good kid, m.A.A.d city
Kendrick Lamar
2012
Album Summary
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (stylized as good kid, m.A.A.d city) is the second studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Jay Rock, Anna Wise, and MC Eiht. It is Lamar's major label debut, after his independently released first album Section.80 in 2011 and his signing to Aftermath and Interscope the following year. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was recorded mostly at several studios in California, with producers such as Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, Pharrell Williams, Hit-Boy, Scoop DeVille, Jack Splash, and T-Minus, among others, contributing to the album. Billed as a "short film by Kendrick Lamar" on the album cover, the concept album follows the story of Lamar's teenage experiences in the drug-infested streets and gang lifestyle of his native Compton. The album earned Lamar four Grammy Award nominations at the 2014 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album was supported by five singles – "The Recipe", "Swimming Pools (Drank)", "Backseat Freestyle", "Poetic Justice", and "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe". All five singles achieved chart success of varying degrees. Lamar also went on a world tour between May and August 2013, featuring the other members of the hip hop collective, Black Hippy. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its thematic scope and Lamar's lyrics. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 242,000 copies in its first week – earning the highest first-week hip hop album sales of 2012 from a male artist. It became Lamar's first album to enter the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 16, and entering the UK R&B Albums Chart at number two. The album was also named to many end-of-the-year lists, often topping them. It was later certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2020, the album was ranked 115th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
WikipediaKendrick 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
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.
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
Tasty baked goods between the ears, but the contrasting cock strutting gets wearing. Maybe a later KL will work for me.
Boring album. Some decent bass lines. Lyrics are meh and even annoying at times. Nothing great to say about this one.
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.
Meh. Production is good but I'm just way to white for this shit. Never gonna listen to this again.
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.
good flow, lyrics were meh, other shit too, most annoying was the 15 out of 60 minutes of filler, background sounds
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.
Beyond it's obvious objective greatness, this is also a personally important album to me. When I first became a music nerd, this was the first contemporary album I listened to around the time it dropped, or at least it was the first major one. What a way to start! Hip hop perfection, through and through.
Kendrick’s storytelling is amazing and so incredibly immersive. The production is fantastic and so is the lyricism.
Kicks balls and slaps titties. Hits for days, and its one of the rare albums where skit/field recordings add to the narrative.
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.
Few people can rap so grippingly, driving you deep into a narrative like K dot can. He is one of the GOATs for sure.
what a fantastic album- one of my all time favorites. It has a compelling concept with great voice acting and songs that match the way the story goes. The lyrics, productions, and Kendrick's vocals are amazing. The features are just incredible with amazing performances from Dr. Dre, Jay Rock, and IMO one of the best verse of Drake's career on Poetic Justice. SAMIDOT is a top ten song of all time for me, B Don't Kill My Vibe is a fantastic song to chill out to, and m.A.A.d. city is such an exciting song. Amazing album 10/10 and the first album where Kendrick puts his name into GOAT conversation. P.S. he better drop some new music soon its been so long
Awesome hip-hop album! Kendrick is a lyrical madman. Great beats, amazing flow, funny commentary/narrative throughout. Certainly worth a listen.
Mind-blowing, while being, at best, his second best album (I need more time with the new one before making a final decision, but it's level with Damn in being second at the moment). Hard to pick a best track, Backseat Freestyle maybe. And the fact he goes full g-funk at one point is like he is literally taking Compton's crown from Dre.
You already know I love this album. I remember listening to it in college. Bitch don't kill my vibe, backseat freestyle, swimming pools, poetic justice. Kendrick is a legend
el mejor album de rap de la historia, album de historia que marca al rap y demostrando de lo que esta hecho kendrck,muchas emociones y album que marca en la vida
I read this album is no longer in the latest version of the book, this is an absolute travesty… one of the all time great rap albums the story telling through the album along with some huge bangers makes this a 5 star masterpiece.
Two A’s in a row? More likely than you’d think. As white as I may sound, Kendrick is the best rapper alive, and while his next album is more vital, this is a brilliant introduction to his craft if Butterfly is too dense for you. Incredible music all around. A
love you Nathan I'm sorry you couldn't hear the new album i think you would have loved it I will never listen to kdot and not think of you thank you for the short time I got with you IVE GOT A BONE TO PICK!
Still just as good a listen as it was 10 years ago. Easily Kendrick’s strongest, most cogent album, from features, production and lyricism. Outside of a few exceptions, skits on hip hop albums are immediate skip material. But these are so integral to the story, Kendrick’s parents bickering on a voicemail, his friends rapping young jeezy lyrics, recreating a hit. The production is so varied and interesting. Highlights: Money Trees, Back seat freestyle, sing about me I’m dying for thirst
This album came out before I knew who Kendrick Lamar was, so I have never heard it. Upon first listen: Most of these tracks are great. Ones I didn't really care for: the remix of Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe, Compton, and kind of Sherane. I love the regular version of Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe. I heard Backseat Freestyle a while back and had no idea what album it came from, and didn't really know Kendrick Lamar back then. But I LOVED the vibe of the song. Still do. This track is great. Money Trees - I like this. Ya bish. m.A.A.d city is such an old school sounding track. Swimming Pools is a classic. So he uses this weird alien-ish voice in a couple of tracks, and I am so not a fan of it, but other than that, this album is solid.
Die habe ich zufällig wegen einer Empfehlung bereits vor ein paar Wochen außer der Reihe gehört und fand sie im Gegensatz zu To Pimp A Butterfly richtig gelungen. Bitch Don‘t Kill My Vibe!
Kendrick Lamar raps about life growing up in Compton, around gang life and all sorts of terrible things. This was the breakout record for Lamar, before following up with the incredible To Pimp A Butterfly 3 years later. Compared to other hip hip about gang life, Lamar paints it as a horror story rather than a hardcore bragging effort. This is impactful for suburban guys like myself who already scared of inner-city violence like this, and I'd imagine it hits hard for many others as well. Yeah, it's a great hiphop album. The 12-minute epic "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" is an easy highlight, but a few songs could but cut to give it more gravitas.
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.
I knew some songs off this album but never listened to the whole thing before. Definitely was enjoyable.
7th March 2022 Listened throughout the day while working from home. Went to see the Duke in the evening which was ok. Always knew of Kendrick but never listened. This was a real treat, lyrically and his performance is on point.
I've never knowingly listen to any Kendrick Lamar but kind of kept meaning to. The cover art paints a clear picture about what to expect, though the album title is a bit opaque. Anyway, here we go. ...I think that put me into a trance. I've definitely been through something. The first song paints such a vivid story I was completely pulled into the rest of the stories. Amazing. Not my kind of music at all. None the less, amazing.
I'm not really into much rap but I REALLY love Kendrick's voice and lyrics. Wicked good record.
The good tracks are good, but dont have a taste for the rest of the album. More personal preference, and still deserves a spot on the list
I like his musicality, his low-key delivery and using back-up singers and guests to create a layered, elegant sound. I was only familiar with "Bitch Don't Kill my Vibe", which I quite liked, and the songs from "Money Trees" to "Sing About Me" are great. His auto-tuned singing voice is melancholic and a nice contrast to the rap. Adding (non-sampled) choruses to the music is a big plus. I won’t comment on the Pulitzer-worthiness of his rapping but from what I can hear he’s less flamboyant and more confessional that most – and with a great sense of humour. With lyrics like “first you get a swimming pool full of liquor then you dive in”, I was leaning to a 5, but my co-judge wasn’t as enthralled. Regardless, I’ll be listening to this again.
La production est superbe. Ce que j'aime de Kendrick c'est qu'il ne se limite pas au rap. Il est capable d'incorporer de bonnes mélodies. Il a aussi un excellent flow et sa grande force est ses textes. Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe et The Art of Peer Pressure sont dans la veine des pièces qu'on retrouve sur l'excellent Damn paru en 5 ans plus tard. Backseat Freestyle est un solide "banger". J'aime beaucoup Money Trees à cause du sample de la chanson Silver Soul de Beach House. Le beat fourni par Pharell Williams pour la chanson Good Kid est fantastique. Ça fait quelques écoutes que je fais de cet album et ça vient juste de kicker-in, c'est un très bon album. On a les bases ici des 2 excellents albums qui suivront, soit To Pimp A Butterfly et Damn.
Bon album! Les beats sont cools, belle lignes de bass, je ne m'y connaît pas full dans le genre mais j'aime de plus en plus ça Quelques tounes sont moins bonnes à mon avis genre celle qui sonne comme Gangsta' paradise et la dernière, Compton que je trouve un peu quétaine Je comprends la démarche avec les messages de répondeurs et autres segments "documentaires " mais pas certain que c'est aussi efficace la quinzième fois que tu écoute l'album, ça tue le momentum un peu
I have a lot of feelings about this album and Kendrick Lamar in general. Though I don’t have the words to express them well. All I can say at this point is that Kendrick’s style is correct. His flow, the vibe, is great. To use an expression I despise, but is appropriate: I really dig his energy.
I think I'm continuing my own tradition of underrating GKMC. Truth is, I narrowly prefer the relative bloat and musical excess of Kendrick's next album. On this one, he sticks to narrative beats over expanding interludes, presides over a roundly West Coast soundscape, and embeds some of the best single tracks of his career. In defense of my rating, the last twenty minutes loses a bit of steam; Then again, everything before that revealed hitherto-hidden depths on this listen.
Instant classic - my only issue is the same with all of his albums, they could use a bit of trimming. Best Tracks: Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe; Poetic Justice; Swimming Pool (Dank)
Well told, well performed, accompanied by beats that fit like a glove (even when they aren’t to my personal taste). “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst” is the clear winner for me, but the rest of the album isn’t very far behind
This is the album where Kendrick really stepped up to take the throne. While he has since surpassed this album, it is the first one that really showed what he could do. Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe, Backseat Freestyle, and Swimming Pools are incredibly powerful songs.
I remember listening to this a long time ago and it being good, but not great. I was wrong and it is great. I was feeling a 5 initially, but now I'm more like a 4. I think it's a bit overlong, but otherwise it is really freaking good. 4/5
This grew on me as I listened to it. Kendrick Lamar's rhymes are solid and show an at times harrowing amount of depth. The beats are what drives this album for me. Having said that it gets repetitive by the end and the skits/dialogue between tracks pulled me out of the moment rather than added to the experience. If we could do half stars I would give this 3 1/2 but will give this 4 as I appreciate the importance of this album even if it ain't completely to my taste
4/5 Fantastic Album from Kendrick Lamar. Multiple 5/5 songs. Favourite Tracks: Backseat Freestyle, The Art of Peer Pressure. m.A.A.d city. Money Trees. Swimming Pools. Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe track after track it's good. Almost a 5/5 but there's a few tracks that fall short for me. Not a fan of some of the modified vocals on some tracks.
It's an iconic album and love a good proportion of this but not every song. Struggling to know what to give 3 or 4... But I deeply respect Kendrick, his style and cadence feel unique and the album as a whole is so tight
Not the magnum opus that To Pimp A Butterfly is, but good god what a major label debut. Kendrick’s got such unique flow - the album needs a cinematographer.
So good and new in many ways, though I can’t help but feel there is a little bit of “have your cake and eat it too” to the lyrics - like it’s wall to wall sinnin’, justified by a thin suggestion of personal and religious redemption. Some songs like Swimming Pools negotiate this tension very well, others not so much.
Alweer een album die ik nooit uit mezelf zou opzetten (en dat waarschijnlijk niet nog eens ga doen). maar wel een oké album
I’ve struggled with this album in the past, but I’m glad I gave it another try. It paints a consistent picture of Compton and has strong lyrics. Musically I don’t enjoy it as much as some other hip hop.
vissa är riktigt bra. men vissa är rätt dåliga. Swimming Pools är dålig som fan men t.ex The Art of Peer Pressure är en banger. svårt det här.
I liked a few songs. I can see the cultural influence this album has on the music of today, but most of it really just wasn't for me.
Ce début sur une major est à écouter pour constater l'évolution de Kendrick Lamar. On y entend déjà des éléments qu'on retrouve sur To Pimp A Butterfly et même Damn qui sont ses meilleurs albums.
Nothing wrong with this record, it's listenable, though it doesn't do much for me specifically. There are some good songs on it and I didn't feel the need to turn it off, but there's only so much you can take hearing voice mail messages from someone else's mother.
Hip hop is not my favourite genre but dang, this is a great album. I also like his To Pimp a Butterfly but I think this album is almost its equal. This record is nuanced, layered and complex and that's just what I've picked up while listening to it in the background while I work so I haven't even begun to really dig into his lyrics and masterful storytelling.
I like the melodies and his flow, but again why oh why do rap albums have to be soooooooo long.
Ya know I thought it was pretty interesting, for a hip hop album anyway. Of course the lyrics are lame most the time, but it was cool enough. If I ever see gonna relisten to a hip hop album it might as well be this one
Autobiographical storytelling that was certainly more literate than the average. Okay (6/10) FT: Money Trees, m.A.A.d. City
Un dels artistes cabdals del nou mil.leni. El disc, però, està sobrevalorat. El millor de Lamar hauria de venir just després d'ell. Aquí es congreguen petits diamants ('Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe', 'Swimming Pools', 'Compton'), i es dona la forma final del que ha de ser el 'so Lamar', però és massa llarg i irregular
Love me some Kendrick. m.A.A.d city would be an awesome album… if there weren't a bunch of more awesome albums behind it. Amazing freshman effort that change the face of Hip Hop only for the better. 3.5/5.
man, I tried to like this but it just doesn’t work for me I’m sure all the fuckin kendrick stans are gonna come after me this is like a 5/10 imo I did like TPAB quite a bit more tho, that’s probably like a 7/10 I’m not really a fan of Kendrick Lamar, sorry
Je ne suis pas vraiment apte à bien évaluer cet album. Je dirais qu’en tant que blanc d’une petite banlieu ben tranquille, il y a toute une réalité qui est racontée sur ce disque qui m’échappe complètement. Je pese que c’est beaucoup dans ce récit que l’intérêt principal se trouve. Pour ce qui est de la musique, il y a quelques belles choses. Je ne crois pas qu’il essaie de repousser quelque limite que ce soit, ou même d’introduire de nouvelles sonoritées, ce qui aurait été pertinent pour mon point de vue à moi.
I thought it was OK. Quite chilled and easy-listening. I believe its a concept album which I didn't pick up with just casual listen - maybe if I followed the story it'd be a three.
Hetkittäin ihan kuunneltavaa kamaa, mutta valtaosan levystä keskityin ikävöimään vanhemman liiton räbäytystä. Melkosta paskaa...
Давайте запишем максимально унылый рэп-альбом и пусть он продастся миллионными тиражами.
No matter how hard this list tries, hip-hop and rap are still not types of music I can tune in to. Sorry (I keep trying, every time)
Take out all the niggas, bitches & muthafuckas, and what have you got left? I hate this stuff.
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.