{"id":11305,"date":"2025-11-05T22:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T22:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/?page_id=11305"},"modified":"2025-11-05T22:34:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T22:34:00","slug":"immortal-man-professor-daylanne-english-brings-the-afterlife-to-a-literary-salon-discussing-kendrick-lamar","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/home-2\/the-words-october-2025\/immortal-man-professor-daylanne-english-brings-the-afterlife-to-a-literary-salon-discussing-kendrick-lamar\/","title":{"rendered":"Immortal Man: Professor Daylanne English brings the afterlife to a Literary Salon discussing Kendrick Lamar\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Callisto Martinez ’26<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Prof.<\/figure>
\n

On Wednesday, September 17th, attendees of Professor Daylanne English\u2019s Literary Salon, \u201cIm<\/em>mortal Man: Kendrick Lamar and the Afterlife,\u201d were beckoned into the Old Main fourth floor lounge by Parliament\u2019s funky beats and a lovely display of fresh fruit. This salon gifted attendees with a sneak peek into Prof. English\u2019s insights in her upcoming book, Soul Sounds: The Afterlife in African American Literature and Music.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some might have been surprised to enter a Kendrick Lamar-centered event to Parliament playing, Prof. English began the salon with an explanation that playing Parliament exemplifies Lamar\u2019s respect for his musical forebears. Furthermore, George Clinton, the creative lead of Parliament, has not only collaborated with Lamar numerous times, but is also one of the most sampled hip-hop artists of all time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in a universal core curriculum. However, if I did, you would need to know Parliament and Kendrick Lamar,\u201d Prof. English said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. English\u2019s choice of funk music, which got many feet tapping and heads nodding, also relates to one of the major themes of her talk \u2014 collectivity. Funk music, which is typically characterized by a heavy downbeat on the first beat of each measure, doesn\u2019t just make for good grooving, but it also symbolizes a \u201ctogether on the one\u201d form of union and Black collectivity, according to Prof. English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This collectivity is one of the core motifs in Soul Sounds: The Afterlife in African American Literature and Music, <\/em>which will feature a chapter entirely on Lamar. Prof. English explained that Lamar takes part in a long tradition within hip-hop and Black music more broadly of representing the afterlife as an agential \u2014 meaning, having agency \u2014 force that is literal, present, and politically empowering. For Prof. English, this argument challenges Afropessimistic conceptions of the afterlife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fundamental argument of Afropessimists is that there is an afterlife of slavery that continues to render Black people abject and subject to power, and it’s a grim field of thought,\u201d Prof. English said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many renowned Afropessimists view the afterlife more metaphorically, Prof. English\u2019s forthcoming book will argue for a literal interpretation of the afterlife, that is, in the words of Tupac Shakur, \u201cOne Better Place\u201d that anyone can tap into while still living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. English highlighted that Shakur, and many other icons of 90s hip-hop, were preoccupied with death and predicting their own deaths. Of the many legends of hip-hop, Lamar often cites Shakur as one of his largest influences, despite the fact that Lamar was only nine years old when Shakur died in 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis feeling, this deep connection, is quite interesting to me, and I’m thinking that part of it is the sense that Tupac lives on in a very real way for [Lamar],\u201d Prof. English explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. English then showed select clips from Shakur\u2019s \u201cI Ain\u2019t Mad At Cha\u201d music video, which depicts Shakur getting shot and killed and then going to Heaven, which is represented as a collective of powerful Black musicians in a \u201cbetter place.\u201d This music video answers an important question raised in Prof. English\u2019s salon: Why is Shakur consistently resurrected more often than other artists? Shakur\u2019s investment in Black collectivity makes him an especially poignant figure to resurrect when discussing how to create Shakur\u2019s \u201cbetter place\u201d here and now. Prof. English then moved to discuss how Lamar and others evoke this afterlife in their work. <\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Prof.<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to go further and say, not only is the afterlife an agential place, but it’s like a technology,\u201d Prof. English said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sampling, among other popular hip-hop innovations, work to resurrect and put artists into conversation with the dead. Prof. English pointed to Lamar\u2019s \u201cMortal Man,\u201d which samples interviews with Shakur and reworks them to create a dialogue between Shakur and Lamar. She also highlighted the sound of a high five, which seems to put Shakur in the room with Lamar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This technology of resurrection also connects to the 19th century Spiritualist movement, which invokes technologies, such as photography and audio recordings, or rituals such as seances to communicate with and bring back the dead. For Prof. English, this resonance points to Lamar as a sort of medium, an ability showcased in Lamar\u2019s album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening song, \u201cUnited in Grief,\u201d which is also Prof. English\u2019s favorite song by Lamar, symbolizes a step in Lamar\u2019s spiritual journey from writing in a personally therapeutic position to the collective. Prof. English highlighted the lyrics \u201cI hope you find some paradise\u201d as an investment in bringing Lamar\u2019s own therapeutic journey to other Black men, especially those who have already entered the afterlife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A different example of how Lamar uses technologies of resurrection to communicate an agential afterlife lies in the music video for \u201cThe Heart Part 5,\u201d wherein Lamar uses artificial intelligence to warp his face into famous Black men, including OJ Simpson, Kanye West, Will Smith, and others. At the end, Lamar chooses to resurrect two famous Black men who both died tragically: Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is, for me, a moment when [Lamar is] a medium,\u201d Prof. English asserted. \u201cHe’s channeling all sorts of Black men, including dead Black men, connecting again to the spiritual \u2014 the idea that people live on and that you can contact them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a slew of questions regarding the afterlife, Lamar\u2019s art, and how Lamar forms a collective around mutual hatred (read: beef with Drake), the salon concluded, leaving us all intellectually enlivened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you Prof. English for all her powerful insights and hard work organizing this salon!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Callisto Martinez ’26 On Wednesday, September 17th, attendees of Professor Daylanne English\u2019s Literary Salon, \u201cImmortal Man: Kendrick Lamar and the Afterlife,\u201d were beckoned into the Old Main fourth floor lounge by Parliament\u2019s funky beats and a lovely display of fresh fruit. This salon gifted attendees with a sneak peek into Prof. English\u2019s insights in […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1049,"featured_media":0,"parent":11307,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11305","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1049"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11305"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11363,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11305\/revisions\/11363"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}