Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city Album Review

Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Album: good kid, m.A.A.d. city
Label: Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope Records
Executive Producers: Dr. Dre & Anthony Tiffith

Over the last year or so Compton MC Kendrick Lamar has garnered a lot of buzz, especially on the internet with the bloggers and “hip hop heads,” which lead to him signing to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Ent. Imprint. Kendrick’s “Section .80” earned critical acclaim and the signing with Dre made the buzz grow even further for Kendrick’s major label debut “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” in 2012. One of the things that most fans will notice right off the bat is the lack of Dr. Dre on this album. How many Aftermath artists have dropped albums with not a single song produced by the “doc” himself? I can’t think of any, well now you can. Dr. Dre doesn’t produce a single song on the entire album but does appear as a feature on two songs (one of them a bonus song). Kendrick enlists the help from Pharrell of The Neptunes, Tha Bizness, Hit-Boy, Sounwave, Just Blaze, and others to handle the production for the album. “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” is also a bit of a concept album as well (or as Kendrick calls it, a “short film”) in which Kendrick tells the story of a kid growing up in Compton (who Kendrick says is himself).

The album opens up with the oddly titled “Sherane aka Master Splinter’s Daughter” in which it opens up with a prayer and then Kendrick starts the movie as he takes off in his mom’s van to meet up with a chick named Sherane. Tha Bizness provides the laid back beat as Kendrick is approached by two men (potentially Sherane’s brothers, from a rival gang). The song then cuts into a skit where his mom calls looking for him, leaving a voicemail. The next track, “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” is more of an introduction to Kendrick (so the first song is further on in the story and we’ve cut back to the beginning here) and features another laidback, funky beat this time from Sounwave. Kendrick’s buddies come and pick him up taking us to the next song which is “Backseat Freestyle” which is supposed to be Kendrick freestyling as he and his boys ride. Hip Hop’s “go to guy” at the moment for production, Hit-Boy, provides the backdrop for this one. Kendrick absolutely kills this track showing off his flows and punchlines over the nasty Hit-Boy production.

On “The Art of Peer Pressure” Kendrick uses the vintage Tabu production (this one sounds like it was ripped straight out of the 90’s) to weave the tale of a kid (himself) falling to the peer pressure of drugs and violence (gang banging) saying that he never felt the desire to do any of it until it was “me and the homies.” One of my favorite songs on the album, this one isn’t just a great story telling song but also a song with a great message which kids of every race and age can relate to. At the end of the song Kendrick and his boys end up robbing someone’s house when they realize someone is in the house. Him and his boys get away from the cops and then talk about meeting up later because Kendrick has to meet Sherane.

The next song features Kendrick’s Black Hippy partner Jay Rock with the friends talking about their goals of chasing money, being the main reason for the previous home invasion. At the end Kendrick’s mom is still calling about her car. Things come full circle on “Poetic Justice” as Kendrick talks about all the ladies, Sherane for example, while Drake joins in on the lady talk. The smooth beat and Janet Jackson sample from Scoop DeVille is perfect but I think Drake wasn’t needed (but then again Drake being on a song will be ate up by pretty much every female). We return to the scene where two guys approached Kendrick at the beginning of the album and in “Good Kid” Kendrick is beat up and starts to get more aggressive with his tone over the Pharrell production. Kendrick is found by the cops after he’s beaten and harassed by them. This is kind of the turning of the relative “Good Kid” into an angry kid looking for revenge. The turn is complete on “Mad City” and Kendrick recruits legendary Compton’s Most Wanted member MC Eiht as things get even more violent over the nasty beat by THC, Sounwave, & Terrace Martin. Kendrick’s entire ton has changed completely now and not only are his lyrics more aggressive but the beat is as well and Kendrick even speeds his flow up as well. The hook even features some of the things the two that jumped Kendrick were saying to him (“where you from? Where ya grandma stay?”). The beat changeup in this song is epic and goes from the driving, thumping more modern era type production to a more old school “90’s gangsta rap” vibe which Eiht and CMW would have definitely jumped on back in the day and Eiht proves it by destroying the song.

Kendrick’s boys meet back up with him and they decide to drown their sorrows on “Swimming Pools (Drank)” in which Kendrick really goes deep into alcoholism talking about his history with it and battling alcoholism (and his own conscious). This is actually an extended version of the song that’s been released as a single. At the end Kendrick and his boys run into the guys that jumped him and shoot at them. The guys return fire and one of Kendrick’s homies ends up dying. On “Sing About Me/I’m Dying of Thirst” Kendrick tells two different stories from two different perspectives. The first verse is the brother of the guy who was just murdered telling the story of he and his brother in which he asks Kendrick to make sure the story gets out there in case he himself is gunned down (he’s then murdered). The story switches up and returns to “Keisha’s Song” from “Section .80.” Keisha’s sister is pissed about the way Kendrick told Keisha’s story so Kendrick actually raps the song from Keisha’s sisters point of view (and she tells her own story as well). Kendrick himself then reflects on his own decisions and things he’s doing, and talks about the two stories from the first 2 verses and what they meant to him. Incredible story telling here. The “Sing About Me” portion of this track lasts about 6 ½ minutes and then we cut into a skit where Kendrick and his boys are pissed and preparing to get revenge on the guys who just killed their friend. The “Dying of Thirst” portion of the track then begins and Kendrick talks about the thought of possibly dying and getting ready to go take a life (in revenge) and the mindset to do something like that as well as his momma’s pleas for him to change things:

“tired of running (tired of running)…/
tired of running (tired of running)…/
tired of tumbling/
my momma say “see a pastor, give me a promise/
what if today was the rapture?/
and you completely tarnished, the truth will set you free/
You dying of thirst/
you dying of thirst/
so hop in the water, and pray that it works”

Kendrick and his boys are approached by an older lady who sees them with guns and preparing to commit murder and she repeats the words “you men are dying of thirst” from the previous song and reveals to them what it means. It means they need “holy water”, to be baptized and saved. She asks the guys to get saved and asks them to repeat a prayer with her (the prayer from the opening song, the first things we hear on the album). The guys say the prayer and she says this is the start of their new life from here on out, their “Real” life which leads to the next track. Kendrick talks about his new life on “Real” over Terrace Martin’s production and then Kendrick’s dad leaves him a voice mail and gives his son condolences for his friends death but almost begs him not to take revenge that a “real n*gga” doesn’t kill but he takes responsibility. This is a much different tone from the father we heard earlier in the album who at one point was leaving a message about wanting his dominoes and then started singing to Kendrick’s mom about her “phat ass” while she was leaving Kendrick a message at one point. Kendrick’s mom reveals that someone had called and left a message to Kendrick about coming to a studio to record, and she tells him to concentrate on his music and spread a positive message.

The album closes out with the Dr. Dre assisted “Compton” and is more like a closing credits track rather than continuing on the story from the rest of the album. The deluxe edition of the album features 3 bonus tracks: “Recipe” feat. Dr. Dre again (this was actually the first single from the album I guess before the album took on a concept theme), “Black Boy Fly”, and “Now or Never” feat. Mary J. Blige. Kendrick has gone a completely different route than any other artist (to my knowledge) for a major label debut with a concept for an entire album telling a story, sort of an autobiography. The story is a bit out of order (like a lot of movies) but the story connects the dots for you in the end, and unlike almost every album the skits actually mean something on this album. Kendrick combines his amazing story telling with a infectious flow and substance and does it all over an amazingly consistent sound. It’s hard to believe that so many different producers contributed to this album as it almost feels like one producer did it all tailoring it to the mood of the album and the different shifts in emotion and tone. If Kendrick’s plan was to make a statement by putting out an album more concerned with telling a great story than worrying about which song is or isn’t a single I think he definitely succeeded (though there is several potential singles in there as well). Kendrick is here to stay and that is definitely a great thing for Hip Hop, and for the sake of more artists like Kendrick getting mainstream attention hopefully his commercial success will match the critical reception he’s getting.

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