Kendrick Lamar
DAMN.

Album Release Date: April 14th, 2017

DAMN. presents a hypnotic collection of bass-heavy grooves accompanied by Kendrick Lamar's idiosyncratic vocal stylings. Jazz, R&B, soul, and electronic music influences interlace with Kendrick's distinct rap delivery as he expounds on subjects both personal and political. With a consistent undercurrent of dissent, a downcast sensibility, and an overall chill sonic vibe, the album resonates as a spellbinding and occasionally surreal HipHop soundscape for our time.

Of the LP's fourteen tracks (all with one-word titles written in all capital letters), only two really stand out as uptempo jams—"DNA" and "HUMBLE"—whereas virtually all others are mellow, laid-back numbers. Kendrick's always had some softer beats punctuating hard, fast-paced ones, but never so many slow songs together on a single album. And there's a fair bit of singing, by guest artists and by Kendrick himself. Not outright ballad-like pop singing, thankfully, but rather a singsong cadence, melodic chant, or falsetto soul voice that Kendrick has touched on before but now embraces fully as another dimension to his style.

DAMN. dials down the offbeat aspects of Kendrick's previous two albums To Pimp a Butterfly and untitled unmastered. and instead favours generally melodious beat production—that is to say, music theory-wise, more major scale than minor scale in sound. Kendrick still keeps things fresh and creative, but the songs are structured in slightly more conventional ways—with more clearly demarcated verses, chorus, bridge, etc.—in contrast to many of his recent works which typically buck usual pop song formula. There are still some unorthodox flourishes, with mid-song beat changes and interludes and such—but they're more integrated into the tracks, less pronounced than before. As such, DAMN. is a touch more accessible and less abstract in comparison to those earlier releases. But that's not to say it's less interesting, skillfully managing through esoteric HipHop terrain while staying within reach for listeners of traditional or more pop-oriented HipHop.

Kendrick's rap voice bounces rhythmically along as if an instrument itself; a necessary quality of any good rapper, it's what's referred to as "flow". More than just timing and pace, it involves what syllable is emphasized with what part of the beat or space. Syncopation. When Kendrick raps at accelerated speed—even to slower backing beats as he does often on Butterfly and untitled—his voice hits like vocal percussion strikes on top of the actual drumbeats. This is what makes it sound good, in addition to significant meaning reflected in the lyrics.

Recurring themes surface throughout the album's varied content, but foremost is examination of what it means to be dark-skinned in America. A related thread is sadness at having to say goodbye to America's first black president with Barack Obama, and Kendrick's shock and bitterness about Donald Trump becoming president. The title "DAMN." may in fact refer to this horrifying occurrence and certain all-time low in the history of American electoral politics. In this vein, on "LUST", Kendrick raps "We all woke up, tryna tune in to the daily news / Lookin' for confirmation, hopin' election wasn't true / All of us worried, all of us buried, and the feeling's deep / None of us married to his proposal, make us feel cheap / Still and sad, distraught and mad, tell the neighbour 'bout it / Bet they agree, parade the streets with your voice proudly". The cover art features a high-as-fuck-looking Kendrick, which, when considered with much of the album's lyrical content and its title, qualifies the whole work as a potent commentary on the political climate in Trump's America. Damn, indeed.

"HUMBLE", possibly the catchiest song of the year, has the album's most memorable line: "I'm so fuckin' sick and tired of the Photoshop / Show me somethin' natural like afro on Richard Pryor / Show me somethin' natural like ass with some stretch marks...". In this internet-dominated era saturated with "alternative facts", fake news, and social media platforms in which people seem pathologically consumed by fakery and facade—and sexual objectification and misogyny remain rampant—it's refreshing to hear Kendrick drop some realness. With braggadocio lyrics and a refrain of "Be humble / Sit down", it sounds like a beef track, like he's dissing a competing rapper or celebrity personality. So, as much as "HUMBLE" applies to Trump, it's also perhaps calling out the arrogance and egotism of many pop rappers, the whole American show business machine, and/or America herself. The moderate-tempo beat is comprised of drums, bass, and a simple three-note piano hook, but the way Kendrick raps on it makes it bang harder than it might've in less enthusiastic hands. The same is true of "DNA", which likewise employs a midtempo beat made to feel even more rambunctious by his exuberant vocal delivery.

On "XXX" (featuring U2) Kendrick raps: "The great American flag is wrapped and dragged with explosives / Compulsive disorder, sons and daughters / Barricaded blocks and borders / Look what you taught us / It's murder on my street, your street, back streets / Wall Street, corporate offices, banks / Employees and bosses with homicidal thoughts / Donald Trump's in office / We lost Barack and promised to never doubt him again / But is America honest or do we bask in sin? / Pass the gin, I mix it with American blood". Not often do artists who’ve achieved Kendrick's high level of celebrity continue to showcase the political attitude that he does.

At once embodying conscious rap, mainstream rap, and underground rap, Kendrick Lamar continues to address important subjects with his signature panache. Alternately ironic and sincere, cynical yet hopeful, he effectively manifests countercultural, antiestablishment ideals from the contemplative perspective of a revolutionary. DAMN sees him move up a notch on the scale of artists as truthtellers, registering as an inspiriting voice of sanity in insane times, and sustaining his status as one of the world's most relevant HipHop talents.
• Nik Dobrinsky / Boy Drinks Ink
May 1st, 2017