good kid, m.A.A.d city

edpowers

Discuss

Grandfather

Its pretty cool. A very decent album IMO but I'm not sure what it says that the thing I find the most interesting about the album is its cohesiveness. It sounds like an actual album.

DJ_Enki

I got very strong Aquemini vibes from it, which A) I'm not mad at at all, and B) I'm evidently not alone in getting. Kid's a real-deal lyricist, but I do wish they would chill with that pitched-up voice thing.

eleven

I second the Aquemini vibe description. I've listened to it a couple of times now. I'm trying really hard to find something that stands out about his lyricism.

Junior

Doc and I were discussing this a bit in the Rap You're Liking thread. Because I'm lazy I'll just quote againrather than try and make sharper and more succinct.

Junior said:

DocMcCoy said:

Junior said:

On the subject of Lamar, had a listen through on the way into work this morning and, while the extreme hangover didn't help, it's not doing a lot for me. Kind of want to give him a shake and tell him to cheer up a bit. Considering I was underwhelmed by Ab-Soul's album and only liked bits of Schoolboy Q and Section 80 I'm beginning to suspect that I may like the idea of Black Hippy more than the reality. Having said that, I didn't really get into Section 80 for a couple of listens so going to give it a bit more time.

I dunno. Ab-Soul is still probably my favourite album of the year, and Schoolboy Q isn't far behind. The Kendrick album does feel a little like A Major Statement About The World And Life And Shit, but it genuinely reminds me quite a bit of Aquemini in terms of its ambition. I ain't even mad at Aubrey being on it. The Mary joint is horrifying, though.

Noz just wrote a fantastic piece for Pitchfuck that, amongst other things, examined the way major label releases have slid into such irrelevance that they've effectively become little more than placeholders until the next mixtape comes along. I think the Kendrick album emphasises that point precisely by attempting to be A Major Statement About The World And Life And Shit. There's been so few major-label records this year that haven't been about either trying to fit into the same space as the twenty or thirty other dudes doing fundamentally the same shit, or about perpetuating that WTT stadium-rap grandiloquence/just-how-fucking-ridiculous-can-we-get-here? meme. In fact, apart from Kendrick and K.R.I.T., I'm struggling to think of any. There's enough room for a few more rappers who are at least trying to make records you could imagine listening to in five or six years' time.

(Also, there were supposedly sample clearance issues with Cartoons & Cereal.)

Yeah that Noz piece is excellent as always and pretty much sums up my own position of very rarely grabbing the paid for content of artists these days (if I had a pound for every time I've started the defence of a rapper with "bu-but their mixtape content is nothing like this" I would be moderately comfortable financially).
However, I think Kendrick sort of exists outside this cycle; although there are multiple compilations of guest verses, old black hippy stuff and, sob, unreleased tracks, he hasn't actually released a single mixtape. Instead he's gone proper old school by building buzz through the above mentioned guest verses (I would imagine the Drake one in particular was a biggie) and a few selected leaked tracks/single. All very pre Fiddy.

Having now listened to it again without the tequila fuelled hangover it is a good album. My main issue with the Ab-soul was that it felt like it was so intent on wearing it's influences with pride that he sort of lost his personality in there. This also feels overly reverential to me but has a far more solid base to it and there's a clutch of tracks in the middle that I would happily play over and over again. Definitely hearing the Aquemini influence on there (and a little Black Star) though still feel like it lacks the twinkle in the eye that permeated even the soberest piece of Outkast's work.

In fact, that would probably be my biggest issue with the album. While I always enjoyed Gunplay's guest spot on Cartoons...., it was only more recently that I realised he brought the passion to the track, without his vocals it remains technically brilliant but extremely cold. I kind of get that feeling with the album as a whole at the moment - extremely accomplished but I'm not connecting to it as I'd hoped.

On a side note, actually feeling genuinely slightly depressed that I'm not hearing what other people are.

HarveyCanal

Can't get with Kendrick's voice. Typically that cracking, high pitched tone has been reserved for comic relief type rappers. Hearing Kendrick use it in such a serious manner just doesn't sound right to me.

And I'm really not hearing the supposed Outkast influence. Not sure what people are stabbing at with that.

bassie

Junior and Doc's quotes

(haven't read the Noz piece)
I am a big fan of Schoolboy Q and Ab Soul - Habits & Contradictions and Control System are easily in my top releases for this year. Neither has left my ipod since they came out, and Habits was a January release.
I know Lamar is good, but it doesn't resonate with me. The production on his early releases were lacking, Schoolboy Q is more exciting with stronger production and Ab Soul has more emotional depth. Cartoons and the Look Out for Detox freestyle are incredible, but beyond that, I just haven't heard anything fromLamar that I really feel or relate to.

mannybolone

Harvey, "The Art of Peer Pressure," seems to have a real Big Boi-influenced flow going on. The voice, as you note, is quite different but just the way he's stringing his lines together (plus the song title makes one think of "The Art of Storytelling" which doesn't seem unintentional here).

Delay

its hard to not compare this dude to devin, voicewise. the albums pretty weird content, and beatwise so i agree with the outkast comparisons. "backstreet freestyle" will definitely make my weekend playlists.

edpowers

There's an obvious early Outkast influence on a few songs ...which i would find fault with if Kendrick wasn't 10 years old when Aquemini was released.

Delay

that voicemail is probably the best skit on a record for 15 years

Hotsauce84

Only thing that bugs me about this album is the angry growling voice he uses on the second half of "Backstreet Freestyle." Everything else is great.

This is probably a whole 'nother thread, but goddamnit I wish Dr. Dre would have ghostwriters write his verses in a voice/cadence/style other than their own.

HarveyCanal

mannybolone said:

Harvey, "The Art of Peer Pressure," seems to have a real Big Boi-influenced flow going on. The voice, as you note, is quite different but just the way he's stringing his lines together (plus the song title makes one think of "The Art of Storytelling" which doesn't seem unintentional here).

I'll concede for certain if it was in fact Kendrick's specific intent to conjure Outkast. But to be really technical about it, Kendrick's flipping of words isn't even closely sycopated compared to the way that Big Boi flips his.

But I get it. People are desperate to align this album with something even more worthy from the canon. And it seems like the exact same people were just telling me how great Nas's most recent terd of an album is. But to me, while it's decent and in many cases original in its own regard, Kendrick's album doesn't even come close to capturing anything on the elevated level of an Outkast comparison.

I mean, I already liked Swimming Pools alright. And the Backseat Freestyle is pretty cool. But my take on the sweeping positive reaction to this album is more people are hard up for something/anything to champion than it is an actual reflection of how good the album is.

Then again, Kendrick seems harmless to me and actually skillful/interesting in several ways, so I'd much rather it be him than lesser rappers getting all this pub.

DJ_Enki

Possum Tom said:

its hard to not compare this dude to devin, voicewise. the albums pretty weird content, and beatwise so i agree with the outkast comparisons. "backstreet freestyle" will definitely make my weekend playlists.

I'm probably reading way too much into it, but on first listen, "Backseat Freestyle" felt like a Wayne/Kanye spoof.

Delay

DJ_Enki said:

Possum Tom said:

its hard to not compare this dude to devin, voicewise. the albums pretty weird content, and beatwise so i agree with the outkast comparisons. "backstreet freestyle" will definitely make my weekend playlists.

I'm probably reading way too much into it, but on first listen, "Backseat Freestyle" felt like a Wayne/Kanye spoof.

definitely a kanye spoof

mannybolone

Harvey: Yeah man. I mean, I like this album but it's no "Aquemini."

I also cosign on the growling voice from "Backseat Freestyle." Spoof or not, it was less "funny" and more "annoying."

phongone

Yay or nay on the Janet Jackson sample on "Poetic Justice"? I have to admit I like it.



Not going to anoint this a classic like some pundits, but its a very good, coherent record. As noted, his voice can be incredibly grating at times and would have loved to see a feature appearance by Schoolboy and Ab-Soul.

white_tea

Been enjoying the album all week long, Janet. sample included. "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe," "Money Trees," "Poetic Justice" and "Swimming Pools" all getting heavy rotation. I'll leave the Canonization Worthy? question to you experts.

white_tea

BTW, can we get a track-by-track breakdown from Ed Powers and/or Batmon???

Saracenus

For what its worth, Salon.com has a review of the album up with a hyperbolic title:
Is ???good kid, m.A.A.d city??? the ???Great Gatsby??? of hip-hop albums?
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/24/the_great_american_rap_album_has_arrived/

vintageinfants

bassie said:

Look Out for Detox freestyle

could have used a whole album of this. it's hasn't, and seemingly never will, appear.

DocMcCoy

I wondered about starting a dedicated thread for this album, but then I thought; is SS collectively interested any longer in discussing specific rap records in the same way there'd be 23-page threads about a joint like Hell Hath No Fury five or six years back? This is a pleasant surprise.

I wasn't trying to draw direct comparisons with Aquemini; more trying to point out that this seemed to me like an attempt by a rapper to carve his own path away from the prevailing trends and to see who does or doesn't follow, in the way Aquemini did (or, at least, that I thought it did). Personally, I think the progression between this and Section.80 is as much of a quantum leap as it was for Outkast between ATLiens and Aquemini.

It's interesting to see such a broad and thoughtful range of reactions from people. Personally, I think there are moments on this that have the kind of emotional weight I haven't got from a rap record for a long time. Sing About Me is a fucking masterpiece. You're more likely to hear rappers - all kinds of rappers - tell you how deep they are than to actually say something that hits you on a deeper level. K Dot is definitely in the latter category.

Jay Rock's verse on Money Trees is one of the best things I've heard all year. Of all the Black Hippy dudes, he gets the least shine, but I think he's a fucking fantastic rapper.

edpowers

white_tea said:

BTW, can we get a track-by-track breakdown from Ed Powers and/or Batmon???

Gkmc is easily the best rap album ive heard in years.........................

Brian

edpowers said:

white_tea said:

BTW, can we get a track-by-track breakdown from Ed Powers and/or Batmon???

Gkmc is easily the best rap album ive heard in years.........................

WEST COAST BIAS

i listened to a few tracks at work and liked what i heard but like harvey feels, his voice is kinda hard to get with. black boy fly is my jam so far

DJ_Enki

Oh, and how great was it to hear MC Eiht get busy?

white_tea

DocMcCoy said:

Sing About Me is a fucking masterpiece. You're more likely to hear rappers - all kinds of rappers - tell you how deep they are than to actually say something that hits you on a deeper level. K Dot is definitely in the latter category.

Speaking of the second half of that tune, I tweeted this earlier this week:

Trying to place what the female vocal in Kendrick Lamar's "Sing About Me..." reminded me of and it's the sex scene music from Caddyshack

bassie

DocMcCoy said:

Jay Rock's verse on Money Trees is one of the best things I've heard all year. Of all the Black Hippy dudes, he gets the least shine, but I think he's a fucking fantastic rapper.

Yup...have had a couple of conversations about what it must feel like to have Lamar get all the attention when the rest of the crew is actually much stronger.


Jay Rock kills it on this

edpowers

the rest of the crew is actually much stronger.
>

Please be serious

Brian

oh yeah eiht sounds great

batmon

white_tea said:

BTW, can we get a track-by-track breakdown from Ed Powers and/or Batmon???

Wack
Wack
Wack
Wack
Wack
Wack
Wack
Wack
Wack
Wack

Shit is dead

white_tea

East Coast bias?