Kendrick Lamar "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City" (2012)
I
guess this is one of those ones where the people putting the 1001
albums together had to choose some promising newer items and hope they'd
pan out. Well, many albums, much critical acclaim, a successful
soundtrack and even a damned Pulitzer later and they seem to have called
it correctly on Kendrick.
Kendrick started off producing mixtapes and doing a few gigs under the
name K-Dot. As things started to pick up, he dropped the K-Dot name
and released an EP and his debut. His star was in ascendancy from
early on and he was signed to Interscope Records and Dr Dre's Aftermath
Entertainment.
Kendrick grew up around gangs without being involved in them. That
seems to come out in his lyrics here, reporting on the dangers and
stress of the streets without revelling in it or bragging about it.
Especially a track like "The Art of Peer Pressure" where he reflects on the need to try and do the drugs and act like a tough guy when he's 'with the homies'.
For "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" Kendrick said he wanted to return to his
Compton roots. The album is mostly stripped down, focussing largely on
snappy beats and low-n-slow basslines. Something like "Backseat
Freestyle" almost sounds dubby at the start and there are some
similarities to Dizzee Rascal's grime sound. Elsewhere a track like "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" has a nice jazzy guitar backing and more lyrics expressing the unease and sense of danger on the streets.
