According to Dictionary.com, “rap music is a style of popular music, developed by disc jockeys and urban blacks in the late 1970s, in which an insistent, recurring beat pattern provides the background and counterpoint for rapid, slangy, and often boastful rhyming patter glibly intoned by a vocalist or vocalists.” In my mind, rap music includes a really great, catchy beat, a lot of bass, and rhyming lyrics about an emotional part of the artist’s life. Kendrick Lamar’s song, XXX., definitely falls into this category. There is a recurring beat that flows throughout the song. In fact, the recurring beat that is in this song is a police siren. Lamar also uses edited parts of him breathing that adds emphasis to his song. There is also a little jam session where Bono from U2 sings. This is a part where the song takes a huge turn and becomes more R&B than rap. It has a bass and a smooth beat. It becomes more vulnerable and slower. 

There are many verses that include rhyming like this verse for example from Genius Lyrics:

Throw a steak off the ark
To a pool full of sharks, he’ll take it
Leave him in the wilderness
With a sworn nemesis, he’ll make it

The song also includes a sample from “Get Up Offa That Thing” by James Brown. I was completely unaware of this sample until I did a little more research into it. Thanks to WhoSampled.com, it showed me exactly where the sample occurred, which occurs 30 seconds into the song.

1 – Rhiannon, Alexis  (April 14, 2017). “Kendrick Lamar & U2’s “XXX” Lyrics Are About Speaking Truth To Power”. Bustle.

2 – Yoo, Noah (April 14, 2017). U2’s Bono Features on Kendrick Lamar’s New Song “XXX.”: Listen. Pitchfork. 

3 – Ugwu, Reggie (April 21, 2017) Here’s The Story Behind That Kendrick Lamar And U2 Song. Buzzfeed News.