I find it kinda strange that a genre that’s been around for 50 years and went mainstream in the early 80’s, a genre that has eclipsed r’n’r in sales and audiences world wide since at least the 90’s, still makes people confused. And I say that as a 63 y.o. white male, living in one of the whitest countries in the world.
With that said, I don’t like main stream country. I find the sentimentality to be saccharine and the lyrics trite. That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate when I hear good musicianship or artistry that rises above the schmaltz., even if I don’t like it.
KL was the first artist outside classical/jazz to be awarded a Pulitzer. No artist from any other popular music genre has achieved that. None of the greats I grew up listening to [insert your favorite here] like LZ, Beatles, Genesis. Not even Frank Zappa who clearly stradled the line between art music and rock.
There’s been a lot of talk about Hip-Hops lyrics (or rhymes) in this thread, including KL’s texts. What I think is missing is how he excels musically. He is not writing melodies in the sense an old rocker might think of it, but he uses soundscapes, creates ambience and textures clearly inspired by jazz and classical, with some rock and pop mixed in. This is an artist not only with a message, but clearly someone who is extremely adept musically too. He clearly transcends average Hip-Hop which many times is just concerned with having a beat.
@Dinsdale
If you wan’t to learn more about KL and the album DAMN. which is what landed him a Pulitzer, here’s a very good analysis from the YT channel Digging the Greats. It’s long (45 min.) but if you do spend the time, I think you’ll garner an appreciation for Lamar’s artistry. Maybe not to the point where you actually like it (which is fine), but where you respect it.
