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?