 The album features naturalistic , vérité @-@ like skits that dramatize the characters ' limitations . Jon Caramanica of The New York Times finds them to be a part of the album 's " narrative strategy " , with " prayers and conversations and different voices and recollections and interludes , all in service of one overarching story : Mr. Lamar 's tale of ducking Compton 's rougher corners to find himself artistically . " Pitchfork Media 's Jayson Greene feels that they reinforce the album 's theme of " the grounding power of family " , interpreting " family and faith " to be " the fraying tethers holding Lamar back from the chasm of gang violence that threatens to consume him . " 
