Kendrick Lamar - 2017 Album - DAMN

he stood out. i am a very old person and i heard one song pre-gkmc and immediately looked for every scrap of video/audio on youtube that i could find.

also, it should be noted, i hadn't read a word about him.

I first heard about him the same time Odd Future was getting a lot of initial buzz, Black Hippy being the *other* au currant LA rap collective, but I didn't like Section .80 at all and as a result didn't give GKMC a listen until way after it had already been declared a classic.

also, I'm not sure if that's Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton playing but I really love the slinky bassline & drum beat that comes in when Bono starts singing is pretty great actually

i didn't really listen to butterfly much. i thought it was impressive though. but more something i admired than something i needed to hear a lot. like a scott walker album.

Overly Dedicated is the only Kendrick release I haven't worn out. Dude speaks to me.

same. and i like overly dedicated a lot too!

is it heresy to say that tpab might have benefited from a very slight resequencing*

this album, i wouldn't want anything changed

still unsure which i prefer

*obvious low-key deep cut 'institutionalized' in a banger sandwich at the front of the album, basically. idk maybe it's a deliberate pacing check. my main point is that damn is sequenced so fucking perfectly

section 80 def has some weak points imo ... the makeup songs lol

TBAP and GKMC had some weak points too

i'm sure this will too over time.

no......this is the rap album the elders foretold....

i'm impressed by ppl who saw his potential on section 80, I didn't care for it at all at the time. should revisit

Our own J0rdan Sargent and rennavate had Section.80 on their pazz and jop ballots

Section.80 is a fun listen, like the production on that way better than the production on this

yeah the production is really good on s.80

YAH. is my fav so far

I'm obsessed with ELEMENT, DNA, LUST and XXX

i feel like the pride-humble-lust swing is where the album loses some steam for me. def picks back up at love tho.

I wasn't impressed with Section 80 when it came out. But hearing Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe on Shade 45 won me over. Still think it's one of the greatest rap songs.

Not the remix with Jay Z, the album version. Jay Z nearly ruined a perfectly great song, imo.

yea i think i've listened to the jay-z version only once or twice, why anyone would want to listen to that over the album version is beyond me

who uses alpha/beta to talk about humans in a way that isn't incoherent red pill types raging about their insecurity?

altho I should probably let this go, it still bugs me, because I like this artist and album. *I* used it to describe an artist who seems different in ways I explained earlier, but also because I don't myself have negative connotations with the term. Didn't actually realize it was something of a trigger phrase and I guess I never attached a sexuality implication to it. And for that...well, this is why writers have editors, to at least inform them when they might be about to step into something that will obscure what they're really trying to say. Someone mentioned introversion above, and that gets at the same basic thing I was going for, and as an introvert, may very well be the reason K "speaks to me", to use DJP's phrase.

for anyone confused about why these terms have so many posters upset, here are some helpful guides that put them into context:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-alt-right-terminology-20161115-story.html
http://www.cracked.com/blog/a-guide-to-beta-cuck-dumbest-insult-internet/

I'm now blanking on which song it is but Kendrick has a line where he calls himself an extrovert who hates people, which basically made me leap to my feet and yell "MY MAN"

On DNA he calls himself "Antisocial, Extrovert"

I know this is greedy of me and 5 albums in 6 years is more than one can ask for from a Prestige album artist of Kendrick's stature, but part of me wishes he would adopt Future's mode of production where he just releases internally stylistically consistent tapes at a rapid-fire clip, bcuz i desperately want a Beast Mode style mixtape of all songs that sound like HUMBLE. the variety is cool but i want MOAR

to reiterate, wasn't accusing you of being a secret mens rights activist dominique, just didn't really understand what you were getting at with that. I'm still not sure that there's something neat about his persona(lity), that distinguishes kendrick from other rappers around atm. there are softer & more emo/introverted rappers out there. maybe you could say he was unusually ambivalent/nuanced/delicate/thoughtful in how he handles things - he does seem to have a good bit of the old negative capability - but I think most of what marks kendrick out is that he ticks a lot of boxes for certain sorts of listeners in terms of style and presentation, being a bit old fashioned in some respects, well into his lyrics, introspective and into making Great albums

"he calls himself an extrovert who hates people, which basically made me leap to my feet and yell "MY MAN"

wonder if Trump is a fan.

If he has success with the "drop a classic album every couple years" strategy I'm not sure why he'd switch to a mixtape for each season model

not comparing djp to trump by the way...just the whole extrovert/misanthrope thing reminded me of trump.

I'm obsessed with ELEMENT, DNA, LUST and XXX

― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP), Thursday, April 20, 2017 9:14 PM (yesterday)

Hard picking a song I'm not obsessed with at this point.

too late scott, I now hate you

*makes fist, shakes it towards the west, makes it look sexy*

Trump would never admit to being a misanthrope. In fact, he is the least misanthropic person you've ever seen in your life.

i imagine one year of a hot rapper's life must be like 10 years of my life. and weed is so strong now. being really young and really stoned and having tons of money would totally make me write endless paranoid jesus albums. dmx was 28 when his first album came out. that's 196 in dog years.

If he has success with the "drop a classic album every couple years" strategy I'm not sure why he'd switch to a mixtape for each season model

To please me

http://www.factmag.com/2017/04/21/watch-kendrick-lamar-discuss-damn-new-interview/

^^ 50min interview (brb getting apple music)

didnt really love humble 1st few listens, is def a fav now

same

Section.80 was #2 or 3 on my 2011 P&J ballot, but they had some issues w/ the ballot site that year and it didn't get counted :(

i wouldn't sit here and pretend to argue it's better than anything that's come since, but it is amazing and i might actually reach for it before i'd reach for GKMC or TPAB. not sure that's true about DAMN. tho

So what's the verdict on this vs. TPAB? Is it an overcorrection (if that's the right word, sure it's just he wanted to do something different)

Relistening to TPAB and the first half at least is still really great, I don't dislike most songs in the second half but there're a couple that're less-good.

IMO the beginning & end of this > the middle, beginning being through FEEL. and end starting at XXX. FEAR is great for how spare the beat is

I struggle w some of section 80 tbh

"no make-up" is not great

for starters, yeah. the production is great obv but the lyrics are patchier than what followed

that bekon guy sure sounds kinda like justin vernon

freestyle fellowship namechecked in one of the firsts posts in this beautifully titled thread: Kendrick Lamar will kill your favorite rapper for money

element/feel/loyalty/pride is such an awesome 1-2-3-4 punch! so cool. best songs.

I can't unhear "Biyombo" now.

keep getting DNA in my head but it usually turns into Lift Me Up by Vince Staples, wonder if anyone's going to mash them up

DNA already feels like an all-time banger, "Mama Said Knock You Out" level.