Y'all knows what happens on Earth, stays on Earth.
DAMN. is a very dense mixed bag of struggle, hopelessness, depression, and the result of a man questioning his faith. One listen through, you wouldn't pull those emotions through, in fact, you would probably say "he's trying to bounce back from his TPAB style", and I agree partially. But as you listen through forward- and backward- you'll see these same emotions pull through as well.
The most apparent of this, is one the song "FEEL.", he's spilling out everything he is feeling. His insecurities, some of his fears, the ugly feelings he holds, and how he feels hip hop is at right now. It's the kind of track that reminds me why I love Kendrick as an artist so dearly. His concepts are very focused, and in this case, the song can work by itself and in the context of the album. It shows off the theme of prayer and God, in particular, no one is praying for him. It's one of the many showings that Kendrick can be incredibly successful, well spoken, smart, and yet suffer internally. Especially, when it feels like, God doesn't look out for him anymore.
This is an album about a man searching for truth, showing his results of this search, and basically leaving it open-ended, seeing that Kendrick himself doesn't have an exact finite truth. The questions Kendrick has- questions that Kendrick himself had a hard time finding- is "where has God gone?", "does anyone pray for me?", "If God is there, why are we suffering?", "Am I wicked or am I weak?" and- in case you didn't listen to untitled unmastered- "I dedicate my art to you, I made To Pimp A Butterfly for you, I try to be on right path, but why do you put me through this?" Basically, he's questioning God, he's questioning why we don't try to follow God more, and are we generally wicked, or do we just exhibit weakness a lot? And, he tries to answer, or at least attempt these, all in the course of his shortest album. Also, while trying to make his most commercial album since good kid, m.a.a.d. city. Believe me, I would be cracking under pressure as well, and for better or worse, shows in this album.
The first track "BLOOD." is incredibly abstract, but tells a little tale. Kendrick was taking a walk, he sees an old blind woman, and he asks her if she lost something. To which she points out, HE has lost something, his life. Then a gunshot, implying Kendrick is dead. First listen, you wonder "what the fuck was that about? Well, maybe it'll make sense with more listens." And, with more listens, you get a better idea. Kendrick himself has said he refuses to "expose" the deeper meaning of the track, for the sake of listener interpretation. And to me, personally, the blind woman is Lucy, (Lucifer, a theme from TPAB, that Lucy is Lucifer, Lucy is evil), and as he flirts with this woman, evil personified, he loses his life in the process.
One thing I should bring up before I continue, this album is not an easy feat to dissect. TPAB is actually pretty easy to dissect for the most part. He lays it out in the open. The thing is, it seems to me that TPAB is the album that Kendrick has always wanted to make. The jazz sounds, the g-funk, the weird interludes, he had control, so the artistry is open. Problem is, not everyone vibes with it. As great as that album was, in general, fans didn't like it as much as GKMC. So with DAMN., the production is very modern, so the artistry is a bit more constricted. So the imagery, the metaphors, and the deeper meanings are more hidden in the album. If I come off as reaching with any of this, it's because I have to. The meaning is behind a terrific wall of sound that I have to reach through.
The wickedness or weakness theme plays into "DNA.", as he describes all the wicked shit in his DNA. Or, what the media portrays is what's in his DNA, this idea is captured within the Fox News sample of them criticizing his song "Alright", a song in which Kendrick tries to uplift the black community telling them, despite the ugliness, we gone be alright, b. But, Fox News, a huge conservative Republican opinion making network, made out his song about hope into a song about hate. (Which in itself shows the divide of Black Lives Matter and All/Blue Lives Matter movements. Showing they don't see the other side's perspective.) Kendrick in this song is basically saying "Well, if that's all you see, that's what I'm going to give you". Essentially being passive aggressive as fuck, and emulating an older MMLP Eminem. (If you used to follow Eminem, you know what I mean.) This song is fucking hype as hell by the way. The Mike Will beat is on point, Kendrick goes IN, showcasing his anger, the wickedness.
"YAH." is a track that seems would play in the back of Kendrick's mind as he plays DNA in the front. It showcases how depressive he's gotten. A degradation of himself, but he keeps his thoughts on God, knowing he is walking the Earth. Though he says it in a cadence in which he has doubt, weakness.
As the album goes, he showcases the wickedness vs weakness point many times. This album has an obsession with duality. Most of these tracks are opposite feelings, Kendrick often raps in two styles, showing two different sides of him, hell, the back cover is black and white. The big theme is a duality clashing. But with each song, he gets more depressed, more angry with himself. Regarding the black community, which he often uses as a metaphor for himself, on TPAB, he calls out outside forces being cruel, but then he questions, maybe it's not the outside forces, what did we do to deserve such treatment. Then, you get the Cousin Carl voicemail, on the song "FEAR." which leads to my least favorite idea of the album.
In the song "FEAR.", Carl introduces an idea that, Black people, Natives, and Mexicans are the true children of Israel. And because the Children of Israel has "strayed away from the commandments (the word of God)", they have suffered because of this. Meaning, genocide, slavery, racism, Jim Crow, Spanish-American War, deportations, and everything horrible to these people have been because we have strayed away from the word of God. Now, you could interpret this in so many ways. As a Native American, with my own beliefs about God, I find this idea very insulting. There were many reasons besides "God being mad", that these horrible things have happened. I find it actually more ignorant and arrogant than being smart or enlightening. However, in this album, Kendrick is a man trying to find the answers. And unfortunately, this is the answer he came down to, and it's the best one he has. It's depressing, it's horrifying, and it's the only conclusion- as a man of God- that he has, besides the void of a God. Hence why the album cover is what it is.
Now, despite "FEAR." having that very ugly idea, the track itself is amazing. Structured with the concept of fear, through 3 different ages in his life. This album has a habit of taking these huge concepts and making songs from them, which is no easy feat. For the most part, he accomplishes it. Sometimes I get the impression he bit a little more than he could chew though.
So, is it wickedness or weakness? What is my interpretation of that idea. I think they are both within everyone, and it's a fight, but overall, weakness is the manifestation of this, that we all have wickedness, but we hold it down for the good of everyone. Most people anyway.
As an artist, Kendrick has developed so much. Every album he has released has been incredibly different. He has not released a straight up bad project. This project has problems sure, but it's not bad. All the production is great, same with the performances. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. What holds me back is the answer to the many questions.
Honestly, I can't speak for everyone with this one. You might come away with something different. You might think it's his best project yet, you might think it's his first bad album. I've seen both sides to this, and both sides have valid points. The production might be regressive for some, especially coming after To Pimp A Butterfly.
Overall, I really like this album. Although I cannot agree with the message, he came through with great tracks, and really that's all I wanted. I know this wasn't the sequel to TPAB, but I didn't want one either. I like that he did something different. And I hope he continues that.
Now, with everything you heard, you decide.
Favorite Tracks: DNA., PRIDE., LOVE (feat. Zacadi), XXX (feat. U2), DUCKWORTH., and FEAR. excluding the voicemail.
Least Favorites: LUST. and GOD. is good only if I'm in the mood for it.
8.5/10
DAMN. is a very dense mixed bag of struggle, hopelessness, depression, and the result of a man questioning his faith. One listen through, you wouldn't pull those emotions through, in fact, you would probably say "he's trying to bounce back from his TPAB style", and I agree partially. But as you listen through forward- and backward- you'll see these same emotions pull through as well.
The most apparent of this, is one the song "FEEL.", he's spilling out everything he is feeling. His insecurities, some of his fears, the ugly feelings he holds, and how he feels hip hop is at right now. It's the kind of track that reminds me why I love Kendrick as an artist so dearly. His concepts are very focused, and in this case, the song can work by itself and in the context of the album. It shows off the theme of prayer and God, in particular, no one is praying for him. It's one of the many showings that Kendrick can be incredibly successful, well spoken, smart, and yet suffer internally. Especially, when it feels like, God doesn't look out for him anymore.
This is an album about a man searching for truth, showing his results of this search, and basically leaving it open-ended, seeing that Kendrick himself doesn't have an exact finite truth. The questions Kendrick has- questions that Kendrick himself had a hard time finding- is "where has God gone?", "does anyone pray for me?", "If God is there, why are we suffering?", "Am I wicked or am I weak?" and- in case you didn't listen to untitled unmastered- "I dedicate my art to you, I made To Pimp A Butterfly for you, I try to be on right path, but why do you put me through this?" Basically, he's questioning God, he's questioning why we don't try to follow God more, and are we generally wicked, or do we just exhibit weakness a lot? And, he tries to answer, or at least attempt these, all in the course of his shortest album. Also, while trying to make his most commercial album since good kid, m.a.a.d. city. Believe me, I would be cracking under pressure as well, and for better or worse, shows in this album.
The first track "BLOOD." is incredibly abstract, but tells a little tale. Kendrick was taking a walk, he sees an old blind woman, and he asks her if she lost something. To which she points out, HE has lost something, his life. Then a gunshot, implying Kendrick is dead. First listen, you wonder "what the fuck was that about? Well, maybe it'll make sense with more listens." And, with more listens, you get a better idea. Kendrick himself has said he refuses to "expose" the deeper meaning of the track, for the sake of listener interpretation. And to me, personally, the blind woman is Lucy, (Lucifer, a theme from TPAB, that Lucy is Lucifer, Lucy is evil), and as he flirts with this woman, evil personified, he loses his life in the process.
One thing I should bring up before I continue, this album is not an easy feat to dissect. TPAB is actually pretty easy to dissect for the most part. He lays it out in the open. The thing is, it seems to me that TPAB is the album that Kendrick has always wanted to make. The jazz sounds, the g-funk, the weird interludes, he had control, so the artistry is open. Problem is, not everyone vibes with it. As great as that album was, in general, fans didn't like it as much as GKMC. So with DAMN., the production is very modern, so the artistry is a bit more constricted. So the imagery, the metaphors, and the deeper meanings are more hidden in the album. If I come off as reaching with any of this, it's because I have to. The meaning is behind a terrific wall of sound that I have to reach through.
The wickedness or weakness theme plays into "DNA.", as he describes all the wicked shit in his DNA. Or, what the media portrays is what's in his DNA, this idea is captured within the Fox News sample of them criticizing his song "Alright", a song in which Kendrick tries to uplift the black community telling them, despite the ugliness, we gone be alright, b. But, Fox News, a huge conservative Republican opinion making network, made out his song about hope into a song about hate. (Which in itself shows the divide of Black Lives Matter and All/Blue Lives Matter movements. Showing they don't see the other side's perspective.) Kendrick in this song is basically saying "Well, if that's all you see, that's what I'm going to give you". Essentially being passive aggressive as fuck, and emulating an older MMLP Eminem. (If you used to follow Eminem, you know what I mean.) This song is fucking hype as hell by the way. The Mike Will beat is on point, Kendrick goes IN, showcasing his anger, the wickedness.
"YAH." is a track that seems would play in the back of Kendrick's mind as he plays DNA in the front. It showcases how depressive he's gotten. A degradation of himself, but he keeps his thoughts on God, knowing he is walking the Earth. Though he says it in a cadence in which he has doubt, weakness.
As the album goes, he showcases the wickedness vs weakness point many times. This album has an obsession with duality. Most of these tracks are opposite feelings, Kendrick often raps in two styles, showing two different sides of him, hell, the back cover is black and white. The big theme is a duality clashing. But with each song, he gets more depressed, more angry with himself. Regarding the black community, which he often uses as a metaphor for himself, on TPAB, he calls out outside forces being cruel, but then he questions, maybe it's not the outside forces, what did we do to deserve such treatment. Then, you get the Cousin Carl voicemail, on the song "FEAR." which leads to my least favorite idea of the album.
In the song "FEAR.", Carl introduces an idea that, Black people, Natives, and Mexicans are the true children of Israel. And because the Children of Israel has "strayed away from the commandments (the word of God)", they have suffered because of this. Meaning, genocide, slavery, racism, Jim Crow, Spanish-American War, deportations, and everything horrible to these people have been because we have strayed away from the word of God. Now, you could interpret this in so many ways. As a Native American, with my own beliefs about God, I find this idea very insulting. There were many reasons besides "God being mad", that these horrible things have happened. I find it actually more ignorant and arrogant than being smart or enlightening. However, in this album, Kendrick is a man trying to find the answers. And unfortunately, this is the answer he came down to, and it's the best one he has. It's depressing, it's horrifying, and it's the only conclusion- as a man of God- that he has, besides the void of a God. Hence why the album cover is what it is.
Now, despite "FEAR." having that very ugly idea, the track itself is amazing. Structured with the concept of fear, through 3 different ages in his life. This album has a habit of taking these huge concepts and making songs from them, which is no easy feat. For the most part, he accomplishes it. Sometimes I get the impression he bit a little more than he could chew though.
So, is it wickedness or weakness? What is my interpretation of that idea. I think they are both within everyone, and it's a fight, but overall, weakness is the manifestation of this, that we all have wickedness, but we hold it down for the good of everyone. Most people anyway.
As an artist, Kendrick has developed so much. Every album he has released has been incredibly different. He has not released a straight up bad project. This project has problems sure, but it's not bad. All the production is great, same with the performances. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. What holds me back is the answer to the many questions.
Honestly, I can't speak for everyone with this one. You might come away with something different. You might think it's his best project yet, you might think it's his first bad album. I've seen both sides to this, and both sides have valid points. The production might be regressive for some, especially coming after To Pimp A Butterfly.
Overall, I really like this album. Although I cannot agree with the message, he came through with great tracks, and really that's all I wanted. I know this wasn't the sequel to TPAB, but I didn't want one either. I like that he did something different. And I hope he continues that.
Now, with everything you heard, you decide.
Favorite Tracks: DNA., PRIDE., LOVE (feat. Zacadi), XXX (feat. U2), DUCKWORTH., and FEAR. excluding the voicemail.
Least Favorites: LUST. and GOD. is good only if I'm in the mood for it.
8.5/10
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