The Art Of The Back Catalog

Kendrick Lamar has made some of the most memorable music of the modern era, particular his work on his gargantuan good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp A Butterfly albums. While young music junkies of the future may only cite these two albums as the shelf-keepers in his discography, those who lived to experience his career in action will remember his run of artistic persistence.

In other words: Kendrick Lamar now has one of the greatest back-catalogs of all time. 

Kendrick released his newest album DAMN a couple days ago, and it's been as hard to comprehend as it has been to avoid listening to it. It's a hot album, rich with life and personality. And yet, it's far from his best work. 

I only say this because his levels of ambition have been so high in the past. It's near impossible to beat the sprawling soundscapes of his past work. However, DAMN is a great album within its own right. If a rapper like Drake or even perhaps Vince Staples released something like this, we'd be considering it their magnum opus. For Kendrick, this is simply trying something new. And he aced the test-- as always-- in his own weird, human way.

Keep in mind that he's released 3 great albums within the last 25 months:

To Pimp A Butterfly (March 2015)

untitled unmastered (Jan 2016)

DAMN (April 2017)

Artists don't do this anymore. While Future and Young Thug may be releasing new music on a monthly basis, it's always a hit-or-miss experiment (I thought JEFFERY was really good, by the way). But my growing up in the Blogosphere era of music, I've become depressingly used to great artist releasing monumental albums on a 3-to-4-year basis like clockwork. Back in the day, the most popular and critically acclaimed artists were just supplying their fans like wildfire. Extreme examples of this include The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan. Imagine an artist just dropping a classic every year. 

While I can't call DAMN a classic, it suffices anything Kendrick needed to solidify his spot as an all-time great; an artist with a consistently satisfying career.

I've talked about how good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) and To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) are already acclaimed as two of this decade's best albums and conceptual masterpieces. But lest we forget, they came from the same guy who made solid albums like Section.80 (2011), untitled unmastered (2016), and DAMN (2017). The same freaking guy. Say what you want about ranking all these albums, but Kendrick Lamar is undeniably on a roll.

I know I'm a sucker for the Blogosphere list-making world and praising the same artists that have received non-coincidental acclaim from the internet media... but I'm here to do it again!

Kendrick now joins the league of other artists who have released a winning streak of unique albums. Radiohead, The Pixies, Pink Floyd, Talking Heads to name a few. Of course I can't be as boastful a Millennial spirit to call him as great as these big-name artists from 40+ years ago who changed music forever. But from these last few years, he is, to me, obviously the best we got right now. 

On that note, U2 is a guest artist on one of his new songs. 

U2's music has been (respectively) immortalized by many. And if not plated in gold, their discography is definitely at least appreciated by all. On the new Kendrick track "XXX," Bono's vocal performance is not used as this world-conquering machine for sappiness, as it is simply a firm voice delivering an important message. It kinda naturally comes off like a dose of early-80s U2. 

I don't see acts like Kendrick or U2 as "perfect." But they don't make mistakes.

So yeah. You ask people what their favorite Pink Floyd album is, and you're gonna get a few different answers. Some of them might even say Meddle or Atom Heart Mother. Same thing goes for hardcore Zeppelin fans or The Smiths faithful. Joni Mitchell, Pavement, Prince... acts like these prove that sometimes your 5th best album is just as important as your best. Because your full catalog can be proof of your range of artistic ability. With DAMN, Kendrick Lamar shows us that he has nothing to prove, but he's still a busy guy anyway. 

Everything I do is to embrace y'all

Everything I write is a damn eight ball

Everything I touch is a damn gold mine

Everything I say is from an angel

-Kendrick Lamar, "GOD"

This is the only I've ever felt an emotional sentiment from hearing a rapper brag about themselves. Because I don't think Kendrick is bragging here. He's talking about himself, just as much as he's talking about you and me. He is merely an example of our individual power, influence and creativity. And I find that rather touching.