The song that represents Kendrick Lamar’s whole story: “On the spiritual level”
Kendrick Lamar wasn’t fully polished when he first started rapping. It all came with life experience and years of perfecting his craft. However, he did show signs of brilliance even in the early days of his career. Some of his very first mixtapes contain gems that are often overlooked in his catalogue, since they’re not available on streaming platforms.
The Compton rapper released his self-titled EP in 2009, which was really the start of everything when it comes to his high-level projects. It was also the first project to be released under the stage name, Kendrick Lamar, having previously gone by K. Dot. Released as a free download, the body of work never made it onto services like Spotify and Apple Music.
‘Faith’ is one of the highlight moments on the Kendrick Lamar EP. In the first verse of the song, Kendrick raps about feeling cleansed from church, before his thoughts switch up after the death of his friend. He spits, “Hopped on the pulpit and told them how I was truly blessed/ Felt like I’m free from all my sins when the service was over/ Walked out the church, then got a call that my homie was murdered/ Then lost my faith again.”
Then, in the second verse, he details the life of a family in Compton, growing up with a single mother and a father who’s not around. He raps, “Single Black parent from Compton, raising children of four/ That’s four innocent bastards, ’cause papa they don’t know/ Her day consists of working back and forth with babysitters/ Can’t find no one to watch her kids, so she pay her sister.”
Kendrick was 22 at the time, and his storytelling was light-years above that of someone typically his age. That same quality was later heard in globally acclaimed albums such as good kid, m.A.A.d city, To Pimp a Butterfly, and Mr Morale and the Big Steppers. But ‘Faith’ was a song that Kendrick feels like sums up his entire life story.
His fans would always have a positive reaction to the song, which features TDE president Terrence ‘Punch’ Henderson and BJ the Chicago Kid. “The ultimate response I get is to a song called ‘Faith’,” he told XXL. “It’s more on the spiritual level. My whole story is about kids trying their best — the Black male or people in general trying to avoid the circumstances that’s around them.”
He continued, “This song represents that. I’m actually talking about how I was almost — I was faithful. I went to church one day and I got the word and it changed my outlook on life. Then I walked out the church and got a call that my homie just got killed. So now I’m back on the bullshit. It’s a true story.”
Kendrick knows first-hand what it’s like to escape the dangers of life in Compton. With the Menahan Street Band-sampling ‘Faith’, he was able to tie it all together with his view of the church and how the outside world made him doubt everything he ever believed. It was the makings of one of hip-hop’s greatest MCs.