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Originally Posted by evollove
I was just trying to get a rise. I actually don't know much about him except he wrote a song about his momma and he dissed Taylor Swift.
Yes, I really have very little idea of what's been going on in popular music the past, say, decade. (In fact, I can't name a single Taylor Swift song off the top of my head.)
But my local library is fantastic. Well-stocked and you can check out 50 items at once. I currently have a stack of CDs that comes close to reaching my knee.
Three of those CDs are from Kenrick, who, like I said, I hadn't really heard until a week ago.
Last night I gave PIMP a cursory listen. Nothing grabbed me until "Complexion." That's followed by "Blacker the Berry," which gave me chills. I think I listened to that two song sequence about four times in a row. I was high, but still.
I dunno. Are we sure he didn't invent a whole new way of doing gangster rap, at least on the first album? He begins a verse with "Fresh outta school cuz I was a high school grad." I think I heard "six in the morning" somewhere, and I'm sure there are other gangster rap allusions I'm missing.
I think of consciousness rap as: the rapper has a strong point of view and tries to get it across.
Kendrick's world seems a lot more complex.
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You owe it to yourself to listen to Kanye West’s music. Forget the dude, just listen to the music. Must I remind you that he is tied with BOB DYLAN for the most times tipping the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics Poll? Arguably the most prestigious thing in music journalism?
And what took Bob Dylan FORTY YEARS (having four #1 P&J albums), Kanye did in SIX.
If you can’t appreciate the evolution from one album to the next, and his ability to make seemingly ridiculous creative decisions that always work, while changing his own identity and the identity of music itself with each release, then you’re the one who “sucks.”
Seriously... Like David Bowie or Prince or the Beatles, Kanye is just an artist that you’re damn well gonna have to know if you care about being a music fan.
AAAAANYWAY... about Kendrick, yeah there’s definitely tons of gangsta rapisms in his music, but he is categorically NOT gangsta rap. He just comes from that culture. Compare good kid, mAAd city to a legitimate modern gangsta rap album like YG’s My Krazy Life and you’ll see.
Kendrick is something different. Even if he will “slap a bitch as n****” if he has to.
Btw, good kid is not his first album. His first album is the excellent Section.80. Go listen to it.