Super excited to see something hip-hop related at the top of HN, especially Kendrick.
For anyone looking to understand why he's likely one of the best lyricists/storytellers of our time, here's some recommended songs from him:
* Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst
* Momma
* Wesley's Theory
I'd recommend checking out his projects as a whole (Section.80, Good Kid m.a.a.d City, To Pimp a Butterfly), but those songs distill a lot of what's best in him.
His choice of side musicians is amazing as well, he had Joe Limberg who has been mixing jazz trumpet and hip hop since 1992, lots of really incredible musicians get to work on his records and you can hear it in the end result. Maybe I'm slightly biased because I played with Joe in a couple jazz groups in the 90s but this music is so exciting because LA has this long history of jazz and Lamar ties together that legacy with the future forward vision of hip hop. He's not necessarily the greatest rapper ever some of his stuff is over produced and over exaggerated, nobody is perfect but the way he ties together the history with the future is exciting.
When I was 15 I read Tupac's The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which helped me understand my neighborhood (I was the only white guy). Kendrick Lamar brought similar feelings in me. The toughest album to listen to is Section 80; It’s not polished but it’s powerful.
To find focus in this comment, I suggest that we all look for ways to improve our own understanding and compassion. If you've “made it”, please consider doing something for others. Monetary help is great but if just 1 in 100 people donates their time it might render higher impact. Teach code in a local school, sort clothing in good will, work in your particular house of worship, or lend a hand in a soup kitchen.
I apologize if I sound preachy, that is not my intent.
I don't understand what people are getting out of this review. It seems like a shallow interpretation of the album in the context of his previous work, and just settles to make insightful-sounding claims with weak evidence to support. Making assumptions about the artist's motivation for the album with respect to current social environment is not a useful review; speculations don't add to the discussion. And, superficial statements such as "[h]is hypocrisy is part-performance, part-confession," are failed attempts at enlightened commentary that only serve to provide pseudo-sustenance to a post lacking real critical value. It's hard to point out the unbalance of the themes in this album, while comparing it to themes proposed in To Pimp a Butterfly, and attempt to claim that the juxtaposition of emotions in DAMN is really just "a sense of emotion overpowering the artist." Am I the only one seeing this, or is this article in need of some deeper analysis?
I 100% agree, and he is needed more now than ever as rap/hip hop are becoming diluted by non AA cultures. I remember the first time I heard To Pimp A Butterfly. I instantly got the feeling that this was made for us (AA). I have not felt that way since the first time I listened to "Makaveli". If anyone reading is not familiar with some of K.'s earlier work you should go checkout Hol Up, ADHD and rigamortis.
Let's take an example I read the other day about recent nobel prize winner in literature Kazuo Ishiguro.
He thought he was finsihed writing his book and coincidentally listened to a ballad by Tom waits which left such an impression on him that he changed the ending of the book that won him the nobel prize.
In his own words "The song is sung in the voice of a rough American hobo type utterly unaccustomed to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. And there comes a moment, when the singer declares his heart is breaking, that’s almost unbearably moving because of the tension between the sentiment itself and the huge resistance that’s obviously been overcome to utter it. Waits sings the line with cathartic magnificence, and you feel a lifetime of tough-guy stoicism crumbling in the face of overwhelming sadness."
This goes to show that insight can come from entertainment.
Also Kendrick has numerous songs with similar emotion evoking moments as the one described by Ishiguro.
yea man no insight to be found whatsoever in war and peace, Iliad, 2001 space Odyssey, the wall, waiting for Godot, Lolita, Carmen. if it's not obvious I'm being facetious: there's immense insight in "entertainment". good kid maad city, tpab and damn are masterworks of poetry/song. just because you don't understand them doesn't mean they're not valuable.
For me it provided insight on how white America views rap (specifically K.). As a long time fan of his I have always wondered of people outside of the AA community recognized his greatness or if it was generally accepted that Macklemore deserved to win that grammy.
I don't know; I'm afraid it bored me and I didn't finish. I did read the lyrics of a few of the tracks recommended in other comments, but didn't see anything special. Maybe because I grew up in South Africa, the theme of "How much does a dollar cost" (but remove the grammar), although you might then suggest I might then be able to relate - that doesn't make it special. Maybe because rap does nothing for me. I usually can't stand it. The vocabulary alone is dire - "fuck, shit, nigga" all over the place. Each to their own I guess.
The article actually gets some of the finer points of the content in the album. To Pimp A Butterfly was really refreshing but DAMN hit me way harder. I must have spent about 3 or 4 days listening to it on repeat. It has a lot of really deep meaning, complete with some hard hitting contradictions, which the article mentions. It made me say “damn!” out loud several times.
[+] [-] krrishd|8 years ago|reply
For anyone looking to understand why he's likely one of the best lyricists/storytellers of our time, here's some recommended songs from him:
* Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst
* Momma
* Wesley's Theory
I'd recommend checking out his projects as a whole (Section.80, Good Kid m.a.a.d City, To Pimp a Butterfly), but those songs distill a lot of what's best in him.
[+] [-] shams93|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ElonsMosque|8 years ago|reply
Collect Calls
The Art of Peer Pressure
How Much Dollar Cost (Obamas fabourite song)
Blacker The Berry
FEAR
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] gt_|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bardworx|8 years ago|reply
When I was 15 I read Tupac's The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which helped me understand my neighborhood (I was the only white guy). Kendrick Lamar brought similar feelings in me. The toughest album to listen to is Section 80; It’s not polished but it’s powerful.
To find focus in this comment, I suggest that we all look for ways to improve our own understanding and compassion. If you've “made it”, please consider doing something for others. Monetary help is great but if just 1 in 100 people donates their time it might render higher impact. Teach code in a local school, sort clothing in good will, work in your particular house of worship, or lend a hand in a soup kitchen.
I apologize if I sound preachy, that is not my intent.
[+] [-] perfmode|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] olalonde|8 years ago|reply
I believe this was debunked numerous times.
[+] [-] lokut|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] perfmode|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arionhardison|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] btown|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brndnmtthws|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MaysonL|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gxespino|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alexashka|8 years ago|reply
For me, it read like a typical album review that has no point besides getting clicks from people who mistakenly look for insight from entertainment.
[+] [-] ElonsMosque|8 years ago|reply
He thought he was finsihed writing his book and coincidentally listened to a ballad by Tom waits which left such an impression on him that he changed the ending of the book that won him the nobel prize.
In his own words "The song is sung in the voice of a rough American hobo type utterly unaccustomed to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. And there comes a moment, when the singer declares his heart is breaking, that’s almost unbearably moving because of the tension between the sentiment itself and the huge resistance that’s obviously been overcome to utter it. Waits sings the line with cathartic magnificence, and you feel a lifetime of tough-guy stoicism crumbling in the face of overwhelming sadness."
This goes to show that insight can come from entertainment.
Also Kendrick has numerous songs with similar emotion evoking moments as the one described by Ishiguro.
[+] [-] snakeboy|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mlevental|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] supernumerary|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arionhardison|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nanomoose|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sysalphUS|8 years ago|reply