I’m starting a new series where I rank an artist’s discography and give little descriptions on each project. Today I thought we would start with an artist we’re all wanting a new album from, Kendrick Lamar. It’s been over three years since Kendrick released his last official studio album. It looked like he was gearing up to release something, as he was scheduled to play quite a few European festivals in late June and early July. Now that they’re all cancelled, there’s no telling when the next project will come out. While we’re waiting, might as well take a stroll back through his spotless discography.
5. Section.80
Just because this is his worst album doesn’t mean that it’s anywhere near bad. In fact, this is a great debut album! This project really showed the potential that he had in all different types of styles. He shows he can make a great political track on the J. Cole produced HiiiPoWeR. He foreshadows his jazz inspired opus, To Pimp a Butterfly, on songs like Rigamortis and Ab-Soul’s Outro. There’s the trap inspired The Spiteful Chant. The storytelling in Keisha’s Song is in a very similar style to Good Kid Maad City. Even considering all that, the best part is easily Kendrick himself. The way he raps and flows on here is almost unheard of for a debut album. Even though this is far from a perfect or his best album, for a debut studio album on an independent label, there’s not many projects this good.
This is more or less, a B-sides album. Released in 2016, it was preceded by his album To Pimp a Butterfly. Fans were wanting a project like after Kendrick started playing new, untitled songs on late night shows. He performed two different, previously unheard songs on Colbert and Fallons’ shows. The project was also pushed for a release from LeBron James, which allegedly helped the release of this project happen. The fact that Kendrick had 8 songs of this quality lying around is pretty insane! As the title says, the songs still aren’t perfect by any means, but that’s not the appeal of this project. This is a stripped down version of Kendrick. Untitled 07 even gives an insight on what it’s like in the studio with Kendrick. The rawness of songs like Untitled 05 and Untitled 01 help bring the more abstract nature to the project compared to the more “normal” songs like Untitled 02 and Untitled 08. This isn’t the place to start with listening to Kendrick Lamar, but definitely don’t dismiss this album as bad leftovers.
3. DAMN.
This is Pulitzer Kenny’s latest album, but still released over three years ago in 2017. It’s Kendrick’s most scatterbrained album since Section.80. There are trap bangers like HUMBLE and DNA, but there are also slower and more personal songs like FEEL and PRIDE. There are also a couple of Kendrick’s best storytelling songs on here. DUCKWORTH tells the story of Kendrick’s father “Ducky” and Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, CEO of the label Kendrick is signed to, Top Dawg Entertainment. Anthony had robbed the KFC that Ducky worked at before, so he was always extra nice to Top Dawg and would give him free food to get on his good side, and it very well would’ve saved his life. FEAR shows how fear has evolved in Kendrick’s life; one verse at the age of 7, the next at 17, and the last at his age the album came out, 27. He also had the radio hits with songs like LOYALTY with Rihanna and LOVE with Zacari. This project really has something for anyone. Even rock fans have a U2 feature on one of the songs.
Not many west coast gangsta rap albums can start off with a full prayer, but this one does. It tells the story of a particular day in the life of a sixteen year old Kendrick. He starts off the day as K-Dot, the young writer and wordsmith falling into the trappings of gang life. By the end of the day, he is Kendrick Lamar, the mature and driven artist ready to take on the world. Along the way, he attempts to hook up with a girl named Sherane, rob a house with his friends, watch a friend get murdered, hit battle with alcoholism, and be baptized by an old lady who is voiced by legendary poet, Maya Angelou. The production has a classic west coast sound, but with some more accessibility. Add on features from Jay Rock, Drake and Dr. Dre; and production from Pharrell, Just Blaze, and Hit-Boy, and you got a pretty perfect album.
No surprise here. Aside from the album being the highest rated album of the decade, and appearing on the most album of the decade lists in the 2010s, this is also my personal favorite album of all time. I went into this album not knowing almost anything about music, or even listened to albums in full, but this changed everything. The jazz and funk inspired instrumentals are meticulously pieced together. Kendrick gathered the best of the best in those fields to help with these instrumentals; including Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Terrace Martin, Sounwave, Kamasi Washington, etc. The lyrics on here are about Kendrick navigating his way through his newfound fame after Good Kid Maad City, but through themes of race and discrimination. He goes from a song where he’s blackout drunk and borderline suicidal in a hotel room to a Pharrell produced anthem about hope. Other song subjects include debating giving a homeless man a dollar (who turns out to be God), loving yourself, taxes, Uncle Sam, the devil (Lucy), Nelson Mandela, and much more! Each vocal feature on here brings their A+ game. He had funk legends like George Clinton and Ronald Isley, hip hop legends like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and up and coming artists like Rapsody and Anna Wise. And if this album wasn’t enough in itself, Kendrick interviews Tupac to end the project! If you like music, this is a must listen and an album to really live with to fully digest. This is this generation’s Sgt. Peppers, Songs in the Key of Life, Thriller, Purple Rain, etc. This is one of the albums this generation has to shoot for.
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