The art of creating a complete hip-hop album is often ignored in this era of iTunes and ring tones. If a rap artist has the wherewithal to produce three or four hit singles, he or she can release a subpar album without much backlash from fans who have become accustomed to lackluster rap albums.
Enter Kendrick Lamar. The Compton, Calif. native has a knack for lyricism and song creation that’s similar to the great emcees like Nas or Jay-Z. Unlike past Compton rappers who mostly relied on hardcore lyrics and production to tell their stories, Kendrick Lamar’s sound is subtle, a bit soulful and reminiscent of OutKast circa 1996-98.
On his debut Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, Kendrick Lamar defies most of his contemporary peers with an album that will be remembered as one of the best in 2012. At its core, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City is a concept album that’s the audio equivalent to Boyz N Da Hood or Menace II Society.
Kendrick Lamar, as K.Dot, is the teenage protagonist who borrows his mother’s mini-van and goes joy-riding with friends on his way to discovering the fun, vices and trouble his city has to offer.
The album begins with songs that depict what it means to be a carefree teenager from the inner city. On “Sherane,” the story starts with a foreboding rap about driving to the home of a new fling who has family members who are in a gang. “Backseat Freestyle” is an unfocused lyrical tirade that conjures the notion of K. Dot spewing bravado raps in the mini van with friends to kill time.
But like most teens without a cause, the album story gets darker as he’s influenced to drink “Swimming Pools” and plan a robbery with friends on “The Art of Peer Pressure” and “Money Trees.”
On “Poetic Justice,” Drake adds a guest verse to a song where K. Dot revisits his relationship with Sherane. “We can both be insane, a fatal attraction is common, and what we have common is pain, I mean you need to hear this, Love is not just a verb and I can see power steering, sex drive when you swerve,” he raps.
The next song, “Good Kid,” K.Dot raps about getting jumped by Sherane’s gang-banging brothers and essentially being questioned by police who mistake him for a gang member after the beating.
“Cause you wonder if a tattoo of affiliation can make it a pleasure to put me through gang files, but that don’t matter because the matter is racial profile, I heard them chatter: ‘He’s probably young but I know that he’s down, step on his neck as hard as your bulletproof vest,’ ” he raps.
The song “M.A.A.D. City” is a thorough examination of how negative influences can essentially turn a good kid into become a lost and troubled soul. K. Dot raps about pervasive gang violence in Los Angeles; family members who died because of senseless violence; and why he stopped smoking marijuana because he was once given a blunt laced with cocaine.
“Cocaine laced in marijuana, and they wonder why I rarely smoke now, Imagine if your first blunt had you foaming at the mouth.”
K. Dot and his friends plot a retaliation for the beating and it ends horribly as a member of his entourage is murdered. It essentially leads to K.Dot and his crew seeking salvation and realizing what really matters in life on “Real.”
“You love fast cars and their present is old, you love fast women, you love keeping control, of everything you love, you love beef, you love streets, you love running, ducking police, you love your hood, might even love it to death, But what love got to do with it when you don’t love yourself,” he raps.
With an assist from Dr. Dre, “Compton” is the point within the storyline when K. Dot grows beyond the bad influences of his neighborhood and eventually becomes the rap star Kendrick Lamar.
Other standout tracks include, “B—, Dant Kill My Vibe,” “Sing About Me” and “Black Boy Fly.”
By the end of this opus, it’s hard not to believe that Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City is this generation’s version of Illmatic or Reasonable Doubt.
