Last year, Kendrick Lamar put out an album for the first time since 2017. Like anything else, its popularity changes with social media. In the last year, the popularity spiked with the use of the beginning of “United in Grief.” The angelic music stirred emotions which captured me, so I took it offline and listened. The album in and of itself is a work of art. Heart and love were put in more than I can begin to explain. I listened over and over, but always found myself running back to one of the last songs, “Auntie Diaries.”
This song talks about the journeys a young child takes to understand their family members’ LGBTQ+ lives. It starts talking about his aunt,
My auntie is a man now
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-auntie-diaries-lyrics
This lyric is used to describe either the transition of his now uncle or a child’s understanding of a lesbian relationship. In this song he is young, so the childlike innocence is something that helps show that that phrase can be used in either direction. As the song continues, it talks more about his growing up around his aunt, what they did together, what he witnessed, and things said to and about the aunt. The f-slur is heavily used in this song because they were kids and didn’t understand what it meant. They heard the adults say it, so they repeated it. This simple fact shows just how different times are from then to now.
Moving into the last two verses, he talks about his cousin,
Demetri is Mary-Ann now
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-auntie-diaries-lyrics
We get into the trans experience and how it was clear from a young age that his cousin wasn’t comfortable in their body. The heavy concept of not being accepted by family is brought in. He says how he always knew that something was different about this cousin, but he was never sure what. Over the years, she crawled in her shell until she came out.
We get into the resentment of the church soon after.
Which I found ironic ’cause the pastor didn’t see him the same
He said my cousin was going through some things
He promised the world we living in was an act on abomination
And Demetrius was to blame
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-auntie-diaries-lyrics
We see the discrimination from the church and just how much it hurts. As someone who has lived through an event like this, it’s easy to say that it rarely gets better.
Church and family discrimination hurt worse than it can be understood unless you are living it. Living a life in the shadows of who you want to be is terrible. I don’t wish it on anyone. This song hits home, and it’s clear with how I talk about it.
Overall, I absolutely love this song. I love how we can interpret it in different ways. I love that this issue is presented by a rapper with a large platform. People heard this song and were able to feel seen for their experiences. Knowing that someone else was helped by this song makes me incredibly happy.