Kendrick Lamar is different, that's simply a fact.He started pretty normally, free-styling with his friends then moving on to recording his first mixtape.Then last year he dropped "Section 80", an "ITunes" only release which generated plenty of buzz for the 25 year old.In the same year he signed with "Dr Dre's" "Aftermath" records and started to gain the attention of big names in the industry.
Fast forward to 2012 and the Compton-born rapper is releasing his full length debut album, and its a keeper.Lamar has made a rap record different to any other this year, this is concept album through and through.In an age where the paying public dismiss any record that doesn't satisfy them on a completely superficial level. The southern rapper "2Chainz" also released his debut this year, and by putting the albums side-by-side you really start to notice a difference.
Where "2Chainz" is a all about the image, Kendrick is all about the storytelling.The former relies upon immature punchlines while the latter builds a three-dimensional living breathing world around the listener."2Chainz" is stuck in the dinosaur age of rap, his three most common topics are 'Money,Weed and Bitches' but enough about him.
This is Kendrick's show he deserves every five-star review he gets because G.K.M.C. is simply a masterpiece, be it sonically or lyrically, he excels at both. He can make a song featuring "Drake" not sound commercial and a 12 minute epic approachable.He writes realistic characters doing sometimes painfully realistic things.
This is a Hip-Hop album at its most interesting, fantastic production backed up by even better lyrics.Lamar is the listeners eyes and ears as he paints a disturbingly real portrait of Compton, a place where Kendrick and his friends ride around in his moms beat up Mini-Van, looking for houses to rob and girls to screw. They live there lives in the constant haze of weed and alcohol, and only worry about their next blunt.
This is where Lamar excels, describing himself as the one good kid caught up in a very "Maad" city.He constantly changes the tone of his voice and speed of his rapping to give the listener a better understanding of the emotions.
With G.K.M.C, Kendrick has done the impossible, he created a genuinely interesting Hip-Hop record in year saturated with crushingly shallow records by half-assed so called artists.Make no mistake, if you only pick up one rap record this year, make it this.
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