Anyone not new to Kendrick Lamar knows that his seminal debut, Good Kid mA.A.d City, was so incredible because it vividly captured his complicated, heartbreaking, musical coming of age in Compton, Calif.
Besides his genius lyrics and song, a large part of that magic was Kendrick getting his hilarious mother and father on an interlude or two. His mom was especially memorable when she got funky with a young K.Dot for not bringing her car back, but then tempering her scolding over his fuckup with tender concern, especially after the violent deaths of his family and friends.
Her last words on the album were: “ .... And I love you Kendrick, if I don’t hear you knocking on the door you know where I usually leave the key. All right? Talk to you later, bye.”
Well, Miss Mama, Paula Oliver, made a comeback—this time in real life.
Lamar shared a text from his mother on Saturday, and it perfectly captured her essence:
“OMG. This cd is bombbbbb!” she began, referring to his latest release, Damn. She then texted a whole mother-to-son conversation that encapsulated her pride, humor, old-person use-of emojis and fierce black-mother love. And she should be proud; his latest is set to land at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week.
Lamar replied, saying that she was OD’ing on the emojis.
He’s lucky to have her.