Kendrick Lamar "DAMN." Album Review

In creating this blog, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post my old album reviews from my personal Facebook page first, or just start at new ones. Initially, I decided against posting the old ones, but then I went against my rules and decided to re-post my old album reviews first. All of these were previously only seen on Facebook. This is the original text from said review:

Finally, here's my review of Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN." I’ve been meaning to review this one for a while, especially since it seems to be the best-reviewed album of the year according to Metacritic (at the time of this writing, which was August 21st, 2017). So, here goes. I’m gonna look at each individual song and then sum it up in the end, giving it a rating of either “excellent,” “good,” “okay,” “bad,” or “awful.” Let’s do this:

BLOOD.: Interesting that he chooses to start the album with a story of his life ending, as opposed to ending the album with a story of his life ending. It’s really eye-opening, though, it’s an interesting way to start the album and it makes me want to continue listening.

DNA.: As always, Kendrick’s flow and lyricism are on point. I really like how after you hear “this is why hip-hop has done more damage,” the feel changes, and Kendrick just starts rapid-firing everything. Great song that begs repeat listens.

YAH.: Feels very different from the Kendrick songs that I’ve heard, but I like the kind of somber feel it has going for it, from the slower music to Kendrick’s kind of sad inflection in his voice. Really interesting, rock-solid song.

ELEMENT.: The hook is not only catchy, but the lyrics are hilarious in the best way. Kendrick’s flow on this one is so intriguing and again, it feels different. Definitely one of the highlights for me so far.

FEEL.: I wasn’t crazy about how “ELEMENT.” ended so slowly, but now I do like how it leads into “FEEL.” Once again, I really like that this song kind of feels (no pun intended) like an exploration of Kendrick’s dark side. Though the hook isn’t amazing by any stretch, Kendrick’s flow is still as sharp as ever, too. Really enjoyable song.

LOYALTY. FEAT. RIHANNA.: I love the production on this one, there’s a lot of interesting sounds here. The hook is really strong, Rihanna’s guest appearance is great, and the two work well together. Sometimes, it feels like when a song has a “featured artist,” one of the two steals the show, but in this case, the two of them just work so well together and the song succeeds as a result.

PRIDE.: Honestly, one of my least favorite songs on the album. It does feel different from his other songs in a few ways, and I do like the slower sound, but I just personally don't find it as memorable as some of the other songs. Maybe it’ll grow on me later? We’ll see.

HUMBLE.: Extremely catchy hook, Kendrick’s flow, as usual, is amazing, and the lyricism is great. This is the one song I heard before listening to the album in its entirety and honestly, it might be one of my favorite rap songs.

LUST.: A lot is going on here: a lot of different sounds and again, a very dark side. In some ways, it’s repetitive, but in this case, it works: the song is about routine and it feels very routine. The lyrics are also really interesting.

LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI.: I’ve never heard of Zacari but I like his voice a lot, and I really like the hook as a whole. I might be the only one, but I kind of get some old-school R&B vibes from this one. I really like this song a lot, I’ll probably be looping it, one of my favorite songs on the album.

XXX. FEAT. U2: Kendrick doing a collaboration with U2 is a strange combo, but it’s a really interesting collab, Kendrick’s passion and flow are great as usual, and the song feels very un-U2 like. And once again, the change in sound that occurs halfway through the song actually works and doesn’t feel forced. Great song for sure.

FEAR.: When you make a 7-minute long song, it better be impressive. I can definitely say that “FEAR.” doesn’t disappoint. I love how personal Kendrick’s stories are and I think it was very brave of him to speak about these experiences that scared him. Sometimes, we would think that, with how set these big musicians are, they aren’t afraid of anything. Kendrick shows that this isn’t the case, three times over. One of the strongest songs on this album for sure and all 7 minutes are worth listening to.

GOD.: Really interesting sound, I really like the hook a lot, and I kind of like the way that he taunts and imitates Drake on the song. It’s not my favorite song on the album, but it’s still pretty enjoyable.

DUCKWORTH.: Kendrick’s storytelling skills remain strong on this one, and there isn’t a hook on this song, but in this case, it works. Being a personal story about Kendrick’s father and his label’s boss, I think a hook would’ve taken away from this because it’s more of a story than a song. I also like how it ends with all this reversed audio and the beginning of “BLOOD.” because it feels like it kind of brings everything from the album together and makes it feel like a cycle. Really solid song overall.

Overall, I see the hype, and I can say Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” is a really great album. Kendrick really is a talented rapper, and I think this album is as strong as a lot of the critics are making it out to be. There are a lot of memorable songs here and a lot of stories worth remembering. If you haven’t listened to this already, stop living under a rock and go do that.

Favorite tracks: DNA., YAH.*, ELEMENT., LOYALTY. FEAT. RIHANNA., HUMBLE., LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI., XXX. FEAT. U2.*, FEAR.

Least favorite track: PRIDE.

Rating: Excellent

(*An asterisk next to a “favorite track” indicates that the track wasn’t initially one of my “favorite tracks” when I first wrote the review. If a track has an asterisk next to it, it means the song wasn’t initially a favorite of mine, but it grew on me, and the text for the song may have been edited to more properly reflect that.)