Review: good kid m.A.A.d City

Throughout the years the west coast has been the birthplace for some of of hip-hop’s most infamous rappers like Dr.Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, The Game just to name a few. U can always know when a rapper resides from the west coast; it’s always evident in the very mellow and soulful production they choose to rap on or how laid-back yet aggressive their flow can be or how they speak that west coast slang in most records. During the 90’s the west coast was very dominant in the hip hop industry, having only the birth city of hip hop to compete with (New York) but during the millennium it seems they took a back burner and fade to black, there hasn’t really been a rapper from the sunny state to make an direct impact of such in the game, the last west coast rapper that I personally felt accomplish this task was The Game with his debut album The Documentary in 2005 from G-Unit/Aftermath Records and most would  already consider this to be a classic album.

But since then there hasn’t been a rapper from that area code to come into the game and open people’s eyes and let them know that the west coast is still here and we still got it. But then there was Kendrick Lamar with the release of good kid m.A.A.d city. 

The concept of the album is basically self explanatory. Just look at the album title. Kendrick as always shared with his fans his experiences and life lessons he grew to learn from the streets of Compton as a good kid. That’s what makes the story so intriguing because Kendrick was never in a gang and was a Grade A Student in school but he was still affiliated by the lifestyle of his neighborhood so the album really gives you the insight of how Compton is now since its early N.W.A days from your ordinary good kid living in a m.A.A.d City. 

Throughout the album there is a story Kendrick reminisces on and at the end of each track there is a skit that relates to the track and also gives your imagination a visual to see the story Kendrick is telling come to life for example the intro track Sherane A.K.A Master Splinters Daughter where Kendrick tells you the tale of neighborhood hoodrat sherane who he meet and started to have an attraction to but didn’t seem to notice the dangers of wanting to engage in sexual relations with and this is just a small part of the story, songs like The Art Of Peer Pressure where he talks about being influenced into the wild behavior of his gang banging friends even though not really accustomed to what they do it was just another day With The Homies.

Now there were some commercial records on the album like the popular song for the ladies Poetic Justice featuring YMCMB’s Drake and the second leading single Swimming Pools even though being just a drinking song Kendrick gives a mental aspect to the record of being an alcoholic/social drinker.  

The production on the album was phenomenal, I have to give it to Terrace Martin, Soundwave, T-Minus, Scoop DeVille, Pharrell, Just Blaze and others for composing beats that were very audible for Kendrick’s sound and giving the album that soulful and well-laid back vibe the west coast is known for. Kendrick is a very unique rapper with an unusual way of rhyming but it’s captivating, it makes u pay attention to the story he wants to share and over the two years since his more known mixtape OD (Overly Dedicated) he’s become very popular in the mainstream world with a little help of a co-sign of a fellow Compton native Dr.Dre but despite his speedy success he stays true to his craft and delivers raw substance to all his songs thus building the platform for him to become the new king of the west coast.

So all in all, Kendrick Lamar debut album good kid m.A.A.d city is truly an album worth listening and definitely deserves to be in the top 5 albums of 2012. It’s already being considered as a classic album in relations to Nas’s debut Illmatic. But what do u think? Is it worthy of all these acclaims?  

REAL Hip Hop??

                                            

REAL hip-hop? A very controversial and touchy topic most hip hop lovers tend to always engage in but always seem to never really find an ending conclusion. It always seems to be the case where both parties “agree to disagree” or be caught in a cycle of a vicious attacks on what real hip hop is.

Well from my point of view this term Real Hip-Hop is sometimes used out of context seeing that all hip hop music is very realistic if u ask me. Some persons just tend to stamp the real hip-hop label on their preferred style of rap music in order to distinguish that what they listen to is defined as what Real Hip Hop should sound like. I should know because I’ve been guilty of this procedure in previous times.  But no one person can make that decision, u see from the beginning hip hop has always been more than a genre, it is a vocal expression of black culture, the struggles, the aggression and the achievements of African Americans within the United States but like the culture throughout the years hip hop goes through a evolution, so as the culture starts to change so does the music.

During the early 90’s the hip hop industry was mostly populated with rappers with lyrical stability. Filled with individuals who brought substance to the game, provided the platform for upcoming rappers to be inspired by and to also continue the legacy of which these rappers have started. This period was the foundation of what most music critics would acclaim as the era of real hip hop.  But during this era major record labels did not see the branding potential of these acts, most rappers during the 90’s got terrible contract deals, and very low advance checks, which was used majority of the time to book studio time to record their albums.

Majority of rappers from the 90’s do not even own the masters to their songs, the record label owns the masters or a website/publishing company to profit from sample clearance. So u have to congratulate rappers like Jay-Z (who also started his rap career in the 90’s) to be his own boss and started his own record label Rocafella Records. He is probably one of the few rappers from that past time who owns majority of his masters.

But as hip-hop became more popular and trendy heading into the millennium this is where record labels started to see the profit from hip-hop, so more money was spent on branding the rapper thus bigger advance checks, more lucrative contract deals; real money was now being made from being a rapper but as I previously stated earlier as the culture changes so does the music so during this change in the monetary gain of the industry. U found more black males using rap as a means to escape the poverty of their communities, help provide for their families and to just simply Live The Good Life. With that being said, during the 2000’s the lyrical stability of rap was diluted with rappers who was clearly rapping not for the love for it but morally the  financial gain of it thus creating the more radio savvy entertaining era of hip hop. But this is what u sacrifice for more money in hip-hop, u give up the Substance to just Sell Records because that is all majority of labels care about. 

This evolution within the genre has now caused the state of hip-hop to be in what I like to call Ratchet Rap. This era lacks any lyrical substance and focuses on mainly on the chorus/hook to captivate their listeners in each record. But even with this era being the more popular trend these days u still have a few rappers that contribute to the foundation of Sub Conscious Hip Hop and continue to keep alive the platform of which rap was built on for example: Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole , Lupe Fiasco,  etc. 

but all of which was said was to give an explanation to my conclusion and also give u an idea of where hip hop is coming from because you see I believe there is no Real Hip Hop but I do believe in G.O.O.D Music, if the individual has the ability to rap and formulate rhymes, come up with witty punch lines and his/her music sounds appealing I will support that rapper whether it be entertaining or substantial. I mean there’s nothing wrong with having a preferred style of hip hop but the ignorance towards different variations needs to be stopped. If u is a true lover of the genre that is hip hop you will support the different variations of it and the changes it makes from time to time no need to discriminate but hey that’s just my outlook on the situation.