Duckworth
Kendrick Lamar released his album DAMN when I was in high school and at first, I wasn’t impressed. I felt the two albums he released previously were masterpieces and his latest didn’t live up to them. Since then, DAMN has grown on me and is the album I listen to the most from Kendrick. What I appreciate about his music is the storytelling, which I think he does better than any other rapper.
“Duckworth” is the last song featured on Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 album DAMN. The song tells a story involving two important figures in Kendrick’s life, his father Kenny Duckworth and his manager Anthony Tifith, also known as Top Dawg. Kendrick begins the story by describing Anthony’s life inside the Nickerson Garden projects where he was drawn into crime at a young age. He is depicted as a hustler who found success early, earning a million dollars at twenty and being the first in his neighborhood with a “two-tone Mustang.” Despite his lifestyle’s benefits, it landed him in trouble with the police who investigated him for murder, although they were unable to prove his connection. The story continues by introducing Kenny, referred to as Ducky, who moved from Chicago with Kendrick’s mother. Ducky worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street from “the projects.” Anthony just so happened to have robbed that KFC in the past and was planning on repeating the crime, which Ducky suspected after noticing him occasionally around the store. Ducky decided to try getting on his good side by giving him extra food when he would order. The gesture worked out in Ducky’s favor, as Anthony grew to like him and decided not to hold up the store as planned.
The events between Anthony and Ducky would end up having a greater impact on their lives than they could have imagined at the time. Kendrick points out that if Anthony had gone through with his plan and murdered his father in the process, he would have grown up without that important figure in his life. Without a role model, he would likely have fallen into a life of crime and never became the “greatest rapper.” This surely would have changed the trajectory of Anthony’s life as well, who was already looked at unfavorably by the police and would have served life in prison if had killed Ducky, according to Kendrick. Anthony went on to start Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), which signed Kendrick early in his career. Anthony’s label would go on to sign other well-known artists such as SZA, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul.
The story is a reminder that the decisions we make impact not only ourselves but those around us as well. Ducky’s decision to show kindness affected himself, Anthony, his son Kendrick, and even the people who would eventually be impacted by Kendrick’s music. The fact that both Ducky and Anthony would eventually be connected again through Kendrick’s career may have been a coincidence, but the choices they made beforehand are what ultimately determined their fates.