Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city |OT| No Beats By Dre

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I use to do financial work for a company right by Dominguez on the edge of Paramount. Threw me for a loop when I finally listened to the record with no real knowledge of what it was about.
 
After spending a hell of a lot of time with this, I consider this is a classic. Pretty easily my #1 album of the year. Just incredible and I hated on the skits at first but I see why they fit in. The skits feel like something straight out of Boyz in the Hood

Perfection.

The amount of times I listen to this album in one day is disgusting.
 
Someone already posted on Gaf-hop, but here's a Pitchfork article about classics in hip-hop and GKMC. Check it out here to
learn how Illmatic lacks jokes and party songs.
 
Rap Music Analysis - Kendrick Lamar, "Good Kid, m.a.a.d. City"

Haven't read it fully yet, but so far it's been interesting.

Plus, he has all the verses from m.a.a.d. in sheet music form:
kendrick+lamar+maad+city+trans+png+1.png
 
Eh, with these kind of analyses I wonder how aware the rapper is of actually doing it as opposed to it just sounding good. I know they count bars and shit but do they really sit there trying to figure out what word to pick over another just to fit it in. Take Nas for instance he was incredibly young when he wrote Illmatic and you can deconstruct his rhyme pattern and make it sound like something that he planned making him a genius in rhyme patterns. Or you can just say he just went off on it based on sound or flow. I mean sit Nas down or Kendrick or any other rapper and start going into this kind of depth and they would probably be dumbfounded. I'm not taking anything away from their achievements, I'm just saying I don't think there is a particular science and this article makes it sound like there is.
 
Someone already posted on Gaf-hop, but here's a Pitchfork article about classics in hip-hop and GKMC. Check it out here to
learn how Illmatic lacks jokes and party songs.
Some albums are instant classics, it is extremely rare but it happens...This is one of those instances.
 
Man ever since I got my first car this album is the album I play. From driving to early shifts at 6am to my later shifts this album sets me in the mood to tackle anything.

When backstreet freestyle comes on I'm already a few minutes into my drive in the zone. By the time mad city plays.... fuck I'm on another level. When swimming pool hits life is perfect. It hurts to have to leave my car and leave this album.

Just riding..
 
Eh, with these kind of analyses I wonder how aware the rapper is of actually doing it as opposed to it just sounding good. I know they count bars and shit but do they really sit there trying to figure out what word to pick over another just to fit it in. Take Nas for instance he was incredibly young when he wrote Illmatic and you can deconstruct his rhyme pattern and make it sound like something that he planned making him a genius in rhyme patterns. Or you can just say he just went off on it based on sound or flow. I mean sit Nas down or Kendrick or any other rapper and start going into this kind of depth and they would probably be dumbfounded. I'm not taking anything away from their achievements, I'm just saying I don't think there is a particular science and this article makes it sound like there is.

http://worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhyE991hoUipDAN0y0
 
I don't get what that has got to do with what I said. People are looking way too deep into what these guys are writing. It's dope, they have amazing poetic and technical skill. I'm just questioning whether it is consciously done or it if it just an inherent talent either developed naturally or through practise and persistence. Personally I think they develop an understanding of stuff like this over time as they write their own stuff and learn by studying the greats that came before them. It isn't completely intentional as in Kendrick sitting there, unpacking 2pac's bars studying them, writing up a template and then adhering to it. If it isn't intentional I'm not entirely sure what the point of the article is, maybe I just don't like seeing creative works broken down like a science.
 
Eh, with these kind of analyses I wonder how aware the rapper is of actually doing it as opposed to it just sounding good. I know they count bars and shit but do they really sit there trying to figure out what word to pick over another just to fit it in. Take Nas for instance he was incredibly young when he wrote Illmatic and you can deconstruct his rhyme pattern and make it sound like something that he planned making him a genius in rhyme patterns. Or you can just say he just went off on it based on sound or flow. I mean sit Nas down or Kendrick or any other rapper and start going into this kind of depth and they would probably be dumbfounded. I'm not taking anything away from their achievements, I'm just saying I don't think there is a particular science and this article makes it sound like there is.
Whether they are doing it consciously or not is irrelevant. I'm pretty sure that every good rapper spends days perfecting a verse, taking off or adding syllables to particular lines so that it sounds perfect. There were plenty natural geniuses in music and poetry before, some rappers are just another example of it. In the end, it's all music, and "Flow" is basically just the hip-hop word for metric...
 
been on loop for a few days now, it finally hit with me.


This is album of the year, hands down.

It's one thing for an album to have catchy beats and amazing production, but the narrative Kendrick weaves through this album paints a really good picture of life in the hood. I think it was said in the thread before but, yea, this is a modern day Boyz in the Hood or Straight Outta Compton.
 
So glad the album has been such a critical and commercial success. Hopefully we see more talented rappers given the creative control they need to craft albums that actually sound like albums. The current hip hop scene is so focused on stacking a ton of features and getting a beat from whoever the hottest producer is that the final project sounds unfocused.
 
I see some posters here that don't post in GafHop.

Happy some of y'all are enjoying this album. It's definitely my favorite from 2012.
 
They complement each other perfectly, and the verses in Sing About Me are really really well nuanced and deceptively deep. I think it is one of the most well nuanced hip-hop songs ever created.
 
This is a classic album because it is so focused and hip hop projects since the 2000s have not been this focused, even if they are one producer and one MC projects. Nothing in a long time competes with GKMC.
 
This is a classic album because it is so focused and hip hop projects since the 2000s have not been this focused, even if they are one producer and one MC projects. Nothing in a long time competes with GKMC.

Agreed and it tells a fantastic story. It'll be hard for him to ever top this
 
I still need to buy this album. I bought the swimming pools single off of iTunes, loved it so much that I decided to take the time to memorize all the lyrics to the song. Now I can sing it to myself wherever I go. P-Pool full of liquor then they dive in it
 
I still need to buy this album. I bought the swimming pools single off of iTunes, loved it so much that I decided to take the time to memorize all the lyrics to the song. Now I can sing it to myself wherever I go. P-Pool full of liquor then they dive in it
what the hell are you waiting for. buy it now!
 
I still need to buy this album. I bought the swimming pools single off of iTunes, loved it so much that I decided to take the time to memorize all the lyrics to the song. Now I can sing it to myself wherever I go. P-Pool full of liquor then they dive in it

If you don't have this album already you're fucking up. It's going to be in the top three of GAF's Album of the Year thread, and the Gaf-Hop Album of the Year.
 
Are the deluxe edition songs worth the $6 premium?

The Recipe and Black Boy Fly are incredible. Plus, I like the cover more. You will learn to love that van...

I'd say buy the deluxe version and the add the songs that didn't make the album due to sample clearence or some other bullshit (particularly Cartoons & Cereals). That is easily worth 6$.
 
Now or Never is pretty damn bad. I really felt like Cartoons could be right after maad city too. Both are reflective on Kendrick's past, in distinct ways.
 
Now or Never isn't bad, it actually grew a lot on me since the release. It's a little fun song, decent beat and dope verses. If the singing was kept at a minimum (and done by another singer), it would be pretty good even. Plus, it fits thematically as a bonus song.
 
This is a classic album because it is so focused and hip hop projects since the 2000s have not been this focused, even if they are one producer and one MC projects. Nothing in a long time competes with GKMC.

Food & Liquor, Kanye albums (mostly CD and LR)
 
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