‘I’m profoundly grateful for Kendrick Lamar’s Auntie Diaries’: Trans community breaks down rapper’s powerful yet controversial track ahead of headlining Glastonbury set
his acclaimed fifth studio album, Auntie Diaries kicks off with the contentious opening lyric ‘my auntie is a man now’ with the homophobic slur ‘f*ggot’ appearing 10 times.While Kendrick delves deep into his past ignorance as a child and stresses he’s ‘old enough to understand now’ how saying the homophobic slur was wrong, many have criticised him for his execution of the song.On the other hand, he’s been applauded for rapping about trans liberation and acceptance on such a massive platform in a genre of music that historically rarely raises such themes.Was Kendrick lazy in his delivery?
Would the song have garnered the same attention if he hadn’t used problematic language? Is Kendrick contradicting himself by rapping about growth but using slurs?Or actually, is Auntie Diaries revolutionary in its approach?Following the album’s release earlier this month, the track quickly sparked an online discourse with many debating whether the inclusion of the homophobic slur, as well as deadnaming and misgendering, was appropriate.Ahead of his headlining Glastonbury performance, Metro.co.uk heard from trans voices to understand how the community has responded to Kendrick’s Auntie Diaries and to hear whether his approach was appropriate for successfully getting his story across.For 26-year-old Ramon, Auntie Diaries explains the incredibly messy path a cisgender, heterosexual person goes through in their journey to allyship with the queer community. ‘To be abundantly clear, it is 100% valid to be confronted with the problematic elements of this song’s narrative and react with pain,’ she says.‘The thing is, that’s precisely what the story is describing.
