At 16 songs and an hour of playing time, this is a project with substance. Section.80 is the official debut album from Kendrick Lamar, released after he already made a name for himself with a string of mixtapes. DAMN. is a fine album, nothing more, nothing less. Kendrick stans may want to throw a tantrum after reading this opinion, and that’s fine – we just think DAMN. is far from Kendricks’s best work and not even a top 10 album released in 2017. It’s not a bad album at all, but it’s not a flawless classic either. Even the Pulitzer people jumped on the ‘Kendrick is King’ bandwagon, showcasing their Hip Hop ignorance – there are a hundred Hip Hop albums that could or should have won a Pulitzer over this one, obviously they missed the significance of TPAB upon its release and decided to retroactively honor it by awarding Kendrick’s follow-up.īecause of its reduced scope and shaky sonic, lyrical, and thematic cohesiveness, DAMN. can not stand side to side to his two previous masterpieces. Now, all this may sound a tad more negative than it should – it is just meant to serve as a little counterweight to the blind Kenrick praise that seems obligatory these days. But there are flashes of the customary Kendrick brilliance and some emotionally resonant lyrical nuggets to be found, and the production is outstanding in places (“DUCKWORTH” is all-around excellent, as is the banging “DNA”).
Also, Kendrick takes some unfortunate steps on the mumble-trap-singing path (like on “LOVE”). In fact, some songs on here just don’t seem to mesh together. Where TPAB was a conscious masterpiece focusing on political and social issues over an amalgamation of 70 years of black music history, and GKMC was a brilliant coming-of-age concept album, the common thematical thread DAMN. is less clear. But DAMN. isn’t the best ever, it’s just OK. Upon DAMN.‘s release, fans and critics alike were immediately screaming ‘instant classic’, ‘masterpiece’ and all that – like a Pavlov reaction because it’s Kendrick and so it has to be the best ever you know. Thing is, Kendrick Lamar is like the 2010s version of 2Pac and Biggie as in that it seems forbidden to criticize him or not unreservedly like anything he does or releases – not 100% praising Kendrick will activate a stan-army to set any doubter straight (similar to what happens if you dare to opinion not everything 2Pac or Biggie have done is of the utmost brilliance). For HHGA, this album is a definite downturn for Kendrick Lamar after two straight classics, we feel DAMN. For this piece, we will be ranking Kendrick Lamar’s albums – while we eagerly await his fifth full-length.ĭAMN, this album is hard to review. city ( 2012), To Pimp A Butterfly ( 2015), and DAMN. In his career so far Kendrick Lamar released five mixtapes, one EP ( Kendrick Lamar EP, 2009), one compilation album ( Untitled Unmastered, 2016), and four studio albums: Section. By now, he is one of the most important and influential rappers of his generation and he is well on his way to be considered one of the all-time greats. city and he turned the game on its head with the release of the monumental To Pimp A Butterfly in 2015. His real breakthrough followed in 2012 with his sophomore album and major-label debut good kid, m.A.A.d. He released a mixtape ( Youngest Head N***a in Charge (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year) in 2004 that garnered local attention which eventually led to his signing with indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE).
Raised in Compton, California, Kendrick Lamar embarked on his musical career as a teenager under the stage name K-Dot. Every album he released is different from the one that came before. Where some artists have made a career of releasing more or less the same album over and over again, Kendrick Lamar has always shown incredible creativity and the ability to change and develop in the course of his career. Ranking Kendrick Lamar’s albums is not as easy as it may seem.
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