An Analysis of Kendrick Lamar's DAMN.

Here's the link.

I posted the first edition of this analysis about a year ago, and it was 93 pages long. However, that first edition was my first draft, and I was too lazy to edit it and too arrogant to realize I should have edited it. People tore it apart, criticizing it for being too obvious and far too long, and most of it was legitimate. I promised myself I would fix it, but it took far longer than I expected to do so. Life got in the way, and this was a monumental task to accomplish. Turns out there was even more to the album than I previously assumed, so I tried to condense it as much as I could, but the extra context made it still end up being a whopping 89 pages.

I am not going to sacrifice the length, as I would rather it be extremely in-depth than broad and vague, but short. As such, I added a table of contents for people who wish to read the analysis of only a single song. Furthermore, there is a summary of both the standard and reverse narratives of the album at the end (also included in the table of contexts) for people to read as a shorter version. Since this is a Google Doc, it will be updated over time if I find more information or feel that some things can be improved, but I consider this to be my finalized analysis.

And if you're wondering whether or not it is 89 pages of filler, it isn't. I tried to cut out everything that was unnecessary or obvious while condensing the rest; the album just has tons of things to flesh out. I'd appreciate people taking a look, even if it is just the summary (a page and a half long) or a single song.

Callouts:

Sorry if you're not interested, I'm not exactly sure who is a fan of hip-hop on CV.

@thespartanb345t:

i like the hip hop..link?

@death4bunnies:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JjkDciMwWQAEjd8d7tm62AiEn_IFZEUiU2OnukqZ_nY/edit?usp=sharing

Smh mobile won't let the link work properly, a hyperlink is in OP as well

@thespartanb345t: Hmmm very interesting read. I look forward to finishing.

I’ve been wanting to stream some Kendrick albums. I’ve only just started listening to albums in full tbh, I’ve always skimmed through them and only listened to what stuck with what caught my ear (which are mostly singles). I’ve recently streamed, Drake and Kanye and they have some really good music so I’m excited to see what Kendrick brings as he’s the next rapper I wanna binge.

What do you recommend is a good album to start off with?

@angeljax: Start with good kid, m.A.A.d city. If you like that, To Pimp a Butterfly, then DAMN.

His first two albums are widely considered top 10 hip-hop albums. good kid, m.A.A.d city is very easy to understand off the first listen, and it's basically a movie in album form. Butterfly is equally as complex as DAMN. and completely shifts his sound and themes. DAMN. is basically what I've described in the analysis.

To me, reading the analysis is much more rewarding when you've heard the songs a ton of times, because it's an "oh so THAT'S what that means." I figured out the album as I went along and I had a million "holy shit" moments.

So start with GKMC, then TPAB, then DAMN.

@angeljax: Also, if you're wondering what rappers to listen to after Kendrick, I would check out J. Cole for songs that sound great. If you want super deep albums that are as deep or deeper than DAMN., Lupe Fiasco is probably the best lyricist in the rap game with the most complex albums (like by far).

Tbh, Kendrick never hit for me the way he does for others. Don't get me wrong, I never questioned his ability or the quality of his music. Kendrick on his A game is destroying pretty much anyone in his class. But I never found his bodies of work to be the easiest of listens. For my money, I'd take Lupe Fiasco any day.

@indomitableregal:

Yeah, Lupe and Kendrick are my favorites. Kendrick is a lot more theme-focused than Lupe, who loves wordplay and themes.

I'm looking to do Tetsuo and Youth at some point, but that would take a while for sure, much more confusing than DAMN.

@thespartanb345t: I like Kendrick. He's dope. Lupe is probably number 2 on my personal all-time list. Good luck whenever you get to Tetsuo and Youth. That's gonna be ridiculous to cover lol.

@indomitableregal: Yeah, and Drogas Wave after that, which is even more ridiculous lmao. I have a feeling those are gonna be 100+ pages, Lupe went layered in those two.

@thespartanb345t: You're gonna have your hands full lol. That's some serious dedication to write all that though. Are you writing them for any reason in particular, or is this more of a hobby kind of thing?

@indomitableregal:

It's a hobby of mine, and I'm very passionate and I enjoy it a lot. It's like a lot of people on CV when it makes no sense that people would spend hours doing debates on fictional characters. To those users, they enjoy it and do it for fun.

For me, it's like that for both comics and music. Right now I'm very happy now that I've posted it in different places and people are giving feedback because it's something I've worked on for a while and it's finally done.

@thespartanb345t: That's cool, and I know just what you mean. I have a ton of things saved that I've written just because I wanted to, and I enjoy the process. The only difference is I haven't had any feedback...I've hoarded my work lol.