DAMN

Kendrick Lamar (Top Dawg/ Interscope)

2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly was the best hip hop album by any artist in almost a decade. However, Lamar’s odds and sods 2016 release untitled unmastered showed he wasn’t invincible. DAMN is not as startlingly brilliant or original as ‘Butterfly, but maybe more coherent. Guests include Rihanna on Loyalty, while XXX might be significant because of U2’s very presence rather than what they contribute, Bono’s drawly croon notwithstanding. DAMN is still great, but let’s hope that we didn’t hear his career masterpiece two years ago.