“King Kunta” Kendrick Lamar Lyrics (Post Challenge 2)

The song “King Kunta” by Kendrick Lamar, is a song which uses a derogatory term repeatedly, but the song lyrics themselves do not degrade women. The first line in the chorus is “Bitch where were you when I was walking?” The term bitch is repeated throughout the song, used over eight times in total. The term bitch has a derogatory connotation and is used in a negative way to describe women. Yet, in “King Kunta” the song is not about women, sex or degrading the female gender. In this song, Kendrick Lamar speaks to his career, success, drug use among powerful men in society, other rappers and death. The title and one of the verses is about an enslaved man, Kunta- Kinte, who was brought from Africa to the Americas. He attempted to escape multiple times, and after his last attempt, he enslavers cut off his feet. The song does not mention women, and is not based on a type of masculinity which degrades them. The song is based on a number of complex and intense topics, which speak to important facets of society and history. Kendrick does not use the term “bitch” as a negative term describing women in this song. The word is not used to depict women, but to emphasize the rest of the lyrics. Attempting to replace this word with others could potentially work for the lyrics, but would not have the same effect. “Bitch” fits in terms of the rhythm and rest of the lyrics. This song is a unique moment where “bitch”  is not used in a song to add to the degradation of women.