PRIDE.

"PRIDE." is a deeply introspective and philosophical track from Kendrick Lamar's album DAMN. that explores the complex and often contradictory nature of pride. The song serves as a meditation on the internal battle between one's ego and the desire for humility and genuine connection. It dissects pride as one of the seven deadly sins, portraying it as a destructive force that can lead to isolation, emotional detachment, and spiritual death. Lamar presents a central paradox: while love can be dangerous ("Love's gonna get you killed"), pride is ultimately more fatal to the self and to relationships ("pride's gonna be the death of you and you and me").

Lyrically, the song is a confession of Lamar's own struggles with pride, stemming from his success and status. He admits to his imperfections, his difficulty in trusting others, and his emotional numbness. The concept of a "perfect world" is used ironically throughout the song to highlight his own flaws and the imperfections of the world at large. In this imagined perfect world, he would act with more sensitivity and faith, but he acknowledges that such a world is an illusion built on lies. The track starkly contrasts with its counterpart on the album, "HUMBLE.", which features a bombastic and assertive beat. "PRIDE." is sonically subdued and dreamlike, creating a space for vulnerability and self-examination. This juxtaposition highlights the duality of Kendrick's psyche—the struggle between the outward confidence required in his profession and the internal quest for humility. Ultimately, "PRIDE." is a call for self-awareness, urging listeners to confront their own internal conflicts and the ways in which pride can be a barrier to love, empathy, and personal growth.

The song opens with a haunting introduction from Bēkon, establishing the core conflict: love can lead to peril, but pride is a surefire path to the demise of oneself and relationships. This central theme of the destructive nature of pride versus the potential danger of love sets a contemplative tone for the entire track.

Kendrick Lamar, in his first verse, delves into a deeply personal and internal struggle. He grapples with the choice between material success and genuine happiness, questioning how one should approach the human heart—with love or with cold dissection. He admits to a lack of trust in people beyond a superficial level, placing his faith in his lyrics as a means of atonement for his personal shortcomings. He acknowledges his imperfections and emotional numbness, symbolized by a "cold thumb." He feels a disconnect from others' emotional needs, seeing their gatherings as mere "pity parties." There's a raw honesty in his admission that he can't feign humility just to soothe others' insecurities.

The chorus, featuring the soulful vocals of Steve Lacy, reflects a sense of longing for a different reality. The line, "Me, I wasn't taught to share, but care," suggests a learned emotional guardedness, a product of his environment. Yet, there's a glimmer of an alternate self in the line, "In another life, I surely was there," hinting at a capacity for connection that feels just out of reach in his current existence.

In the second verse, Kendrick imagines a "perfect world" where he wouldn't be so insensitive and emotionally cold. He reflects on his tendency to blame others for his own mistakes. He observes the subtle yet powerful social cues of "smiles and cold stares." A significant shift occurs as he broadens his scope from personal failings to societal ills. He describes pride as a "sick venom" infecting humanity, asserting that a perfect world is an illusion, a place "only filled with lies." He laments how broken promises breed resentment and how racial barriers create a false sense of inferiority. In this hypothetical perfect world, he would prioritize faith over wealth, work over fleeting pleasures, and transform prisons into schools. He imagines unifying all religions to collectively acknowledge humanity's imperfections before a perfect God, highlighting the hypocrisy and division he observes in the real world.

The song concludes by circling back to the central theme, with the recurring chorus reinforcing the internal conflict. It leaves the listener with the lingering sense of a man caught in a profound moral and emotional dilemma, wrestling with the immense weight of his own pride and the universal human struggle for genuine connection and humility.

"PRIDE." is the seventh track on Kendrick Lamar's fourth studio album, DAMN., which was released on April 14, 2017. The song was written by Kendrick Lamar, Steve Lacy, Anna Wise, and Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. The production was handled by Steve Lacy and Anthony Tiffith, with additional production from Bēkon.

A notable aspect of the song's creation is the origin of its beat. Producer Steve Lacy, then 18 years old and a member of the band The Internet, created the entire instrumental on his iPhone 6 using the GarageBand application. Lacy has mentioned his preference for making music on his phone because it allows him to create wherever he is. The song was originally titled "Wasn't There" before being renamed. Lacy recalled being nervous when he first met Lamar but eventually played him the demo he had created on his phone, which Lamar then chose for the track.

The song also features background vocals from Steve Lacy and Anna Wise, a frequent collaborator of Lamar's who had previously worked with him on the Grammy-winning song "These Walls". Bēkon also provided additional vocals. In an interview with Zane Lowe, Kendrick Lamar explained that the songs on DAMN., including "PRIDE.", represent an examination of human emotions and the personal journey of self-improvement, stating, "I can't change the world until I change myself."

Shortly after the album's release, Top Dawg Entertainment co-president Punch shared a photo of a handwritten lost verse from "PRIDE." on his Instagram page, offering a glimpse into the song's lyrical development.

Kendrick Lamar's approach to rhyme and rhythm in "PRIDE." is intricate and serves to enhance the song's contemplative and introspective mood.

Rhyme Scheme: The song doesn't follow a rigid, conventional rhyme scheme, instead opting for a more free-verse structure that allows for a natural, stream-of-consciousness flow. However, Lamar masterfully employs various types of rhymes to create sonic cohesion. He frequently uses internal rhymes within lines (e.g., "Flesh-making, spirit-breaking") and slant rhymes (e.g., world/men, amend/down). This complex rhyming adds to the lyrical density and rewards close listening.

Rhythm and Meter: The song has a tempo of approximately 139 BPM, but its feel is relaxed and ambling rather than driving. Lamar's rhythmic delivery is fluid and conversational, often weaving in and out of the beat's main pulse. His flow shifts throughout the verses, sometimes accelerating to cram more syllables into a bar and at other times slowing down for emphasis. This dynamic interplay between his vocal rhythm and the steady, psychedelic instrumental creates a sense of unease and internal debate. The lack of a hard-hitting, conventional hip-hop rhythm forces the listener to focus more intently on the lyrical content and the emotional nuances of his delivery.

The overall rhythmic structure contributes to the song's dreamlike and hazy atmosphere, pulling the listener into Kendrick's internal monologue rather than prompting a physical reaction. The rhythm is a vehicle for the lyrical narrative, prioritizing introspection over aggression.

"PRIDE." showcases Kendrick Lamar's sophisticated use of both literary and musical techniques to convey its complex themes.

Literary Techniques:

• Juxtaposition: The entire song is built on the juxtaposition of opposing concepts: pride vs. love, perfection vs. imperfection, flesh vs. spirit, and flashiness vs. happiness. This creates a constant tension that mirrors the internal conflict being described.
• Rhetorical Questions: Kendrick poses questions like, "Happiness or flashiness? How do you serve the question?" to provoke thought in the listener and to illustrate his own internal debate.
• Introspective Narrative Voice: The song is delivered from a deeply personal and self-analytical perspective. This confessional tone makes the exploration of pride feel honest and vulnerable.
• Biblical Allusions: The song is interwoven with religious themes, referencing pride as the most serious of the seven deadly sins and alluding to biblical concepts of humility and perfection. This adds a layer of moral and spiritual weight to the narrative.

Musical Techniques:

• Vocal Manipulation: The pitching of Kendrick's voice up and down is a key musical technique that emphasizes the theme of duality.
• Minimalist, Psychedelic Production: The beat, created by Steve Lacy on an iPhone, is characterized by a lo-fi, dreamlike quality with a simple drum loop, hazy guitar chords, and woozy reverb. This creates a contemplative and introspective atmosphere, contrasting sharply with more aggressive tracks on the album.
• Vocal Layering: The track features layered background vocals from Steve Lacy and Anna Wise, which contribute to its ethereal and haunting soundscape.
• Contrasting Dynamics: The soft, mellow instrumental serves as a deliberate contrast to the heavy subject matter and also to the loud, assertive beat of the following track, "HUMBLE.", highlighting the album's thematic dualities.

"PRIDE." has had a significant and enduring cultural impact, solidifying its place as a key track in Kendrick Lamar's critically acclaimed discography. While it was not released as a single, the song has become a fan favorite and a standout track from the Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN. Its understated and introspective nature provided a crucial thematic counterpoint to the album's more aggressive hits like "HUMBLE." and "DNA.".

The song's innovative production, with Steve Lacy famously creating the beat on his iPhone, has been widely discussed and celebrated, highlighting a shift in music production towards more accessible technology. This anecdote has become a part of modern music-making lore. The track's exploration of vulnerability and internal conflict resonated deeply with a wide audience, contributing to the album's universal acclaim and its reception as a profound work of self-examination.

In a testament to its lasting appeal, "PRIDE." officially surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify in June 2025, a massive achievement for a non-single. Its popularity demonstrates a listener appetite for complex, lyrical, and emotionally honest music that invites reflection rather than just passive consumption. The song has also been used in other media, notably at the end of the series finale of the FX crime drama Snowfall in April 2023, cementing its status as a poignant and culturally resonant piece of music.

"PRIDE." is rich with symbolism and metaphors that deepen its introspective themes.

• Vocal Pitch Alteration: Kendrick's use of alternating high and low vocal pitches symbolizes the internal duality and conflict between his ideals and his actions. The fluctuating voice represents the wavering between pride and humility, confidence and self-doubt.
• "Cold Thumb": The line, "My feelings might go numb, you're dealin' with cold thumb," is a metaphor for emotional detachment and coldness. It paints a vivid picture of being unresponsive and numb to the feelings of others.
• "Sick Venom": Lamar describes pride as a "sick venom in men and women." This metaphor equates pride with a deadly poison that corrupts the spirit. It also evokes the biblical imagery of the serpent (a symbol of the devil), suggesting that pride is a satanic temptation that leads to a spiritual death.
• The Perfect World Motif: The recurring phrase "in a perfect world" is used as a powerful lyrical motif. It functions as a form of irony, a rhetorical device to contrast his own imperfections and the flaws of society with an unattainable ideal. It's not a genuine aspiration but a lens through which he examines his and the world's shortcomings.
• Beat as a Metaphor: The soft-spoken, almost humble beat of "PRIDE." stands in stark contrast to its lyrical theme. This is a deliberate choice that acts as a metaphor, paradoxically reflecting the humility Kendrick is grappling with, while the aggressive beat of "HUMBLE." contrasts with its own theme.

"PRIDE." features several powerful recurring phrases and motifs that anchor its themes and structure.

• "Love's gonna get you killed, but pride's gonna be the death of you and you and me": This opening and recurring line, delivered by Bēkon, acts as the song's central thesis. It establishes the core conflict and its fatalistic stakes. Its repetition throughout underscores the inescapable and destructive nature of pride. The slight hesitation and rephrasing in "you and you and me" can be interpreted as the narrator's own pride making it difficult to fully admit his own culpability.
• "Me, I wasn't taught to share, but care": This key line from the chorus, sung by Steve Lacy, is a poignant motif reflecting a learned emotional guardedness. It speaks to an upbringing or environment that fostered self-preservation over communal openness, creating a conflict between the capacity to feel empathy ("care") and the ability to act on it ("share").
• "In another life, I surely was there": This accompanying line in the chorus introduces the motif of an alternate reality or a better self. It expresses a longing and a sense of regret, a recognition that a more open and perfect version of himself exists, even if it feels unattainable in his current life. The phrase is later questioned with "Maybe I wasn't there," showing his doubt and deepening the internal conflict.
• "A perfect world": This phrase is repeated multiple times, functioning as a significant motif for exploring imperfection. Kendrick uses it ironically to list the ways he and the world fall short. Each repetition chips away at the possibility of such a world, culminating in the line, "A perfect world is never perfect, only filled with lies," which serves as the motif's cynical conclusion.