An Executive Interview with Kendrick Lamar.

(Fictional) Interviewing for SOURCE Magazine, on Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, born in Compton, California on June 17, 1987. Kendrick is an American songwriter and rapper. He became a  professional rapper at the age of 16. He became world famous in 2011, with over 250,000 albums sold within the first week of the release.

Interviewer: Kendrick, my man how's it going?

Kendrick: It's all good b.

Interviewer: Now since you're the most talked-about figure in the game right now, how would you relate your success with your background?

Kendrick: Well, first off my life has always been about music. I professionally started writing it, producing it and reflecting upon it when I turned sixteen years of age. Music to me has always been more than just something to listen to. Sound in general is very important in life. Cuz without it there ain't no communication, just leading to plain chaos. Music uses sound as its mean and elevates it, taking it to a whole another level. It's a crucial part of everyday life, as people spend billions upon billions altogether upon the production of music, listening to music and buying it. Tho, I feel that the mainstream social media buzz has truly disintegrated the main reason it exists. I just like to keep it real, no bs, real talk here at it's finest.

Interviewer: Tell me about your control verse and why it needed to be heard.

Kendrick: I really felt that music had fallen into a downwards spiral over the past decade or two and I personally wanted to let the unaware audience know the truth. I decided to spit the lines, " If Phil Jackson came back, still no coachin' me. I'm uncoachable, I'm unsociable. F*ck y'all clubs, f*ck y'all pictures. Your Instagram can gobble these nuts” for a reason. I wanna tell you that most rap today is all about non-important sh*t in life like status. The type of sh*t that ain’t got nothing to do with community.

Interviewer: I feel you man, what were your other major inspirations while writing the verse?

Kendrick: My dad, man. Cuz growing up my dad, well he the type of n*gga that get into fights round the block all day. When I was about four he decided to move to Chicago to start a better life for his family. During this process, music for him, was kinda like a mental getaway from all the violence and the guns. The sorta sentimental value he had for music eventually got to me. I started listening to 2pac, NAS, Jay-Z and Eminem. Now these are rappers. They don't got to be fake to get fame. They spit out a  part of their life, whenever they on the mic. That's just some of my inspiration.

Interviewer: That's deep. To finish off, what are your main words to live by?

Kendrick: Stay true to your self. And if all else fails take I-Cube's advice, "Check Yoself Before You Wreck Yoself." Thank you for this interview.

Interviewer: It's been an honor. Thank you for your time.

Mother Tongue

Today in class, we had to read over and analyze the essay, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. The text is about how society interacts best when the content of the speaker is presented in a formal manner. In this essay, Amy Tan describes her mother's english as being broken, fractured and ultimately, limited. She provides real life experiences, faced by her mother who communicates with what society would call "broken" english. In one of these experiences, Amy Tan (who speaks formal english) would have to speak for her mother in order to be taken seriously, as she found out that most people tend to show more respect if you present yourself in a relatable manner. This leads us to the most profound issue faced by her mother in the text; the lack of respect. Amy Tan mentions how the way someone spoke would affect how people reacted to them. In the case of Amy's mother, most people failed to take her seriously, presumably because of her ethnicity and her so called "broken" english. I feel that most people tend to treat something they are familiar with, in a respectable manner. Since Amy's mother had a different way of speaking to the majority of the people around her, she was not taken seriously. I personally believe that people need to accept and encourage different variations of language.

About Myself

My name is Aaron Leo Pereira. I am from India, but was born in the United Arab Emirates on the 8th of September, 1998. Like most teenagers my age, I enjoy getting myself involved in a plethora of both indoor, and outdoor activities. Out of these, my favorite activities would definitely be football, kayaking, tennis, biking, driving and going to the gym. During the course of this year, I plan on being a dedicated, hardworking and respected member of this school, and also learning how to professionally play a musical instrument. Being a teenager in the 21^st century, language plays a major role in defining who you are as a person. With the invention of social media, language is getting more and more universal as time goes on. Language, like many other crucial things in life, evolves over time, inspired by the latest trends, creating slangs. Language to me is all about communication. It plays a role in sharing information, (either publicly or secretly) through various methods. Talking would probably be the most common, as humans have never been more intellectually capable with words. This allows us to express ourselves like never before. We can convey more feelings and contribute new ideas with such precision using just, words.  Language is a universal social binder, even though it varies from culture to culture. I would say that culture would be best defined as an ethical group, sharing the same ideas and beliefs amongst each other. I am bilingual, as I speak both Tamil (the national language of Tamil Nadu) and English fluently. This gives me an opportunity to see how language and culture define one another, and how language is used on parts of the world. I have sometimes felt excluded from certain ethnic groups. This is because I had little to no understanding of that particular culture and the specific language being spoken. Over time I quickly became used to it, allowing me to fit in and share my ideas with ease. Cultures can vary around the world, but we must always respect them to learn more about them.