Written by: Avi Caplan, Edited by: Audrey Gottschild

Featured Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

It is hard to overstate the anticipation felt throughout the music industry for Kendrick Lamar’s fifth studio album. Lamar’s discography features some of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 2010s. As he states in the first track of the album, it took 1855 days for Lamar to follow up his 2017 release DAMN., but the double LP of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was well worth the wait. This album sees Lamar at his most vulnerable, working through trauma, reflecting on his positionality within the industry, expressing doubts and fears, and discussing his family in a way he never has before (Moore, 2022). One of the peaks of this project is the track “Auntie Diaries,” the 6th track of the album’s second disc. On this track, Kendrick Lamar explores the homophobic and transphobic environment of his upbringing through the stories of two of his relatives coming out as transgender. It is a story that shows Kendrick as a flawed, ever-evolving individual, learning to be a better man, an ally, and an actor of cultural change in his community. The reception to this particular track on this album has been mixed; some claim it to be a strong statement on transphobia, while others see it as transphobic. In this essay, I will use the lens of critical generosity to explore the song’s flaws and strengths. To begin, I will contextualize the piece, discussing Lamar’s upbringing, the song within his discography, and the context of the piece within hip-hop. Then, I will summarize the song’s narrative, exposing Lamar’s intention. Finally, I will analyze critical lyrical moments, exploring the implications of the language used by Lamar.

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California, a city known both for birthing a vibrant music scene and as a gang activity center. Lamar was raised in section 8 housing, a type of housing project for low-income families where rent is subsidized. Lamar’s father was a Gangster Disciple, and while Lamar was never a gang member himself, many of his friends were Westside Piru Bloods. Lamar has described seeing 2Pac and Dr. Dre filming the music video for “California Love” as a formative moment in his life. The combination of danceable, popular music with politically and socially charged music that 2Pac explored in his career is undoubtedly reflected in Lamar’s work (Moore 2021, p. 1-28). Furthermore, Kendrick Lamar is creating hip-hop music, a genre that has often been the site of homophobia. Some of the best-selling artists in the genre, such as Eminem and Jay-Z, have numerous homophobic lyrics (Chideya, 2007), and even more underground and “conscious” acts, such as A Tribe Called Quest, which has written songs that were so homophobic that they were pulled from their albums (Kristoback, 2016). In recent years, however, queer artists such as Kevin Abstract (Brockhampton) and Lil Nas X have broken boundaries, and the genre’s mainstream is becoming a space where queer artists can succeed. Lamar’s discography contains homophobic tracks, such as his 2011 release “Tammy’s Song (Her Evils).” In this song, Lamar implies that women can become lesbians when they are sick of their man disrespecting them, and he uses the d-slur. This song is intended as a humorous interlude in his debut album, and Lamar can be heard laughing on the track, showing ignorance of the harmful nature of his language. Although Lamar has expressed that he believes in the right of gay people to marry (Ugwu, 2012), his music makes it clear that he has internalized homophobia. 

The song begins with the repetition of the phrase “Heart plays in ways the mind cannot figure out,” a mantra that Kendrick Lamar uses to state that while his mind, influenced by his environment, he could not understand the gender identities of his trans relatives when he was young, but his heart still knew to love them. The first verse sees the rapper cutting right to the chase: “My auntie is a man now/I think I’m old enough to understand now.” In this verse, Lamar introduces the character of his uncle, a trans man he looked up to as a kid. Lamar reminisces about loving to share car rides with him, admiring the clothes his uncle used to wear, how he carried himself, and his uncle’s personality. Lamar also begins to unpack his family’s intolerance: “Asked my momma why my uncles don’t like him that much/And at the parties why they always wanna fight him that much/She said, ‘Ain’t no tellin’.” In this passage, Lamar’s mom seems to nurture his admiration and appreciation for his uncle but does not explain what being trans is to Lamar. The lyrics suggest that she does not want him to side with his transphobic relatives, so she explains that his uncle is just better with money and women causing his other relatives to be jealous of him. 

In the second verse, Lamar plays his younger self, an elementary school student, in a homophobic environment, where the f-slur can be said for comic relief. Lamar recalls trying to explain his uncle’s sexuality to his friends but never being able to make them understand. He remembers watching them stare at his uncle whenever he would pick Lamar up from school. Lamar also shows how this uncle has profoundly influenced him, as he was the first person the rapper ever saw writing a rap. This is an important moment in the song, as it positions Lamar’s trans uncle as one of the most significant mentors for the artist. Lamar also introduces a second trans relative, Mary-Ann, who gained the confidence to come out following in the uncle’s footsteps. 

In the third verse, Lamar explores how his family was not accepting of Mary-Ann when she first came out. The discourse in his family was that nobody had seen it coming, but Lamar notes that he had known from an earlier age. The rapper recalls his cousin playing with barbie dolls and having an aura about her that always stood out to him. That being said, he also notes that his sick sense of humor, wherein one says the f-slur for comedic relief, was no longer funny to Mary-Ann. Lamar acknowledges how he hurt Mary-Ann at the time and created a rift in their relationship. 

The fourth and final verse centers on the church, a beacon of his community, but one that targeted Mary-Ann for her gender identity and hated her for it. She is described as having a stronger faith than many of the straight people in the church. The preacher, however, believes Mary-Ann is the cause of all the wrong in the world because he sees her gender identity as an abomination. On Easter Sunday, the preacher verbally assaults Mary-Ann and Lamar’s uncle, and Lamar stands up for them, choosing “humanity over religion.” Lamar reflects on how the f-slurs he said as a kid hurt his relatives, and he likens the term to the use of the N-word by a white fan that he brought on stage during his 2018 Hangout Music Festival performance. 

It is crucial to understand that the rapper is well-intentioned when analyzing this song, as he is trying to understand and extend compassion to his relatives. Critical generosity is a term AIDS theatre critic David Roman defines as “a new mode of criticism appropriate to the demands of the historical conditions.” (Muehlhoff, 2018). Essentially, it is an approach to criticism that focuses on understanding a piece based on the artist’s intentions, the context of the production, and finding what is helpful within a piece, even if it does not apply to you. With this approach, we can present flaws in the message of the song as places for work without rejecting the entire message of the song or disregarding the impact that it can still have. The critical response to this song has taken issue with two elements: the repeated usage of the F-slur throughout the song and the deadnaming and misgendering present in all four verses. 

Lamar uses the f-slur in this song when playing the character of his younger self in elementary and middle school. Lamar chose to use the f-slur for narrative purposes to present his past self in an unfiltered light, and as he ages and matures throughout the song, the language matures as well. In Marcus J. Moore’s review of the album for NPR, Moore writes that Lamar “repeats the word for emphasis, offering that his past use of it came from a child who did not know any better, yet still saying it, as a grown adult who should know better. That he would take a shock jock’s approach to a term that is not his to reclaim speaks to a bigger, more wearying theme of this album — a grudge with, in Lamar’s words, ‘cancel culture’” (Moore, 2022). While Moore may be right that there is a shocking element to the repeated usage of the term, I believe that the rapper uses the term to create a stark difference between Lamar’s childhood ignorance and his growth since then rather than for humor or melodrama as the term “shock jock” suggests. The accusation that Lamar does not know better seems unfounded, considering the closing lyrics of the song, which compare the homophobic slur to the N-word. Lamar also critiques the culture around the humorous usage of the f-slur throughout the song. Writing for Vox, Daric L. Cottingham points out that “the defense [for using the f-slur] for many is that as long as it’s meant to be a joke, it doesn’t qualify as harm. This ideology is especially present in Black religious communities like the one Lamar grew up in. It’s an ideology that he tries to critique honestly by stating his complacency” (Cottingham, 2022). Calling attention to this issue in his community and how he has been complicit in its perpetuation demonstrate Lamar’s awareness of the depth of the harm caused by this language. Lamar should not be using the f-slur, but this song could signify the end of its inclusion in his music, as it is not present on any other track on the album, and its use is a callback to a previous version of himself. 

Lamar’s deadnaming and misgendering of his relatives in the song shows an inner conflict; He is still learning. There are instances in the song where Lamar deadnames his relatives in the context of quoting others, be it the preacher in the fourth verse or his cousins in the third verse. In other instances, Lamar speaks from the perspective of his younger self, a version of himself he states did not know any better. There is, however, one instance in which Lamar deadnames Caitlyn Jenner, which seems unjustifiable even within the narrative context of the song. Additionally, Lamar’s deadnaming of Caitlyn Jenner can be hurtful because it devalues her womanhood by pointing out that she did not always identify as a woman. Janet Mock, a notable trans journalist and writer explains her progression towards coming out that even though she admits that she had uncertainties about her gender identity before coming out, that “doesn’t discount [her] womanhood. It adds value to it” (Mock 2015, p. 16). In the process of deadnaming, the value gained in self-discovery is disregarded. While Lamar states that he understands the gravity of using the f-slur, it is not clear that he sees that using the wrong name for someone who has transitioned is highly offensive. 

Kendrick Lamar’s “Auntie Diaries” gives insight into how having relatives who are trans can force someone to reckon with their transphobia and is a snapshot into the mind of an artist who is still in the middle of that reckoning. Lamar’s work on this song is breaking new ground within his genre, and although the artist can still learn more to aid queer folks within hip-hop’s mainstream, this song is still useful. There is an importance in the story of a rapper grappling with his homophobia, especially for a rapper with as much credibility and influence within the industry as Kendrick Lamar, that must be recognized. There remains quite a lot of homophobia in the music industry, and he has the power to make strides in challenging that culture of intolerance. It is a flawed song: it heavily uses slurs and uses deadnaming, and misgendering. That being said, the idea of hip-hop that questions transphobic notions is quite revolutionary. For this reason, it benefits the consumers of this art to appreciate it within the context of its creation.

References 

Muehlhoff, T. (2019, May 20). Critical Generosity: Gently Confronting the Sacred. Biola University Center for Christian Thought / The Table. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://cct.biola.edu/critical-generosity-gently-confronting-sacred/ 

Aswad, J. (2022, May 15). Kendrick Lamar’s ‘auntie diaries’ is a powerful, genre-shifting statement on transphobia. Variety. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://variety.com/2022/music/news/kendrick-lamar-auntiediaries-trans-rights-transphobia-1235266310/ 

Chideya, F. (2007, June 20). Roundtable: Homophobia in hip-hop. NPR. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2007/06/20/11223359/roundtable-homophobia-in-hip-hop 

Cottingham, D. L. (2022, May 18). Kendrick Lamar’s auntie diaries is a clumsy attempt at trans acceptance. Vox. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.vox.com/culture/23101387/kenrick-lamarauntie-diaries-transphobic-morale-big-steppers 

Hermes, W. (2020, January 3). The 100 best albums of the 2010s. Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 28, 2022, from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/ best-albums-2010s-ranked-913997/kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly album-917421/ 

Kristobak, R. (2016, November 11). Has A tribe called quest progressed past writing Hip Hop’s most homophobic song? Culture Trip. Retrieved May 28, 2022, from https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/new-york/articles/has-a-tribe-called-quest-progressed-past-writing-hip-hops-most-homophobic-song/ 

Lewis, M. O. M. (2021, October 4). Why Kendrick Lamar is the most political rapper in modern-day pop culture. Literary Hub. Retrieved May 28, 2022, from https://lithub.com/why-kendrick-lamar-is-the-most-political-rapper-in modern-day-pop-culture/

Mock, J. (2015). Chapter 1. In Redefining realness: My path to womanhood, identity, Love & so much more (pp. 16–16). essay, Simon & Schuster. 

Moore, M. J. (2021). How “You Got Robbed”. In The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America (pp. 1–28). essay, Hodder & Stoughton. 

Moore, M. J. (2022, May 18). Kendrick Lamar is ready to talk. is he ready to listen? NPR. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2022/05/18/1099601607/ kendrick-lamar-mr-morale-big-steppers-review 

Ugwu, R. (2012, May 24). Kendrick Lamar speaks on Gay Marriage. BET. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://www.bet.com/article/0h5ajq/kendrick-lamar speaks-on-gay-marriage