Kendrick lamar good kid maad city album cover

KendrickвЂ™s linear memoir-style narrative glues the albumвЂ™s 12 individual tracks, with some assist from the interludes that dramatize interactions with friends and messages from relatives. city,вЂќ and on вЂњSing About Me, IвЂ™m Dying of Thirst,вЂќ fixates on his own mortality, outdoing Bob FosseвЂ™s own surreal metafiction by writing his own death twice. He falls prey to racial profiling by the police in вЂњgood kid,вЂќ spits a stressed, frayed and frazzled vendetta from being pushed to the edge by gang violence in вЂњm.A.A.d. Elsewhere, Lamar highlights his own ripening as a rapper, his non-stop flood of teenage boasts and one-liners on вЂњBackseat FreestyleвЂќ preceded by a friend playing a beats CD in his car. Lamar pretty effortlessly replicates perspective of a horny young male with вЂњ nothing but pussy stuck on my mental,вЂќ spending his verses going over the potential scenario in his mind, almost getting into a fenderbender and finally hearing his phone ring as вЂњ two niggas, two black hoodiesвЂќ approach, ominously foreshadowing some darker days ahead.ДЇrom вЂњSheraneвЂќ on forward, Kendrick takes the listener through various checkpoints on his road to adulthood, and punctuates them with eye-popping sequences of lyrical dazzle, as well as the occasional appearance of a voice mail from a loved one, providing the conscience and structure that brings him back down to earth even when a situation goes bad, as on вЂњThe Art of Peer Pressure.вЂќ One moment of bad judgment (вЂњ I got the blunt in my mouth/usually IвЂ™m drug free, but shit IвЂ™m with the homiesвЂњ) spirals into a moment of really bad judgment (вЂњ Rush a nigga quick and then we laugh about it/ ThatвЂ™s ironic because I never been violent, until IвЂ™m with the homiesвЂњ). city runs a pretty hefty 68 minutes and follows a linear storyline that begins with a spotlight on Kendrick at 17, borrowing his momвЂ™s van to meet up with a girl named Sherane. Subtitled вЂњA Short Film by Kendrick Lamar,вЂќ good kid, m.A.A.d. On вЂњ Backseat Freestyle,вЂќ for instance, K-Dot boldly claims he вЂњ pray my dick get big as the Eiffel Tower/ so I can fuck the world 72 hours.вЂќ HeвЂ™s a dynamite rapper, for one, changing his flow on a track-by-track basis not merely for the sake of packing in quotables like sardines (which he does), but to heighten the drama, or as the case may be, the almost caricaturesque bravado of his less mature self. But the seriousness and weight that Lamar stuffs into his narrative never overwhelms the accessibility or enjoyability of the material, and moreover allows for more humor and levity than it lets on. Yeah, itвЂ™s a little heavy the album even begins with a prayer. city, his intricately detailed autobiographical account of his own experience growing up in Compton finds him caught between faith, family and a gang lifestyle thatвЂ™s continually on the precipice of pulling him in. On his major label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d. ItвЂ™s, quite simply, real.ДЇor Kendrick Lamar, however, real doesnвЂ™t equate to drab or understated.

ItвЂ™s not needlessly moralizing, nor cartoonishly frivolous. No, he means it literally: HeвЂ™s telling the story that only he can tell, because it comes straight from his own experience. вЂњRealвЂќ is also the title of the penultimate track on Kendrick LamarвЂs new album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, and its hook is pretty straightforward: вЂњ IвЂ™m real/ IвЂ™m real/ IвЂ™m really, really real.вЂќ This doesnвЂ™t mean heвЂ™s trying to bring back Rawkus or Native Tongues or anything - getting a handle on LamarвЂ™s approach or aesthetic takes more understanding of nuance than that. And a flip of the coin will tell you which side Common falls on this week. Lupe Fiasco went pop rap about two albums ago. Q-Tip produced tracks for the notoriously menacing Mobb Deep. But even brushing aside the inherent absurdity of determining whatвЂ™s considered вЂњreal,вЂќ even that which seemingly fits the rap snobвЂ™s definition of hip-hop is pretty contradictory. ItвЂ™s one-syllable sanctimony, and a condescending dismissal of any aesthetic or experience that doesnвЂ™t meet some arbitrary measure of value in rap music. For years its meaning has been manipulated to denote any hip-hop album or artist to follow the letter of the Backpacker Conventions.

Kendrick lamar good kid maad city album cover