirm what you heard. You get a view into what each rapper likes to watch.

Kendrick Lamar has been anointed a cinephile by me. He doesn’t leave the house for a reason and now we know why. He’s watching a movie.

Thank God for YouTube. The Rigamortus music video is my first memory of finding him on the internet, and it still baffles me how Kendrick can rap for so long without breathing. Everything he’d become was apparent in that one example, the technical skill, rhythm in beat selection, versatility, subject matter/perspective, flow, and overall artistry offered the newest, freshest voice in hip-hop at the time. His competitive nature is fully on display, claiming his arrival was by divine intervention and not chance.

I’ve been a fan ever since.

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This Super Bowl performance has the potential to be one of the biggest events of his career. It has the potential to do record numbers as a half time performance. This wouldn’t be Kendrick’s first Super Bowl performance, 2022 he was on stage representing the west coast with Snoop and Dr. Dre. Of all the recent moments in Super Bowl history a rapper has never headlined the Super Bowl.

When the Panthers played the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII it was groundbreaking for many reasons. The Patriots were a burgeoning dynasty with a Cinderella story under center. Although the big game came down to the final seconds, the topic of conversation at every watercooler the next day was Janet Jackson’s nipple. A ‘wardrobe malfunction’ seen round the world. Could this be Diddy’s fault? I missed it, probably not paying attention but I do remember hearing about it in school the next day. The fact word got around to a 3rd grader... Following what was 100% Justin Timberlake’s fault, the NFL scaled back their bigger name artists to pick and choose ones that weren’t as big of a risk. The acts that followed were Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen. The only exception being Prince. My goat sports talk hosts at the time, Greenie and Golic, both were stunned that the NFL considered Prince safe. They had a good point even though I had never heard a single Prince song at the time. His performance was gorgeous, arguably the best.

There were huge cultural moments throughout then and now, Prince in the (purple) rain, the left shark during Katy Perry’s performance, Shakira flicking her tongue at us and Alicia Keys and the man she told her husband not to worry about. Although huge artists have occupied this brief residency since they dropped the safe thing, we are finally gifted a controversial one without ever taking the stage. At first it was deemed Lil Wayne’s show before anything was announced considering this was taking place in New Orleans, his home state. “Won the Super Bowl, Nas the only one congratulate me.” Then the recent legal action by Drake and his OVO team over defamation might have tried to get ahead of this performance, making the NFL question whether they want a track about calling another man a pedophile to be played at their annual year end celebration of yet another season of football. After winning record of the year, Not Like Us will be hard to justify missing a play during America’s most watched concert, but then again even Prince didn’t play When Doves Cry. (I wrote this before his team came out and said he’d play it, I liked it too much to cut).

It’s been almost a year since Kendrick’s Like That verse dropped. With all eyez on K.Dot his plan to further cement his legacy can be added to his growing list of accomplishments. In honor of the stories he’s able to tell, let's delve into the stories he must love enough to add to his own personal canon. Maybe we have similar taste.

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Kendrick Lamar EP

Released on January 31st 2009 Kendrick began 2010 with a new release. A decade he would soon take over. Gotta say he disses Drake on the bonus track Determined using a Kanye West lyric.

Is It Love -

Kendrick Lamar his mama called him that / he watched House Party and ate Apple Jack.

Not his first project considering he had 3 very early very rough mixtapes but a self titled album is a great starting point.

Celebration -

Me against the World on you mothafuckas / I got my back against a wall and a .45 drawed, get smoked, Chris Tucker.

This is unfortunately a Jackie Brown reference also an era exposing bar. Hashtag rap was huge with Lil Wayne in his Carter 3 era.

P&P -

Something to inspire me, rather than society’s / Woes, let me go, let me shine a lil bit love / I want diamonds too… Ronnie on Player’s Club

This song is on both this EP and Overly Dedicated with different verses.

I Am (interlude) -

Nigga, get out my wallet and put passion in your logic / Passion in your life, the passion of my christ is in me.

A spoken word poem over keys. Kendrick’s faith is a main topic in all of his projects. Only right he loves the Passion of the Christ.

Wanna Be Heard -

The truth can set you free, if you do the right thing - word to Spike Lee / Don’t he look like sounwave? That’s kinda random, but my humor sometimes strays

The second song I discovered by Kendrick Lamar. This was my favorite off of the 15 song EP. The hook is infectious, the beat is uplifting and the idea is so simple and pure. He also mentions the Passion of the Christ again in this but who’s keeping track.

Thanksgiving-

Now Everybody just bow to the greatness or die in The Matrix / You’re hereby datin’, my destiny’s waitin’

… Pop in my tape and roll the window… down / Like Stacey homie when airing out indo’

Stacey is in reference to the film The Wood starring Taye Diggs and Omar Epps where this happens. Also; Kendrick is obsessed with The Matrix. You will see.

Let Me Be Me -

Draped in some fly shit, call me Jeff Goldblum / Cold… my style making my nose run.

… Hahaha, I like to joke, got a sense of humor?/Stale face play me short like an Oompa Loompa.

The Fly! Childish Gambino raps about this on Sweatpants too. You think Kendrick likes Wonka?

The Heart Part 2

I been a warrior when I came out my mom’s placenta / in the gutter lane like im Master Splinter

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Overly Dedicated

Although this album is technically a mixtape it was commercially released with a few songs omitted (possibly due to sample clearing)

Night of the Living Junkies-

Curl up like Big Worm when I drop/ Who fly? I’m a red eye with eye drops / I Big, I Pac, you Chris, I rock / That’s Pookie on New Jack head first with a cyclops

Both Friday and New Jack City in back to back bars.

Ignorance is Bliss-

Cats so watered down, clowns can sink Titanic / tie titanium around they neck and watch ‘em panic,

… I’m SoCal you so-called, rappers need to go call, Ghostbusters / cause you busters, are Casper when I go off,

…Backin’ down bargains, and backin’ down bitches, we gon’ flip-her / Once she off that Blue Dolphin you gon’ tip her.

Woah! Five movies in this classic. Kendrick’s love of 80’s/90’s kids movies is so wholesome. Flipper had a 14 year old Elijah Wood.

Barbed Wire-

I was so sincere like Nas first naaame, in Belly / they tell me, it’s very difficult to see 25 and if I survive it’s probably with a celly

Nas’ name in Belly was Sincere lol.

H.O.C.-

The same time I started writing like a fucking monster / I’m Frankenstein everytime this mothafucker ponders,

The Last of the album.

Setbacks

This is a ScHoolboy Q mixtape. Two songs feature Kendrick Lamar. One that is just Q that bangs is iBETiGOTSUMWEED

LigHt Years AHead (Sky High)

Look at my verse, you seein’ signs / you hearin’ signals deciphered from District 9

back to back alien movie bars.

Birds & THe Beez

Got the block hot you keep runnin’ cops say freeze / blue pill, red pill choose now, Birds or the Beez

Matrix count 2

Section.80

He has yet to top this in my opinion. It’s at his most hungry and he had the most to prove. I have a Michael Jordan 4th year card and I wish it was a rookie but the fact that he hadn’t won anything on it yet makes it special imo. Anyway.

Ronald Reagan Era (His Evils) -

Strong enough to stand in front of a travelin’ freight train, are you trained / To go against Dracula? Draggin’ the record industry by my fangs

You think Kendrick watched the Nosferatu?

The Spiteful Chant-

I’m faded off that Nuvo, chillin’ with two hoes in here / and they tie my laces, living The Matrix as them pills disappear

Matrix count at 3.

Rigamortus

And this is Rigor mortis and it’s gorgeous when you die / Ali recorded and I’m Morpheus, the matrix of my mind.

Back to back. Count is at 4.

… I wrapped and made him Casper/ I capture the likes of NASA

Casper count? 2. That’s the end for this album

The Heart Part 3 (Will You Let It Die)

Enough pressure to make you open the Book of David / and pray to God that you make it or live your life in The Matrix

The Matrix count is 5.

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Before Kendrick had 1000 grammy’s he had his snubbed moment by Macklemore.

Backseat Freestyle-

Goddamn I feel amazin’, damn I’m in The Matrix / my mind is livin’ on cloud 9 and this .9 is never on vacation,

This line is very layered considering the storytelling and using himself as a character who is backseat freestyling, rapping like he did before this project… nuts. Matrix count is at 6.

Poetic Justice-

Poetic justice, poetic justice/ If i told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?

What’s in a name really. FEAT DRAKE BTW.

good kid-

Trapped inside your desire to fire bullets that stray / Track attire just tell you I’m tired and ran away

Hard to ignore the Boyz N the Hood reference of Ricky running with his back turned. It’s heavily implied but the imagery is there. The good kid track is the moment in the movie that the narrative flips. Kendrick now discovers the consequences of his actions in the story that plays throughout the album. A turning point much like the moment Ricky is gunned down.

m.A.A.d city-

This is not a rap on how Im slingin’ crack or move cocaine / this is cul-de-sac and plenty cognac and major pain/ Not the drill sergeant, but the stress that weighin’ on your brain.

Major Payne is a hell of a pull.

… uh, Warriors and Conans, hope euphoria can slow dance / with society, the driver seat, the first one to get killed

‘Warriors… Come out and playyyay.’ + Conan the Barbarian.

… Kill ‘em all if they gossip / The Children of the Corn, they vandalizin’ the option/ Of livin’ a lie, drown their body with toxins.

Pretty straight forward.

Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst-

Banana clip, split his banana pudding, uh / I’m like Tre, uh, that’s Cuba Gooding, uh

Confirmation for Boyz N the Hood.

Compton -

Kendrick Conan, nigga / where your sword at, hand on the cross and swore that, I do it big as Rasputia for them shooters,

Conan the Barbarian count 2, Norbit count 1.

The Recipe -

Let ‘em know I’m priority, order me / Hennessy and for my niggas OG Killa / Call it Jason Voorhees

One of the most quoted villains in all of hip-hop. The last name is so cool.

Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe (Remix) -

And when the water reside you Bobby Boucher/ but we ain’t thirsty nigga

The Water Boy.

… On my toes like a ballerina, who knew I’d be Black Swan?/ World in my palms

That’s the end of good kid m.A.A.d city.

Control

I’m Makaveli’s offspring, I’m the King of New York / I’m the king of the coast; one hand I juggle ‘em both

The explanation, Biggie called himself the King of New York and the 2pac line alludes the duality of these two people being Pac and Biggie… who got his name from this movie. He thought he was the Black Frank White. Ty Ross_Reid on genius for the explanation lol.

2013 BET Hip Hop Awards - TDE Cypher

What are we doing? I’m bouta crack the Da Vinci Code / Yea and nothing been the same since they dropped “Control” / and tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes

Da Vinki?

To Pimp A Butterfly

Reading through all these lyrics he has grown so much as an artist especially in perspective. This has to be the most pleading with the world he gets, asking the powers to be if this world is all we can make it.

Institutionalized-

Life can be like a box of chocolate / quid pro quo, somethin’ for somethin’, that’s the obvious

The Forest Gump pull, legendary.

How Much a Dollar Cost-

Hopping out feeling as big as Mutombo / 20 on pump 6, dirty Marcellus called me Dumbo

Not many on this album.

…I’m imaginin’ Denzel but lookin’ at O’Neal / ‘Kazaam’ is sad thrills,

Both He Got Game and Kazaam.

i-

No better than Samuel on the Django/ No better than a white man with slave boats,

At the very end of this live version Kendrick stops a fake fight with a poem. Works on an album probably not irl.

Black Friday

A bitch right in front ya chico what have you done here? / Deebo, all of it one year, Mississippi to California

From the teased collab between J Cole and Kendrick that never was and never will be. The Friday counter is not done at 2.

untitled unmastered.

This one truly changed my life. Track 5 is one that constantly plays in my head.

Untitled 02 | 06.23.2014.

(Hello Billy)

So many plays, homie I finesse

Normally soundbites are omitted from my list but like a director everything is calculated. I wouldn’t doubt he’d have to watch this movie before it playing on his album. According to Reddit it’s from Slaughterhouse Five, the Kurt Vonnegut adaptation.

Untitled 07 | 2014-2016

I feel like Pacino in Godfather, I’m charged / Our Father who art in Heaven, Kendrick at large.

Bout time Al Pacino made an appearance on this list.

… The murderous capital, avenues lookin’ like Evil Dead/ zombies with batteries to the head,

One of the best bars about a movie ever imo.

DAMN.

To constantly top yourself is hard to do. DAMN. is very much a call to return to traditional hip-hop in terms of production and traditional bars.

DNA.

This how it is when you in The Matrix / Dodgin’ bullets, reapin’ what you sow

The Matrix counter is now at 7.

ELEMENT.

Most of y'all throw rocks and try to hide your hand / Just say his name and I promise that you’ll see Candyman

Before the reboot the original was released in 1992.

FEEL.

I feel like debatin’ on who the greatest can stop it / I am Legend, I feel like all of y'all is peasants

Wonder what Kendrick thought about the slap.

GOD.

Slick as El DeBarge with the finger waves, work it JT / Handle bars like a fade, watch me work it JT

JT is a reference to The Five Heartbeats, directed by Robert Townsend. In the movie Duck asks his older brother to set him up with a girl, “work it JT. Work it!” The main character is nicknamed Duck, similar to Kendrick’s actual last name.

Black Panther

Yeah I mean if we find other things on here I’ll let you know but what a moment for Kendrick Lamar to make this soundtrack. This feels like when Prince did the Batman soundtrack. Pure gold.

Opps-

Raw face, Scarface / y’all face more defeat I know it hurts

The use of Scarface here is really key since Kendrick bounces back and forth from T’Challa and Killmongerer on the album, two sides of the coin like he’s always viewed himself.

Pray For Me-

Earthquake, the body dropped and ground breaks / The poor run with smoke lungs and Scarface

Tony Montana is an icon. Scarface refers to cocaine.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

After a multi-year hiatus Kendrick returns with an album about his personal struggles. It’s like he recorded his therapy sessions.

Worldwide Steppers-

When Mrs. Baker yelled at Doughboy / mixed that with Purple Rain / They interchanged the scenes

Kendrick has gotten very deep into the Prince and Michael Jackson comparisons in his most recent music

Die Hard-

Imma die hard it gets ugly/ too passionate it gets ugly

I don’t think you can put these two words together without alluding to the classic 1988 film.

Mirror-

I can’t live in The Matrix huh / Rather fall short of your graces, huh

The Matrix count is ? 8

We Don’t Trust You

The shot that started it all!

Like That-

‘Fore all your dogs gettin buried / That’s a K with all these .9s, he gone see Pet Semetary

Love this pull. I bet Kenny loves Stephen King.

Euphoria

Am I battlin’ ghost or AI? / Got me feelin like Joel Hale Osteen / funny he was in a film called A.I./ Now my sixth sense tellin’ me to off heem

Haley Joel Osmond back to back. Watched A.I. after this came out and what a FILM. Highly recommend.

Not Like Us

Ayy, Mustard on the beat ho / Deebo any rap nigga, he a free throw

He starts out so crazy. Friday helped shape my childhood.

Rabbit hole is still deep, I can go further, I promise/ Ain't that somethin’? B-Rad stands for bitch and you Malibu most wanted

Kendrick is very LA, I wonder what he thinks about the olympics. Mentioning Alice in Wonderland is a classic hip-hop pull. Mali-bootay.

GNX

After tackling such heavy concepts for the majority of his career, Kendrick approached this album like back when he was the kid in Backseat Freestyle, to honor the past. Not only his past self, but the history of the genre.

Man at the Garden-

I deserve it all / The respect and the accolades / Lampin on an island watchin’ Cast Away / I deserve it all

Mentioning this movie serves as a metaphor for the situation.

tv off-

Crash pullin up in unmarked truck just to play freeze tag / with a bone to pick like it was Sea Bass

Where my Dumb and Dumber heads at? This movie and Jim Carey also helped shape my childhood.

gloria-

Down bitch, I know your favorite movie is it Notebook? / So good if they all sub me get ‘em all booked

The Notebook is a great movie.

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Is this every song he’s ever made? No. But it’s a starting compendium. Maybe I follow up with the spots I missed during another album roll out. Maybe I follow up in another lifetime. For now it’s everything I could get my hands on before Super Bowl Sunday.

Big shout out to genius.com which became my “the everything app”. Couldn’t have done it without them.

Last but so important! When I started this list it took me a few days to begin compiling and immersing myself in it I began wonder: is there already one of these with the same idea. And the answer is: YES.

This one had ~200-ish

https://letterboxd.com/stevilkenevil/list/films-referenced-in-hip-hop-songs/

I’m sure there’s lots of overlap but I’ve never really looked at any others. The only time I opened - I just noticed a lot of Xzibit. We have similar but such different tastes and interests. I think the rules help differentiate them.

Will be posting a new Now Playing soon. Life in LA was crazy during the fires. I will get into it there. Thank you for reading!