Kendrick Lamar and Challenged Viewers

performance: Attired in a blue prison uniform and shackles, rapper Kendrick Lamar shuffled out on a stage flanked by prison cells, then challenged viewers with a fiery performance of "The Blacker the Berry" and his hit, "Alright" as the stage behind him erupted in a bonfire, according to CNN. The performance ended with Lamar standing silhouetted before a map of Africa with the word "Compton" splashed across it. "Black Twitter" rose up in recognition and solidarity. The racial issues that simmer unceasingly beneath the surface of America have rushed to the surface again and again over the past year, boiling up as recently as the Grammy Awards last week. Nayaba Arinde This hot on the heels of Beyonce Super Bowl halftime performance, in which she and a cadre of black female backup dancers invoked the Black Panthers for Self-Defense, Malcolm X and other imagery resonant of the racial struggle in this country and of black empowerment, as she performed "Formation." Opting to ignore, or deny, Beyonce legitimate political critique, some people -- mostly white people, such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- denounced it. But every year, someone questions the legitimacy of this month. We are in the midst of Black History Month, and with these two high-profile events alone, the need for it could not be more self-evident. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.