I know this isn’t exactly a hip hop community but I regretted not starting a thread about his album To Pimp a Butterfly when it came out, and so I’m starting one to talk about DAMN.
For my money, Kendrick is the most important musical artist (any genre) making music today. I listen to his albums and wonder if this is what people who were listening to Bob Dylan in the 60s felt like. His last two albums rocked me and changed how I feel about music in general, and hip hop in particular (though I have long been a hip hop fan.)
I was woken up early this morning so I have had a chance to listen to the album twice through so far. And so far, I really like it. It feels like an extremely worthy successor even though it is very different in a lot of ways.
I like hip hop and I’ve got a couple Kendrick songs on my playlists but I wasn’t bowled over by Butterfly on first hearing. I was so ready for it to blow my mind that I may have disappointed myself.
I’ll try it again tho, and try this one for sure.
I recently “discovered” Vince Staples’ Summertime '06 and it hit me right away. So it can happen!
That’s a great album. I also didn’t he Jay Rock 90058 album and Joey Bada$$ album B4 da $$. Joey just dropped a new album too, but I haven’t listened to it yet.
Hey I like Money Trees. It’s my second favorite off Good Kid. My favorite is backseat freestyle which took a while for me to warm up to, but now I find myself singing it to myself at random intervals.
My favorite Kendrick track of all time though is King Kunta. When the second pop hits it legit won, the funk WAS within me. There are a few on DAMN that are hot as heck though.
I is a great song. It’s interesting though because people were really disappointed by it as the first single off the album prior to the album release. Out of context it is different than in the context of the album. As the mirror of u (which is a dark and difficult song) I think it is perfect. Humble is the same. In context as the opposite of Pride it’s a totally different thing than it is as a solo single where it sounds kinda like he’s calling out everyone else in the rap game. That’s one of the things I like about Kendrick though, there are layers to what he does and he’s almost always technically right on point.
So, having spent a weekend with this I have thoughts.
this is probably, in some ways his poppiest and most accessible albums
on the flip side, I can’t remember the last time I listened to an album and had my opinion on what the album was even about change so dramatically as I listened more. I am currently of the opinion that it’s an alternate universe version of good kid but from the perspective that Kendrick was raised without a father because his dad was killed in a robbery.
it’s very much an album. It’s clearly intended to be played front to back in order… Twice.
my favorite song on the album keeps changing. I think it’s xxx ft. U2, but it might be pride, or DNA or element.
