The Daily Spin, November 3
Kendrick Lamar | good kid, m.A.A.d city
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite songs from each album right here.
Album: good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Link:
Much like last week’s review of Summertime ‘06, GKMC is an album telling the story of an experience I can’t possibly fathom relating to - but there are certain thing you can just know, like how I know that this is damn good music.
There’s a reason, after all, that Kendrick Lamar is widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers not only of our generation, but of all time. Looking at his full discography, it certainly feels like good kid, mAAd city jump-started that movement - without it, I don’t think the remainder of his body of work has nearly so much power, nearly the impact that it does.
GKMC is Kendrick Lamar’s own tale of youth, of growing up on the tangential lines of drugs and gangs and strife in Compton, laced with the ties to family that kept him free from it - as jarring as they are sometimes, the voicemails that scatter themselves through this work also make it more poignant than almost anything else about the record.
The beats are immaculate - the features divine - and through it all, Lamar raps, a steady force plodding on, saved by grace and by skill, fully aware of the frames into his life he is providing us, unhesitatingly clear about the tale he spins. It is honest, brutally so, and a massive effort.
Rating: 9.3/10
Best Tracks: Money Trees; Swimming Pools (Drank); Backseat Freestyle
Worst Tracks: The Art of Peer Pressure