In this article, the authors examine how one of the authors used Kendrick Lamar's autobiographical hip-hop to provoke mandate-compliant analyses of complex social, racial, and political realities. This unit also offers a compelling example of "critical compliance" (Gorlewski, "Accountable") as a strategy for resisting dominant discourses in schools and society, including those seeking to undermine teacher agency and autonomy (Gorlewski, "Power" 63).