“Say Drake…”

To finish that sentence, Kendrick Lamar, looked intensely into the cameras during his epic Super Bowl performance and said: “Say, Drake, I hear you like em young…you better not ever go to cell block 1” The crowd both at home and in the stadium, went wild. For several reasons, the main one being the questions and doubts that he would even perform this now global diss of Drake. In the weeks leading into the Superbowl, news circulated that NFL executives didn’t want Kendrick to perform the now Grammy award-winning diss at all. Well Kendrick, instead chose lyrical violence and put on a performance that will go down in musical history.

Kendrick’s performance quite frankly was everything essentially missing in communications today. It was a merging of culture, politics, history, street smarts, lyrical gameplay and so much more. From Serena Williams taking the stage in Crip blue and crip walking to “Not Like Us”, after sparking controversy for crip walking during her Wimbledon win in 2012 to Samuel Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam demanding KDOT stay in line and “Do Better” Kendrick told a story that continues to resonate days, weeks and months after. When you take a moment to watch the show again, you can’t ignore the symbolism weaved throughout. Kendrick’s dancers were outfitted in the American flag colors, red, white, and blue, drawing a representation of the labor of enslaved people who built this country. The set was designed to represent a prison yard, a direct connection to disparities in mass incarceration. That’s storytelling and communications at its finest - not only powerful words but illustrative themes and symbolism to back it up and give it emotion.

Today, we are in a climate of immense polarization and racial divide at the hands of our administration (I can’t bring myself to type the word “president”), and Kendrick let us all know now is not the time to fall in line, play nice, and be quiet. We are in the midst of a revolution and whether we like it or not, we ALL must choose a side. Choose a battle. How you communicate the side you are on, must show up in your voice both as an organization and as a leader, you can’t afford to lay low in hopes this too shall pass. It won’t and the time to join forces with like-minded leaders and organizations that are standing firm in their work on equity and equality is now.

Does your organization’s messaging and narrative resonate with the people you are working so hard to help and the partners you need to work with to evoke change?

Let’s work together to rise and stand firm in your work, show the world you came to do good, but plan to stay to do better. Because after all in the poignant words of Kendrick “They not like us.”