Kendrick Lamar

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Just One Man’s Opinion: The 25 Best of the 2010’s

Preamble In 2009, I thought my listening habits would just continue to stroll into the 2010’s in the same manner. I was neck deep in a world of Indie Rock, with a peppering of classic Blues, Jazz, and R&B albums – basically to maintain some appearance of balance. Real Estate had released their eponymous debut album, Grizzly Bear had dropped the powerful and immersive Veckatimest record, and Animal Collective was making Electronic Indie music mainstream with Merriweather Post Pavilion. There...

Hate CD But Love Digital? Steve Lacy Says We Can Have Both

It seems even at the slight age of 21, Steve Lacy has already come into his own. Remarkably, he doesn’t share the same popular esteem in R&B as peers like Frank Ocean, SZA, or The Weeknd- an aspect that confounds my sense of decent music taste while also making me question whether I’m deluded in believing he has transcended his indie bona fides to a greater regard. Maybe his lo-fi leanings make him not quite right for the spotlight –...

Top 20 + Brief Reflections on 2017

One way of describing 2017 is it was a remarkable year in the barest sense – meaning that despite all of the darkness, bigotry, abuse, and scandal, it was nonetheless still a year worth many remarks. Hey, that’s better than saying it was an unremarkable year not worth mentioning. Popular culture was galvanized by the sweeping hand of the #MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter to such a large degree that it engulfed the public consciousness. The power of the...

Hypercritical or Hypocrite- Kendrick Blurs the Line

To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) was a seminal recording. It ventured farther from the gangster and street survival tropes of Good Kid, Maad City (2012) both with it’s lyrics, themes, and sonic backdrop. There was jazz, soul, funk, and even a bit section of freeform beatnik poetry in the interlude “For Free?”. The album showed confidence in making an unconventional album with less popular appeal than previous albums. This was due in large part to the aforementioned departure from themes like...