#175 Kendrick Lamar, 'DAMN.' (2017)
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Damn. What an album! ‘DAMN.’ was my #2 favourite album of 2017. After the release of his landmark album, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly,’ anticipation was high for the follow up record. Just under two years after the release of that record, Lamar dropped this album with one week’s notice. An album so considered and well thought out that it could be played forwards or backwards while retaining the narrative (Lamar would eventually release a version of the album with the tracklisting running in reverse order). The first song we heard from the record was ‘HUMBLE.,’ a song that was stylistically different to what we’d heard on the previous record. A song with elements of Trap, the beat was original composted for Gucci Mane, but after Lamar heard it, he composed lyrics and convinced its writer, Mike Will Made It, to let him keep it. The song would top the charts in the US and went on to take the #1 spot on triple j’s Hottest 100 for 2017.
The album is a good mix, with some very commercial sounding tracks, to the harder edged Trap sound. ‘LOYALTY.,’ featuring Rihanna was released as the second single; completely different to first single, this was the big pop-sounding track on the album. ‘LOVE.,’ the third single, once again had a completely different sound. More of a downtempo RnB/Hip Hop sound. The most surprising collab on the album was ‘XXX.,’ which features U2. Of course there’s a James Brown sample in the song (‘Get Up Offa That Thing’), because what’s a Hip Hop song without the Godfather Of Soul. Lamar is, in my opinion, the best Hip Hop artist to emerge in the past 10 years. His lyrics are socially conscious, intelligent and carefully thought out. He’s not bound by his genre, but rather does whatever works for the song. The album became the first non-Jazz or Classical album to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music and it also won Best Rap Album at the Grammys, as well as being nominated for Album Of The Year. This album is a true modern masterpiece and it’s a record that I’ve spent the past 4 years recommending to people that tell me that Hip Hop is not a true art form. Spend time with this album, it’ll reward you in so many ways.
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