Kendrick Lamar - 2017 Album - DAMN

I know it's a lyrically dark album, but some of these beats ("Feel," "Pride," "Duckworth" "God," the end of "XXX") give me such a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's like he stretched out "Momma" from TPAB and made it into a whole album.

Obviously, on the flipside, he's got beats like DNA, Humble, Element, that are impossibly hard.

I'm gonna enjoy living inside this album for the next few days.

I love that this album is tighter and seemingly simpler but still has a solid conceptual framework. best of both worlds.

Album is spectacular. Also, I like Humble about 300x more than I originally did, and I liked it initially anyway.

Not as obviously dazzling as TPAB, but I appreciate the stripped down beats and greater focus on his raps.

Agreed. And Humble makes so much more sense to me, both sonical and the lyrics, in the context of the album. Booming album. Couldn't have wished for more tbh.

(xp but not xp)

Kendrick totally neutralizes Annoying Bono, and makes it work. No small feat.

seriously. I will never doubt k-dot again

HE IS SO CORNY!!! Yeah, I know all of you hear it but somehow go pass it. TPAB was so impressive I couldn't front but this is just a regular album.

YOU'RE corny

Hi racoon tanuki

lmao

Yup, sharp album. And if Bono can only sing like that from now and only in guest roles I might actually like him again.

I hope that doesn't happen because "Ned will never like Bono again"
is my critical review ideal space

i am listening to the kendrick lamar album "damn." and i am enjoying the experience. some of the beats are a little slight, but he's rapping at a very high level of proficiency.

LOYALTY. and HUMBLE. the only weak songs IMO

Really impressed with dude's career post-GKMC

Kinda Yeezus-y really, albeit more traditional

Loyalty may be the best song, you nincompoop.

he's rapping at a very high level of proficiency

otm. This has been true of him all along obv, but I think he's gotten sharper and more inventive. I love the way he sets up the framework for a verse and then keeps tweaking it, changing up the flow and emphasis and voice, improvising within the structure.

well, the album's got several of his best performances and a couple slips into one of his more annoying tendencies, i.e. cramming so many lines into a song that the damn thing doesn't breathe; it's the rapping equivalent of Steve Vai.

One of my friends said it's the first Kendrick album since Section.80 that doesn't feel like a term paper.

it's the rapping equivalent of Steve Vai.

Yeah, the virtuosity can be exhausting. That's why ELEMENT is so great, it's the force of his voice with lots of space around it.

One of my friends said it's the first Kendrick album since Section.80 that doesn't feel like a term paper.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, April 15, 2017 12:36 PM (nineteen minutes ago)

Yeah tbh I'm glad that this is just a collection of songs

enhh there's definitely still some overarching conceptual stuff but it's less pronounced and also y'know not as long

I kinda lost interest after section80 so I had no particular hopes for this but so far I find it pretty good.
I still need to listen to it more but it catches me much more than his previous work (especially the two latest).
I like the grooves more.
Otm the comments about it sounding less like a pensum/conceptual work and more like a... cool hip-hop album !

"nincompoop," lol

Like pull up pop off make it look sexy

If LOVE isn't the next single, somebody's not doing their job.

Love and Loyalty are really the only possible choices

love the vibes on the chorus of PRIDE

re: virtuosity, to me the rap equivalent of Steve Vai would be the last few Em records, pure technicality with no worthwhile vision. Kendrick is technically a great MC of course but he's also just versatile as a vocalist generally and knows not to go full-bore syllable-crunching all the time. not to mention his actual lyrics are not shit. and he is very canny about using his voice - his sung hooks are rarely if ever embarrassing and he blends nicely with his collaborators. he sounds very natural trading bars and singing along with Rihanna for example (which is also in part because she's a seasoned collaborator as well).

https://www.wired.com/2017/04/steve-lacy-iphone-producer/

Steve Vai isn't that bad imo

I don't think Kendrick ever comes close to abusing his chops, he's just really good at rapping which I know can be a Scarlett Letter in these days of schmoodlebob, but yeah this isn't like recent Em or fuckin Chino XL or Canibus or some shit like that

Steve Vai isn't that bad imo

New board description?

We're through the lookin' glass, people

Steve Vai has some jams. (Originally wrote "hams" which I am going to assume is also true.)

yo where's the second album!?

Wait another thousand years

So it looks like Humble is the official NBA Playoffs theme.

Steve Vai played a big role in Eat Em and Smile by David Lee Roth which is great

Steve Vai's right hand tapping just went viral

And PiL. Careers have exceptions built into them.

Steve Vai doesn't really even play that fast Alfred you should have invoked Yngwie or the Great Kat instead imo

upper mississippi otm, people who hate on Kendrick mainly do so because he can rap at all, weird shades of old school indie rock distrust of technical proficiency in that whole dynamic but w/e

Steve Vai has a song with horse whinnies in it YAH

Jesus didn't die for a Kendrick Lamar thread to be defaced by Steve Vai smdh

Yeah dude's flow is great IMO. Way more dexterous/smooth than a certain other megastar rapper who allegedly makes more "fun" music

ELEMENT. and XXX. endings are album highlights too gotta say, calm after intensity. the latter doesn't even sound particularly U2-ish although maybe it's comparable to a certain era of 'em I'm not familiar with

XXX to me sounds like maybe Larry Jr. is doing some drums and then all of them are doing some vocals and basically did whatever Kendrick told them to do. They can't write stuff like that.

First listen here, it's fucking amazing. Peak of his game surely, long may it sustain. I'm on holiday in Kyoto and it's pelting with rain but FEEL. transforms it into magic.

upper mississippi otm, people who hate on Kendrick mainly do so because he can rap at all, weird shades of old school indie rock distrust of technical proficiency in that whole dynamic but w/e

uh no nobody here hates him. Mentioning how cluttered a few of those tracks are has nothing to do w/old school indie and distrust of proficiency.