Happy Weekend Earthlings,
SwitchFlip took the week to dig deep into the songs and reviews of Kendrick Lamar‘s debut album “good kid, m.A.A.d city“. When you wait this long for a debut album, it’s only right to take your time and give it a proper 5-10 full rotations before posting. The most highly anticipated debut release of the year definitely lives up to it’s “hype”, as it is an “event” not just a collection of songs. Within the first full listen through, we find the production and the arrangement of the album compliments Kendrick’s vision to paint a picture of his generation from the eyes and soul of a bright Compton kid. We all know that Kendrick can rhyme (no question), but the content that he addresses is impeccable for a 25-yr old’s perspective. He’s speaking for the youth but seems to have the “old soul” wisdom to see his generations issues from an outsider “old head” perspective as well as a ground trooper.
In the times of “singles and mixtapes”, it’s hard to get a release that’s worthy of listening to as a whole in track order. The album’s cohesive nature mirrors the same “event level” as Outkast‘s first two albums (Southerplayalisticadillacmusik, ATLiens), and even Nas‘ Illmatic (besides the obvious comparisons 50 Cent‘s Get Rich or Die Trying, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and Game‘s The Documentary). I know that sounds like a tall order, but once you really listen and research what Kendrick’s doing, you understand why Dr. Dre focused his 2012 musical energy on the new Compton King to take over the current generation of Hip Hop (not just “coastal”). This release will place Dr. Dre‘s label Aftermath Records in the forefront for 2013 for certain. Equipped with interludes that dramatically symbolize answering machine messages from his parents, the album plays true front to back, top to bottom. There’s no “3:30” radio structured hits on the album, as the each record long plays for 4-12 minutes (unless you cop the deluxe edition w/ the bonus tracks). The album only has 12 songs, but some of the songs are so lengthy and intricate that you still get over 60 minutes of pure intellectual and musical genius.
There’s plenty of Kendrick Lamar music out there from his own Top Dawg Entertainment label featuring the Black Hippy crew (Jay Rock, Ab Soul, Schoolboy Q). With the release of this “debut” big label album, all of you crate diggers that slept on Kendrick these last 2 years will find loads of gems out there. Most importantly his Section.80 album which garnered critical acclaim and put the “K.Dot” machine in motion. There’s really not much else to say, so be sure to listen to the album and give us some feedback on your thoughts about the new Hip Hop Savior. SwitchFlip believes that there’s a new movement of youngsters who will keep the Real Hip Hop torch ablazed and alive in proper form (Joey Bada$$, Jay Electronica, and Earl Sweatshirt to name a few #SwitchFlipCertified new school artists).
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