KENDRICK LAMAR RANKED

Ranked: Kendrick Lamar

This is a new section for the blog, the idea being that I go through and rank different artists’ albums from worst to best. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the lowest ranking album is a bad album (take this list for example), but simply that in comparison to the rest of the artist’s discography it is the least strong. I have plenty more of these in the pipeline, but if there are any artists in particular that you would like to see me rank please let me know and I’ll add it to the list.

Kendrick Lamar’s discography is a thing of beauty at current, proof of his being one of the most accomplished rappers of this generation, if not certainly the most critically acclaimed. Sorting this one out took a while for me, because as far as I’m concerned Lamar hasn’t released anything of even remotely poor quality, but I had to make a decision at some stage and so this is the list that I’ve come up with. I’ve only included his full length studio releases, meaning I didn’t consider untitled unmastered when compiling this list.

4) Section.80 (2011)

Kendrick’s first full length sits at the bottom of this list not because it is poor, but because it doesn’t have the intensely perfected feel that permeates his later releases. Considered by some to be a flash in the pan (how wrong they turned out to be), it is startling and often confronting in its maturity and honesty, and a clear sign of the quality that was just around the corner. I challenge you to find more than a handful of other debut records that are as fully realised and completely compelling as Section.80. It lacks some of the cinematic scope of his later releases, but Lamar still managed to produce a damn fine hip-hop record while he was still cutting his teeth.

 

3) Good Kid, m.A.A.d City. (2012)

I was as surprised as you may well be to find that Good Kid, m.A.A.d City ended up this far down my list, but here it is at number three. Don’t let that take away from the mastery of this album – there’s not a whole lot to say about it that hasn’t already been said. In many ways a companion piece to his next record To Pimp A Butterfly, GKMC is an introduction to the sweeping, cinematic tendencies and intimate, challenging and often poetic lyricism that would later become synonymous with Lamar. 

2) DAMN. (2017)

I was a little lukewarm on DAMN. when it first dropped, but it has snce grown on me a considerable amount. Coming after To Pimp A Butterfly I had perhaps unfair expectations about what the sound of the album would be, and it is no surprise to me now that those expectations were not met at all. The thing is, it has more bangers on it than any other Lamar album; DAMN. is an album you can put on at a party as well as sit down and listen to. The lyrics and overall message took a turn that I was not expecting and kind of rubbed me off the wrong way at the time but now that I have had more time to digest and unravel the ball of twine I love it a whole lot more than I did initially. This wasn’t something I was expecting or thought that I wanted at the time, but after plenty of time to sink in and settle, it takes its place at second on my list of my favourite Kendrick records. By the way, don’t buy the Collector’s Edition. That should go without saying.

1) To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)

To Pimp A Butterfly is one of my favourite records period, so it isn’t a huge surprise to see it sitting here at number one on this list. I mean, where do I start? This record is important to me in a similar way to Underoath’s Define The Great Line – it was the first hip-hop album that I loved. I find it difficult to find anything wrong with this album at all, actually. Unlike DAMN., it isn’t filled wall to wall with bangers, although they are certainly there – “King Kunta” and “Alright” are the obvious picks, but “The Blacker The Berry” and “Wesley’s Theory” are also standouts. The focus is instead on a dense, tightly woven meditation on America’s political climate, black culture and Lamar’s own journey of understanding. People sometimes ask me how I can enjoy this album so much being a white Australian male, and I fully understand that it probably resonates with me in different ways to other individuals from other demographics, but for me it is a fascinating and visceral look through a window that I wouldn’t get to look through with this clarity anywhere else. Having said this, it is a work of art, not a documentary, and as such I think it needs to be treated as such – I’m sure that is how Kendrick prefers it. There are very few records against which you compare other genre entries, but To Pimp A Butterfly has become for me the benchmark of what you can achieve with a hip-hop record, and comfortably Kendrick’s most complete and accomplished album to date. I wouldn’t quite put it past him to top it in the future, but that would take something truly special.

So there you have it – my ranking for all of Kendrick Lamar’s full length studio releases. What do you think; do you agree? What would your ranking be? Let me know below so we can either agree or argue about it, I’d love to hear from you.