Albums Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. (Discussion Thread)

[Piff Perkins]

It baffles me how out of touch people are on here despite the site being majority black. Like I can’t fathom how someone on here said DAMN didn’t have many hit singles.

That's how you know it's trolling and/or hate. Damn near half the album was hits. Humble, DNA, Loyalty, Love. And for all the people trying the "but black people don't listen to Kendrick" arguments...Humble, Loyalty, and Love all hit #1 on the rhythmic (ie black radio) Billboard chart lol.

As we've said a billion times, if you don't like Kendrick fine. Whatever, it's your opinion. But don't come in here with blatant lies about verifiable facts, or claim no one listens to his music or he's a plant. I don't know many plants who gross 60 million dollars on tour, or headline major festivals.

 

[Majestic]

classic album. a perfect balance of critical acclaim and mainstream appeal. if all rap albums followed DAMN's blueprint the quality of rap nowadays would be off the charts. The problem with drake is while he has mainstream appeal his albums either suck or are average. Kendrick is a different breed.

 

[Pseudo]

This album is definitely getting a lot of backlash recently and not just on here either. It's my least favorite of his so I doesn't bother me but it's weird seeing everyone turn on it after singing its praises before.

 

[DapMeUp!]

Not going to lie I didn't like DAMN all that much when it first dropped.

Revisited it during the quarantine and it's actually better than I thought it was. Solid Album.

 

[Mastamimd]

Not going to lie I didn't like DAMN all that much when it first dropped.

Revisited it during the quarantine and it's actually better than I thought it was. Solid Album.

A grower for sure. Ironically people hate on it but the general sentiment was that it was classic when it came out.

 

[A Pimp Named Slickback]

The concept of this album is cryptic but it's pretty deep when you wrap your head around it

I'm gonna touch on it briefly in my second post after this one

Here's a couple of videos where two people speak about the concept




Also listen to the deep dive on Dissect Podcast if you want a track by track breakdown. It's one of the best music analysis podcasts out
Dissect

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

^^^ that type of shyt is what’s annoying about Kendrick fans/releases. People trying to ascribe deeper meaning to everything he does. Stfu and enjoy the music, stop trying to play k dot philosopher

 

[A Pimp Named Slickback]

^^^ that type of shyt is what’s annoying about Kendrick fans/releases. People trying to ascribe deeper meaning to everything he does. Stfu and enjoy the music, stop trying to play k dot philosopher

No one is ascribing anything. You know Kendrick makes concept albums with thought and intention. Lupe's music is no different

These artists don't release music to just strictly enjoy every now and then and leave them alone. They make music that lives forever. Making listeners play their music back and catch different things after each listening experience

There is nothing wrong with critical thinking and appreciating music. Both aren't mutually exclusive. You shouldn't shame someone for enjoying art the way it's intended to

Also you can tell who just attributes deep meanings to albums in a half baked way out of fandom and who digests albums out of pure appreciation and acknowledgment of the artist

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

No one is ascribing anything. You know Kendrick makes concept albums that he makes with thought and intention. Lupe's music is no different

These artists don't release music to just strictly enjoy every now and then and leave them alone. They make music that lives forever. Making listeners play their music back and catch different things after each listening experience

There is nothing wrong with critical thinking and appreciating. You shouldn't shame someone for enjoying art the way it's intended to

It’s corny AF, each individual is able to listen to and pick up what they want. And people absolutely do make Kendrick’s shyt deeper than it was meant to be. nikkas was trying to decodr the first letter of each song title and shyt. It’s corny and I’ll continue to call it out as such...K dot is in my top 10 all time rappers, so this ain’t from a place of hate for him.

 

[A Pimp Named Slickback]

It’s corny AF, each individual is able to listen to and pick up what they want. And people absolutely do make Kendrick’s shyt deeper than it was meant to be. nikkas was trying to decodr the first letter of each song title and shyt. It’s corny and I’ll continue to call it out as such...K dot is in my top 10 all time rappers, so this ain’t from a place of hate for him.

Well I'm not those people. Don't conflate me with those smart dumb nikkas. Those are the same ones who are begging for Kendrick to release another album when they still haven't given this one enough burn

That is corny. Analyzing concept albums in a thoughtful way and coming to your own conclusions isn't. Everyone doesn't listen to music the same way. Some like to enjoy music on the surface and the deeper level simultaneously. Some just dikkride without genuine appreciation. Some just want to enjoy it on the surface. It is what it is

The concept of wickedness and weakness isn't some made up fan theory. It's in the album. I understand the annoyance of Kendrick stans but I wasn't even on that


And I'm sure you've seen this interview before

"I like to put a lot of different things and wordplays and messages in my music because I want it to live further than two weeks," Lamar told Lowe near the beginning of their 45-minute sit-down.

All I was gonna do was post my perspective and thoughts about the concept: wickedness and weakness. That's it. The album is deep when you look at it with intentions to dig. And like Kendrick has said many times before, he intends for that to happen

 

[A Pimp Named Slickback]

@dora_da_destroyer I do feel you though don't get me wrong. What you said reminded me of what Big Boy said in their interview




"All this intricate rap stuff got us thinking and elevating our minds"

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

It’s corny AF, each individual is able to listen to and pick up what they want. And people absolutely do make Kendrick’s shyt deeper than it was meant to be. nikkas was trying to decodr the first letter of each song title and shyt. It’s corny and I’ll continue to call it out as such...K dot is in my top 10 all time rappers, so this ain’t from a place of hate for him.

shyt is corny, but Kendrick needs the help, cause song for song, feature for feature, project for project he just can't compete with real legends or Drake.

 

[A Pimp Named Slickback]

shyt is corny, but Kendrick needs the help, cause song for song, feature for feature, project for project he just can't compete with real legends or Drake.

Keep telling yourself that

 

[Zebruh]

It’s corny AF, each individual is able to listen to and pick up what they want. And people absolutely do make Kendrick’s shyt deeper than it was meant to be. nikkas was trying to decodr the first letter of each song title and shyt. It’s corny and I’ll continue to call it out as such...K dot is in my top 10 all time rappers, so this ain’t from a place of hate for him.

As a Lupe stan I definitely understand when people start doing TOO much decoding and deciphering. I think Kendrick purposefully puts enough stuff in the music to narrate possible themes, but not blatantly say "this is an album about _____" and when you do that, it just opens the floodgates for super OD stannery and unnecessary deep dives. Obviously not his fault how far people go, but he's not helping himself out if there is a direct point he's trying to make or an understanding he's trying to convey.

The fun part about Kendrick is that he's making this music pretty accessible on a base level. Someone might never even take the time to deep dive into the album and that won't take away enjoyment of the music. I applaud artists that can do that, cause some people get so genius level that it goes completely over your head AND is unenjoyable.

 

[Chip Skylark]

^^^ that type of shyt is what’s annoying about Kendrick fans/releases. People trying to ascribe deeper meaning to everything he does. Stfu and enjoy the music, stop trying to play k dot philosopher

and his music is very superficial at that lol