This was a welcome surprise! The new Kendrick Lamar album came out as a complete surprise! Well, almost a complete surprise. There was a small teaser video that was released a half hour before the album, but there was nothing in that video that said there was an album coming, nor was that snippet even on the album. It’s not something that Kendrick has ever done before, especially not with a full album. And not only is this a new release strategy for Kendrick, this album is immediately different from his previous releases.
To use one sentence, this is the most aggressive Kendrick has ever sounded. I suppose it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise after he just had the highest profile rap beef in a couple decades, but that energy has clearly motivated him throughout the rest of the year. He’s not necessarily going at Drake anymore, but it’s now the confidence that came from that. Kendrick’s rapping on here like he knows he’s the best rapper in the world, and screw anyone that thinks differently. There are introspective and thematically dense moments on here, but even those songs don’t delve into his insecurities. For all we can tell from this album, his insecurities are gone and replaced with this ego that helped him create incredible bangers! He’s demanding his flowers, and this album is worthy of giving them to him!
There are more straightforward bangers on here than any other Kendrick Lamar project! Sure, there are more “hits” on albums Good Kid Maad City or DAMN, but those all play into an overall concept. The bangers on here aren’t playing into any overarching story or theme, they’re just great! The soon-to-be number one song “squabble up” was originally teaseed in the “Not Like Us” music video, but the final version is nothing short of an insane west coast banger! The same goes for “tv off”, which has already inspired countless memes with the way Kendrick screams, “MUSTAAAAAARD” after the beat switch. “hey now” and “peekaboo” are two of the most maniacal sounding songs that Kendrick has ever made, but what each of them also has is a fantastic verse from a small west coast artist. Outside of SZA and Roddy Ricch features, there are eight features from random west coast artists that pretty much everyone, myself included, had never heard before. Thankfully, all of them showed up for their opportunity, especially Dody6 and AzChike on the aforementioned “hey now” and “peekaboo” respectively.
Now, even though the bangers have been getting most of the attention from the album, there are still plenty of introspective, mind-bogglingly deep tracks on here. The main one is “reincarnated”, where Kendrick not only heavily samples a Tupac beat, but also is clearly trying to rap like the deceased legend. The first two verses are from the perspective of other deceased Black legends who, from Lamar’s perspective, had done wrong in their lives. The first verse is about John Lee Hooker, who was an incredibly innovative guitarist in rhythm and blues that hoarded a lot of his money he made from music. The second verse could be about either Billie Holiday or Dinah Washington, and it describes a woman who had an incredible voice that became addicted to drugs and ended up depending on them so much that they killed her. The third verse is more of a conversation that is both between Kendrick and his father, but mainly between God and Kendrick, who is embodying Lucifer. This verse needs someone much more versed in religion to break down fully, but in Christianity, one of the interpretations at use here is that Lucifer uses music to lead people into situations and lives that are considered sinful. Kendrick is embodying Lucifer and showing God that he lives honestly and preaches his ideals and how Kendrick using music is just him using his gift to reach people. Kendrick ends the verse by vowing to continue using his gift for good and to get away from the sinful actions of his former musical torchbearers. It’s an incredibly deep song, maybe one of the deepest Lamar has ever written. That’s why we then need the straightforward bangers to decompress from the avalanche of symbolism and meaning that a song like this has.
While “Reincarnated” is the deepest song on the album, songs like “man at the garden” and “gloria” are both fairly introspective as well. The former track is about Kendrick feeling like he deserves all the successes because of everything he’s done and sacrificed. The latter track appears to be about Kendrick’s relationship with his significant other, but at the end of the track, it’s revealed that it was actually about his relationship with his pen. Going through the song again knowing that, you see all the writing language used colloquially that went over your head on first listen, and how intentional every word he uses actually is. I also can’t forget about “heart pt. 6”, where Kendrick takes us on a journey throughout his career. The biggest revelation for longtime Kendrick fans is that Kendrick admits he was the reason that Black Hippy never released an album together. While it was kind of obvious, it’s nice to have confirmation that it was just because Kendrick creatively moved on from the idea of that group, but it’s clear that he still loves and appreciates them very much.
Now, this is usually the point where I would talk about how there are a few flaws that hold the album back from its potential, but I can’t this time. Sure, there are a few nitpicky things here that do hold it back, but I’m not yet in the place to criticize it. I mean, c’mon. My favorite artist of all time decided to drop a full surprise album only a few days ago, I don’t want to talk about what’s wrong with it yet. Not everything needs to be viewed from both sides at all times, and this album is currently giving me so much joy, I don’t want to critically view it yet. When something special happens that is worth being enjoyed, sometimes it’s worth just enjoying it to the full extent before you start critically looking at it.
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