start with the song

press play to listen while you read

SONG :: the blacker the berry

ARTIST :: kendrick lamar

MOOD :: you need to git up git out and git something

SHOUTS :: to myself for my long-term kendrick obsession

next, mix together weed and endorphins

girl scout cookies

recreactional effects

data compiled from Leafly

Girl Scout Cookies (or GSC) is an OG Kush hybrid strain. It's a spacey one, and when combined with the endorphins from running (or maybe other exercise too idk), picks you up and plants you down on an astral plane of thought you may or not have been prepared to examine. But once you're there, why the fuck not? Delve.

let everything simmer until epiphanies develop

The Blacker The Berry came on the ipod today while running around the reservoir in Central Park. It's pure rage. Enraging rage. By the second chorus, you're pretty much ready to give up on humanity and burn this fucker to the ground. But then he does something - his greatest skill - just after the peak of the anger release, he transitions into this really gorgeous outro; a sad but soulful and soaring hope. This is why people see Kendrick Lamar as everything from a prophet to a leader to a visionary; a true artist.

Just as the outro kicked in (right around 4:27), a flock of geese took off from the reservoir to continue on their southbound flight. It was a really beautiful reminder of the power of nature and how we're all driven by those instinctual compulsions that we're not always aware of. It made me wonder: what drives us to do what we do and to what extent are we too bound by nature in the choices we make? How much of our ostensibly free will, is actually innate directive?

As anyone who's studied history knows, not all of our instincts exhibit a harmony with nature. We humans have shown that we're driven by a need for power. This in itself isn't insidious, but when its acquisition leads to the suppression of other voices, we start staring into a darkness that can eclipse other, brighter tendencies. It's not a new idea - we've been pulling this shit since we got started on this planet - so apparently it's also in our nature not to learn from the mistakes of our past.

Is the quest for power so seductive that we'd forsake the brighter sides of our humanity? Gaining power by stepping on those who are less willing to take what they want by force, isn't the kind of power you want. Have we really not learned that yet? It never ends well. This tendency of taking power by any means and then not learning from the inevitable repercussions (only to repeat the cycle) is our achilles heel as a species.

Breaking this loop is a fight worth picking with our nature. According to Kendrick and his message, music and beauty are the tools we need to hone if we're going to overcome those darker urges. I have faith in this man - he's already changing the world.