Tyler Krenzin
Lantern Staff
DAMN is the fourth studio album released by multiple Grammy nominated artist known as Kendrick Lamar. If Good Kid m.A.A.d. City, the story of how he grew up in inner Compton, and To Pimp a Butterfly, the story of his heritage and racism in America, was his major talking point. Then DAMN would be his exclamation point, something to remind us that he isn’t done talking. Kendrick clearly didn’t get everything off his mind. His angle this time is not pointed to the streets, or the growing racial tensions of America. This is Kendrick’s battle with his true enemy, himself.
Kendrick speaks on his second song DNA, that he has multiple visions of himself, the one where he has “royalty” and is the leader of the “Rap Game” and is a warrior of the minority in a world that isn’t exactly equal. Then there is the other side that he sees where he has “poison” in his DNA. This side of Kendrick is dark, very dark, where he wants to see himself as the savior, but he knows he is the fallen angel. He begins to see his attempts to save the people begin to sour, the possibility that his music is seen as a guide to martyrdom, instead of the guide to salvation. One sample that Kendrick uses is audio from a news show where someone, presumably an “expert”, talks, in reference to Lamar, about how hip hop has done more damage to African-Americans than racism. The fact that something that Kendrick had put so much faith and heart into, is being used by news sources to paint him and his culture in a negative light, must being disheartening and degrading. In his opening intro BLOOD explores, through the beautiful metaphor of a blind women, that he has lost something. This something turns out to be his life. This dark rendition of what Kendrick sees of himself, shows the mindset that he has been put into. This is followed by another sample of news reporters speaking negatively about his lyrics.
It is known that Kendrick has certain distaste of other rappers that claim that they are the best in the game. Kendrick sees himself as the “King of Rap” and for him no one comes close. DAMN is loaded with shots aimed at the heads of the “fakes.” Kendrick shows this especially on both YAH and ELEMENT. Yah has one bullet with a name on it. That bullet was loaded for Canadian rapper Drake. Drake has constantly claimed that he is top five in the game, if not number one. Kendrick shoots his shot with only two lines. “Today is the day I follow my intuition. Keep the family close-get money, f*ck b*tches.” This is clear reference to Drakes song “Keep the Family Closer” a song off Drakes Album Views. In Kendrick’s eye, no one is safe, not even himself. On YAH Kendrick admits that he has fallen to the vices that he is so desperately trying to rid himself of. ELEMENT talk of how Kendrick was ready to die for his cause is not talking about death in the physical sense. Kendrick is instead talking about his career in a whole. A constant theme of DAMN is that Kendrick is in the mindset that his music is being turned against him by the media.
This is Kendrick incarnate, he is no longer speaking in the tone of all knowing, he has fallen into to the point where he knows that even he is mortal. In FEEL this becomes more prevalent. Kendrick even talks about how feels like he has a chip on his shoulder, and that he is no longer pretending. This introspective look that Kendrick is giving himself becomes clearer with every song. He digs deeper and deeper into his own conscience almost as if he knows there is something wrong with him, but the deeper he goes he begins to reveal more than he origionaly intended. This is shown on the song PRIDE. HUMBLE is the song that most people have heard from the album. This is the “hit song” that everyone hooks onto when they say DAMN is a great album. XXX brings out the other side of angry Kendrick. XXX starts off with Kendrick’s mind asking America to help him understand. This is his plea to media and America in general that he doesn’t understand why they continue to demonize him.
FEAR speaks exactly as you would think. Kendrick is speaking about every thing that he fears. We have now gone deeper into Kendrick’s mind. This is Kendrick in his pure form, the fear that keeps driving him to be better. This is the true thing that drives Kendrick more than anything else, fear of going back to the city he tried so hard to escape. At seven minutes long this is cleerly the song that Kendrick wants us to hang on the most. The album closes with DUCKWORTH. Kendrick comes to the conclusion that it is no longer him versus the world but his true enemy is himself, and the decisions that he could’ve made that would have prevented him from being here today.
Kendrick’s album is sure to be a success with the public as most of his albums have been, but the story that he tells is far from a happy one. His lyrical genius and story-telling ability paints the picture that is him looking at himself through the mirror. With every song on this album leading to the next it is hard to point out a bad song, and to be honest there really isn’t one. DAMN doesn’t carry the social weight that To Pimp a Butterfly had, but the story of how he sees himself might be his best album to date. 9.5/10.