Kendrick Lamar-good kid, m.A.A.d city-2012 (CLASSIC)

Izanami

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I didn't need to see this vid to know Em pre garbage Recovery era influenced Kendrick. His complex rhyme schemes and rhyming entire bars screams Relapse/MMLP/TES style Eminem.


But I think he got his skill for storytelling from DMX. Its Dark and Hell Is Hot is one of the most creative debut Hip Hop albums IMO. K.Dot said was that album that got him into hip hop.
 

Pool_Shark

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I know you guys hate Complex but check this behind the album thing they did over there. Some interesting things. I'm reading it right now, I guess they had a whole K.Dot week.

Kendrick Lamar: “The skits bring the storyline together. Those skits are actually my real mother and father. Those are people that I was raised by, so I decided to put them in the skits as themselves. And those are my real homeboys being themselves. It ties the storyline in perfect. My parents love the album. They love that I got the chance to tell that story I wanted to tell in a positive light.”

“Overly Dedicated was supposed to be remixes but it turned into a whole project. Songs like ‘Average Joe’ off OD was one of the original concepts for good kid, m.A.A.d. city. Even ‘Keisha Song’ was initially for good kid, m.A.A.d. city, but it was from a different point of view.

Before The Album — The Making of Kendrick Lamar's "good kid, m.A.A.d city" | Complex

All the other stuff they did.
GOOD KID MAAD CITY WEEK | Complex | Style, Music, Sneakers, Entertainment, Girls, Technology

Oh shyt I guess it's a track by track breakdown.
 

Mike Otherz

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so yeah album growing on me. at first i was like its ok, but whats the big deal, but u can't stop listening after a while.


gotta respect dude coming out the gate with 2 strong albums back to back,.
 

DaveyDave

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Kendrick Lamar: “[Lady GaGa was going to be on the song]. We had a date, but we had to meet the deadline for the pre-order date. That’s just the business side coming through and messing things up. But you know it’s God’s plan. I’m not really too tight about it because I know we have something special.”


MixedByAli: “We were in Chicago with Lady Gaga in the studio when we played the song for her. She wanted to hop on it but I think she did it somewhere in Europe and sent us the files. They were going back and forth on the song and bouncing around different concepts about what they could do with the record. We actually had a record done but there were timing issues with the album and it didn’t make the cut-off date.”

i hope this shuts up the idiots who keep saying Gaga is in the background and her voice is changed & hardly recognizable.
 

LucaBrasi

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Somebody, please enlighten me. Lovin the album btw

:eat:

Lemme breakdown the whole album for you breh :myman:

The first track is preceded by a prayer by a group of young men before the song beings. The opening track “Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter” describes the meeting and relationship of Kendrick and a girl named Sherane. Our story begins as Kendrick rides to Sherane’s house in his mom’s minivan. As he pulls up and sees Sherane he also sees two dudes in black hoodies. He freezes and his phone rings. It goes to voicemail. On the voicemail we get our first introduction to Kendrick’s mother and father (voiced by Ab-Soul). While Kendrick’s dad’s just shouting about Domino’s his mom get’s on him about taking the minivan and warns him about ****ing with Sherane. She reminds him that he’s got to focus on school the next day.

The next few songs take a step back in time. We go back earlier into the day where Kendrick is just chilling and having a good time with his friends without a care in the world who warns his critics “*****, Don’t Kill My Vibe.” This second track really captures the Section.80 vibe more than any of the other tracks as it’s the least conceptually specific. It again reinforces Kendrick’s attitude and outlooks. He just doesn’t want to be told if he keeps living this lifestyle he’ll never achieve the things he wants to. As he and the homies go to cruise around town one of his friends says they got a pack of Black & Mild’s and a beat CD. They hop in the car and toss on the beats. That’s Kendrick’s cue to rip the instrumental blaring through the speakers in a ”Backseat Freestyle.” One of the most swagged out tracks on the album because of its “freestyle” content, this **** is a ****ing banger and a clearly quotable highlight. “Martin had a dream! Kendrick has a dream!” After the backseat freestyle the dudes keep rolling around town drinking and smoking in “The Art Of Peer Pressure.” Things don’t always stay good though cause “one day it’s gon’ burn you out.” A little over a minute into the song the beat changes to provide a dark, ominous background to the mad city. Now these guys look around in the early afternoon around “2:30 and the sun is beaming.” They grab some fast food and look for some girls to holler at. They see dudes in the wrong colors and start ****ing with them. They leave and brag about their intimidation and Kendrick realizes that he’s only acting that way because of the group mentality. They roll through to a house they’ve been staking out for months and they make the move to rob it as the sun goes down. Quickly getting trailed by the police they make it away on this “one lucky night with the homies.” They make plans to meet up again around 10:30. This gives Kendrick time to go see Sherane.

After the robbery Kendrick and all his friends have dreams of sitting in the shade of some “Money Trees.” He reflects on the nature of what he has just done and it’s perception by different groups of people in society. “Everybody gon’ respect the shooter but the one in front of the gun lives forever,” he preaches. On “Poetice Justice” his thoughts go back to Sherane as he heads over to her place, where our album began. Drake’s assist makes perfect sense here and the Janet Jackson sample cements the smooth, sexual nature of the track. At the end of the song we’re brought back to Kendrick getting approached by the two gangsters in black hoodies who rolled up on him as he arrived at Sherane’s house. One of the gangsters (voiced by ScHoolboy Q) gives Kendrick a hard time threatening him and while he tries to avoid conflict by staying quiet he’s snatched out of the car.

The struggle of Kendrick Lamar vs. Compton is fully realized as he describes what it means to be a “good kid” in his environment. Even though he isn’t a gang member he still gets treated with intimidation from the gang members. Even though he isn’t a gang member he still gets treated as if he were one by the police. All this pushes him to a point that he wants to snap and give into the ills of his surroundings but he fights through cause he knows “one day you respect, good kid, m.A.A.d city.” In the next track we feel the insanity of the “m.A.A.d city” with the hook being built from the gang members interrogations. “Where you from my *****, where your grandma stay, huh my *****?” Halfway through the beat flips and Kendrick describes his experiences with the madness around him including revealing he foamed at the mouth during on his first times smoking a blunt because it was laced with cocaine. MC Eiht comes through to drop some necessary old head knowledge to show that Compton was like this long before Kendrick’s childhood. In the final bars Kendrick addresses his generation of sedated sleepwalkers. “If I told you I killed a ***** at 16, would you believe me?” Kendrick proposes that his innocence isn’t from birth but instead worked towards after brutal lessons. Before the vintage West Coast synth hits Kendrick claims “Compton U.S.A. made me an angel on angel dust.”

When Kendrick and his friends meet up again they head to a party and being to drown themselves in “Swimming Pools” of liquor. At the party Kendrick examines his peers as he gets drunk and sees how pathetic and empty the act of partying leaves him. He urges people that if they feel stress and tribulation to not be like him “making excuses that your relief is in the bottom of a bottle and the greenest indo leaf.” As the song comes to a close it is revealed that Kendrick was pulled out of his mom’s minivan by the two gang members and “stomped out over a *****.” Kendrick’s friends say they are going to run up on the two gang members and shoot them, and they hope they see Sherane cause they’re gonna “pop that ***** too.” As the song ends shots ring off and Kendrick’s friends take out the gang members but one of their own is caught in the crossfire and loses his life.

Kendrick begins the 12 minute “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst” by revealing his need to be remembered as one of the Hip-Hop greats after the day he hangs up the microphone. In the first verse Kendrick goes back to his friend that was shot the night before and how the victims brother will continue the vicious cycle by trying to claim revenge of the shooters. In his second verse Kendrick hears the rebuttal of Keisha’s sibling about how he judged and portrayed her on Section.80’s “Keisha’s Song.” In the final verse of the “Sing About Me” portion of the track Kendrick thanks his acquaintances from the two previous verses for what he’s learned claiming “you’re right, your brother was a brother to me and your sister’s situation was the one that put me in a direction to speak of something that’s realer than the TV screen.” Always extremely self critical Kendrick wonders if anyone will sing about him after he’s gone saying “now am I worth it? Did I put enough work in?” As the song transitions into “I’m Dying Of Thirst” Kendrick and his friends decide to go hunt down the shooter of his friend’s brother. In the midst of their conversation Kendrick feels lost in the m.A.A.d city and comes to the realization that he must escape the madness. He is dying of thirst. As the song ends the boys are overheard by one of their grandmothers plotting to take revenge on the murderer of Kendrick’s friend’s brother. She interrupts them and sees one of them has a deadly weapon. She calms them down and tells them they are “dying of thirst” like the other angry, young, spiteful men of their generation. They need “holy water and need to baptized with the spirit of the lord.” She convinces them to pray with her and it is the same prayer from the opening words of the album. After the prayer ends she tells them to “remember this day, the start of a new life, your real life.” The life Kendrick Lamar is still living today.

While the majority of the narrative ends there Kendrick still has more to say. He takes a rare moment to brag about his life. Thankfully Kendrick has embraced a new life that has taken him away from bragging about materialism, women, and violence. Instead this new life has made being “Real” the pinnacle of achievement which is a belief his music has reflected since Kendrick Lamar EP. Kendrick says “I’m talking about hating on money, power, respect, and my will, and hating on the fact that none of that **** make me real.” After the song he gets his final call from his parents. His father gives his sympathies for his lost friend but warns Kendrick “don’t learn the hard way.” His mother lets him know TDE called and wants him to come to the studio. His mother leaves him with the true lesson. She says he hopes he comes home soon. If he doesn’t than she hopes he takes his negative experiences and becomes a positive for the people lost in the m.A.A.d city like him. “When you do make it,” his mom says, “give back with your words of encouragement, and that’s the best way to give back to your city.” “I love you Kendrick,” his mother says before saying he knows where she hides the key.

After all the trials, tribulations, struggles, highs, lows, sacrifices, and time Kendrick has put in on his rise to the top it’s time for him to finally take on and embrace the fate of the good kid. “Compton” serves as the crowning ceremony of the new Hip-Hop Chirst King Kendrick Lamar, overseen by the one and only Dr. Dre. Dre reminds people they loved him because he didn’t listen to anyone and only lived by his own rules, which is the same thing he sees in Kendrick Lamar. Complete with Roger Troutman talkbox the closing track is the beginning of a dynasty rooted in over 20 years of life and tradition. “We can all celebrate,” Kendrick exclaims. I agree. We should all be celebrating the beginning of the reign of King Kendrick Lamar. The song ends with Kendrick saying “Ma I gotta use the van real quick I’ll be back in 15 minutes,” bringing our story full circle, but now, and forever, Kendrick will remain the good kid in a m.A.A.d city.

Rap will never be the same :ahh:
 

Wild self

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Great concept album! Kendrick went above my expectations cause he wanted to make a massive concept story instead of throwing around a bunch of party tracks.
 

Ohene

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The ending of Swimming Pools :ahh:

Let the album breathe for like 3 days and I havent skipped a track so far.
 

Ohene

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forget what I said about Real. I fukk with it :ahh:. Imagine if that was Erykah Badu on the hook for the fukk of it.

9/10 album upon its conclusion now that I let it breathe
 

Champ_KW

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never even seen this video before...and this was a year ago. kendrick got the whole westcoast behind him. shyt is powerful.


Kendrick Lamar Gets The Torch! - YouTube

I don't care how you feel about the quality of music he put out recently...but seeing Snoop in concert is a must see for hip hop fans. He straight kicks it! Gotta love the unity on that stage!
 

tru_m.a.c

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never even seen this video before...and this was a year ago. kendrick got the whole westcoast behind him. shyt is powerful.


Kendrick Lamar Gets The Torch! - YouTube

this was last year too???

It says it was uploaded august 2011 but section 80 dropped in july

they passed the torch that early??? something is off

:to: :obama: I think we made it y'all....we gotta push this album to platinum
 
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