In particular, Rivera pinpointed the lyrics, “We hate the po-po, wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho,” sparking his unwarranted bashing of Kendrick. According to Geraldo — who previously stated that Trayvon Martin’s hoodie was as responsible for his death as George Zimmerman — lyrics like those “conflate what happened in this church in South Carolina with these tragic incidents involving excessive use of force by cops is to equate this racist killer with these cops.” “It is so wrong,” he said, “so counterproductive — it gives exactly the wrong message.” Really, Geraldo?

Kendrick’s response was very peaceful, as expected:

“This is us expressing ourselves. Rather [than] going out here and doing the murders myself, I want to express myself in a positive light the same way other artists are doing. Not going out in the streets, go in the booth and talking about the situation and hoping these kids can find some type of influence on it in a positive manner. Coming from these streets and coming from these neighborhoods, we’re taking our talents and putting ’em inside the studio.” Lamar than says that the lyric “We hate po-po” was taken out of context from the song “Alright.” He was disappointed that Rivera chose to focus on one line instead of the overall message of hope. “You can’t dilute the message,” he says.

Good try, Geraldo. You can’t bring negativity towards K. Dot’s way. It just doesn’t work.

On his latest album To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick taught us self-love (“i” and “Complexion”), hope (“Alright”) and personal growth/empowerment (“Momma” and “King Kunta”). Who else is doing that with their music, let alone their lead singles? Remember that 16 year-old girl from the Sweetlife Festival? With thousands of fans and Kendrick listening to her, she shared her struggles with depression and how Kendrick’s music helped save her life. That’s powerful.

Kendrick provides a voice to those who are misunderstood and prisoners to their environments. He constantly has a positive outlook on life and he brings a lot of hope to a saturated industry filled with artists making the same music. He’s different. The reality is the hip-hop world needs Kendrick Lamar and will continue to need him for quite some time. — Sabrina Vaz-Holder