There's an old saying, "never look up or idolize celebrities". They're famous people who have done good things for their fans, family, and cities with charity and speaking up about topics no one likes discussing at the family dinner or get-togethers. Listening to the new Kendrick album, his first album to drop in five years, I let this album digest and dissect it in the last few days. Made me realize something about Mr.Duckworth, Kendrick aka oklama is a flawed person like all of us. In the previous five years, a lot has happened since Kendrick's "DAMN." and while we're still recovering from the pandemic (still living it too in a sense), made Kendrick reflect more than ever with the whole world is in a lockdown has he said in his first post announcing this new album. This is his final album under the TDE label, which is still crazy to think about, he was a founder/owner but with him getting older and "wiser", it was time to move on from the label that helped him to get where he is at now.
I mentioned flaws earlier, I enjoyed this album a lot as excepted. Sonically it is the best album to date. It's not risk-taking or groundbreaking but he slid on the production, it reminded me of a more fleshed-out "DAMN." with the style of the beats. Lyrically, it is a different story. I will talk about this more with the review going on but I'll get through my positive thoughts about this album. I'll be honest, I could see a few tracks blowing up more on that damn Tik Tok app. I have a strong love/hate relationship with that app (if you follow me on Twitter, you know why). "Die Hard" with rising California singer Blxst and Amanda Reifer, who I'm not too familiar with Amanda's work but she's a good singer. The song has that west coast bounce and late-night summer drive feel, deep down this track is very depressing with topics about self-doubt and insecurity. "Silent Hill" with Kodak Black, which I was surprised to see on this album. Kodak is like a narrator on this entire album, he even does his best impression of Gil Scott-Heron on the "Rich" Interlude, The funniest shit to have someone like Kodak do spoken word poetry. I'll get back to more about Kodak being on here, their track together is solid. Both talk about their fake friendships since they are both public figures and people will use them since they have money.
The track transition to "Savior" and the interlude first with his cousin Baby Keem, which some people are happy he's not on this album a lot but I do fuck with Keem's music though. "Savior" feels like a verbatim with "Silent Hill", Kendrick raps about you shouldn't look up to him, he's not perfect and this hero in the black community, saying they only fuck with him cause he's pro-black but he's more like Kodak Black. He raps about getting covid, which is gonna become a bigger trend with bigger name artists talking about it like it's some badge of honor. K Dot questioning Kyrie when he got sick, who has voiced his opinion heavily about the vaccine and covid overall, is pretty hilarious. The third verse is my major highlight, he talks about questioning his Christian faith and should we love thy neighbor? He's trying his best to uplift people but he shouldn't be looked at as a savior or an idol, that lust for money is a poison and people are doing things that are good because they doing it to be idolized and not for the good of nature and the heart. People shouldn't expect him to speak on every public matter or crazy thing going on in the world cause he might bite his tongue and say the wrong thing, so he rather just silent and that you should think for yourself at the end of the day, we are all different people.
"Father Time" with a wild Sampha, who I'm glad to hear from again. This is the true "I am a man with daddy issues" anthem, and this song relates to me a ton. I like the message at the end saying he hopes his male listeners with kids who never had a dad growing up treat their kids with care and love, and be better dads than their own dad, he's a father now, and also it's ok for a man to talk about and be open about their mental health, which has become a topic lately with men bottling shit up until that times come. He is thankful for his father however despite the abuse, he's glad he showed him tough love and get outta the street to pursue his music seriously. However, that Drake and Ye line made me laugh so hard.
"Auntie Diaries" had a lot of people picking sides about if he should've dropped this or not. Listen, when he said the other F word, I was shocked and in disbelief. You never hear that often as much anymore since people have grown and times have changed, but him using that word does fit with the story he's telling. He raps about his aunt becoming a man now and accepting his aunt but also questioning why his uncles never liked his aunt and his mom explains cause his aunt gets all the girls and money. Remembers using the F word when he was younger but didn't realize that word could hurt him but he's grateful for the advice and help Kendrick got from him. He also talks about his favorite cousin transitioning too, he reflects on their younger days when he said that word and how his cousin didn't laugh and Kendrick thought we were kids, we didn't know better but deep down looking back, his cousin was questioning themselves. He regrets the two of them becoming distant but also remembers a time going to church and getting into with the pastor and others giving his cousin a hard time saying "it's just a phase" and how he chooses humanity over belief in god. The song can be contradicting at times or even with a first listen but I think that was the whole point of the track, it was a teaching moment and a harsh reality that words can make people upset and he should be careful not to that use word anymore like how he made that one white kid on stage with him say the n-word. I reflected too on that use of the word since I have a cousin whos gay and is in the middle of figuring out their gender role, also have an old friend who transitioned, we made up cause we had a bad falling out before transitioning but still feel distant at times. It's a very powerful and touching song that needed to be said with hip-hop and rap still dealing with homophobia and transphobia.
"Mother I Sober" is a heartbreaking song about sexual abuse in the black community. His mom questioned him if his cousin touched him and he kept saying no but the trauma kept building and building over the years and he dealt with the pain by drinking heavily. His mom asked if he had a problem and he said "no" but she knew he have an addiction. I had the moment too with my mom for a couple of years and I had to calm down my drinking. You can hear in Kendrick's voice for of the track that he was in pain and loneliness kicked in with the tone of his voice, and when he raised his voice, it was all anger cause he was tired of bottling it up, he had to let it all out like a session with your therapist. He shouts out other rappers who dealt with this childhood trauma of sexual abuse and it's ok for them to cope with their vices, he mentioned this too for a bit in the titled track. I think it was brave and eye-opening for Kendrick to finally come out and tell the story of him being touched as a child, also his mother being abused. It was to dope hear Portishead on this track. I will say, I love this song but having a rapper like kodak on this album, who has allegations and also been arrested and locked up for doing evil shit is just odd when you have topics and songs on the album. I'm all over the place and ramble for a bit but It just annoys me a bit, which sticks to me when I think about the whole theme and my thoughts on the album, he's a flaw and not a perfect person like we made him out to be, and he's showing us here. It's a good thing though, I am enjoying the discussions and fair criticism that Kendrick is getting. Alright back to the review.
"Purple Hearts" with Summer Walker and Ghostface is gonna be played on the radio a lot in the summer. Production got that energy of a song I would hear during the NBA finals leading into a commercial break. God, I love some smooth and lush synths about love and drugs. Ghostface's verse is dope to hear, even a song like this feels outta place but with Ghost's charisma, it just works. "N95" is a fun song, his saying "microwave memes" just made me think he knows about deep-fried memes or how mems get recycled too much. A lot of funny moments on this track of him just rapping his ass off and making fun of people who stepped outside since the pandemic and they are still ugly and broke. Speaking of funny, we gotta talk about "We Cry Together". First, congrats to Al for producing this, his IG post was touching. The song reminds me of prime, PCP high Eminem, I enjoy this but I will never listen to this ever again on my own time unless I wanna mess with people. I'll also say to the people who are reading this who have never been in a relationship, couples don't have arguments like this. It's a so bad but good track in my opinion.
"Worldwide Steppers" is my least favorite track on this, along with the intro and the final song on disk two. The album starts rough and ends roughly too. Back to "Worldwide Steppers", I enjoy the beat switch but him going into detail about his milkman phase...was a choice. Look, I have dipped myself into the land of milk too but we don't need the details. I will say the track is interesting of him to openly admit cheating on his longtime high school girlfriend. "Crown" and "Count Me Out" were tracks that were cool but didn't move me like that. "Crown" was the more interesting track, diving and digging into his psyche of just wanting a normal life.
Final Thoughts. This album, like this review, is all over the place. Flawed, disjointed, and sonically sound album but with topics and lyrics ranging from head-scratching and eye-rolling. It reminds me of prime Eminem and current Kanye with the lyrics and themes, Very BPD ass album.....but I do oddly love this album. I come to conclusion that he's never making another album like his two first records that are groundbreaking and risk-taking but this shit is way better than his last album. It sounds more fleshed out, even withs disjointed track listing. Kendrick is at his most vulnerable and personal on this new joint. Not sure if he recorded this album during his addiction time or if he's sober, you can tell he was on one and had to air the dirty laundry out. If I had to choose which disc is better, I am leaning towards disc two. Mainly cause it was more personal and eye opening about topics a few rappers are opening to admitting. Disc One was the more toxic side of the album, more bangers and radio hits on that front. At the end of the day, as I said at the beginning of the review, we are not perfect and we shouldn’t have celebrities be our idols. Kendrick is a human being and has the same thoughts and opinions (if flawed and some I don't agree with) as us. he still trying to learn despite being much older and father, getting to wisen up. "Never meet and trust your heroes" as they say, they ain't saviors.....
Favorite Tracks: Father Time, Die Hard, Mother I Sober, Auntie Diaries, Silent Hill, N95, Purple Hearts, Savior, Savior Interlude, Rich Spirit, We Cry Together, Crown (it grew on me), Mr. Morale
Least Favorite Tracks: Worldwide Steppers
Comments
Post a Comment