Kendrick Lamar - 2017 Album - DAMN

i walked into my local "Best Buy" today and purchased this on "compact disc"

bout to take the long way home from work

yeah the number of songs charting isn't unusual in this era. Beyonce and Sheeran pulled this off too.

Your horse and buggy has a CD player?

Xp

if i gotta mean mug Οὖτις i'ma make it look sexxy

It's something Whiney nailed with his review, talking about the different levels of how "humble" and "pride" are explored in the album. At first the way so many songs would jump around to totally disparate beats really annoyed me in how jarring it was but I'm starting to come around on how well that works as a vehicle for Kdot exploring themes.

I haven't yet listened to this all the way through but I'm on my second pass through the first half - think I'm gonna listen to the end this time - and "Loyalty" strikes me as a screamingly obvious second single. I don't see how it won't be a huge hit. Obviously his skills are titanic, but he just keeps getting better at making records, doesn't he?

The production on this is amazing in a way I'm not sure I've heard before. Can't pin it down ... beats you could build a house on, obviously, but also drama in the tracks that gives him a springboard without distracting from his lyrics.

I may be the only Kendrick fan on ILM who's listening to "Humble" for the first time in May, but on first pass it's easily the weakest song on the record. "First pass" emphasized - I could be totally wrong here.

nah you're probably right, but that's just because the rest of the songs are amazing

HUMBLE is okay. I didn't love it when I first heard it and it's not one of my favorites on the album.

it sounds better as part of the album flow than as a single imo

^^^ agreed

This is quickly becoming my AOTY. There are other recent albums that I was excited about, but I haven't given them much time because I keep coming back to this instead. Just flows so well, and no skipable moments.

it sounds better as part of the album flow than as a single imo

― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Monday, May 8, 2017 12:49 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ agreed

― her squamous hamhocks (DJP), Monday, May 8, 2017

this.

third week at #1 y'all

The seagull sounds on Pride and the Rick James sample at the end of DNA are both such perfect touches to their beats.

I like the theory going around that the tracks should be listened to in reverse order to get different messages. I'm not sold that it was an intentional move by Kendrick but the way different themes are peppered throughout makes it work. Like how Element starts with Kid Capri introducing the "ain't nobody prayin for me" motif, but if you flip the tracklisting that announcement comes right after Feel, the song that's built around that line.

my daddy commissary made it to commas is a good line

killer verse here
https://www.audiomack.com/song/bottomfeedermusic/mask-off-rmx

was listening to this on the living room stereo the other day and started after skipping to the middle - made me realize how *slow* so much of this album is, tempo-wise.

GIMME SOME GANJA!
GIMME SOME GANJA!
GIMMIGIMMIGIMMIGIMMIGIMMIGIMMIGIMMIGIMME SOME GANJA!

Well, this has been out for a while now and a lot of listens and this one seems to be threatening to burn out a little faster for me than GKMC or TPAB, both of which I'm still listening to a lot, but 'DNA.', 'ELEMENT.', 'FEEL.', 'LUST.', 'XXX.', 'FEAR.' and 'DUCKWORTH.' all rule.

The only reason I don't play this album 24/7 is because I don't want my kids to pick up the cursing and the n-bombs.

If you discount the opener, that's more than half the album!

xpost

this is also a great album to listen to while hiking, especially when you're carrying a heavy bag

this is gonna be one of the best albums of the year for me (and everyone else), no problem.

Oh yeah, this is without a doubt one of my favourite albums released this year too, and yet another installment of what is turning out to be an incredible run. I don't think it's a 5-star, 10/10 album like GKMC or TPAB are, but it's incredibly close - more like a 4.999-star, 9.999/10 album. The only flaw I can really find with DAMN. is that it doesn't seem as endlessly replayable as GKMC or TPAB, but since those albums are (IMO) masterpieces, that's not really much of a flaw when it comes down to it.

this album is the best

The only flaw I can really find with DAMN. is that it doesn't seem as endlessly replayable as GKMC or TPAB

I find the album to be endlessly replay-able. More so than Butterfly (I still prefer Butterfly). Replayability one of those things I can't explain.

I've listened to this way more than the others

I can't stop listening to this record. First Kendrick record that I really got all the way into - I liked the last one but it felt like such a Big Weighty Artistic Statement that it was harder for me to find a way in (especially at my age, where I have less time to really delve into Big Weighty Artistic Statements). Maybe I'll go back and give it more time now. Damn has more straight bangers on it AFAICT, and that hooked me enough to dig more into the weighty artistic statement aspects of the album, which are also great. DNA is the first rap song I felt compelled to memorize in many years.

Also the story on and behind Duckworth is insane.

At least four or five tracks I can have on endless repeat.

DNA seems to get a lot of play on Hot 97 too, which just makes me happy that something that amazing can still be a hit.

agree w you ive played/enjoyed this 1 more than tpab

I still think To Pimp a Butterfly is better, but DAMN. is still one of the albums of the year.

Having children at an age where they parrot whatever they hear has cut down on the amount that I listen to this album but it's still my favorite of the year.

Believe me I get it. The only reason I even got to give this record a chance is that I now drive to work. And with that it was sill totally by chance that I flipped the radio one day to hot 97 and had a head explosion, pull the car over moment when the beat change in DNA happened

I've been impressed by its chart longevity too -- it hit #1 again a couple weeks ago and hasn't left the top ten.

xp the *drama* of this record is one of its biggest hooks - the gunshot cutting off BLOOD, the escalation in DNA, that bit in FEEL where he snaps and rants for a few bars, the rage in XXX. He's just at the top of his game.

So many high points on this album but that first verse in woozy-as-fuck Pride where his voice keeps subtly mutating lower and higher makes me seasick every time in just the best way. What a triumph.

I think this is his best album, hits a middle ground between the strengths of Good Kid, Maad City and To Pimp a Butterfly

It's his best album the way that Yeezus is Kanye's best album. It's not the album he'll be remembered for, but it's awesome and exciting and bold and perfect for what it is

I don't understand that comparison at all

in part because Yeezus is three quarters crap

that's a good starting point for skepticism, to be sure

Half is Yeezus is very good and half of Yeezus is intolerable bullshit. DAMN. runs the gamut from "good" to "holy shit where has this song been my whole life".

they're both lean, no-bullshit, hard-hitting, personality-driven mid-career album by an elite A-list rapper with several more "prestigious" albums already under their belt. Not really a stretch?

yeah if you think Yeezus sucks the comparison doesn't hold but thinking Yeezus sucks is a pretty bizarre position imo

That is 100% stretch considering the entire second half of Yeezus is filler.

Also, if Yeezus is mid-career Kanye album god help us all

Again, the comparison won't hold at all if you hate Yeezus for some bizarre reason.

Yeezus has a few duds in the second half but it also has Send It Up, I'm In It and Bound 2. That's still pretty good for any side of a record. DAMN. has some silly shit in its second half, too, but it doesn't dampen my love of that record much either