Rapper takes part in slam poetry session

After headlining a rap summer jam, Kendrick Lamar visited an High School in New Jersey for a day of listening to poetry, freestyling with teenagers and leading a forward-thinking assembly that even had its own official hashtag.

Kendrick came by the event after the High Tech teacher and poetry club organizer Brian Mooney had written a blog post that went viral about using the rapper's critically acclaimed recent album To Pimp a Butterfly to analyze Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. The responses of the students got to the rapper, who asked his manager to reach out to Mooney and set up a visit.

"I was intrigued that somebody other than myself can articulate and break down the concepts of To Pimp a Butterfly almost better than I can," Lamar explained during a break, referring to Mooney's original blog post. "That let me know he's a true lover of music."

He was even more impressed by the students. "I didn't think I made [To Pimp a Butterfly] for 16-year-olds," he continued. "I always get, like, my parents or an adult saying, 'This is great, you have a message, you have themes, you have different genres of music.' But to get a kid actually telling me this, it's a different type of feeling, 'cause it lets me know that their thought process is just as advanced as mine, even if I'm 10, 15 years older."

Lamar's day began in Mooney's classroom, where the teacher's poetry club and English class met their guest and displayed some of their work. The first student read a poem about the struggles he faces as a dark-skinned South Asian, and two others followed with a joint piece called "What the Media Taught Us." Lamar laughed when they reached the line "You chose the wrong butterfly to pimp" and big-upped both works. "They got heart, they got intellect, they got punchlines," he said, visibly moved.

After another performance, Lamar took questions from the class.  Although the afternoon revolved around the chart-topping guest, Lamar never lectured, and inspiration passed in both directions.

After an essay and a dance routine, Lamar and Mooney returned to the stage, teasing the possibility of an unexpected finale. "I know he just performed at Summer Jam, so I guess it depends on how bad you want to hear him," the teacher said. Lamar smiled and shrugged as screams filled the building. He asked the students to shout the name of the song they wanted, but the noise was still too much. A few minutes passed before the DJ settled on a fitting track, "Alright," and the school day ended with a packed field house repeating the chorus: "We gon' be alright."