good kid, m.A.A.d city

This one's taken a while to gather my thoughts on and a lot of reading through lyrics, commentary and Wikipedia… it's always a good sign to feel so invested in an album, but the result is usually a pseudo-thesis of a review that, let's face it, nobody has the time to read. Anyway, here goes! Before his instant classic "To Pimp A Butterfly", Kendrick Lamar made "good kid, m.A.A.d city": a tighter, leaner piece which begins by looking inward and gradually shifts focus to create a vivid, intense picture of inner-city living in the hood. Broader than Kendrick's own coming-of-age story, it becomes a social commentary on hip-hop, the culture surrounding it, and the pre-conceptions surrounding that. Lamar explores the origins of gang hostility and violence, covering peer pressure, fear, vulnerability and a vacuum left by the absence of state support or role models. Without a doubt, it's the most immersive hip-hop album I've heard and it's all down to Lamar's excellent storytelling. Using a thoughtfully sequenced non-linear narrative, dynamic and expressive vocal performance, and snippets of conversation with his homies and his parents, Lamar weaves a complex narrative together which has transferred to some school syllabuses alongside James Joyce. Thematically, there's real weight thrown into every song and every line. "The Art of Peer Pressure" explores how gang culture escalated Lamar's teenage life towards crime, drugs and violence. "Money Trees" covers the necessity of material pursuits for survival and the cost it might have on morality. Things reach an apex on the epic "Sing About Me/Dying of Thirst", two tracks drawn together into one twelve minute piece which Lamar uses to remember those he knows who have died. The urgency and despair mingling in "Dying of Thirst" is so potent, and Kendrick's mastery of narrative really comes into its own by personifying his deceased friends. Musically, "good kid, m.A.A.d city" isn't as sprawling and diverse as what I've heard of Lamar's later work. It's also, by nature, mellow and insular, with little to jump out as dance music or hit material. The most played tracks - including "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Swimming Pools (Drank)"- are as close as it gets, and they're either a thoughtful musing on the state of the music industry or an ironic take on clubbing and partying. Even in these tracks, the music is consistently cerebral, insular. The beats are mostly low-key, muted, often trap-influenced. Samples include, of all people, Beach House lending an ethereal quality to "Money Trees" and Janet Jackson looped into infinity on the sultry slow-jam "Poetic Justice." Some tracks are refreshingly upbeat to signal a new voice or time within the narrative: for example, "Backseat Freestyle" turns classic braggadocio into a flashback, a young K-Dot using his words as a naïve dream and a survival strategy. "m.A.A.d city" and "Compton" bring the classic 90's hip-hop sounds with hard, bombastic beats, pitch-warped synth leads and a feature from Dre himself. They're tributes to Lamar's musical heritage, which tie in with the narrative as a complicated mixture of pride and fear towards his hometown. I could try to go on and on, but really the key to "good kid, m.A.Ad city" is to listen. Although it's far from my usual style of music, one of its key strengths is that none of it is as straightforward as it appears. By packing each track so full of dual-meanings, twists and turns in the storyline and more allusions than you can shake a stick at, Lamar invites listeners to unpack the non-linear story, peel away the layers, discover new ways of hearing each track and piece together the good kid in the mad city. It's not yet at "classic" status for me, but I can see it being a long time before I get bored of this one.

Kendrick Lamar - changing the game since 2011, changing the use of capital letters and punctuation since 2012.

My favorite pure rap album of all time; the quintessential coming of age west coast rap album; filled with bangers and thought provoking songs; one of the best storytelling albums of all time

Objectifies women and gets his rocks off fantasizing about violence against women. Pathetic and sick.

Musically dull, lyrically offensive.

People talk about this guy like he's the second coming but all I just heard was an hour and 20min of hipster dog shit. 2/5.

Bitch, don't kill my vibe. I have actually seen Kendrick Lamar live around the time this came out, but he was upstaged by a Tupac hologram...as we all are sometimes.

Offensive, disgusting and stupid. 1 / 5

I gave up before the album had finished. Some of the background melodies were alright but I find the ranting, language and sentiments hard to enjoy. I know that means I’m an old person but it’s not what I call music.

Absolute classic. Possibly my favorite modern rap album (though it's ten years old?!) I think what I love the most is the Outkast production and storytelling vibe.

This is better than Hotel California for sure.

I really don't like this sort of drugged out hip-hop sound. Something about it just makes me feel bad, sort of stretched out and depressed. Every single song seems to be about drugs, his penis or comparing women to dogs, but somehow this is considered socially conscious and thoughtful rap. It simply doesn't make a good impression on me, not being receptive to the sound and outside the culture being rhymed about. I hope that the people who enjoy this have used it to work through dark personal issues and become better people. But for me, it is the sort of thing I would turn off if I heard it on the radio.

One of the best narrative albums at point blank range. Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst might be in my top 10 songs.

Yeah, in terms of gansta-rap Kendrick is definitely my pick. There's some great artistic choices through the album that subvert the earlier clichés of gansta-rap, like playing the entire voicemail at the end of the first song and not using it as a little throwaway interlude but rather as a storytelling tool. Everything sounds great but there's some needed restraint in production that elevates it all to be more than a "I'm so hard and I party hard album". Some tracks are "take or or leave" it for me, and Money Trees goes a little long for me. Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe is prob my fav. good kid also sounds great, that instrumentation and bass-line feels like some 70s odd synth/krautrock or some early electronic experimental stuff. Interestingly enough there aren't many songs on here that feel like they can be played in isolation or on some random playlist, the material is definitely best listened in an album format, which is probably the best compliment you could get for this list.

The hiphop I enjoy most has either great funky sampling and/or jazz or otherwise organic music and the actual MCing has got to be rhythmic. Right away in the first track the rhythmic rapping is thrown right out the window - I know it's a preferential thing but there's no sense of rhythm to this, it's stream-of-consciousness words that I've no doubt I'd never be able to do but it all exists completely independently from the music. As if they're 2 completely unrelated parallel entities that were just placed together almost randomly. Like - could you tell or would it matter if the chorus were the verse or vice versa? And these lyrics are junior-high level immature trash. That reaction was all from one track - yikes. BUT ... track 2 starts out almost completely differently; I like the music and the weird vocals. The lyrics are not interesting to me but there's a noticeable step up in tying the vocals to the music. The "real-life" voices (I hesitate to call them "skits") get distracting and for me lessen the impact of the songs. Have I mentioned these lyrics are weak? They're weak - come on pussy this dick that yeah yeah giggle giggle. OK the album definitely improves as it goes on - full stop - but ehh I had a real hard time getting through this - aside from the eye-rolling lyrics his voice is difficult to digest. As for my rhythmic critiques early, that aspect definitely gets much better on many of the following tracks - I know it's a stylistic choice and I choose to avoid the freestyle/stream type songs/rappers. "Money Trees" - I do like this one. I've heard some of Kendrick's later work which I do recall liking considerably more, but this one is not only not my bag but I would and will avoid this. 3/10 1 star

Not in my edition of the book so! Obviously not essential to listen to before you die! 2012. 1 star. Purile, sexist, misogynistic, obnoxious shite that gets boring reallll fast. Strange that it's OK for black rappers to use the N* word but if anyone else does you're racist. Or that it's OK for them to call women bitches and pussy and hoes (whores), but if anyone else does you're misogynistic. Or that it's OK from them to to boast about how high and doped they get, but if anyone else does then you're just a fucked up junkie. Just saying. "I pray my dick get big as the Eiffel Tower/So I can fuck the world for seventy-two hours". FFS, grow up.

I received whiplash reading the other reviews for this. While most to maybe half of the high rated reviews for this notice it's brilliance, I was shocked by the amount of reviews that are totally derisive. I do not listen to rap or hip-hop too much (one of my goals with this project is to expand those horizons), and from track 1, I was pretty hooked on the thematic complexity. Lamar is clearly working through a lot of ideas with this album (and if his cultural clout proceeds him, he hasn't stopped working through ideas). The interweaving and complexity of themes of religious morality and guilt, with responsibility towards family and friends, and trying to remain true to your home that you love while knowing you may need to escape. God... it just captures something so beautifully. Which is where the whiplash at seeing negative reviews minimize the expansiveness of this album into "disgusting", "trash", or "boring" totally caught me off-guard. Anyway, I don't know a lot about rap or the history of the genre, but this album was great. I almost broke into tears at the end of "Real". Such a cogent album. Great storytelling and thematics. One of my favs that I've listened to in this project so far. I expect there is some bias in the negative reviews, but I'll try to have a better outlook on humanity.

no skips

93/100: Few artists reach the level of fame to be publicly acknowledged by on name. Many incredibly well respected artists never reach this level (sometimes arguably for the infortune of being given a generic name). Freddie Mercury is neither referred to as Freddie nor Mercury. Elton John is not Elton. But Tupac is Tupac, Kanye is Kanye, and Kendrick is—well—just Kendrick. This album holds a special place in my heart; therefore, I will be leaving all pretenses of impartiality at the door. This is the album that quite literally opened up the world of music for me. Before listening to this album, music was just something to be listened to—pleasant sounds, ineffable feelings, surface level appreciation. The first time I heard “good kid, m.A.A.d city,” something struck me—an imperceptible intuition that something worth understanding lay beyond the realm in which I’d hitherto been existing. By the Kendrick was boasting about having a dream in “Backseat Freestyle,” I had the rap genius app downloaded on my phone and was following along, line by line. I listened and read along to that album for weeks, maybe even months, listening to nothing else. I saw a respect for language and a mastery of music as a platform for a message nothing short of genius; in fact, orders of magnitude beyond that. Most rappers interject their albums with skits as separate songs. The good artists tie this skits smartly, maybe even humorously, into the story conveyed in their album. The great ones (if pluralizing that word is even legitimate is up for dispute), like Kendrick, weave these skits within songs, backed by musical tracks. In “The Art of Peer Pressure,” interjecting skits not only provide context—in one moment, letting the listener know that Kendrick’s and his friends’ robbery attempt has flopped, in the other, highlighting a police chase—they propel the song through its story. Beyond imaginatively clever uses of skits, Kendrick writes lyrics that reveal an incomparably creative relationship with language. In “Money Trees,” one set of three lines stands out in my mind. In the first line in this set, “dreams of living life like rappers do,” Kendrick focuses in on the topic of rap artists; however, in the third line, “I fucked Sherane then went to tell my bros,” he’s locked in on ideas of sex and women. To find a good line to fit between those two, most rappers would elaborate on what a rapper’s life is like, presumably a good way to tie sex and women into the topic of rap artists—making for a pretty seamless segue. Kendrick does something entirely different and wildly creative. As the second line in this set, connecting rappers to sex, Kendrick decides on “back when condom wrappers wasn't cool.” Upon first glance, this might seem to be a pretty abrupt transition from dreaming of living a rapper’s life of luxury to sex, but when read aloud, “condom wrappers” sounds a whole lot like “Compton rappers,” and Kendrick surely leans into this with his delivery of that line. Thus, Kendrick finds a way to deliver two ideas with one line, with both ideas tying the preceding and subsequent lines together. This is mastery. There are few albums with as much to analyze and interpret as “good kid, m.A.A.d city” (most of those few are also Kendrick albums). The fact that this album opened up that world of analysis and interpretation within music for me elevates it beyond those other Kendrick albums. This is my favorite album of Kendrick’s—it was my first—it will forever remain that way, and I am in no way surprised that this album held up to the same level I remember from my last listen through.

Boring album. Some decent bass lines. Lyrics are meh and even annoying at times. Nothing great to say about this one.

I know that Kendrick Lamarr is viewed as some sort of god, but I cannot for the life of me work out why. "Bitch, don't kill my vibe" makes me want to question why he's putting that voice on. The flow vacillates wildly between "hey this is pretty decent" and "ohmygod, what is this amateurish tosh?" The whole album seems to delight in wobbly bass, which doesn't half get tiring after a while. TBH, not sure I'm going to sit through the rest of this.

Can we just rename this genre "Narcissistic Gun, Dick, Pussy Rap"?

One of my favorite albums, I put this above to pimp a butterfly personally

Has a mixtape vibe. but for Christ's sake change your tone occasionally. It's all autotune and plodding vocals it's actually painfully boring to listen to.

I really dislike music like this: lyrically uninteresting, unamusing braggadocio, misogyny and unconstructive violence; musically lightweight, dull and meandering pointlessly. Sadly, 0 stars isn't possible.

Meh. Production is good but I'm just way to white for this shit. Never gonna listen to this again.

While I’m still a hardline tpab fan, holy shit this album still holds up. All of the singles are still great and everything about it is great

Had not heard this before, and found it to be quite a bit more enjoyable than "..Butterfly". Really immersive, with interesting effects such as the voicemails which make the whole thing "cinematic" as intended. A wild success

But where is the ninja turtles?

This was really good. I'm gonna need to listen to it through a few more times to take it all in. Great storytelling.

Damn.

c.r.A.A.p city

Auto tuned junk. No idea what the big deal about this is. Not even bordering on interesting.

This album sucks lmao

Love the storytelling and depth of his lyrics and the music production is fantastic as well. 10/5 ⭐️s

Scathing comments here but I'll provide a medium take. Since GFunk and Gangster Rap has rap ever been clean? I don't think the medium has been used for jovial clean rap unless in small subgenres like De La Soul, and Tribe. Even outkast is "dirty". Without fellating my man Kendrick too much. This was his Joe DiMaggio/Mickey Mantle era. The one we will always reference as the young blood blossoming into a full blown rapping poet and beacon of hope in the community. Kendrick did reinforce terrible standards in the genre but ultimately crafted tense scenes of southern california, and the trials and tribulations that black americans lives through some 30 years after NWA. Things didn't change positively, nor did the music. This is akin to the woke verses of street poets like Warren G and Tupac. GKMC was always my favorite in kendrick's run. He has a knack of story telling with crazy clever wordplay and brilliant verses. He has an ability to create tense scenes that inject you right into the crimes and storylines that took place from his childhood. With just enough post conciousness to reflect on it, and show a sense of growth. Growth that wind be extrapolated in 2015 with TPAB.

One of the most well-executed concept albums ever. The lyrics are so good, along with the story they tell. Sherane and The Art of Peer Pressure are two of the greatest storytelling rap songs ever written; they're practically short stories. Ben's right, if these reviewers think that this is just an album about drugs and sex and violence, they're simply being ignorant. How can you listen to this and completely look over the message of every single song? The songs about those controversial subjects are looking at them from a perspective of growth, a move away from hedonism and toward looking back on a life and asking why it had to be that way. Great album.

One of the best rap albums of all time. It’s got some bangers that we’re all over the radio and clubs and house parties, but also has a deeper soul. No one mixes the narrative raps with the pop sensibilities quite like Kendrick. It’s an incredible journey that makes you feel like you’re boolin around in Compton with Kendrick. You feel the highs and lows alongside him. Somehow, even with a different background and having grown up in a different environment, you feel connected to his younger life while the songs play. And that broadening of the perspective is what art and music is all about. To all the 1 ratings on this album that are some combination of “I’m old”, “I’m lame” or “I’m subtly racist”, SHUT THE FUCK UP BOOMER

I am not much of a lyrical man but this album gives the feeling of the struggle of inner city cycles via alternatives to lyrics such as gun shots ending songs soon. I will have to give damn another listen it it won the pullitzer over this album.

Fast hätte ich zum ersten Mal super bowl geschaut, nur für Kendrick. Ein ticket dafür kostet übrigens 8000 Dollar. Das Album ist ein absoluter banger, bin grosser Fan des drake haters, der für seinen disstrack auch noch offizielle Auszeichnungen bekommt.

Kendrick never misses

Masterpiece, one of the best hip hop albums of the last 2010s.

I've been told so many times to listen to Kendrick Lamar, but rap / hip hop generally speaking wasn't my thing. Or, at least, I thought it wasn't my thing - until I started making my way through the 1,001 album list - and now I'm learning that I was wrong. Certainly not fine poetry, but my takeaway from this album is Kendrick has a unique way with words and metric, and he lays it on top of a smooth beat and some well crafted melody. I'm not surprised this album is polarizing - but even as a non-rap fan, I really do think it's extremely unique and interesting. I can't help but give it five stars.

Rating: 10/10 A classic, one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Not only is this one of best produced rap albums of all time, it is also one of the best lyrically as well. The album feels like a movie, Kendrick takes the listener on a journey through his childhood and the crime-filled streets of Compton. The lyrics paint a vivd picture of the street life of Compton and Kendrick does this with varied deliveries, clever wordplay, and thought-provoking lyrics. I have listened to this album many times and am still discovering new meanings lyrically. A truly timeless album. Favorite songs: pretty much all of them. Least favorite song: Real.

One of the best concept albums ever and Kendrick’s best imo. The Art of Peer Pressure is one of the most vividly depicted stories in song form I’ve ever heard. Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst encapsulates so many different themes, it’s a masterpiece of a song. One of the best albums of all time

Easy 5 stars and Kendrick’s second best album behind TPAB imo. To this day I still do not understand how tf Macklemore won the rap album Grammy over this

A hood classic

I don't listen to a ton of rap, especially not full albums, but this is one that I actually listened to quite a bit back in the day. This came out my senior year of high school and was pretty huge for a few years after that. I think I like this a lot because the sound is pretty understated through most of it. There's not a ton of gimmicks or anything, it's just really strong lyrics and good beats across the board. Lyrically, you really get a snapshot into Kendrick's life growing up, and the snippets of people talking between songs are both funny and pull together the album nicely. I don't have a ton to say about this, but it's about as strong of a rap album as I've come across. It does get a bit weaker at the end (it's drags on just a little bit), but it's good enough otherwise that it's not a real issue. Kendrick is obviously super talented, and it was nice to revisit this one. This is 12 years old now (which is hard to believe), but it doesn't really sound dated at all to me. Favorite song: Money Trees Other: Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe, Backseat Freestyle, The Art of Peer Pressure, Poetic Justice, good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Swimming Pools (Drank), 4/1/24

Et mesterværk, konceptuelt, stramt narrativ, teknisk vanvittigt, fyldt med bangers

el missatge al final del primer tema....DIOS... i com va a la segona JAJAJAJA invested en la història dels missatges de veu està molt ben construït, realment el que és seguir un fil argumental... brutal. ara entenc lo de "a short film by kendrick lamar" estic segura de que la lletra és ofensiva, honestament, no me'n havia adonat. home aquí no hi ha gaire excusa, és 2012...

This is really good you bish

about the only modern hip hop artist I can stand. some great songs on here. can be kind of long at some points but it flows well

Wow. Unexpected but brilliant

Not bad. I'm not a big hip hop/rap fan but i did enjoy this album. Will check more from him

I really enjoyed this album. Great lyrical moments and really interesting melodies and riffs (especially for a rap album). I felt like I got a really great glimpse and understanding into Lamar's life and the challenges of growing up in an area where gang activity is so prevalent and complex to avoid. I think I'll listen to this one again multiple times and continue to discover new moments and lyrics every time.

I’m glad this site is anonymous because I like this record better than To Pimp A Butterfly.

I know a guy called Kendrick and obviously he’s not as cool as this one

My second Kendrick Lamar LP after To Pimp A Butterfly, and I like this one more. The production is as immaculate and confident; the content less ambitious and maybe the better for it. Still shows a preference for cleverness over tunes that scrapes against the pop superstructure. Asks a lot of a listener and pays back, but doesn’t follow through on the bravura opening.

The Art of Peer Pressure and Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst are remarkable songs.

good kid, m.A.A.d city Sherane, love the drum and bass sounds. Backseat freestyle Good Kid is superb On the surface it’s easy to just hear guns’n’bitches, but there’s definitely a lot more to it than that. Has a similar lyrical feel to Illmatic, not glorifying or wallowing in gang and street life. Some good sweating too. You know what else I like - his very clear diction. He should be applauded for that. Great sound, particularly like the bass, drums and piano combos, and the variation of drum sound from song to song. Some great little earwormy hooks, not obvious necessarily, but found myself humming them after listening to it. I’m not that up to speed on a lot of rap music of the last 10 or 15 years but I thought this was very good. It’s quite long but it didn’t drag too much. It’s between a 3 & 4, and I’m really keen to listen again, so will probably plump for a 3 for now, but scope to go up to a 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not a huge fan of this album but it wasn't terrible

Tasty baked goods between the ears, but the contrasting cock strutting gets wearing. Maybe a later KL will work for me.

I start to disengage from rap music when I hear words like bitch, ho, dick, pussy, motherfucker, and the n-word. Sorry. The beats are great, I like his rap style, and I can appreciate the social commentary/theme of the album but as a middle-aged white guy it is heard to give this repeated listens. It's not for me and not intended for me.

Como me gusta mucho el de pimpear la mariposa, creí que iba a disfrutar también este disco de KL. Sin embargo, me pasó como me pasa con casi todos los discos de rap: me harto a la mitad de la primera canción. Considerando que este disco dura casi 80 minutos, puedo dar fe de que la experiencia no fue placentera.

I wanted to like this. I really tried. I must be missing the gangsta hiphop gene.

Incredible number of listens on YouTube. It’s solid stuff but don’t understand why…

It was alright

good flow, lyrics were meh, other shit too, most annoying was the 15 out of 60 minutes of filler, background sounds

Hip-Hop. 1/5

Nope.

Didn't like this one at all.

Meh

I had never knowingly listened to Kendrick Lamar before today. And after listening to this I hope I never do again.he is according to spotify known for his top tier lyricism and sharpn conceptual vision. The latter I get , and this does have a framework and comes freighted with a concept. Lyrically to.my mind he falls well short of the rap I have listened to over the last 35 years, and I just don't see from this why he's held in such regard. Seems meek and formulaic lyrically and what little musicality there is is bland and minimal to the.point ifnveing washed out. Sounds very much like the background music to GTA or similar and perhaps you know that's all it is

This is shitty hiphop on another level. I can't find anything I enjoy on this album.

Irritating

Didn’t listen

I've never been a fan of the genre, it's probably a cultural thing. While I've been able to listen to several albums and enjoy parts of them, this proved impossible with this one. I got three tracks in before decidiing life is too short.

Just not my vibe. Liked that one about the homies though

Huge fan of this album. There are some great songs, and the storytelling in each song is amazing.

Such a great album. I think I understood the story as a kid who grew up in Compton getting sucked into all of the crime before making it out and getting his life together? That was my interpretation. Either way, this is Kendrick at his peak. So many good songs. One of the best albums of the 21st century.

I hate gangsta rap. I find the glorification of violence, misogyny and homophobia just appallingly distasteful. On a surface level, the characters and narrative incidents of 'Good Kid Ma.a.d City' are not dissimilar from many 90s East Coast gangsta albums, and yet they couldn't be more different. Kendrick embraces complexity, narrative, emotion, and (dare I say it) humanity. I didn't grow up in Compton, but this is a telling of that story and those characters that I can understand and relate to. This is art. This is that album that achieves the promise of hip hop. I have listened to it through three times today, and I am genuinely moved. I was going to rate this four stars, but the more I listen to it, the better it gets and the more I get out of it. I normally hate skits, but in terms of supporting the narrative, they are almost forgivable here. I think this really is a classic album you need to hear. Five stars.

Fantastic stuff. I liked this just as much as TPAB. The man's a poet.

One of the best albums ever.

You’ve heard of wall of sound. This is wall of words.

5/5. I am glad we have the updated list because a list like this without Kendrick is incomplete. It's also clear from others on this website that they lack media literacy. This is a concept album, Kendrick is telling us a story about growing up in Compton and the album starts off with an exaggerated version of his younger self and he evolves throughout, recognizing who he is and the changes he goes through. How are you going to listen to Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst and tell me this is "gangsta" rap? This is one of the best albums of this century, period. I've heard this at least 50 times now and it's still fresh and great. A classic forever. Best Song: Compton, M.A.A.D. City, B**** Don't Kill My Vibe, Sing About Me I'm Dying Of Thirst

Listened to this twice, the second playing clicked. Damn is still my favourite, but this is strong throughout and a real grower. Would recommend listening with the lyrics. The backing is just first class as well. 9/10 (round to 5/5)

What to say? The record that got me into hip hop about 15 years ago (thanks Ben).

A hip-hop masterpiece that is bold and ambitious but also a ton of fun to jam to. That's what makes Kendrick Lamar so special. When he's at his best, the artistic and commercial pursuits merge into one, and he makes an album that features hit singles in addition to a meticulous attention to detail and powerful storytelling. Take "Swimming Pools (Drank)" for example. The chorus is a singalong anthem about doing shots and diving into a swimming pool full of liquor, but the song is actually about alcoholism. On one hand, I think this is Kendrick mixing the medicine in with the sugar. You can't usually get a song about alcoholism on the radio, but you can if it has an amazing beat and an unbeatable hook. Also, a song about developing a drinking problem probably should have this tone. The song is about peer pressure, so it makes sense that the music is as seductive as the friends pressuring the main character to drink more. There's a handful of cinematic songs -- "The Art of Peer Pressure," "good kid," "m.A.A.d City" -- that I find exhilarating. The lyrics are dense, but the beats are amazing, and they have the momentum of the second act of a movie that's grabbed you and won't let go. "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Backseat Freestyle" are two of my absolute favorite Kendrick Lamar songs. Those are the two that I play even when I'm not listening to the album. They're songs that I just crave and need to hear sometimes. Nitpicking a little? I think the album loses some momentum in the final stretch. The first nine tracks are unstoppable, and then the album kind of peters out with two long, slow songs back-to-back. It feels like a small gripe though when the rest of the album is so fantastic.

Having listened almost exclusively to rap from 1995-2010, I feel like I can grasp and analyze hip hop albums more than other genres. And this album is fantastic. Unfortunately for me, this album was released in 2012, outside of the aforementioned hip hop listening window. So this was my first time hearing this album. Clearly, it’s a coming of age story which is nothing new, but the way he weaves the overall narrative in a linear way through the voicemail messages, while weaving in songs that cover both past and present events/mind-state is fantastic. The album tells a story as vivid, and evoking as much emotion, as any movie could. It’s probably 4.5 for me right now, but I know at another point in my life it’s a 5, and probably with a few more listens it’s a 5. So I’ll give it a bump.

Very personal narrative, Kendrick is a poet. stripped back production, some excellent collabs on this album. In 2025 Drake being on a Kendrick album is hilarious.

Unreal album enjoyed pretty much every song backstreet freestyle, m.A.A.d city, bitch don't kill my vibe. Most of the album makes my playlist Kendrick one of the all time greats

one of the greats

9.25 / 10 - Incredibly well-written and produced album. Kendrick is undoubtedly an incredible lyricist, and his talent is on full show in GKMS. With great pacing and flow, this emotional album transports you on a journey through his adolescence, ending with the crescendo on Sing About Me. The themes can often be tricky topics to write about, especially in a reflective manner; however, as always, Kendrick delivers. Overall, one of the best rap albums ever produced and a well-deserved 5

Peak Modern Rap Favs - Sing About Me, Vibe, plus the Drake feature is prime Drake Compton kinda mid

Conceptually strong album with a clear journey. Each individual song is strong and emblematic of the best of the genre, but the connecting themes make this a top-tier album experience beyond a collection of songs.

THIS IS THE BEST HIPHOP ALBUM EVER

Great concept album, great storytelling, great songs. Love the hidden track. Maybe my fav hip hop album

Already a classic

Very nice. Love “the art of peer pressure”, “Bitch, don’t kill my vibe”, and “good kid”. And most tracks are really well written and produced. Also appreciate that he is a calmly emotional story teller. The arrangements complement his tones so well, the string at the end of bitch don’t kill my vibe is a piece of pure gem. This album is full of thoughtful details. Very tasteful.

Easy 5 stars. Straight poetry and art the whole way through. It just feels very measured and deliberate and he captures so many angles of his life and experience and the culture he grew up with in really a small amount of time. “If I told you I killed someone at 16 would you believe me” is a great line that I think highlights that a lot of gang life and hip-hop and black culture is all about optics. Because if you believe him, what’s that say about you? Are we assuming any kid from Compton is automatically capable of doing drive-bys? And if we don’t believe him, why not? Would someone really make up all this wild shit that they said they lived through? “If I told you a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?” Flips it and makes you want to believe that someone who grows up embedded in violence can still rise above it all and see the beauty that others can’t. And any album that can make you think and feel that deeply and still drop bangers and bars is on another level.