Kendrick is a fairly young artist and fit in the same category as his peers like Drake, Asap, Danny Brown, J.Cole and Big Sean who for the most part are not as nice as Kendrick. Yeah they spit and they make records, but Kendrick brings the lyrical game to an all new high. A positive advocate in a negative ego dominated genre makes him stand out from the rest. Because he stands for whats true and speaks from the heart.
When you watch his interviews, he is real humble and together. Every move seems to be well calculated. Not someone your going to see screaming "thug life" or talking about a beef. He is here to share his story and share his life with the world, which means he isn't going to get much hate from people and if he does it will be because they're just not feeling him. I can admit I wasn't always a Kendrick fan because my favorite songs circles the east coast and music particularly from New York.
Kendrick came at the right time. Hip-hop needs something new a uplifting artist like Mos Def, Talib or even a Common. I know people like to say Hip-hip is dead but there were genres before hip-hop that took a back seat. Hip-hip is the streets, always evolving never staying the same. My personal view on an album is that I cant compare to "Illmatic" , "Ready to Die" or even "Reasonable Doubt" because they re classics for a reason. You can not call an album a classic if it hasn't even sat on the shelf for a year. You can turn on Illmatic and still bump it today, will Kendrick's music live on for years that remains to be seen, but until that time we listen to the album and embrace Kendrick's music for the time being.
There are a few tracks that I like, I'm not no to remember track lists. For the first 2 weeks all i do is listen to the album. Sometimes the name has an influence, like judging a book by its cover, but "Poetic Justice", "Money Trees", "Sing About me, I'm Dying of Thirst",and "Compton" and for a 17 track album that's a lot of tracks to like, but he puts in work. You never know how well an artist is until they drop that debut album. There have been a fair share of mix tape rappers and rappers that can only do well with feature they can not hold up an album them self.
So far Kendrick has done his thing, from Section 80 and Overly dedicated. If an artist can maintain that hunger they have when the first start rapping they will continue to be successful and thus far Kendrick has done that. It should be fun to see what Kendrick has in store, because this album just might have made him the artist of year, but he has some stiff competition with Kanye and 2 Chainz.
That being said grab the album I did....good kid m.A.A.d city: