Kendrick Lamar: Institutionalized Behind These Walls – Lyrics Crossover

Hilarious video, and great crossover between the two tracks Insitutionalized and These Walls.

Kendrick Lamar, aka King Kunta, or King Kendrick, the one with mad influence, appears behind the walls of a motel.

The motel here, being the metaphor for the society’s vices: the brainwashing ideas about getting rich, having the baddest chicks, even those “not genetically possible to f*ck”.

All of these things some people crave for, and some other die for, is blinding and enslaving their mind:

“If I was the president
[…]
Master, take the chains off me!”

Besides, what Kendrick has pointed in this song Institutionalized,  relates to the famous J. Cole’s speech for Love Yourz:

This is why To Pimp A Butterfly drives us to Love (self love, love and respect of other, love and unity…)

1 These Walls – “Take the recipe, the Bible and God”

That’s all you’ve got left when you’re in jail.

2 These Walls “(Female Moaning) If these walls could talk (x6) – Sex”

The pink lips as wall decoration, to stand for sex.

“Interior pink, color coordinated
I interrogated, every nook and cranny“

3 – These Walls – “Every time I come around, demolition might/gon’ crush”

4 – Institutionalized – “The constant big money talk ’bout the mansion and foreign whips”

“The private jets and passport, presidential glass floor
Gold bottles, gold models, sniffin’ up the ass for“

That constant big money talk, brainwashed state of mind of these ghetto men, is illustrated by the words in the mouth of Terry Crews:

“- Get that money, and come out

–  […] They gon’ get my money to me, he gon’ get my money to you

–  […] We gon’ go in here, get the money, get out, as simple as that.”

This dialogue recalls the verse where Kendrick says:
“So many Rollies around you and you want all of them
Somebody told me you thinkin’ ’bout snatchin’ jewelry” as Kendrick condemns violence and envy.

This reflects also the great appetite of the poor, envying the rich, “appetite for something  [he] can barely describe” (Momma – To Pimp A Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar)

Appetite of the caterpillar who never “knew it was fly when [he] was just a caterpillar” (Chance The Rapper – Everything’s Good).

Talking about “appetite’ it also recalls the interview with TuPac, saying:

“Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetising, you know what I’m saying, wealthy, appetising. The poor gonna be so poor and hungry, you know what I’m saying it’s gonna be like… there might be some cannibalism out this mutha, they might eat the rich” (Mortal Man – To Pimp A Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar)

5 – Institutionalized “Institutionalized, I can still kill me a nigga so what”

“What money got to do with it
When I don’t know the full definition of a rap image?
I’m trapped inside the ghetto and I ain’t proud to admit it

Interesting the view for the video making: putting the actor in a shady small room,

With dirty cans of paint, probably overused or misused.

6 – Institutionalized “Took his homie to the show and this is what they said”

7 – Talented but still under the neighborhood ruse”

“You can take your boy out the hood but you can’t take the hood out the homie
Took his show money, stashed it in the mozey wozey
Hollywood’s nervous
Fuck you, goodnight, thank you much for your service“

8 – These Walls – And how she think about you until we meet up at night

About the only girl that cared about you when you asked her

9 – These Walls – And how she fucking on a famous rapper

10- Dumb criminal got indicted same night

11 – These Walls – Walls telling me they full of pain, resentment”

Need someone to live in them just to relieve tension

Kendrick toasting to his revenge.

12 – “You pray for appeals hoping the warden would afford them”

13-  These Walls -So when you play this song, rewind the first verse

“About me abusing my power so you can hurt
About me and her in the shower whenever she horny
About me and her in the after hours of the morning”

14 – “I Remember You Was Conflicted”

“Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in a hotel room”