Grammy's "Best Album" Review - Part 3 (Kendrick Lamar)

Here's the third part of my five part series on reviewing the Best Album category for the Grammy's.This is a straight through review of each track, and then an overall conclusion on the album. So with that, lets begin. Following the review of each track, a mark will appear within ( ), a check-mark "✔" meaning a great track, an "O" meaning an okay track or track that could have been great with a few adjustments, or an "X", meaning a miss. (All rights to any video of the mentioned songs is copyright of Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope).

1) "Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter's Daughter"

It starts out with an eery opening, with a talk into in the background. You have the sense that its a true story in the monologue, along with the phone conversation between the family in the ending (which is a theme to the ending of tracks throughout the album). The conversation at the end really ties together the whole track. It certainly is an intense opening. (✔).

2) "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe"

This starts out with a laidback intro. A meaningful line that stood out was "look inside your soul". The theme of sinning and just "sin" in general carries over from "Sherane". There's also an odd-sounding chorus that just seems rather bland. Altogether, that bland chorus/hook drags the track down. It shares a similar message to "Sherane", but doesn't seem as profound. (X)

3) "Backseat Freestyle" 

It starts out with an international sounding intro with the instrumentals. The instrumentals really compliment Lamar. Lamar also lays down a precise beat along with a gritty vibe that really works. This track is layed out perfectly, a hard,gritty beat along with a simple but solid instrumentals. (✔).

4) "The Art of Peer Pressure"

 

Starts out with a piano intro, but then changes pace. The theme of the song is how Lamar changes around his "homies" or crew, with lines like "usually I'm drug free". It lays down the definition of peer pressure. This track sends a true message on peer pressure, a personal message that really hits. (✔)

5) "Money Trees" ft/Jay Rock

It starts off with a euphoric sounding intro. A powerful line that hit me was "the one in front of the gun lives forever", along with "money trees is the perfect place for shade". The track sends out the message of life before fame, dreaming about it. "A dollar..." is a powerful theme spread throughout the track, a solid hook. It portrays the struggle to strive/live day by day without money. A powerful track on how it is in the real world. Everything just blends together. (✔)

6) "Poetic Justice" ft/Drake

This starts off with a bit of a jumbled opening. A powerful line here is "I know just what you want, poetic justice, put it in a song". The backing vocals are distracting, along with an awkward ending. This collaboration between Lamar and Drake feels forced and awkward overall. (X)

7) "good kid"

 

It starts off with a mysterious sounding intro. A line that hit me was "one day you'll respect the good kid...mad city". You get the carry over theme, but its just lacking that factor to make it a top track. (O)

8) "m.A.D.D city" ft/MC Eiht

It has a nice beat. You get the obvious continuance from "good kid". It has a dramatic change of pace, that feels sudden and awkward (with little transition). This track describes the life-style of the "mad city". The awkward change of pace though drags it down a bit, but a solid track. (O)

9) "Swimming Pools (Drank) (extended version)"

It starts off with a tranquil opening. The layering of the beat is solid. The "Drank" call back and forth really works, a solid hook. (✔)

10) "(Sing About Me) (I'm Dying of Thirst)"

It has a nice drum beat intro. There's some weird pacing in the hook. It possesses a unique fading of the vocals to instrumentals, followed by a slow down to a conversational part (with a tranquil background). It transitions here from "sing about me" to "i'm dying of thirst". This feels like two tracks combined, like a 10a and 10b. The first part falls a little flat with the hook, but the second part really brings it home with a hard beat and powerful message (the conversation about baptism, acceptance and a new beginning). I treated this as two parts. ("Sing About Me") (O). ("I'm Dying of Thirst") (✔).

11) "Real" ft/Anna Wise

It has a soundscape-esque intro, with a bit of a bland hook. Lamar is solid throughout though. This feels like a continuation of the last track, but brought down by the hook. (O)

12) "Compton" ft/Dr.Dre

It has a building intro. This track feels like it really represents Lamar and his journey throughout this album. Its also a perfect collaboration. This track appears to be a perfect conclusion to "M.A.A.D City" (not including any bonus tracks). It gives a sense of Lamar's arrival from the journey that he's been laying out. 

(✔) = 54%

(O) = 31%

(X) = 15%

"Good kid, M.A.A.D City" is a really profound album. You're taking a journey with Lamar through his struggles to his final arrival to the industry. Its an album that you probably need to listen to multiple times to catch the various nuances and distinct themes. From the opening "Sherane" to the finish "Compton", Lamar lays down how he got here. The various conversations towards the end of the track also tie together, and are important to catch. There are a few misses, but this is a really solid album, right up there with "The Heist". 

"The Heist" - 134

"Good kid, M.A.A.D City" - 124

"Red" - 63