Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
I decided to listen to what’s new in the world. I went to Pitchfork and clicked Best of 2012; I’m listening in order. This album was the first one there, some kind of mainstream rap.
The sound is pleasant and poppy, but I like it (getting old again), and I like the performer’s voice too. As usual, the lyrics tell the story of the hard life of a guy from the projects, forced to compromise his moral principles because of the harsh circumstances around him.
Thus, in the song The Art Of Peer Pressure, the protagonist himself would rather not take drugs or get involved in crime, but he’s surrounded by wayward homies, and under their bad influence he has to drink, smoke weed, take part in a robbery, and all that.
In the song Good Kid, we hear the complaints of a good kid who studies the Bible, does not want to join either of the neighborhood gangs, and is harassed and bullied by members of both.
There’s also a lot about excessive alcohol consumption, whole swimming pools of booze (the song Swimming Pools), about how dangerous it is to live in the ghetto, how easy it is to be killed or lose someone close to you, about fatherlessness and the thirst for revenge.
Those are the pressing social issues that concern young Black American men.
Verdict: pretty good, 7/10