Music

The World Is Wild For Kendrick Lamar’s Immense New Album, DAMN.

It's 14 single-word-titled tracks of pure brilliance.

by Matilda Dixon-Smith  14 April 2017
Kendrick Lamar

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Dear readers, it might be Easter, but thanks to GOAT rapper Kendrick Lamar, it feels like Christmas. Lamar has just dropped his new album, DAMN. on Apple Music after teasing the release with his fiery video release, ‘HUMBLE.’, two weeks ago.

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It’s been two years since To Pimp A Butterfly, Lamar’s last critically-lauded, poetic release. A cursory listen tells me (and you) that DAMN. is following Butterfly‘s grand precedent: the album is stamped all over with Lamar’s signature brand of banging mainstream hip-hop and profound conscious rap.

Since Butterfly, Lamar has been all over music news, making a name for himself as a true artist and risk-taker. He made headlines last year with his incredible performance of tracks ‘Blacker The Berry’ and ‘Alright’ at The Grammys. The performance was teased as “very controversial” and Lamar more than delivered, with a visually stunning performance that shone a spotlight on the disproportionate incarceration of black men and women in the US.

So now the fact that Lamar is a complete genius is well-established, we have 14 fresh tracks from DAMN. to sample this weekend. Thank you, Easter Bunny, for this glorious gift.

So far I can tell you to look out for a scorching collab with Rhianna, ‘LOYALTY.’, which is already one of my favourite Rhianna collaborations — and girl collaborates on a lot of seriously great tracks. There’s also another tasty classic Lamar croon tune, ‘PRIDE.’, the hypnotic ‘LUST.’, and the album’s formidable final track, ‘DUCKWORTH.’ (also Lamar’s real last name), which has lyrics so fierce the internet is already tied in knots trying to learn them.

Kendrick diehards are already listening to and loving DAMN. Twitter is in meltdown, spitting out rapturous praise for the release.

Lamar is gearing up to headline Coachella this weekend, and his full performance will be live-streamed by YouTube. It’s safe to say that Lamar will be dropping a few of these top tracks into his set list when he takes the stage on Sunday (in the US).

For now, get your earballs around 14 single-word-titled tracks of pure brilliance, available to stream on Apple Music, because who needs to interact with family, anyway?