Still digesting the Kendrick album but what I know is that it's really fucking good. I'm not going to compare it to his past albums since it's only been a little more than 24hrs. Before the release I was a tad worried about the direction I thought he was going in. Between the Coachella headline gig and Humble I thought we'd get a Graduation-esque mess of pop rap attempts that would catapult him to more success. I wasn't expecting
this. There are accessible radio songs here, clearly more than were on TPAB, but even those fit the tone of the record. And that tone couldn't be darker.
There was sooo much talk about how "black" TPAB was, but I've always felt that narrative resulted in people overlooking the most interesting aspect of that album: it was the work of someone who was clearly depressed and having problems, to put it lightly. Like, it's the creative work of someone on the fucking edge, which is partially why Alright worked so well. I'm fucked up, you fucked up, we all fucked up but we gon be alright.
There is no Alright on Damn. From beginning to end it's very dark and foreboding. Dude is really going through some shit. What makes Kendrick amazing is that he's always been able to channel his emotion through music and make powerful shit. Fear is one of his best songs, period. LOVE has me fucked up, that shit just floats man. Duckworth...
It's funny, the worst song on the album by far is Humble to me. It's the least interesting idea presented on every level (beat, rapping, etc). And even that grew on me over the weeks since it was released.
Also...I'm not doubting Kendrick on album features anymore. When the tracklist came out I was very hesitant about Rihanna and confused by U2. But Rihanna is perfectly cast on Loyalty and I liked the trip hop vibe of U2 on XXX. I'm surprised that XXX track isn't longer, or at least the U2 part.
One more thing. So many rap artists today recycle the same shit over and over. If you're...Big Sean, your albums are all going to basically follow the same path sonically and feature songs that are interchangeable. There aren't many rappers who are pushing the envelope and doing different shit each time out. ASAP Rocky comes to mind, even though I'm not a fan anymore. Danny Brown comes to mind. And Kendrick comes to mind. I remember how amazed, frustrated, impressed, etc I was when Kanye dropped Late Registration, which doesn't sound like College Dropout. And Graduation didn't sound like either previous album (btw I still don't really fuck with Graduation). And of course each subsequent album switched things up. It doesn't have to be drastic, but I'd like to see more rappers age like artists instead of simply hopping on the latest trend or stagnating.
