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

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GTFO at anyone bashing Lupe's album while praising this; both are pretty much the same caliber (good albums but nothing special).

The highlight of the album was the good kid + maad city + swimming pools trio of songs.
 
It's good. There are a couple tracks that feel quite misplaced, especially Backstreet Freestyle. ASAP Rocky would tear that beat apart but Kendrick sounds like he's trying to pretend like he's someone he's not

The first half is a lot better than the second half
 
bishman's stannery kept ya'll hungry for a whole day, eh?

CRS said:
If Lasers didn't exist, FL2 would be a below average album but because Lasers does exist, people (including myself) received it a lot nicer so it's regarded as a better album.
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yuuuuuup
 
Just listened through the album. As a whole the album is very easy to listen to, the sequencing is solid and the mix of bangers and 'album tracks' is perfect.

Production is as good as you could hope for. The beats certainly feel like they have been mixed and mastered for a full release album. I would say that the production falls short of Section.80, but that is always the case in a transition to studio albums. The album just does not offer the variety and jazzy production that made songs like Rigamortus so memorable. That's not to say that the album is not the collection of top tier beats that it is. Looking at the production credits, Kendrick has done a fantastic job at including a variety of producers while not sacrificing consistency.

Lyrically, I would have to listen a couple more times to form an opinion, but song themes seem to continue to be a strong point for K Dot.

Nice to see a Jay Rock feature!

Immediate standout tracks to me are
-track 1, Sherane
-Backseat Freestyle
-The Art of Peer Pressure
-Money Trees
-m.A.A.d city
-Swimming Pools
-Sing About Me

holy shit this album is good, Kendrick is fucking going places

Time to seek out those bonus tracks!
 
PhoenixDark said:
It's good. There are a couple tracks that feel quite misplaced, especially Backstreet Freestyle. ASAP Rocky would tear that beat apart but Kendrick sounds like he's trying to pretend like he's someone he's not

The first half is a lot better than the second half
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dat Freudian slip
 
This album is amazing....Every track is amazing but m.A.A.d city and Sing About Me were just....uggh....I wonder why Cartoons and Cereal didn't make the cut, its a perfect fit thematically and beat-wise. I'll probably do a track by track review later just for kicks and giggles.
 
Some really nice tracks, but just okay overall for me. I think I prefer Section.80 slightly. Maybe. I don't know, all of these albums are mostly middle of the road to me.

This seems to be a recurring theme with TDE albums unfortunately. Not great, not bad. Just there.
 
SteeloDMZ said:
GTFO at anyone bashing Lupe's album while praising this; both are pretty much the same caliber (good albums but nothing special).

The highlight of the album was the good kid + maad city + swimming pools trio of songs.
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Don't bring that average overly preachy shit up in here.
 
PhoenixDark said:
It's good. There are a couple tracks that feel quite misplaced, especially Backstreet Freestyle. ASAP Rocky would tear that beat apart but Kendrick sounds like he's trying to pretend like he's someone he's not

The first half is a lot better than the second half
Click to expand...

best description of it
 
I'm Catholic, haven't really practiced by not going to church and what not, but something about that prayer at the end of "I'm Dying of Thirst". Felt extremely relaxed and slowly transitioning into "Real"...
lawd.png


Man, this album.
 
I can't believe people dislike Backseat Freestyle. Kendrick goes full ignorant and absolutely dominates. He does not give one fuck, and it shows.
 
everything was good up to art of peer pressure, never really felt that track. money trees is bringing that vibe back round though...hey jay rock, cool
 
Good kid is definitely an alright song but it so obviously a NERD leftover beat... its still too good for Kendrick. Which is kinda pathetic. It feels wasted. Even though Kendrick's album is amazing and better than any recent NERD album, the potential just wasn't really there, it isn't that special on the album. It is sadly a wasted effort for both sides.
 
It's pretty good, definitely my favorite major label debut album from the rappers who dropped in the past 2 years. I don't really strongly dislike any songs on here.

Backseat Freestyle is definitely a pass for me, it's just something I don't feel at all. I was very close to hating Money Trees in the first 20 seconds with the whole ya bish thing, it's very lame, but luckily the rest of the song is actually good.

One thing I personally kind of don't like is how hamfisted some of the themes are like it's very obvious this album has the whole peer pressure thing going on in different songs which is fine, but the need to put a skit to reinforce it as if I couldn't tell it was peer pressure going on. Right now it's just a minor complaint, but something that could just annoy me the more I listen to it.

But yeah, good album, I don't think it really has really lows but few songs are just okay to me while others are really great.
 
Had no idea this was coming out. Really into Kendrick. Where are people listening to the album already? I assume downloaded? Is there a stream anywhere?

edit:

nevermind I found it :).
 
All y'all saying Backseat Freestyle isn't fire are crazy
As K.dot himself said
"This voice here is golden so fuck y'all I goes in"

KENDRICK HAVE A DREAM


seriously though can't stop listening to this album so happy it's living up to my expectations
 
GKMC - Kendrick delivers a cohesive album with a strong concept and storyline that offers depth while never feeling forced or in anyway detrimental to the song making process. He showcases a variety of flows, changes pace at will, and is self-aware enough to preach without abstaining himself of guilt. Sure the topics are quite familiar and a bit predictable at times, but Kendrick's passion is pretty much unparalleled. Some of the song structures are quite inventive, as are the beats, which helps the album from feeling repetitive despite its long length. GKMC is an album with layers that might be readily accessible, especially in this age of instant gratification and impersonal swag-toting self-ignorance. It reaches a level of introspection and emotion that other rappers would never touch. It's a shame how unsafe it has become to be real. GKMC is the album Kendrick wanted to make, not the album his studio told him to make.
10/10

Album Lows - Compton, Swimming Pools (Extended Version)
Album Highs - Everything Else
 
No one these days makes songs like Kendrick. I can't stress how important that is to me. Sure, Killer Mike is a better MC than Kendrick, and his album is great: dope beats, dope rhymes, solid thematic songs. But Kendrick's songwriting is just on another level. The fact that he makes the songs fit on a cohesive album makes him my favorite MC right now, by far.

Section.80 was my AOTY 2011. I still need to listen to it a few more times, but I'm pretty sure this will be my AOTY 2012.

Highs: m.a.a.d. city, swimming pools, sing about me (some was asking the other day the best three song stretch on an album - this is a contender), cartoons & cereals, money trees

Lows: Compton (I love Just Blaze, but that beat doesn't fit the album at all. Not a bad track, should have been saved no Detox), Poetic Justice (damn, Ab-Soul should be on this, not Drake...)
 
The album is really great. Think I'll have to make a "cut" version though, cut out some of the skits, split up Sing About Me, that kind of stuff. Every song is pretty dope though.

Kendrick delivered.
 
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