Swimming Pools (Drank)

"Swimming Pools (Drank)" is a profound and multi-layered critique of alcoholism, peer pressure, and the glamorization of excessive drinking within party culture. Despite its catchy, club-friendly beat, the song is a cautionary tale that explores the internal and external conflicts associated with alcohol abuse. The central metaphor of a "swimming pool full of liquor" represents the overwhelming and deadly temptation of binge drinking. To "dive in" is to succumb to this pressure and lose oneself in intoxication. The song's narrative follows a young Kendrick grappling with his own history—witnessing alcoholism in his family—and his desire to fit in socially. It masterfully juxtaposes the allure of getting drunk with the dangerous, often tragic, consequences. Kendrick Lamar uses shifting perspectives, including the voice of his own conscience, to dramatize the internal battle between self-preservation and the desire for social acceptance. Ultimately, the song is an anti-drinking anthem disguised as a party track, a piece of social commentary that warns against the destructive cycle of addiction and violence that can arise from it.

The narrative begins with a hypnotic chant-like sequence describing the cycle of drinking: pouring up, taking shots, standing, sitting, passing out, and waking up faded. This sets a disorienting and cyclical tone for the story that follows.

The protagonist, a young Kendrick, reflects on his upbringing surrounded by people who used alcohol as a way of life, mentioning his grandfather who would "backstroke" daily in his flask. He identifies various reasons people drink: for the feeling, to escape sorrow, or to fit in with the popular crowd, admitting the latter was his own weakness. He finds himself in a dark room with loud music, about to vow to get completely drunk. As the mood of the party shifts and the same record plays on repeat, he takes sip after sip until someone challenges him, asking why he's "babysitting" only a couple of shots and offering to show him how to "turn it up a notch." This leads to the central, overwhelming image of the song: a swimming pool full of liquor to be dived into.

The narrative then shifts internally. A high-pitched voice, representing his conscience, breaks through the haze, pleading with him to listen. The conscience warns him that if he takes another drink, he'll drown in poison, abusing his physical limits. Despite this internal warning, the allure of the party and the desire for social acceptance, fueled by a girl he wants to impress, pushes him to continue. He feels the alcohol giving him a false sense of courage, believing it makes him more suave and articulate. He reasons that a few more drinks won't hurt, but his conscience reminds him that this is a common excuse for those who find their relief at the bottom of a bottle.

The external pressures mount again, with peers mocking him for his slow pace of drinking. The allure of the "swimming pool" is reinforced, with the imagery of girls wanting to "play Baywatch" and dive in, a metaphor for reckless abandon. He succumbs, diving into this state of inebriation. The story then takes a dark turn with a skit. The soundscape becomes chaotic, filled with the sounds of violence. One of his friends, Dave, is attacked. The song ends with the chilling realization that Dave has been killed, a tragic consequence of the alcohol-fueled environment and the events that unfolded, snapping the protagonist out of his drunken state into a grim reality.

"Swimming Pools (Drank)" was released on July 31, 2012, as the lead single from Kendrick Lamar's critically acclaimed major-label debut album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. The song was written by Kendrick Lamar (credited as Kendrick Duckworth) and the producer Tyler "T-Minus" Williams. The track was notably mixed by Dr. Dre and TDE's resident engineer, Derek "MixedByAli" Ali. T-Minus revealed that the beat was originally created as a demo for R&B singer Trey Songz, who ultimately passed on it. Lamar heard the beat during a studio session and was immediately drawn to its murky, atmospheric quality, developing the entire concept and hook around it. The song was recorded in 2012 and became a pivotal track that propelled Lamar into mainstream popularity. In a 2012 interview, Lamar stated his intention was to create a song that "felt good but had a meaning behind it at the same time," consciously crafting a complex narrative about the realities of his upbringing and the societal pressures surrounding alcohol. The extended version of the song on the album includes a crucial outro skit that transitions into the next track, "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst," solidifying its role within the album's overarching narrative about a tumultuous day in the life of a young Kendrick in Compton.

"Swimming Pools (Drank)" features a complex and meticulously crafted rhythmic and rhyming structure that enhances its narrative depth. The song employs a triplet-based flow, characteristic of trap music, which, combined with the syncopated beat, creates a dissociative, off-kilter feeling that mirrors the experience of intoxication. Lamar's rhyming is intricate, utilizing multi-syllabic rhymes, internal rhymes, and slant rhymes rather than simple end rhymes. For instance, in the first verse, he pairs "sorrows" with "problem" and "bottles" with "Chicago," demonstrating a use of assonance and consonance to create cohesion. The rhyme schemes are often irregular and free-flowing, adapting to the storytelling needs of each section. This flexibility allows him to shift between conversational exposition and more rhythmically dense passages. The interplay between the lyrical rhythm and the musical rhythm is key; Lamar's flow sometimes pushes against the beat and sometimes locks into it, creating a constant tension and release that adds to the song's unsettling, hypnotic quality. The repetitive, chant-like hook ("Pour up, drank...") has a simple, percussive rhythm that makes it memorable and mimics the cyclical, compulsive nature of binge drinking.

• Narrative Perspective Shifts: Lamar masterfully shifts the song's point of view. It moves from his own first-person narrative, to the taunting voices of his peers, and most notably, to a high-pitched, altered voice representing his own conscience. This technique creates a dynamic and fragmented psychological landscape, mirroring the confusion of intoxication.
• Atmospheric Production: Producer T-Minus created a murky, hazy, and syncopated beat. The production features reversed elements, woozy synths, and rattling trap-style hi-hats, which sonically musicalize the theme of dissociation and the alluring yet dangerous feeling of being drunk.
• Vocal Delivery: Kendrick's vocal performance is incredibly dynamic. He alters his cadence, tone, and rhythm to match the narrative's emotional state, from a relaxed, conversational flow to a more desperate and conflicted tone during the internal monologue.
• Use of Skits (Album Version): The album version ends with a dramatic skit where a violent altercation leads to the death of his friend, Dave. This narrative device, common in Lamar's concept albums, grounds the song's abstract warnings in a brutal, tangible reality and serves as a crucial plot point for the album's story.
• Ironic Juxtaposition: The song's most powerful technique is the juxtaposition of its upbeat, party-ready sound with its dark, cautionary lyrics. This irony mimics the deceptive nature of alcohol itself—seeming fun and harmless on the surface but masking a destructive potential.

"Swimming Pools (Drank)" was a massive cultural success that played a pivotal role in launching Kendrick Lamar to mainstream stardom. The song peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was his first single to chart on the UK Singles Chart. It was certified Platinum in January 2013, signifying over a million units sold. Critically acclaimed for its lyrical depth and subversive message, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. Its music video received nominations at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. The song's genius lies in its ability to function as a popular party anthem while simultaneously delivering a strong anti-drinking message, a feat that solidified Lamar's reputation as a "conscious" artist with mainstream appeal. It has been featured in various media, including the TV show Grey's Anatomy and the video games Saints Row IV and Grand Theft Auto V. The official remix features Lamar's Black Hippy collective (Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Schoolboy Q). The song's enduring legacy is its masterful subversion of hip-hop tropes, challenging the glorification of excess and offering a complex, introspective narrative that continues to be analyzed and respected.

• The Swimming Pool: The most dominant metaphor is the "swimming pool full of liquor," which symbolizes the immense, overwhelming, and ultimately deadly nature of alcohol abuse and the party culture that encourages it. It's an image of excess so vast that one can "dive in" and drown, representing a complete loss of control and submission to addiction.
• Diving In: The act of "diving in" is a metaphor for succumbing to peer pressure and engaging in binge drinking. It signifies the moment of surrender to the allure of intoxication and social acceptance, abandoning one's inhibitions and better judgment. The reference to "All the girls wanna play Baywatch" further enhances this, ironically twisting the idea of lifeguards (saviors) into participants in the reckless dive.
• Living Life in Bottles: This phrase, used in the first verse, is a metaphor for a life consumed by alcoholism, where a person's entire existence and identity are contained within their drinking habits.
• Gunshots and Alcohol Shots: The bridge features a powerful double entendre, comparing drinking alcohol "shots" to the firing of "shots" from a chopper. The repeated word "bang" after each line like "One chopper, one hundred shots" creates a parallel between the self-destruction of binge drinking and the external violence prevalent in his environment, suggesting both are deadly traps.
• The Conscience: The pitch-shifted voice that speaks to Kendrick represents his inner conscience or a voice of reason. This personification of his internal struggle creates a dramatic dialogue between temptation and sobriety, highlighting his awareness of the danger even as he's being pulled into it.

The most prominent recurring motif is the phrase "drank," repeated hypnotically in the intro and outro. This repetition establishes the song's central theme of alcohol consumption and creates a trance-like, intoxicating atmosphere that pulls the listener in, mirroring the allure of drinking itself. The central hook, "Pour up (drank), head shot (drank) / Sit down (drank), stand up (drank) / Pass out (drank), wake up (drank) / Faded (drank), faded (drank)," serves as a narrative frame, outlining the entire cycle of a night of heavy drinking from start to finish. The phrase "dive in it," repeated in the chorus, is a crucial motif representing the act of succumbing to temptation and immersing oneself in the metaphorical "swimming pool" of liquor. Another key recurring phrase is the peer pressure taunt, "Nigga, why you babysittin' only two or three shots?", which appears multiple times to emphasize the external social forces at play. These recurring elements reinforce the song's themes of cyclical behavior, social pressure, and the overwhelming nature of addiction.