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Compton emcee, Kendrick Lamar, had been fighting the good fight on the mixtape scene for a while, but it wasn’t until he got an unofficial endorsement from Dr. Dre on Big Boy’s radio show in L.A., that the rest of the industry began to take notice. From there, Lamar’s career would be built upon more than just critical acclaim, adding work on Dre’s Detox to his resume, as well as nabbing a spot on XXL‘s Freshman ’11 list. Section:80 is the “aftermath” of the events of the last six months.

But Kendrick’s imminent celebrity has not distracted him from his craft, as Section:80 is an incredibly focused, heavy release. Comparable to albums like Outkast’s ATLiens, early releases from 2Pac, and more recently Drake’s Thank Me Later, the tone of the album is super mellowed out, with weighty backdrops for Kendrick’s words. Unapologetically Compton, Kendrick is the antithesis of Game, less concerned with name-dropping, more concerned with providing an accurate, honest representation of growing up in the hood, something that’s been missing from hip-hop for years.

Fixated on the sociopolitical aspects of life in Compton during the 80′s, Kendrick is a product of his environment, with songs like “A.D.H.D.”, “Ab-Souls Outro”, and “Ronald Reagan Era” exploring the effect the crack era had on his generation. There’s a series of conflicting emotions here; the youthful “I-don’t-give-a-fuck” attitude and the more grounded, conscious aspects of his personality, both which manifest themselves equally throughout the album.

Kendrick has a certain sensitivity to women, with many of his song’s providing Jungian explanations for their behaviors. “No Make Up” (feat. Colin Munroe) may at first appear as a seductive song for the females, but as it progresses, Kendrick zeroes in the reasons behind women’s obsessions with beauty. The same can be said for the somewhat disturbing “Tammy’s Song (Her Evils)”, and the perfectly executed “Keisha’s Song”, a heartfelt look at the mindstate of the average prostitute. Shit is deep.

But Lamar doesn’t reserve himself to being a “conscious rapper”, he’s actually more “stream-of-consciousness”, letting his mind bounce from one topic to another. Tracks like “Hol’ Up” and “Rigamortus” find him simply exercising numerous styles from his arsenal, despite any bitches or hoes that might get in the way of his mind-spray. Other times we catch some clear influence from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (as discovered by his hometown hero, Eazy E) on songs like “The Spiteful Chant”, with a spotlit verse from Schoolboy Q.

It should also be noted that much of the success of this LP is owed to the production of Soundwave and THC, who handle the majority of the album’s heavy beats. But perhaps the best beat on the whole thing is owed to J. Cole, with his hypnotic sample on the project’s first single, “Hiiipower”.

There’s no explanation or reasoning behind Kendrick’s duality, other than that he’s human – and fallible – just like the rest of us. As on “Ab-Soul’s Outro”, he puts it best, “So the next time I talk about money, hoes, clothes, god, and history in the same sentence/ just know I meant it, and you felt it / cause you too are searching for answers / I’m not the next pop star / I’m not the next socially aware rapper / I’m a human motherfucking being, over dope ass instrumentation… Kendrick Lamar.”

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0 Responses to "Kendrick Lamar – "Section.80" – @@@@1/2 (Review)"
  • JuanC. says:

    aye forreal this is more comparable to kanyes MBDTF then drakes TML. this shit is fire and whoever is sleeping all becuz he said drakes name your ignorant as fuck drakes wack but Kendricks shits on him i promise you if you like good hip hop with the unique twist with beats and Kendricks lyrics then DL this shit now! this is a masterpiece its my favorite album so far of 2011

  • Jeff says:

    I love the variety of comments and opinions, and that’s what makes hip hop so beautiful right? I respect everyone’s opinions, and consider them when picking up new music.

    I bought this album last night , let it play all the way through, and I honestly can’t see how you can hate on this album. I’ll agree that the comparisons to Drake aren’t very realistic and Drake may be the last person I thought of when I listened to this, but I thoroughly enjoyed this.

    It’s not commercially driven, there isn’t anything on here that screams out “single”. Im pretty positive I won’t be hearing any of these songs on 94.5 or 93.7 anytime soon. I know “hiipower” is an actual single, but it’s a song only some will truly appreciate

    Real nice smooth mellow beats with real deep thought out lyrics.

    Not flawless or “classic” but absolutely worth a listen

    Isn’t this what we’ve been waiting for?

  • jack in the box says:

    I like a lot of the beats, but something about dude’s rapping bugs me. It’s pretentious, too.

  • battle hound says:

    had some time to listen to album over and over again and take back any negative ish i said, he has crafted a beautiful album and I use the word craft like a some one making top notch wine and cheese
    dope album give full support from now on

  • Comments

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    sevechild

    July 13th, 2011 at 10:45 pm