What Kendrick Lamar's Hip Hop Song "King Kunta" Means (With Special Attention To What He Meant By "Yams")

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about Hip Hop rapper and songwriter Kendrick Lamar. This post also includes quotes from internet articles and comments about Kendrick Lamar's 2015 song "King Kunta" with special attention to the meaning/s of the word "yams" in this Hip Hop track.

Partial lyrics* to Kendrick Lamar's "King Kunta" are included in this post along with a link to a YouTube video of "King Kunta".

*This blog only provides partial spelling for profanity and a form of what is commonly referred to as "the n word".

The content of this post is presented for cultural purposes.

All rights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Kendrick Lamar for his musical legacy. Thanks to each of the composers of this Hip Hop song and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT KENDRICK LAMAR
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendrick_Lamar
"Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. He embarked on his musical career as a teenager under the stage name K-Dot, releasing a mixtape that garnered local attention and led to his signing with indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE)...

Lamar won his first Grammy Award for "i", lead single from his critical acclaimed third album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). The album drew on free jazz, funk, soul, and spoken word, debuted atop the charts in the U.S. and the UK, and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 58th ceremony...

Lamar has received a number of accolades over the course of his career, including seven Grammy Awards. In early 2013, MTV named Lamar the number one "Hottest MC in the Game", on their annual list.[1] Time named Lamar one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016.[2] Aside from his solo career, Lamar is also known as a member of the West Coast hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside his TDE label-mates and fellow South Los Angeles-based rappers Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q.[3]"...

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INFORMATION ABOUT KENDRICK LAMAR'S "KING KUNTA"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kunta
"King Kunta" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar, taken from his third album, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). It was released as the album's third single on March 9, 2015....

Writing and composition
"King Kunta" is a reference to the archetypal rebellious slave Kunta Kinte,[2] the basis of the main character from the Alex Haley novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The song contains an interpolation of "Get Nekkid" (2000), written by Johnny Burns and performed by Mausberg; resung lyrics from "Smooth Criminal" (1987), written and performed by Michael Jackson; elements of the 1974 James Brown song "The Payback", written by Brown, Fred Wesley, and John Starks; and a sample from the 1994 song "We Want the Funk", written and performed by Ahmad Lewis.[3] Background vocals are provided by Whitney Alford.

Critical reception
"King Kunta" was placed at number seven on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Songs of 2015" list, with the editors commenting, "The fiercest and most funkadelic track on To Pimp a Butterfly takes aim at everything from Lamar's haters to "the power that be." We already knew Kendrick was a great lyricist; turns out he's kind of a badass, too."...

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[PARTIAL] LYRICS: KING KUNTA
(Written By Ahmad, Redfoo, Johnny Burns, Thundercat & Kendrick Lamar)

[Hook]
B&tch*, where you when I was walkin'?
Now I run the game, got the whole world talkin'
King Kunta
Everybody wanna cut the legs off him
(King) Kunta
Black man taking no losses, oh yeah
B&tch*, where you when I was walkin'?
Now I run the game, got the whole world talkin'
King Kunta
Everybody wanna cut the legs off him
When you got the yams—(What's the yams?)

[Verse 1]
The yam is the power that be
You can smell it when I'm walkin' down the street
(Oh yes, we can, oh yes, we can)
I can dig rappin', but a rapper with a ghost writer?
What the f&&k* happened? (Oh no!)
I swore I wouldn't tell, but most of y'all sharing bars
Like you got the bottom bunk in a two-man cell
(A two man cell)
Something's in the water (something's in the water)
And if I gotta brown-nose for some gold
Then I'd rather be a bum than a motherf___n'* baller

[Hook]

[Verse 2]
The yam brought it out of Richard Pryor
Manipulated Bill Clinton with desires
24/7, 365 days times two
I was contemplatin' gettin' on stage
Just to go back to the hood, see my enemy, and say… (oh yeah)

[...]

Source: https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-king-kunta-lyrics
-snip-
The complete lyrics to this song are given on that page.
*These words are completely spelled out on that page.

Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRK7PVJFbS8 for a YouTube video of this song (WARNING: Includes profanity and a form of "the n word".)

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ANALYSIS OF KENDRICK LAMAR'S "KING KUNTA" (With Special Attention To The Meaning Of "Yams" In That Song)
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only
Excerpt #1:
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-king-kunta-lyrics
About the lyrics to this song, Created by UBOOBOO, 2015
"Kunta Kinte, a fictional 18th-century slave, is the main character of the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. Kinte is known for having his right foot cut off because of his attempts to escape his plantation.

Kendrick presents Kunta Kinte’s name as a “King Kunta” to contrast the lowest and highest levels of society, and provide a feeling of empowerment similar to ‘i’*. In addition, the sentiment illustrates Kendrick’s personal growth from being in the hood, to the present day as a major voice in hip hop. He further explained the influences behind writing this song to NME". [video blocked in the USA]
-snip-
*From the Wikipedia page quoted above: [Kendrick] "Lamar won his first Grammy Award for "i", lead single from his critical acclaimed third album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)".
-snip-
The lyrics ..."where you when I was walkin'?" refers to the times when Kendrick Lamar was struggling to make it in life (or specifically, in Hip Hop) in contrast to him now being chauffeured around in expensive cars because he is so successful.

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Excerpt #2:
From http://justrandomthings.com/2015/03/14/kendrick-lamar-releases-new-single-king-kunta-analysis-and-meaning/ KENDRICK LAMAR RELEASES NEW SINGLE “KING KUNTA” (ANALYSIS AND MEANING)
by Adam@JRT, March 14, 2015
"Make way Hip Hop, King Kendrick is back. And he is very clear about it in his latest single “King Kunta” from his upcoming album ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’. Like his previous single “The Blacker The Berry“, Kendrick addresses Black oppression in “King Kunta”. Looks like the new album is going to be single-themed. Alongside the rich meaning behind the song, it is also a musical beauty, as K Dot spits some fiery lines on some stripped down beats

[...]

Verse 1 has Kendrick talking about ‘yams’ which is a slang for cocaine. He speaks about the drugs issues in the world, as has he done in “The Blacker The Berry” too. He says how openly (freely) the drug trades are carried out in the streets–often protected by powerful hands who are there to stop them. “Oh yes we can” scream is a drug seller’s confidence as to what he does.

[...]
-snip-
Selected comments from this article:
1. Grant, 2015
"Yams is not exclusively drugs but is more generally power. It comes from the novel "Things fall apart" where the power of a man was determined by the amount of yams they were able to harvest. Yams can be anything that gives someone power."

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2. DK, 2015
"I agree with Grant. He's referencing a power structure - the powers that be, the industry or something bigger."...

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3. Trader Joe, 2015
"I'll give you something else to consider about "yam".

yam is the chant if you will of the heart chakra.

heartz of men by Tupac is also in reference to this chakra and contains a sample of Richard Pryor throughout the song."...
-snip-
Regarding that article's reference to Kendrick Lamar and "The Blacker The Berry", in African American vernacular culture the complete, often used saying is "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice".

Here's some information about Kendrick Lamar's use of that saying from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blacker_the_Berry_(song):
" "The Blacker the Berry" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on February 9, 2015 as the second single from his third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly.[1] The song features vocals from Jamaican artist Assassin. It shares its title with the novel The Blacker the Berry by American author Wallace Thurman, which deals with similar themes of racism. The album version of the song also features additional vocals from neo soul singer Lalah Hathaway."
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/02/kendrick-lamars-grammy-2016-performance.html for the pancocojams post "Kendrick Lamar's Grammy 2016 Performance (Songs: "Blacker The Berry" & "Alright").

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Excerpt #3:
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRK7PVJFbS8
2017
1. Andrew Erickson
"What are these "yams" he is referring to?"

**
Reply
2. Ghazi
"Andrew Erickson This line includes an allusion to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man; the unnamed narrator is walking down the streets of New York City when he smells yams, triggering memories of his hometown in the South. The yam is used as a symbol of authenticity; the protagonist famously declares, “I yam what I am.” Here Kendrick is declaring his own authenticity, unlike the rappers he disses in the rest of the verse.

Yams are a key ingredient in African cuisine and have significance in some parts of Africa as a sign of social status. In his novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe begins by documenting how a man’s worth in Igbo society was largely determined by his yearly yam yield. When Kendrick says he “got the yams,” he means he has attained money, power and prestige.

Big butts on healthy ladies and balloons filled with drugs (particularly heroin) are also colloquially known as “yams”."

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Reply
3. Andrew Erickson
"soooooooo.... What is up with the throne?"

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Reply
4. Harmen Luth
"If you haven't heard of it yet, genius.com is a great lyric site, the community and sometimes even the artists annotate lyrics to explain their meaning or references.

The throne here is obviously there to state that he is the king of the game at this time, 'now i run the game, got the whole world talkin'.

Kunta, by the way, was a slave in a novel by Alex Haley whose foot was cut off ('Everybody wanna cut the legs off him') because he tried to escape his owners. By calling himself King Kunta we can see the meaning of a lot of Kendricks work - the slave (growing up in a poor family and bad neighbourhood) became the king (of the rap scene).

Basically, King Kunta is a contradictio[n] in term[s], and so is Kendrick."

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Reply
5. Donger Ino
"Yams also is an innuendo for testicles, which is why he talks about Richard Pryor, (who had 7 wives and children) and Bill Clinton (who got impeached after scandals about his affair with his wife, Hillary Clinton)"

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6. Glambylitabe
"sneek diss on drake"

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Reply
7. Dep99_#5
"Glambylitabe pretty sure he's dissing ghost writers in general, not just directly at Drake""

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2015
C D
8. "Yams? Everyone knows Jeezy hide yams at his aunty house."

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Reply
9. mrsuns10
"Akon Weezy Jeezy holding down New Jersey"

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Reply
10. ShadowJin
"had me laughing"

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Reply
Kickz&Chicks
11. "+Chris D And Then what?? Lol"

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Reply
12. ThunderNick
"Can someone explain I feel stupid for not getting it. I know who Jeezy is like I just don't understand the joke."

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Reply
13. Lyon Hart
"+ThunderNick Jeezy track off thugmotivation101 he says hid the yams in my auntie house on the hook #AndThenWhat"

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Reply
14. Tyler
"+Chris D He's* referring to the yams that the African civilization in Achebe's book Things Fall Apart used as a form of currency. The story told of a black civilization being destroyed by white men forcing their culture on black civilizations through missionary efforts."
-snip-
*He" in this comment refers to Kendrick Lamar and not "Jeezy".

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Jeezy
"Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977),[2] better known by his stage name Young Jeezy (or simply Jeezy), is an American rap artist from Atlanta, Georgia."
-snip-
In Jeezy's above mentioned song, I'm assuming that "yams" referred to drugs.

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