Immortality, Sin, and Madness in Hip-hop and Shakespeare

Immortality, Sin, and Madness in Hip-hop and Shakespeare

         Shakespeare has influenced hip-hop since its birth in the 70’s. Emcee ‘Akala’ comments on this phenomena in his 2011 TEDx talk in Aldeburgh. Akala is an award winning hip-hop artist and founder of ‘The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company,’ that explores the “social, cultural and linguistic parallels between the works of William Shakespeare and that of modern day hip-hop artists” (hiphopshakespeare.com). In Akala’s TEDx talk, he focuses primarily on the rhythmic parallels between Shakespeare and hip-hop using the Iambic pentameter as a prime example. Although the rhythmic comparisons drawn between the two subjects are essential to defining hip-hops identity, I believe that more impactful comparisons can be made between the themes in Shakespeare’s plays and those of stories told within popular hip-hop songs. Kendrick Lamar, a Grammy award winning rapper, is renowned by his ability to spin stories with his lyricism. Off of his award winning album good kid, m.A.A.d city comes a 12-minute compilation of the stories of Compton residents in the form of the song “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.”  Kendrick Lamar’s “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth share the common themes of manipulation by evil, a mad pursuit for power, and the yearn to feel immortal.

Prior to Macbeth’s rise to power as king, he is hesitant about murdering Duncan in order to seize the crown. This internal struggle produces conflict between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as she believes she is deserving of the life he refuses to provide for her. Upon learning his hesitation she voices,“Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? / And wakes it now, to look so green and pale / At what it did so freely? From this time / Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard /To be the same in thine own act and valor / As thou art in desire” (Act 1 scene 7). Shakespeare, in this interaction, portrays Lady Macbeth as the root of Macbeth’s evil and the force that drives him into madness. She questions his honor and guilts him into committing acts that disobey his moral codes. Kendrick Lamar uses a similar idea of manipulation of evil taking the perspective of a man after the death of his brother. He writes, “My plan’s rather vindictive / Everybody’s a victim in my eyes / When I ride it’s a murderous rhythm / And outside became pitch black / A demon glued to my back, whispering / ‘Get’em!’” (Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst). In this example, Lamar uses a more concrete representation of manipulation through its personification in the “demon.” This demon looms over the narrator and encourages him to commit vengeful acts against his better judgement or will.

As Macbeth’s power and status grew, alongside it grew his madness. After the murder of Duncan, and the departure of his sons, Macbeth was named the king of Scotland. With this new title came a newfound obsession of protecting his royal position. This obsession lead to the murder of countless other in Macbeth’s court and the deterioration of his own mental health. In a state of delusion Macbeth speaks, “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable / As this which now I draw. / Thou marshal’st me the way that I was going … It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes” (Act 2, scene 1). Macbeth, although able to distinguish the vision as a delusion, is still influenced by the presence of violence at the forefront of his mind. As the play progresses, instead of reconciling with his feelings of guilt, Macbeth delves deeper into his madness stranding him in a place with no return. This propagation of madness is similarly represented in the second part of Lamar’s “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.” This section of the song revolves around Lamar’s thirst for salvation from the heinous acts he committed as part of gangbanger culture in Compton. As the song progresses his thirst grows stronger and his desperation for salvation becomes too much to bear. He writes, “You dyin’ of thirst, you dyin’ of thirst / So hop in that water, and pray that it works” (Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst). In his conclusion to the song, Lamar throws caution to the wind as he attempts to find solace within the “water” of hip-hop. Although he is unsure whether or not it will cure his thirst, he surrounds himself with this new situation out of desperation and hopes for the best.

As the end of the play draws near, so does the end of Macbeth’s legacy. With his obsession with preserving his title dictating his actions, Macbeth seeks aid from the Three Weird Sisters. They provide him cryptic prophecies that assist him in eliminating threats to his power. The prophecies, at a point, begin to suggest Macbeth being unkillable by any man born of a woman. This gives Macbeth a false sense of security with his position that leads to his downfall. A similar prophecy reads, “Sweet bodements, good! / Rebellious dead, rise never till the wood / Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth / Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath/ To time and mortal custom” (Act 4, scene 1). This prediction from the Weird Sisters solidifies the idea of Macbeth’s immortality at the hands of others. His power is destined to remain intact until a forest uproots itself and moves to another location. At this point, Macbeth begins to obsess over his legacy and how to maintain it. A similar obsession with legacy is seen in the chorus of  Lamar’s “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.” He repeats throughout the song, “When the lights shut off and it’s my turn / To settle down, my main concern /Promise that you will sing about me / Promise that you will sing about me” (Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst). Throughout the multiple stories of Compton residents, Lamar suggests their inability to cope with their mortality. Each character he portrays ends their verse with this mantra telling Kendrick Lamar to keep their memory alive and to put them in one of his songs. Lamar voices this same fear of mortality in the verse form his own perspective, speaking about his close association to death being from Compton.

Shakespeare has influenced hip-hop since its birth. Although many comparisons can be drawn between the rhythmic performance of Shakespeare plays and popular hip-hop songs, his influence goes deeper than the surface level. Many of the issues and themes tackled in Shakespeare’s Macbeth are also the focus of Kendrick Lamar’s social commentary that is “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.” Sin, madness, and immortality are the focus of both these works and create a beautiful parallel that transcends generations.