Kendrick Lamar Hot New Music 2015: 'Heaven Help Dem' with Jonathan Emile [Watch]
Kendrick Lamar has teamed up with Jonathan Emile to confront injustice on a brand new track titled "Heaven Help Dem."
The conscious hip-hop track is a tribute to the victims of police brutality, such as Sanford's Trayvon Martin, Ferguson's Michael Brown and Staten Island's Eric Garner.
"This song is dedicated to the murders," the Montreal rapper opens the cut with a serious introduction. "May God judge you accordingly. Good luck with that one..."
Emile also points out the struggles in today's world. "You see the beast starts sprayin' / That's what I'm sayin' / Dem not playin' / Lord, Heaven Help Dem, Heaven Help Dem / See di man dem ' pon di corner' pon cocked ready to draw / When dem face in-front of Jah," he raps in the hook.
Lamar then offers his unreleased, never-before-heard verse, which he actually recorded back in 2012. He talks about the loss of young black life, inspired by Kanye West's 2004 track "We Don't Care" that features a line, "We wasn't s'pposed to make it past 25."
"They all say the average black man only live till 25 / Pac died at 25 / How many kids you know dead at 20? 5?" K. Dot raps. "Now that's life I know 10 that's crumbling in coffins / Dead as a doorknob, fresh out of high-school and couldn't find no job / Went straight to the grave."
The TDE emcee's latest verse clearly relates to his previous "Untitled" song, in which he is optimistic about changing society, rapping: "What the black man say? / Tell 'em we don't die, tell 'em we don't die / Tell 'em we don't die, we multiply."
The rap duo's powerful message follows Kendrick Lamar's recent comments on the Michael Brown shooting. "What happened to him should've never happened. Never," he told Billboard. "But when we don't have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us? It starts from within."
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