An album in review: Kendrick Lamar’s grammy-nominated album, “good kid, m.A.A.d. city.”

The contrast to Compton

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Devon Sullivan, News and Sports Editor

Most people have their favorite genres of music because they identify with the lyrics. They love the message their favorite song sends, they clasp onto the emotional chords that they can relate to through the melodies, lyrics and instruments. The listener feels that the singer is performing only to them and that although the artist is rich and famous, they’re going through the same heartaches and successes as their audience.

It is precisely the opposite of this feeling that draws me to Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick and I come from two different worlds. He, a 27 year old from Compton, California, drawing upon inspiration from his local celebrities, like N.W.A. members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, to establish himself as an international hip-hop star. I, on the other hand, am sixteen years old from the quiet town of Sarasota and have never been to a ghetto or faced any racial discrimination in my life. Although I may not be able to identify with any content of the Grammy-nominated good kid, m.A.A.d City (Deluxe Version) album, I can’t help but consider it to be one of the most prolific and insightful pieces of music in today’s generation.

Whether Kendrick expected it or not, people who don’t relate with a single aspect of what he’s lamenting about still enjoy his music for the beats, sounds or, if you’re like me, the appreciation of his self-expression. Kendrick wrote this autobiographical album as a means to vent about life in Compton. Meanwhile, across the country, well-to-do children listen to this music for a window into what it’s like to be raised in a family on food stamps, riddled with alcohol and drug abuse. Kendrick brings the album to life by with stylistic techniques, adding in segments at the ends of his songs called “skits”, in which voices are talking on the track to progress the storyline of the album. That’s what most shocking to me about the album, not the number explicit symbols or “N words” dropped, but rather how much I like the presentations of the songs, like musical podcasts.

On the surface, it’s another rap album about sex, drugs, and people who drop out of high school to pursue petty crime and a life in the ghetto. It’s the series of songs on my family’s iTunes account that make my parents scowl when they hear it cost twelve dollars. But as soon as the first track, “Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter,” ends with Kendrick listening to a voicemail from his mom about how he can’t be out too late tonight or he’ll have to re-retake the eleventh grade, I realized this wasn’t a waste of money. This album is not about sex and drugs for the sake about being about sex and drugs. What it really is, is a lesson in cultural education.

In “The Art of Peer Pressure,” Lamar explains why teenagers in Compton drink, join gangs, steal, and disappoint their parents living in the ghetto, ultimately providing insight into a world that I’m fortunate enough to never have to experience firsthand. By the end of the album, when “Sing About Me / I’m Dying of Thirst” comes on, the death of Kendrick’s “homie” is mourned and the shocking climax of the album occurs: Kendrick is shot, mid-verse. There are three gunshots and the beat in the background hauntingly continues as the listener realizes that the gang culture in Compton may be something of a twisted fairytale to them, but a harsh reality for others less fortunate.

Every time I take auditory trip to the m.A.A.d. city, I marvel at how the emotional trauma of losing a friend in a gang war is conveyed through those few minutes of song. To those residing in the streets where the Blood and Crips originated, drugs, women and “homies” are what life revolves around. However, I also always learn something new about how location shapes one’s world view on life. I don’t have to worry about my uncle being shot outside of a Louis Burgers, the way Kendrick’s relative did in “Money Trees,” and I used to take that for granted. But now, I’ve come to realize that one does not have to be an expert on life in the streets to appreciate this as an hour and a half lesson for my demographic in cultural education that I’ve come to revere as art.

Works Cited

“Compton, California.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

“M.A.A.D City.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Bassil, Ryan. “The Narrative Guide To Kendrick Lamar’s ‘good Kid, M.A.A.d City’.”Noisey. Vice, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.