"I'm making music that represents my generation, their struggle," Lamar told Billboard in 2011. Song for song, you'll hear references to the spiritual vacancy of endless partying ("A.D.H.D."), Biblical justice ("Kush and Corinthians"), and the '80s drug scourge ("Ronald Reagan Era"). His 2011 debut album, Section.80, contains the themes Lamar would return to again and again-albeit in relatively green form. His constant evolution makes it impossible to re-create the previous.Before g ood kid, m.A.A.d city To Pimp A Butterfly and DAMN., before he brought the house down at the 58th GRAMMY Awards with flames licking around him, before winning a Pulitzer and being seriously considered the next Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar was simply a socially conscious rapper from Compton on a personal quest. Kendrick's growth is natural maturity, each album representing a stepping stone in his career.
All his albums are connected by that central theme, trying to overcome the tragedy of his environment. GKMC is the grand unveiling, what he was striving to create since the Kendrick Lamar EP. Section.80 is the introduction of the bigger vision, illustrating that he can construct concepts and still out-rap his contemporaries. Just a small glimpse at what he was preparing for the future. 2" is what a starving lion sounds like, while "R.O.T.C" and "Average Joe" are the embodiment of a good, hopeless kid in a peninsula of poverty and madness. Kendrick didn’t have a concept for OD, the mixtape that served as a collection of records that exhibited his prowess as a rapper. Section.80 feels like being in the jungle, a part of the land, the inside looking out. Looking at both albums, GKMC feels like a tour through the jungle that is Compton as an observer on the outside looking in. The loose connection allows the album to have fillers without ruining the narrative.
If GKMC is a blockbuster film, Section.80 is a book full of short stories. Instead of being autobiographical, Kendrick writes from the perspective of us all. A concept album, one that puts an entire generation under the microscope. What I like most about Section.80 is that it sounds like the perfect balance of Overly Dedicated and GKMC.
I’ve witnessed the effects of someone hitting the shenanigans, freestyling in backseats, diving in swimming pools full of Absolut and whispering "Poetic Justice" lyrics in the ears of goddesses with Janet Jackson braids, but it never left the impact of Section.80. The incredible music left my ears rejoicing, praising the hip-hop gods for delivering, but it didn’t sink into my soul like its predecessor. Kendrick created a narrative with the cohesion of a feature film and accomplished his intentions flawlessly. It’s like listening to juxtaposed audio from Boyz In The Hood, Menace II Society and Do The Right Thing. Kendrick puts you in the backseat of his momma’s van, you become one of the homies succumbing to peer pressure, you’ll hate Sherane more than Skyler White, and your heart will sink when his friend is killed. The imagery is incredibly vivid I’m convinced he wrote this album with a screenwriter’s quill. After the first few plays, I couldn’t deny that the music was cloaked in magic. It only takes one listen, but by the end, you’ll acknowledge it's the greatest achievement of his career. The kind of masterpiece that should be hung in record shops and art galleries.
Good kid, m.A.A.d city is Kendrick’s Mona Lisa.