Kendrick Lamar has classic with ‘Damn.’
New album follows success of 2015’s ‘Butterfly’
How do you follow up a masterpiece?
In Kendrick Lamar’s case, with another masterpiece.
The rapper’s 2015 opus “To Pimp a Butterfly” will stand the test of time as a hip-hop classic, the first great artistic work of the Black Lives Matter era, on which Lamar married complicated, searing explorations of racism (and materialism and spirituality) with dizzying, unexpected jazz and funk accompaniment.
It’s one of the hardest albums any artist has had to follow in recent history, and yet Lamar has unveiled an equally fierce, unflinching follow-up with “Damn.” Lamar’s fourth studio album is, compared to “Butterfly,” a more digestible listen, clocking in at a more manageable 55 minutes (to “Butterfly’s” 80), and eschewing heady arrangements for more straightforward, radio-friendly production.
That doesn’t make “Damn.” any less powerful, or provocative.
Coming off “Butterfly,” Lamar has every right to be cocky, and to that end, “DNA.” is a glorious, gauntlet-throwing ode to self, with Lamar throwing out an eyebrow-raising messiah metaphor before backing up his superior skills with a speedy, chopped flow finish over producer Mike Will Made It’s visceral beats.
On “Element.” he deliciously puts haters and imitators in their place ( “If I gotta slap a (expletive), I’mma make it look sexy”), then oozes cool confidence with guest Rihanna on the slinky “Loyalty.” And Lamar effectively tries something different with a Drake-like romantic jam, “Love.,” a charming ode to his fiancée, Whitney Alford.
But Lamar remains his best when he’s confronting society’s shortcomings, and his own failings and struggles. “It’s murder on my street, your street, back streets, Wall Street,” he raps on the scathing American social critique “XXX.” “Ain’t no black power when your baby killed by a coward.”
Lamar paints a picture of a “perfect world” on “Pride.,” one where he’d “choose faith over riches … make schools out of prisons,” before coldly stating a perfect world is just a fairy tale.
And “Lust.,” on the surface, may seem like a sexy come-on, but he’s essentially calling out people, and himself, for being distracted by materialism and narcissism. “We all woke up, trying to tune to the daily news/Looking for confirmation, hoping election wasn’t true,” he raps. “Parade the street with your voice proudly,” he continues, drawing allusions of the Women’s March in January, before conceding that, “Time passing, things change/Reverting back to our daily programs/Stuck in our ways.”
There are no easy, pat answers to be found on “Damn.” Frequently throughout the album, thoughts are cut off before complete statements can be made, including a guest verse by Bono on “XXX.”
But “Damn.” is so deep and dense, it’s destined to take on new meanings with repeat listens. And like “Butterfly,” hip-hop fans will almost certainly be listening to and studying this album for years to come.