Just thought I’d ask people here on this trusted forum, what are your thoughts on Kendrick Lamar ?
Is he overhyped?
What stands out about him?
I enjoyed some songs back when Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was new, but then I didn’t follow or listen for quite some time…then I was (like everyone on this planet) bombarded by Not Like Us.
And since then I am starting to dislike his music. (Btw, also have a much stronger dislike to Drake)
His voice and the different inflections just rub me the wrong way. There are rappers where every verse just sounds nice, like Sean P…but there is nothing smooth about Kendrick.
…and people hyping him up too much just kills it for me. I don’t know if I’m just being contrarian here, but felt like I had to vent.
I just think there’s a ton of depth to his work. Lyrically and conceptually, his albums have a lot going on and there’s a lot to unpack. The first time it all clicked with me was listening to Damn and being really turned off by some of the lyrics, but then it clicked that each song was a character who was speaking from first person. After that, the music just changed for me. I started to get the narrative aspect of what he was doing and really enjoyed it. It was as much a story as anything else.
At this point it just seems like he’s trying to see how much of a piss he can take. Like sure, the things he said on ‘not like us’ were edgy but the beat and the hook were annoying.
I get that Kendrick is a story teller and it’s about the substance and caracters, but if it isn’t packed in an appealing musical package, I don’t really see the point. At that point, to me, it just becomes connoisseur rap that serves a very small elite audience and a very large crowd pretending they belong to that elite group.
His first albums pretty much proved you can have both, so it’s not like it isn’t possible. I’m not the “their previous work was better” kind of guy, but in this case, to me, it really is. This new record is just inaccessible to me musically. Lyrically I get it and it’s great but the thing is really a one time listen since it’s so hostile to listen to.
I don’t listen to much Hip Hop but DAMN is an absolute masterpiece I thoroughly enjoyed. DNA has all of that energy and anger that drew me to punk and hardcore years ago, but more of it. The production and songwriting on songs like Element or XXX are unreal, being able to stitch together such disparate elements and make it work is an achievement. The sample treatment and storytelling on Duckworth …
Some great songs on Untitled Unmastered as well. Haven’t clicked with most of his other work though. Enjoy Good Kid and can see why it’s a masterpiece, but it doesn’t resonate as much with me as DAMN. Since Mister Morale and now definitely with this new album, it seems to be mostly about another super famous rich guy that has issues, not that exciting. Still some fantastic music like Father Time or United in Grief, hard to deny that’s next level production.
I like him, I think his sound is just representative of current hip hop. I’ll always be a 90s boombap head but newer artists have grown on me. The more I listen and climatise to the sound and stop comparing it to hip hop I’ve loved growing up the more I appreciate it.
I still hate tons of new hip hop though and so many rappers have zero flow and I can’t get into the melodic auto tune stuff at all.
I also like the new tyler album. Love the production and beats.
This popped up on my Spotify feed yesterday and really liked it. Never heard of the artist before
I really enjoyed To Pimp a Butterfly, some songs on there are just unreal, Mr Morale had some great moments too.
I just have the feeling that his music was appealing to the wrong crowd in his eyes (namely white pitchfork “hipsters”) and that he went back to a much more LA style of hip hop. I understand it as someone who felt outside of his community, wantrf to get back into it and take the opportunity to “unite” it as he feels he has the influence to do it (see the pop out concert and the Not Like Us video)
Also, I totally get that the inflexions in his voice are not for everyone, I however find them really fun, the give the flows much more dynamics, and am floored by his ability to weave that with intricate lyrics and weird cadences as flawlessly as he does.
He is totally one of those artists that is appealing BECAUSE his art is not smooth, that means he is taking risks, pushing some limits and taking you out of your comfort zone.
Personnally though, I am way less into this recent sound and the new egotrip in his lyrics.
Not a fan of GNX.
Kendrick is a very skillful rapper and song writer but i think nobody is going to live up to the hype. For me he’s one of the best right now. But i only listen to 3 or 4 of his songs.
To me somebody can be the greatest even though i don’t listen to their music. It’s like Autechre for me. They inspire me and are amazing artists but i can rarely listen to a whole album.
Very well executed, but it is more like a theater-play than a song to me.
It’s the type of song on an album I would skip if I listened to it once or twice.
On a side-note it reminded me of this intro:
@muzka Tyler is another one of those I cannot quite warm to
To balance with some positivity, some rappers of the same era I can cope with/like a lot are
A$AP Rocky (Live. Love. ASAP was such a sick debut)
I think that’s a fair assessment and it’s alright he‘s making music that’s less for me.
I also enjoy Tyler‘s pop phase on Flowerboy and IGOR a lot. Most other modern hip hop I don’t like, so I guess that’s the reason. I also hate trap beats.
Its funny to read so many reactions here which more or less mirror my opinion on Kendrick.
I started really disliking modern hiphop some years before the time he came up, and Section 80 was like a hopefull breath of fresh air. Good Kid Maad City and TPAB are classics in my opinion.
I really like his lyrics, concepts and storytelling, and musically he was able to bridge the gap between boombap, trap and jazz in a way that sounded very original and ‘alive’ by lack of a better word. His albums musically felt like a journey.
These last few albums have steadily gone downhill for me: Damn was alright but i couldnt get into it musically, Mr Morale had amazing songs but was very up and down, and this new one just sounds shit to me musically. It could be him trying to appeal to a younger (less hipster) audience, but I think thats a weakness as an artist. You should let your art influence your fans, and not cater to them, which makes you more of an entertainer than an artist imo.
I think he’s one of the best artists of the last decade, in a world of face swapping and artificial intelligence, Kendrick’s a breath of fresh air to me, especially in a genre like hip hop.
This exactly, I know it sounds like gate keeping but to me modern Hip Hop has become diluted to the point that it barely resembles its roots anymore, it all feels a bit sterile and lifeless to me and to be honest I miss the days when rappers had something to say that wasn’t about how much ice they have on their wrist or how many prescription meds they’ve taken or whatever…
