DAMN Album Review: An Aggressive 55 Minutes with a Clash of Different Sounds

BLOOD- the first track of Kendrick Lamar’s newest album, titled DAMN, ends with an excerpt of a Fox news clip. An anchor of the news station reluctantly restates a lyric from Kendrick’s song Alright, “and we hate po-po, wanna kill us dead in the street fo’sho”. While the usages of such comments to further an artist’s own political agenda is not new at all -- just take a glance at Beyonce’s uses of them-- this type of audio being used felt so much -- different. It was not only used to swiftly progress into the next song, but the meaning behind it seemed so much more vengeful. Almost as if a sense of irony was being used here. And surprisingly, it works wonderfully here.

Going off on that, I would say that Kendrick’s 4th album is definitely the rawest of them all. Every piece of tranquility and peaceful hope that was seen in his previous albums, such as Section.80 released in 2011, is gone here. There’s a carelessness seen in K-Dot’s voice and lyrics. Even hints of maliciousness at some points. However, such a change in sentiment is only a direct reference to the chaotic climate of the world’s current environment. It acts beautifully once the comparison is made.

To say this album takes aim at politics would be an understatement. Now you may be thinking “Since when was Kendrick NOT politically charged in his music?”, and yes, you do have a point. When looking back at the compton based rapper’s previous work, it is obvious to see that Kendrick has always sneaked in some sort of a message. For example, in the previously mentioned Alright song, Kendrick voiced a message of support to his fellow black Americans who were concerned with the recent shootings and killings of unarmed black citizens by police officers. But the argument can be made that Lamar was a bit more subtle and introverted when it came to his messages on previous records.

But in DAMN, Kendrick roars with anger. The track titled ELEMENT spits out threats to his competitors, stating his willingness to die for his rep in the rap game. The hardcore lyrics slowly range to a poppy, melodic hook. It’s something that Kendrick has sort of experimented with in his previous works, especially his most popular songs. However, DAMN features a lot of more “radio friendly” songs than you would expect from a rapper who tends to focus on the classic, beat sensitive appeal of 90’s west coast rap.

A song such as Loyalty featuring our favorite bad gal, Rihanna, was one that kind of hit left field. Riri’s sensual, and mysterious vocals mixed with K-dot’s singing/rapping style reminded me a lot of a song that fellow rapper Big Sean and Jhene Aiko would have made. Now before you raise your pitchforks and come for me, just know that Loyalty is one of my favorite songs on the album. It has a nice beat, it carries soothing vocals, and some catchy lyrics. In other words, it’s a radio friendly song. And that’s where the problem lies here.

Whenever an artist starts to go out of their comfort zone with a bit more spunk in their music, many fans either rejoice in glee or fall in anger and disappointment. Now, is the change here worthy of either. Absolutely not. It’s a very subtle change, that many people might not notice, but it’s something that stuck out to me. The conflicted feel of the album is definitely here. There’s a mix of very high energy, seen in such songs like DNA, and a tranquil and relaxed attitude seen in other songs, with the track YAH embodying this.

Damn is an album that caters to a wide audience for Kendrick. It implements the funky side seen in To Pimp a Butterfly, contains the hardship stories of a young Kendrick living in Compton that was in Good Kid M.A.A.D City, and a bit of the reckless attitude shown in Section.80.

With a great handful of songs and lyrics that deal with aspects of depression, family, and christianity, Damn features great aspects of storytelling in songs; yet when they are all drawn together, the sounds of this album seem a bit conflicted.

My Score: 8.5/10

Favorite Songs: BLOOD, DNA, LOYALTY FEAT. RIHANNA, LOVE FEAT. ZACARI

Least Favorite: PRIDE

Oh, and a quick shoutout, can we all agree that the audio clip of Geraldo Rivera’s ridiculous rant about Hip-Hop being “more damaging to young African Americans than racism” that was used in the song DNA was fantastic? The choppiness of the instrumentals, the threatening guitar riffs in the background with Rivera’s quote. Absolute. Chills. And a great way to chuck the deuces up at people who criticize Hip-Hop so harshly.