1001 Albums Summary

All of the stories on this album are absolutely insane. It legitimately felt like I was watching a movie with the level of storytelling and flow between each of the songs: the whole "a short film" thing is soooo fitting. Also, this album was actually a joy to listen to, and got pretty addicting at times (totally didn't listen three times back to back to back). Anyway, throughout this whole album we see Kendrick face infatuation, temptation, and loss, all recounted through a day of his young life growing up in Compton. The thing is: although all these experiences are unique to Kendrick's life, all these themes can be found in a lot of teenagers and young adults today, making good kid, m.A.A.d city a perfect coming-of-age album. Anyway, I'm probably gonna get this extremely wrong but here's my interpretation: The album starts with "Sherane" where we see Kendrick absolutely infatuated with this girl named Sherane. However, upon driving to her house, he encounters these two people. Eventually, Kendrick goes back to his friends, and starts acting very careless by the time the bangers "B***h, Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Backseat Freestyle" hit. However, carelessness often comes with consequences. "The Art of Peer Pressure" is one of my favourite songs on the album. It talks about how the people that we surround ourselves with have the potential to influence us in negative ways, despite us generally considering ourselves "good," all in order to gain status or "fit in." Especially if we consider social media in modern times, we all should stay vigilant about the content we consume, because, much like peer pressure, it has the potential to influence us significantly. However, for Kendrick, growing up in a place like Compton, peer pressure is infinitely worse. Refusal to follow your "friends" or fellow gang members could have you end up with grave consequences. So, this leads Kendrick to do things he would never do as a "good kid," like smoking a laced blunt, breaking and entering, stealing, lying, and then having to evade cops to avoid getting caught. "Good Kid" and "m.A.A.d city" both tell a similar story, but dealing with his environment, as opposed to his peers. Growing up in a place with gang culture as prominent as Compton, as much as he keeps on trying to be the "good kid," he eventually succumbs to this culture. "Swimming Pools" is the culmination of all of these influences. Infatuation. Temptation. Alcohol. Violence. Red and Blue. Everything. It eventually all culminates in the final skit, where Kendrick sees firsthand his friend's brother being shot point blank. They were once swimming in pools of alcohol (carelessness, gang violence), but now they're dying of thirst....... (subtle foreshadowing). Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst. Holy Shit. This song is absolutely insane. I could legitimately write an entire review twice as long as this one on this song alone. Here, Kendrick shares his story of loss and death, and everything he's experienced up until this moment has resulted in it happening. He now wants escape from the culture that caused all this. He seeks a spiritual escape, something that could quench the spiritual thirst that gang culture and violence could never. He eventually goes to recite the same prayer that opened the album, hoping it can provide him spiritual rebirth from this life that has caused so much pain, death, loss, and suffering. This is the point where Kendrick decides to forgo his life of gang affiliation and violence, and tell the stories of his friends in Compton, so that they may be preserved, forever. And sing about them he did. All the lyrics of this song fit the message so well, and the fact that he tells the story from multiple different perspectives, and includes references to other artists both make it even more REAL. Ultimately, this album was really interesting, and the storytelling aspects of a lot of these songs were absolutely incredible, and the album itself just so happens to be really enjoyable as well. Favs: SAMIDOT, TAOPP, Swimming Pools, m.A.A.d city, Backseat Freestyle Least Fav (but still good): Poetic Justice