"Fear" (stylized as "FEAR.") is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, from his fourth studio album Damn, released on April 14, 2017. The twelfth track on the album (third on the Collector's Edition of Damn), the song was written by Lamar and Daniel Maman a.k.a. the Alchemist, and produced by the Alchemist, with additional production by B?kon. At seven minutes and forty-one seconds, it is the longest song on the album. Although not released as a single, the song charted in multiple countries in 2017.
The song, structured in three parts, describes events in Lamar's life, specifically his worries and fears, at the ages of seven, seventeen, and twenty-seven. The song has received critical acclaim from music critics, with multiple critics calling the track as Damn's centerpiece and also a huge standout.
Video Fear (Kendrick Lamar song)
Composition
The song begins with a voicemail from Lamar's cousin, Carl Duckworth, who, in the voicemail, speaks a verse from the Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah (a section of the Hebrew Bible). Specifically, he speaks Deuteronomy 28:28, which reads "The LORD will smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart." The first verse sees Lamar exploring the fear he experienced as a young child with a strict mother. The second verse sees Lamar exploring his teen years expressing his fear of dying at a young age. This is enforced with the gang banging and police brutality of Compton, CA. The third verse sees Lamar exploring the anxieties he showed on his third studio album To Pimp a Butterfly. These anxieties include his lack of self-confidence in himself and his abilities, as well as the fear of losing the life he had built for himself.
Maps Fear (Kendrick Lamar song)
Lyrics
The song contains "backwards vocals", also known as backmasking, or "reverse vocals". The backmasked lyrics have been described as the lyrics to the song's refrain in reverse. They appear midway through the song and occur for twenty seconds to represent Lamar going back to his childhood.
The backmasked lyrics, played forwards, reads as follows:
- Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?
- Pain in my heart carry burdens full of struggle
- Why God, why God do I gotta bleed?
- Every stone thrown at you restin' at my feet
- Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?
- Earth is no more, why don't you burn this mufucka?
Critical reception
The song has received critical acclaim from music critics, with multiple critics describing "Fear" as Damn's centerpiece. Sydney Sweeney of Atwood Magazine called "FEAR." a contemplative standout on DAMN. Maeve McDermott of USA Today said that with "FEAR.", "the album's purpose solidifies beyond its political statements, showing a portrait of an artist terrified of failure, in the eyes of his community, his peers and himself. Ryan Alfieri of DJBooth named the track as "one of [the] countless number of standout selections from his newly released opus." Writer Yoh of DJBooth described "FEAR." as "the most important song on [Damn]". However, Luke Morgan Britton of NME gave "Fear" a mixed review, saying the song "hops and skips, switches and changes, but never really settles."
Several critics have described the song's structure as similar to the 2017 Best Picture-winning film Moonlight, specifically how Moonlight follows a character in three sections - childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Because of this, Patrick Lyons of Merry Jane called Lamar "the best storyteller in hip-hop." Lawrence Burney of Vice has compared the song to Lamar's "Momma", from To Pimp a Butterfly, a track that also explores Lamar's self-actualization.
Lamar himself, in an interview with i-D Magazine, spoke highly of the track, believing some of his best verses he's ever written come from "Fear", saying "[The song's] completely honest." Lamar continued "The first verse is everything that I feared from the time that I was seven years old. The second verse I was 17. In the third, it's everything I feared when I was 27. These verses are completely honest."
Samples
The song contains a sample of Lamar's song "The Heart Part 4", a song that was released as a promotional single prior to the release of Damn. That song, in turn, contains a sample of "Poverty's Paradise", written by Dale Warren and performed by 24-Carat Black from the album Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth. According to Genius.com, the second verse contains an interpolation of rapper Beanie Sigel's song "Die", from his first studio album The Truth.
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the official Damn digital booklet.
- Kendrick Duckworth - songwriter
- Daniel Maman - songwriter, producer
- Charles Edward Sydney Isom Jr. - additional vocals
- B?kon - additional production, additional vocals
- Carl Duckworth - additional vocals
- Derek Ali - mixing
- Tyler Page - mixing, mix assistant
- Cyrus Taghipour - mix assistant
Charts
References
External links
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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