November 2, 2012

Album Review | Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city





“I am a sinner who's probably gonna sin again” raps Kendrick Lamar on the second track from his album good kid, m.A.A.d city. It’s a line that sets the tone for Lamar’s second full-length record; a record that details the life, troubles and guilt Lamar experienced growing up in Compton, California.

With the release of his critically-acclaimed independent record Section.80 last year – a concept album inspired by the works of Tupac Shakur – Lamar set the foundation for his sound on good. Now on his first major label release, Lamar creates a motion picture with music, an autobiography of the things he’s witnessed and seen in the life he’s built leading up to the release of the record.



Throughout good kid, Lamar succeeds by his pacing and lyric delivery. Rather than using just rhyme within his songs, Lamar enunciates at key moments, spitting verses out at rapid fire to create his own rhyme. Candid and not willing to censor, Lamar evokes early Marshall Mathers Eminem, with a hint of Lil’ Wayne in the audaciousness of his lyrics, such as in songs like “Backseat Freestyle.”

Lamar’s layering of beats and samples also help good kid excel. The album standout “Poetic Justice” uses a looped female vocal reminiscent of Ludacris’ “Splash Waterfall”. Plus a featuring spot by Drake helps propel the track into a R&B hit, bombastic and ready for urban radio.

The Drake featuring track is also key in cementing the album's theme of remorse and guilt for the things Lamar's done in his youth.

I can never write my wrongs until I write them down for real" raps Lamar, using his song as a chance for repentance and redemption. The message repeats in other songs such as “Money Tree” where Lamar states “the one in front of the gun lives forever,” suggesting that he's been both a witness and a participant of gang violence and how a criminal act resonates in the mind; despite it ending in the moment.

While Lamar is an excellent rapper, good kid also shines in its use of layering beats and samples, ranging from Kanye West, Janet Jackson, Kool and the Gang and even indie duo Beach House. Lamar draws in his listener with well-chosen and well-executed samples that compliment his lyrics and hooks, and allows the message that making mistakes are okay as long as you translate the crime or deed into art, like Lamar tries and succeeds in doing on good kid.

The album ends with a Dr. Dre featuring track, “Compton” an ode to the California city where Lamar grew up. As a lyricist and a story teller, Lamar's album succeeds by holding nothing back, never shying away from being candid, conversational and sincere throughout the record.

Lamar wants his listeners to know about the past he led. With skits, notable samples and a sophisticated arrangement of sounds and beats throughout the record, we see Lamar create a new life for himself using his past experiences to shape it.

Creating art out of pain, guilt and the remorse of his past, good kid remains a satisfying album that reinforces a new name in hip-hop bound to continue rising. This is only the beginning for good kid, Kendrick Lamar.


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