Jamming to the tune of his own song "King Kunta," Kendrick Lamar took the field to throw a pitch surprising many. He may have an athletic talent outside of rapping. Being the first rapper to pitch with the Dodgers since 50 Cent's embarrassingly terrible throw, the anticipation from the crowd wasn't too high. Although Kendrick's pitch was a little low, he totally shut any comparisons to 50 Cent down.
Kendrick's young fans were just as ecstatic to see him in person as he was to hanging out in the dugout for the first time. If you've ever been in K.Dot's presence, you know he's a pretty modest guy, so he humbly took selfies and signed autographs for his fans before hitting the field. The beauty in this story is seeing a young man who grew up in a underprivileged community, survive, make something of himself (even if it is rapping) and experience things he never thought he would. MTV was there to follow the evening events and got some really great words from Kendrick:
“This is amazing, especially being from the inner cities of L.A. We’ve never been to the Dodger Stadium on this type of level. I’ve probably been way up there, but to actually be in the dugout and on the field, that’s a whole ‘nother story coming from Compton. It’s a blessing, man. It’s a blessing. The message I want to send to the kids is that you can do anything you put your mind to. It may be clichè, but it’s 100 percent truth when you come from where we come from. Just me being out on that field is inspiration, I’m sure it is, because…they know I’m really from out here. So, me being out there, that should be just enough to spark the idea to do what you want.”
In numerous large urban and small isolated cities, children grow up with dreams and imaginations of going places their families can't afford or meeting their favorite celebrity. Many times the reality of their life situations often kill those dreams of young children and grow into adults found stuck in the same environment they wished they could left as a child. For children and adolescences, exposing them to life outside of their typical reality (even if they are suburban raised) could change their whole perspective on life's possibilities.
Kendrick Lamar is no different than many of the people he grew up with. He was able to protect his dreams of being shot down like many of the individuals in his Compton community. It's cool to witness him light up, just reflecting on where he's come from and where he is now in life. Instead of balling out and showing off his fame and money, Kendrick attempts to model the modest life of valuing things outside of jewelry, tons of women, luxury things and through his personality. For kids watching Kendrick or another public figure they admire, modeling an attitude that you can truly do anything, can lead a person to living a life of full potential. Kendrick along with other successful people coming from a poor, drug infested, violent community famous or not can help make a world of difference understanding that their accomplishment of making it is bigger than them.
Peep his pitch below:
On a scale of @50cent to 10, @kendricklamar’s first pitch for the @Dodgers was a 7: http://t.co/uSXuVhbCBI pic.twitter.com/OcyBibKLVL
— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 28, 2015
(Photo: MTV)
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