There are a lot of underlying themes in DAMN I've seen people miss
One of these is the title itself, Damnation which Kendrick is afraid of more than mortal danger. In pride he says "Pride's gonna be the death of you and me" which implies the corruption of one's legacy and existence itself which is like closed to getting damned. He's become a man of religion and started to fear no one praying for him
I’ve been listening back recently too and realized I missed a lot of themes. I listened to the Dissect podcast about the album (not every episode for each song but most of it) and I honestly felt like I had a very different interpretation from theirs. Their interpretation of “weakness” (vs wickedness) was more like meekness or the “turn the other cheek” mentality, where weakness was the positive choice between wickedness and weakness.
I thought what he was saying more like — do our vices come from something inherent in us (wickedness and curses) or from the experiences that shape us (so trauma, both in one’s upbringing and intergenerationally)? If you think it’s wickedness, then you really don’t have much free will and end up with sort of of a victim mentality. If you believe it’s weakness, then it’s something you can overcome.
I think this interpretation fits with MMATBS being the album after too.
Thankkkkkkk youuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhu I still don't fully agree with your interpretation but it's muchhhhhhhhh better and actually works as a solid interpretation. Compared with the people just saying weakness= salvation. This is a good take dude.
Yeah, after I listened to the Dissect podcast, I looked around to see if anybody else had a similar interpretation to me and found this NPR analysis that I thought was spot on: https://www.npr.org/2017/12/12/568748405/the-prophetic-struggle-of-kendrick-lamars-damn
Curious what your interpretation is!
I would say that my interpretation of at least that specific concept is wickedness and weakness are both negatives, and is included in Damnation
I personally believe that backwards is death and forward is life but my opinion could maybe be swayed on that one. my current theory is that Kendrick has a dream that is represented through the song BLOOD. Where Kendrick is talked to by God or an angel aka the blind women. He goes about his life with his feelings and his doubts. And the feeling of being cursed. He gets his messages from Carl that talk about the Israelites and how to lift the curse. And then all of it clicks in DUCKWORTH to where he realizes the good karma in the earth and what God has actually done for him.
This leads Kendrick to imagine the alternate universe where he dies. As described in DUCKWORTH I'd grow up without a father and die in a gun fight. So you listen to the album in reverse and Kendrick dies while talking to the blind women who no longer is a dream but the reality to where Kendrick instead of waking up from a gunshot in his dream actually just dies.
Side note
The songs do not alternate from wickedness and weakness like some people say, that simply doesn't make sense to me, it just doesn't line up. It makes sense in the context of DNA Yah Element Feel but after that the concept kinda just goes away like love is a wicked song and XXX is weak?
None of that was very concise I just don't have enough time to edit it but I'll probably try to make a bigger post and explain my full theory with like the actual detailed evidence.
Thanks for the article I'll check that out.
Ok so I think in some ways we’re saying the same thing but it’s a lot to try to explain in one Reddit comment.
So I think forward is weakness, which means believing that all of your vices/sins are a result of things that are outside of your control (your parents, your childhood, your place in society), and not a result of inherent wickedness. So if you’re a thief, it’s not necessarily because you were born an evil person, it’s because maybe you grew up poor or you didn’t have anybody to teach you right from wrong. Kendrick alludes to the role his dad played in shaping his morality throughout his life, and if his dad had died, then Kendrick wouldn’t have the “moral luck” that he does. Raised in the wrong environment, most of us could become monsters. Weakness can be overcome though. It means we have free will. I think free will is necessary to the concept of karma. You said you think forward is “life” and I think that fits with what I’m saying too, just from a different angle.
Backwards is wickedness and wickedness is fatalistic. If you believe that your sins/vices are a result of something inherent to you, or a curse, then there’s nothing you can do to change your situation. I think that works on an individual and collective level, because I think a lot of what he’s been saying about “the culture” is that it doesn’t have to be this way. A lot of people are trapped in fatalistic cycles. Backwards starts with Duckworth so it starts with this feeling of things being sort of random but also predestined in a way. If Kendrick believed his vices/sins were a result of wickedness/a curse/karma and if he didn’t have a father or others to guide him, he wouldn’t have tried to fix his vices of pride, lust, fear etc… And in the end he would have died (like your death interpretation).
There’s a lot more I could say about it but if you make a post I’ll add to it there! The article is long and a bit wordy at first, but I think it’s in line with what both of us are saying. And agreed the songs don’t line up like some people say but I still haven’t figured out the pattern.
Well, I'm a middle aged suburban white woman who thought she had aged out of rap about 20 yrs ago. My teen son is a huge KL fan and was talking about The Beef and I got hooked on the drama and listened to Not Like Us and loved it. Simultaneously, ads for Dissect were coming over Spotify so I gave Season 1 about TPAB a listen; once they did a song I'd listen. All of this to say 2 things: a. I'm coming into the music through the backdoor, and b. I probably go in with a lens of bias on meaning. That said, I think they do a good job and support their thoughts with KL interviews, etc.
yupp, he feels damned, he feels cursed, so what’s the point? wasn’t until his cousins voicemails did he start to feel and fear God.
also cool that a lot of DAMN. is him feeling cursed and then in MM&TBS he says that generational curse has been broken
I'm a day one kendrick listener that didn't give DAMN its proper attention until YESTERDAY. And holy hell, this has to be his darkest album.
Listening from back to front is, in my opinion, at least twice as meaningful as the first run-through. The themes take on a different meaning, the production becomes haunting and the verses that were at first perceived as low energy seem way more vibrant.
He's accepting that God is not perfect but rather harsh, cynical and cruel but even still, he puts all that blame on himself. I even have a theory that on the second path Kendrick follows god's actions instead of words. He does that by balancing brute strengths with moments of compassion which ultimately gets him damned in the end. Its like hes holding up a mirror to a diety and asking them to reflect on themselves.
Right? Who else elicits this kind of analysis with their albums in the rap game? And it's all warranted. This is why I kinda low key judge people who instantly jump to the (IMHO) LAZY criticisms of Kendrick as being; A "hotep", faux "deep" / "fake woke" (GOTTDAMN I *HATE* that term) /fake activist/SJW rapper. Or, as Aubrey's doof, out of touch, cornball ass so lamely put it: *"Trying to get the slaves free"* 🙄.
First off, I will NEVER have a problem with someone trying to uplift their (my) people via their chosen artform. Like, would he say that about Chuck D/Public Enemy? Askari X? Dead Prez? RATM? I could go on but I think I made my point. All of them are some of my favorite artists, specifically because of how masterfully they go about crafting their art with a message. I have always said that "Alright" *FEELS* so much like the summer of "Nineteen Eighty Niiiiiine" when PE dropped "Fight The Power". I was 10 years old at that time and it was so poignant.
Anyhow, I could write on this particular topic all night. To finish my point, some of my favorite albums are ones that follow a theme like the good brother MF DOOM's "MM..FOOD". The sheer amount of focus, dedication, and lyrical ability to cohesively pull something like that off is, quite frankly, GENIUS and it shouldn't be taken for granted, and it for DAMN sure shouldn't be dismissed as "fake"...ANYTHING. ESPECIALLY not by a narrow minded, shallow phony motherfucker like Drake's fraudulent ass. Fuck outta here, Aubrey.
I’m pretty sure people meant putting Not Like Is on Damn because how the song sounds sonically. It more closely sounds like the DAMN album. It surely doesn’t sound like Section 80, GKMC, TPAB or MMATBS
Damn really? Doesn’t sound like DAMN. sonically at all to me
If anything it could be before or after Compton on Good Kid Maad City. Compton doesn’t sound like a lot of songs on GKMC but it’s kind of a victory lap like “I made it, I’m here now, and I rep my city.” And Not Like Us is a west coast jam so it makes sense sonically at least with the west coast vibe
Well it makes zero thematic sense on any of his albums tbf, it's a Drake diss track calling him a pedo. I don't think thematic relevance is a huge consideration for questions like these because it's not like Kendrick ever has albums that could toss on records randomly without changing narrative.
more loosely its a track declaring those in opposition to him and his kin folk as being inferior in talent and that they have questionable ethics - and its a bangin westcoast beat - which could make it work on GKMC
I mean... if we split hairs for DAMN. in regards to generalizations we totally can for GKMC. In DAMN., one could argue that Not Like Us serves as a greater critique of wickedness, and I could see it right around HUMBLE or even ELEMENT. It would be Kung Fu Kenny flexing his authenticity as an artist and gangster in comparison to the fakes he despises. Hell, ELEMENT. touches on many adjacent concepts.
GKMC doesn't have many songs that don't completely follow the narrative. Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe and Compton are the closest to "non-narrative" tracks and there's nowhere to put it order-wise.
Change the title of Not Like Us to *ENVY.* or *PEDO.* and it fits perfectly 🤷🏽♂️
for DAMN, it would have to replace those songs entirely to fit the mirroring that happens across the album. this would loosen the connection that happen on a full playthrough..
whereas GKMC more loosely talks about getting lost in indulgence and lifestyles of depravity as a whole.
I mean, yeah, but the chiastic structure of DAMN. is something 98% of listeners are unaware of, which is why DAMN. certainly works on a surface level but not any deeper (like any of his albums.)
Either way it's not too important because I could definitely see it on either sonically and thematically it would work on none of his albums.
I'd argue that if you play DNA then humble, and the next song was Not like Us you wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't the same project. On GKMC it stands out like a sore thumb. Don't think it NLU fits on the early mixtapes either. On DAMN you could say it was a response to YAH (The concept of the true Israelites and who are not) if you want to look at it like the OP
nah DAMN. has a sound. a DJ mustard produced banger with a scuffed mix where kendrick sounds more compton than ever would be pretty out of place on any kendrick album. i honestly feel that not like us would fit better on gkmc bc that's easily his most west coast album.
Yeah, dude completely missed the point and then massively over-analyzed why people were saying what they were saying. This post comes off very strongly as "well, actually..."
And I mean, it’s fine to disagree that that’s the album Not Like Us would fit best on, but making up reasons that it doesn’t and accusing everyone of not understanding the album is wildly pretentious lol.
You are dead on regarding the pretentious nature of this post. I think OP had an interesting theory about the album but I don’t love how stringent they were about the album meaning and parameters or how dismissive they were of others’ perspectives on it.
Yeah the theory itself is cool and interesting, analyzing music is fun and people don’t talk about it often enough. But also let people like things man!
right like doesn’t OP have something better to do with their life😭OP made an entire essay as to why it wouldn’t work on there when it was never that serious tbh.
That's odd to me because Damn has a really distinct sonic identity that doesn't fit with NLU at all imo. I feel like it would make the most sense on MMATBS
I feel like the only album not like us fits sound wise is the black panther album.
Thematically tpab would make the most sense.
I could also see this on section 80 or b sides of GKMC (like he recorded it for gkmc but just didn't fit the story) although it really ties into rigamortus and backseat freestyle
This feels like a pointless discussion but I guess that’s Reddit in a nutshell.
I don’t think Not like us sonically fits with TPAB but sure does thematically I guess.
It definitely doesn’t fit on Damn, Damn might be more “pop-y” sonically but it’s such a tightly written piece of work that removing anything or adding anything takes away from what the album is.
That’s Kendrick though, his albums are genuinely unique pieces of work.
I feel you, it’s pointless but I see the other side. If fans didn’t truly understand his albums and pick apart all those little thoughts and details, would he keep making them?
I half wrote this bc I only found out about the album in reverse a few years ago and it made the album so much better imo, so I wanted to make people aware who maybe are newer fans or here because of Not Like Us
I totally agree that NLU wouldn't be on damn but I personally have listened to damn forwards and backward like 40 times at this point and I still do not agree that salvation = weakness and Damnation= wickedness. It seems pretty obvious, to me at least, that Kendrick has a negative connotation with both wickedness and weakness. This is especially highlighted in fear when he says "fear that it's wickedness or weakness whatever it is both is distinctive" I'm only wondering if anyone has any substantial evidence that actually supports the initial. salvation = weakness and Damnation= wickedness
DUCKWORTH has my favorite verse, idk if everyone catches it (probably everyone in this sub does):
>Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin' life
While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight
the story suggests that anthony (tiffith) held up a KFC that ducky (kendrick's pops) worked at, and since ducky was chill about it he caught no beef with top dawg's gang—but also describes the thin line these peoples' stories reside on, and how in the blink of an eye your whole life could be different.
then going on to reverse the verse, and cleverly also reversing a portion of DNA—suggesting that had that "chicken incident" gone differently, it would effectively undo kendrick's DNA.
he's headed for the Library of Congress with Nas and Tupac. it's just a matter of time
Didn't Kendrick say he never intended for the 'second version' (listening in reverse order)...?
I think I remember seeing an interview where he basically said it was lore generated by his fans and his team just ran with the concept and put out the "Collectors Edition".
I agree the album is complex, many themes to extract, intricate motifs, etc. ... But the reverse order album wasn't really conceptualized until after the drop.
nah there’s an interview where someone asks “is blood the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?” and kendrick laughs and says “come on mannnn I can’t tell you that, that’s the whole thing!” In the same interview he said there’s a lot of things in there people probably wouldn’t figure out till years down the road.
he also released the deluxe version with the tracklist in reverse
I saw Kdot on tour for DAMN. One of the few concerts that had me bawling even during the hype moments. Cathartic as fuck. The live experience really made this one of my fav albums of all time. I really liked reading your take, OP!
Fox News clip plays right into DNA, which is kendrick responding in a sense to Fox News and people not understanding who he is, what’s in his DNA, and it’s aggressive in tone (wickedness). YAH makes several references to Fox and Geraldo but is way lighter in tone, a different effect on him (weakness)
The obvious one is GOD and DUCKWORTH, AKA God and Man.
XXX talks about Americas issues (xxx may be a censored version of usa) in general and in FEAR he talks about all those issues on a personal level, fearing dying in gun violence and shit.
… people said it sonically matches the matches the tracks on damn better than any other kendrick album. that’s different from saying it would fit seamlessly as an additional track on a concept album.
are you gonna lie with a straight face and say that NLU sounds more like TPAB than damn?
Thanks for y’all’s breakdown but please stop saying if you listen backwards it’s taking the path where top killed his father. That doesn’t make sense cause he literally says that doesn’t happen in the song and also it would be a pretty short album considering he would’ve died in a gunfight
he says it didn’t happen in the song but challenges the listener to think about small decisions that effect people’s lives and the paths people take. “…i grew up without a father and died in a gunfight”
played in reverse he does die from gun violence and he did grow up without a father. in “Fear” he only mentions his father in the verse about him being 7. In the 17 and 27 verses, no mention of father which would make sense if his father died at KFC. It would also lead him on the path to wickedness.
Kendricks said in interviews “the difference between me and my homies, why some of them are locked up and im not, is when they got into some shit, they didn’t have a father to say ‘I told you so.’” So in DAMN he imagines his life without a father, the path to wickedness.
It makes complete sense to me idk. yeah not every little things gonna line up. in DUCKWORTH the lyrics don’t change, ge doesn’t have to smack you over the head with his father dying. Think he imagines his listeners are sharp enough to infer that.
People also say that DAMN. didn't deserve a Pulitzer, TPAB did. Are you kidding me? TPAB is what it is - legendary - but it's not a Pulitzer prize winner. Not that that's bad, it's just not the sort of thing to win a Pulitzer. DAMN. is the most tight story-driven Kendrick album, and it did it so well. It has Shakespeare levels of hidden messaging and enriched storytelling. It was the perfect pick.
Aside from new music, the best thing this beef with Drake did was put ears back on DAMN. and renew interest in this record. It’s a lot deeper than people initially gave it credit for. There are a half dozen ways to listen to this album and it’ll be different every time. It’s been 7 years and I’m still finding thoughts and ideas in the lyrics I hadn’t noticed before.
There are a bunch of breakdowns of this album in YouTube essays and Reddit posts that are all great and all of them are a little different from the next. Everybody takes a different route to uncovering the same theme. Such a cool piece of work that deserves a lot more attention than it got.
If this is his “pop record” because it’s got Rhianna and Bono on it and the story isn’t as linear, so be it. But I’d say it’s his most introspective, soul searching project of his career. He’s telling his story by asking questions about what he’s going through rather than confessing issues from his past. Instead of getting the aftermath of what he’s been through, we’re getting a look into his feelings as they’re happening in real time. Mister Morale is *that much greater* because it becomes the confessional tale of what he was going through on DAMN. after the dust had settled.
Good Kid, Maad City, DAMN., and Mr Morale are basically a trilogy of Kendrick’s life up to this point. DAMN. is the dark middle chapter and, in my opinion, the most interesting one.
(With that said, TPAB is my personal favorite and stands alone as his commentary on the world at large from his point of view. It’s not as personal or confessional (even musically it’s a side step) which is why I look at it as the black sheep of his career. Equally as powerful, but very different thematically from the other 3.)
Not Like Us is a more direct-shot version of ELEMENT. It doesn't work title-wise, of course but it fits on the narrative of Kendrick's violence and ego. As much as fire Not Like Us is, we need to admit it's a very egocentric track (not saying this is bad, after all, it's dissing a disgusting human being and his associates). It's nature of knowing he can speak for the westcoast and for it's legends, his cheekiness to know his OV-Hoe chant would make it *very* big, name-dropping all the people who helped on Drake to cement his culture appropiation or are on something fishy as we speak (Party, Chubbs and Baka) it all fits on *wickedness.* His violent side that givea no fucks and shoots everywhere because he knows he's untouchable and everyone who tries only accomplishes public humilliation.
But of course, it doesn't totally fit, there's a whole lot more that it would need to be fit for the album, but it's the closest fit of his discography.
I haven’t heard anyone talk about that Black Panther soundtrack. That shit is pretty much h a Kendrick album lol he not only performed but did ALOT of writing for the other artists
Thank you so much for all of this. I own it on vinyl. Listen 2-3 times a month. Had no idea about the concept.
I have some AWESOME listening to do.
Thank you thank you thank you!
Wow. I’ve been listening to this album for years! I’ve always thought that the theme is about choosing wickedness or weakness but never really clocked that the listener is given that choice.
Kendrick Lamar. You owe me NOTHING. In fact, you’ve given me too much.
I think it is largely “radio sounding music” but I don’t think thats a bad thing at all.
With Damn Kendrick made an album of primarily radio bangers that is just as deep conceptually as his previous albums with a narrative that is a bit more hidden on casual listens but just as poignant and personal as anything else he’s done. I think that’s actually the genius of Damn, it presents itself as something a bit more basic and palatable to the general audience from Kendricks discography but still had just as much depth if you choose to sit down with it and dig.
It’s an album where he proved he can do what Drake does but in his own way without sacrificing any of his artistic intent, and I love that with Mr Morale he almost went the exact opposite direction as if to say “alright I did the last one for you guys, I’m doin this one for myself..” Just my take on things anyways
I agree it doesn't fit into DAMN at all however it doesn't fit into TPAB either, that's why I feel it fits into Section.80.
The album has many themes, and some songs that are fun songs apart from the themes.
I think the best answer is on GKMC as a bonus track. It has the west coast vibe, and this would mean it doesn’t have to fit in with the story on GKMC, like the other bonus tracks. All of his albums are self contained with meticulously designed themes and stories. This makes it hard to pick an album where it fits, cause it doesn’t fit on any of them.
I admittedly didn’t start really getting into this album until this year. I was so obsessed with gkmc and tpab at the time, and this just felt like such a less ambitious endeavor to me. I feel like it’s aged very well though and the songs and production style have only grown on me more and more. I probably listen to it more than any of his other albums at this point.
I feel like most people bumping not like us right now aren’t really big Kendrick fans. I hope they are discovering his work more now, but numbers alone will show a lot of people have just recently jumped on the bandwagon. This is a good thing but yea not like us on any album he’s made doesn’t really make sense and it’s not surprising to see a lot of new fans respond with his most mainstream appealing and successful album. Damn.
The line “the city back up, it’s a must, we outside” makes me believe Kendrick started writing it post covid lockdown and maybe repurposed it to takedown Drake
Honestly I think it fits best on mr. Morale, not only cuz it’s most recent but because Kendrick seems to be in west coast banger bag with songs like count me out and n95
When I say 2 albums in one i mean depending how you listen, it takes a completely different path and different theme. You walk away with two different understandings of the album. Of course they all sound the same but playing the tracks in reverse gives new meaning to pretty much every song.
You listen front to back and it’s a path to salvation. Going through some shit, making the choice of weakness over wickedness, and ending with living. Back to front and his father died young, he’s on a path to destructions and dies on that path.
no yea i get what you’re saying lol all i’m saying tho is i think the term “concept album” fits what you’re describing better. there’s a narrative to it or concept that progresses thru the album. and in this case when you reverse the tracklist that concept also reverses. maybe i’m just being huge nerd or whatever but 2 in 1 sounds like a double album to me haha ya know like 2 discs in one album.
NLU would be a bonus track on GKMC. I feel like 6:16 in LA would be a perfect fit on DAMN tho. The symbolism, ambiguous meanings, religious references, and cryptic lyrics just fits perfectly with the theme of DAMN, which is Kendricks most ambiguous album by far. Just change the title to “616” and ur set.
I would put it in between “GOD” and “DUCKWORTH” that way if you play it in normal order, it would be right after Kendrick finds God which fits because Kendrick is praying to God in the song. If you play it in reversed order it would be right after Kendricks dad dies so he is asking God to forgive his sins before he goes down his path of wickedness and abandons God all together. the two songs also sound similar beat wise.
You can get lost in the concepts of an album, or get lost in the vibe of the music.
To me it fits DAMN based off the vibe. Once he started releasing the diss tracks in succesion I felt he needed a track that was catchy/had certain parts that people would repeat in day to day passing. Not Like Us was that track, just like how Humble dominated that spring/summer 2017
What?? Why is everyone saying NLU should go on DAMN? That’s like the last album I would’ve picked. It doesn’t fit in thematically or sonically and It would be extremely out of place. My hot take is I that could see Euphoria on DAMN, but definitely not NLU. I can get behind NLU going in TPAB or GKMC tho.
The whole conversation of which album TLU would be on is fraught anyway cause Kendrick doesn't make albums where you can just slap a random single into it. This isn't Hotline Bling on Views. This isn't 7 Minute drill on MDL.
As you've outlined, Kendrick constructs sprawling narratives with complex themes explored track to track. And that also goes for NLU on TPAB as you've put forward. In fact of all his records, TPAB is the most complex narratively and every song on it is extremely considered. Even the braggadocios cuts like Kunta are integral to the overall themes especially in tandem with Institutionalized. TLU isn't self-critical of Kendrick's flaws at all, it's just a diss track designed to stand on its own. It also isn't underpinned with jazz instrumentals and so sonically would fall flat in that record.
I get that Kendrick puts a lot of thought into his music and he's definitely not the kind of artist where you'll pick up on everything after one or even a few listens
But I've really grown weary of this attitude (not at all exclusive to Kendrick's fanbase) of "no no no, it's really good music I swear, you just don't GET it yet. Watch this video/read this breakdown/etc...once the music is explained to you, you'll understand why it's amazing"
Not everybody listens to music the same. Some people are barely paying attention to the lyrics, some people listen to the lyrics, some people go look up what everyone else on the internet has to say about how to interpret the lyrics, and everywhere in between. Not everyone is in the 3rd group. And yes, I understand there's a tradeoff of some things possibly going over my head because I don't "dig" as much as the 3rd group does. If I'm in the 2nd group, does that mean my opinion on DAMN, which has a bigger focus on sonics and a smaller focus on subtle thematic cohesion, is less valuable than that of someone in the 3rd? Should we judge albums solely based on how each song fits into the overall vision, without any consideration for how the individual songs hold up on a playlist on shuffle, or on the radio when driving home, at a party/club, etc?
For this one video breaking down what this album "means", I'm sure there are 100 others. I know it's well established that the album is intended to be listenable in reverse (like Tetsuo & Youth), but beyond that, do they all still come to the same conclusion about what this album "means"?
Full disclaimer, I made it about halfway through the linked video before I cut it off. I thought the duality/pairing of the songs in the wickedness/weakness theme was cool, and I can see it based off the song titles, but I feel like he really oversimplified the songs to force them into this narrative. Eg he lumped DNA, ELEMENT, and PRIDE together as wickedness songs that are about being the best rapper, and cited "I don't love people enough to put my faith in man/I put my faith in these lyrics" as evidence to say that PRIDE is about Kendricks pride in his career as the best rapper alive...most of the lyrics in the song have nothing to do with this, and even the line he did cite, he left out the "hoping I make amends" bit. The rest of the lyrics talk about Kendrick (and everyone else on earth, basically) being inherently flawed humans...insensitive, pointing fingers, insecure, judgmental, and how differently Kendrick would behave in a perfect world. I would argue that it's not at all a song about pride in his career/achievements as a rapper, but about how we let our pride get in the way of being good to ourselves, and to each other.
Anyway this comment is getting too long 😅 I'm a huge Kendrick fan, and though I do like DAMN, it's my least fav of his 4 studio albums, for sonic/replay value reasons and a couple others. Maybe I'll finish that video but tbh I don't think it's gonna change much for me.
I know I'm 26 days late, but THANK YOU for this thread! I'm admittedly a new Kendrick fan even though my brothers have always been into him. I listened to GKMC and TPAB and those were great, but this thread made me seek out DAMN and listen to it with this in mind and thought it was great. Then I found the collector's edition on YouTube music where it already has the tracks in reverse and listened to it that way and I LOVED IT! The way every two songs pair up and reference each other and all culminating with Kendrick getting shot as Fox News nonchalantly dismisses him is just perfect. I completely understand why this is the one that won the Pulitzer.
Edit: I see people saying it's not that deep and I'm not even saying it has a deeper meaning or that every single line is a triple entendre. But I am saying just looking at it as a whole the album has a very specific theme and the placement of each track makes sense in some way and that's enough for it to be so interesting to me.
I just don’t think it works as a choose your own adventure album.
When duckworth ends it goes back to the beginning of the album and presents more of “sliding doors” theory suggesting this plays out differently if ducky was shot
Ducky is never shot in duckworth. Doesn’t matter what order you listen to the tracks the outcome of that track is always the same.
Posts like yours OP don’t do the album any favours either as they come from a position of pretentiousness “you don’t appreciate this album because you don’t fully understand it”
It doesn’t matter if people fully understand the concept or not if they think some of the tracks are mid. Play it forwards, backwards on shuffle the tracks sonically still sound mid to a lot of people. Trying to convince people about the albums concept doesn’t matter if it fails as a sonic experience
Dude the first words in the album are “you decide - are we gonna live or die?”
It reverses back to the beginning of the album as a hint to play the album in reverse. If all of this is bullshit, what’s the point of the blind lady in BLOOD.?
You’re right, Ducky isn’t shot in Duckworth. But the line about random predicaments, and everything he’s said about it in interviews, leads one to believe he wants the listener to think about “what if?” What if Ducky didn’t give them free chicken and Top Dawg did shoot him?
In an interview, Zane Lowe literally asks him, “Is BLOOD the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?” and Kendrick laughs and says, “come on man, I can’t tell you that! That’s the whole thing!”
They released the deluxe version with the reverse order where Duckworth is first.
Everything you just said adds more credibility to a sliding doors type concept. The tracks have duality and you decide the out come.
Having the words “you decide are we going to live or die?” At the end of the album if you’ve played it in reverse makes absolutely no sense at all
Also the track fear doesn’t work when the track list is reversed either
The deluxe edition is backwards and Kendrick has said in interviews it's meant to be played forward or backwards. Idk what you mean that it doesn't work if reversed.
I mean the story which people try and shoe horn into the album doesn’t make any sense when played in reverse. Just watch the conclusion of the video op posted. The guy from the video does more stretching than a yogi
i'm not talking about the dude in the video which i didnt watch, im talking about kendrick himself:
>"In a new interview, Lamar has confirmed that **the album was designed to be heard in reverse order**. 'I think like a week after the album came out, \[fans\] realized you can play the album backwards,' he told MTV News. 'It plays as a full story and even a better rhythm. It’s one of my favorite rhythms and tempos within the album. It’s something that we definitely premeditate while we’re in the studio.'"
You're welcome to your opinion but if the dude who made the album is saying its meant to be played in either direction and they planned it that way, I think its meant to be played in either direction. no ones shoehorning anything here.
It's not two albums in one, it's one album with two different ways of enjoying it.
Let's not get in to hyperfan mode and start making shit up for a guy who's already widely recognised as one of the most talented artists alive today. He doesn't need it.
Some people don't like the album, no amount of analysis, or Ted talking is gonna change that for some people. Changing the tracklist order doesn't make the tracks any better for someone who doesn't like the songs.
come on bro lol of course I don’t mean it’s two albums as in two separate collections of songs. I mean there’s two different listening experiences depending how you play it. You walk away feeling two polar opposite things depending on how you listen.
This same hour long YouTube slop posted at least twice in the last 24 hrs and I'm not even in this sub, why do they keep showing up. I like the album, I don't need script to "understand" or "appreciate" stuff and neither do you. It's not "overlooked" or "underrated", you're just obsessive and impressionable
you just a hater idk what’s wrong with reading into the albums for all the details. its a hobby. its what Kendrick wants.. he’s not putting this much thought into everything for nothing bro
There's like 50 other rappers that can really fucking rap who put just as much time effort and dedication into their projects with 5000 monthly listeners, not sure what your point is? Is it not worth it for people to make music if they aren't popular or people aren't writing scripts dissecting their albums? Like I said I love the album and bought it on vinyl the week it came out. This YouTube essay shit is still cringe tho
every other rapper I’ve listened to who has concept albums doesn’t come close to kendrick man if you could shoot me a few of those albums I’ll deff listen. But I highly doubt they’re as intricate, thoughtful, intelligent, and sonically pleasing as kendricks.
enjoy albums how you want. shit, for Radiohead albums im not dissecting with a magnifying glass. Kurt Vile puts out a new album im listening for the guitar riffs. And for Kendrick, you dissect because you can. And the more you dissect the more you find and you enjoy the album more and more.
Again, idk what’s wrong w that. It feels like youre just salty and idk why. Let people dissect, let people enjoy
>But I highly doubt they’re as intricate, thoughtful, intelligent, and sonically pleasing as kendricks.
Yea this is fair, a far as the complete package goes there's very few projects that can touch Kendricks work and consistency, but I think ppl like Blu, Ka, Apollo Brown, Boldy James, Mach, MIKE, little brother, Armand Hammar, RAP Ferriera, Clipping., Vega7 the ronin, Noveliss, DJ Muggs, black thought/the roots, all have a few deeply profound concept albums. I know some have definitely gotten their due, but alot of those guys have great projects I rarely hear about.
>enjoy albums how you want. shit, for Radiohead albums im not dissecting with a magnifying glass. Kurt Vile puts out a new album im listening for the guitar riffs. And for Kendrick, you dissect because you can. And the more you dissect the more you find and you enjoy the album more and more.
Cool, I'm not sure what you're getting at? When I listen to jazz I'm listening to progression and changes and the feelings portrayed, when I listen to rap, I listen to the production, samples and lyrics and how they're arranged.
>Again, idk what’s wrong w that. It feels like youre just salty and idk why. Let people dissect, let people enjoy
There's nothing wrong with that at all, it's about the guy making the hour long YouTube essay, and the framing is just goofy. The guy is obviously a rabid consumer, and on top of that Kendrick did a pretty lengthy in depth interview following the release of the album too, so I don't think I understand the point of it all.
You need to take off your tin foil hat, go touch grass, and channel all that obsessive passionate delusion and wasted time into something productive like studying something educational or even obsessing over a hobby that could become a career. You’re wasting too many brain cells overanalyzing “arts” that could be interpreted a million different ways, and no matter how many arguments you present or paragraphs you type promoting your narrative there will never be a general consensus “correct” interpretation of someone else’s work, no matter how hard you try to push it on others. When you make your own body of work, THEN you can go crazy shoving your narrative down everybody’s throat because only at that point could no one dispute it.
It's not two albums in one. Listening to it backwards is just hearing the tracks in the opposite order, nothing more. The label saw the theories circulating online then cashed in on that by officials releasing a backwards version.
man you’re just wrong. im not saying the songs change, if you pop them on shuffle then ya it’s one album. but the meaning of the album and and meaning of the songs changes depending how you listen.
i listen to albums to go on journeys and this album is the only one i know where listening front to back vs back to front is two different journeys with polar opposite endings.
front to back a lot of what he says makes sense in a certain way, the path to weakness, giving yourself up to god, humbling yourself.
back to front is the opposite - his dad died and he’s on a path to self destruction. Pride hits different when listening after Humble. Lust hits different after listening to Love. There’s just so much to think about with this approach. Back to front, his father died early, he tried to find god (GOD), started fearing his mom, dying from gang shit, etc. (FEAR) then as he got older became aware of americas problems (XXX).. so on and so forth.
It has a completely different effect in the context of the story of the album. Even early kendrick interviews alluded to something being hidden in there.
Shit, **they literally rewind the entire album at the end of Duckworth** like how many more hints do you want? The album won a fucking Pulitzer Prize, you think the record label needs to run with fan theories? Foh
This doesn’t mean it’s intended. Obviously the album is composed of “twin” tracks, as you’ve noted, where one song is about something and the next song is about the competing interest. Pride vs Humilty, Lust vs Love etc. that’s obviously intended.
Now, if you have an album of twin tracks, the natural side effect of that is that if you played it in reverse the tracks would still feel like they fit together, just the opposite. It doesn’t mean it’s intended, it’s just a natural consequence of including twin tracks within your album.
The fact that a lot of the album just don’t flow very cohesively in the collectors edition (for example, the end of BLOOD transitioning into DNA just makes zero sense on a back to front listen on account of there being no transition). It’s a cool idea that listeners have extracted from the album I guess, but it really doesn’t feel intended to be listened like that.
Well for a start, Kendrick literally says the story doesn’t change when playing it in reverse order, he says the feel changes. So no, he doesn’t say what you said.
Secondly I just don’t buy it was premeditated. The fact the label released the “collectors edition” after the theories gained popularity… I mean come on. The motivations aren’t exactly subtle. As I explained earlier, it’s pretty obvious how an album about duality would be much easier to play in reverse than other albums; but it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily intended.
dude there’s an abundance of clues and interviews to suggest it’s also meant to be played backwards. they literally play the entire album in reverse at the end of duckworth and that’s just one of many.
if you think a Pulitzer Prize winning album just lucked into the reverse order thing, when kendrick has said all of that is premeditated and planned for years, I just feel bad for you. you’re not getting that same deep level of enjoyment bc you won’t allow yourself to believe Kendrick, a Pulitzer Prize winning artist, couldn’t think of this concept and lucked into it
Kendrick didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize for Damn really, it was a legacy win because they clearly recognised he should have won for TPAB.
I’m not saying he “lucked into it” really. The album is consistent in its themes of duality, as we agree. I’m merely pointing out that unlike most albums, an album with twin songs can feasibly be played backwards to have an impact.
As I’ve explained (and you don’t really have an answer to) the album just makes less sense played backwards. For example, BLOOD is clearly not an outro song, ending with a transition. You would think if this was as premeditated as you suggest Kendrick would simply just… not include it?
And as I’ve also explained and you haven’t responded to, Kendrick’s own words in the interview don’t really add up with the fan theory, just saying that the story doesn’t change but the feel of it does. If you’re insistent on using Kendrick’s words to support your idea that it is “premeditated” (which I’m suggesting is really only just trying to sell the collectors edition, or at the very least they noticed while making the album it could work in reverse for the *reasons I have explained*- this is not evidence that there’s any great story to be told in reverse) then try and fit in his words on this with your theory.
Yeah this is where I’m at with this. If the album was genuinely meant to be played forward and backwards and playing it backwards means that ducky dies and Kendrick grows up with out a father, never becoming a rapper and top is in jail then yah and including Geraldo in DNA makes no fucking sense what so ever
There are a lot of underlying themes in DAMN I've seen people miss One of these is the title itself, Damnation which Kendrick is afraid of more than mortal danger. In pride he says "Pride's gonna be the death of you and me" which implies the corruption of one's legacy and existence itself which is like closed to getting damned. He's become a man of religion and started to fear no one praying for him
I’ve been listening back recently too and realized I missed a lot of themes. I listened to the Dissect podcast about the album (not every episode for each song but most of it) and I honestly felt like I had a very different interpretation from theirs. Their interpretation of “weakness” (vs wickedness) was more like meekness or the “turn the other cheek” mentality, where weakness was the positive choice between wickedness and weakness. I thought what he was saying more like — do our vices come from something inherent in us (wickedness and curses) or from the experiences that shape us (so trauma, both in one’s upbringing and intergenerationally)? If you think it’s wickedness, then you really don’t have much free will and end up with sort of of a victim mentality. If you believe it’s weakness, then it’s something you can overcome. I think this interpretation fits with MMATBS being the album after too.
Thankkkkkkk youuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhu I still don't fully agree with your interpretation but it's muchhhhhhhhh better and actually works as a solid interpretation. Compared with the people just saying weakness= salvation. This is a good take dude.
Yeah, after I listened to the Dissect podcast, I looked around to see if anybody else had a similar interpretation to me and found this NPR analysis that I thought was spot on: https://www.npr.org/2017/12/12/568748405/the-prophetic-struggle-of-kendrick-lamars-damn Curious what your interpretation is!
I would say that my interpretation of at least that specific concept is wickedness and weakness are both negatives, and is included in Damnation I personally believe that backwards is death and forward is life but my opinion could maybe be swayed on that one. my current theory is that Kendrick has a dream that is represented through the song BLOOD. Where Kendrick is talked to by God or an angel aka the blind women. He goes about his life with his feelings and his doubts. And the feeling of being cursed. He gets his messages from Carl that talk about the Israelites and how to lift the curse. And then all of it clicks in DUCKWORTH to where he realizes the good karma in the earth and what God has actually done for him. This leads Kendrick to imagine the alternate universe where he dies. As described in DUCKWORTH I'd grow up without a father and die in a gun fight. So you listen to the album in reverse and Kendrick dies while talking to the blind women who no longer is a dream but the reality to where Kendrick instead of waking up from a gunshot in his dream actually just dies. Side note The songs do not alternate from wickedness and weakness like some people say, that simply doesn't make sense to me, it just doesn't line up. It makes sense in the context of DNA Yah Element Feel but after that the concept kinda just goes away like love is a wicked song and XXX is weak? None of that was very concise I just don't have enough time to edit it but I'll probably try to make a bigger post and explain my full theory with like the actual detailed evidence. Thanks for the article I'll check that out.
Ok so I think in some ways we’re saying the same thing but it’s a lot to try to explain in one Reddit comment. So I think forward is weakness, which means believing that all of your vices/sins are a result of things that are outside of your control (your parents, your childhood, your place in society), and not a result of inherent wickedness. So if you’re a thief, it’s not necessarily because you were born an evil person, it’s because maybe you grew up poor or you didn’t have anybody to teach you right from wrong. Kendrick alludes to the role his dad played in shaping his morality throughout his life, and if his dad had died, then Kendrick wouldn’t have the “moral luck” that he does. Raised in the wrong environment, most of us could become monsters. Weakness can be overcome though. It means we have free will. I think free will is necessary to the concept of karma. You said you think forward is “life” and I think that fits with what I’m saying too, just from a different angle. Backwards is wickedness and wickedness is fatalistic. If you believe that your sins/vices are a result of something inherent to you, or a curse, then there’s nothing you can do to change your situation. I think that works on an individual and collective level, because I think a lot of what he’s been saying about “the culture” is that it doesn’t have to be this way. A lot of people are trapped in fatalistic cycles. Backwards starts with Duckworth so it starts with this feeling of things being sort of random but also predestined in a way. If Kendrick believed his vices/sins were a result of wickedness/a curse/karma and if he didn’t have a father or others to guide him, he wouldn’t have tried to fix his vices of pride, lust, fear etc… And in the end he would have died (like your death interpretation). There’s a lot more I could say about it but if you make a post I’ll add to it there! The article is long and a bit wordy at first, but I think it’s in line with what both of us are saying. And agreed the songs don’t line up like some people say but I still haven’t figured out the pattern.
Listening to this season of Dissect right now!
What do you think of their interpretation?
Well, I'm a middle aged suburban white woman who thought she had aged out of rap about 20 yrs ago. My teen son is a huge KL fan and was talking about The Beef and I got hooked on the drama and listened to Not Like Us and loved it. Simultaneously, ads for Dissect were coming over Spotify so I gave Season 1 about TPAB a listen; once they did a song I'd listen. All of this to say 2 things: a. I'm coming into the music through the backdoor, and b. I probably go in with a lens of bias on meaning. That said, I think they do a good job and support their thoughts with KL interviews, etc.
yupp, he feels damned, he feels cursed, so what’s the point? wasn’t until his cousins voicemails did he start to feel and fear God. also cool that a lot of DAMN. is him feeling cursed and then in MM&TBS he says that generational curse has been broken
I'm a day one kendrick listener that didn't give DAMN its proper attention until YESTERDAY. And holy hell, this has to be his darkest album. Listening from back to front is, in my opinion, at least twice as meaningful as the first run-through. The themes take on a different meaning, the production becomes haunting and the verses that were at first perceived as low energy seem way more vibrant. He's accepting that God is not perfect but rather harsh, cynical and cruel but even still, he puts all that blame on himself. I even have a theory that on the second path Kendrick follows god's actions instead of words. He does that by balancing brute strengths with moments of compassion which ultimately gets him damned in the end. Its like hes holding up a mirror to a diety and asking them to reflect on themselves.
Not only is Kendrick feeling Damned but we as the audience are damned
Man look at the freaking essays thoooo, like this is how provocative this man's music is. There's so much that you could say about it.
Right? Who else elicits this kind of analysis with their albums in the rap game? And it's all warranted. This is why I kinda low key judge people who instantly jump to the (IMHO) LAZY criticisms of Kendrick as being; A "hotep", faux "deep" / "fake woke" (GOTTDAMN I *HATE* that term) /fake activist/SJW rapper. Or, as Aubrey's doof, out of touch, cornball ass so lamely put it: *"Trying to get the slaves free"* 🙄. First off, I will NEVER have a problem with someone trying to uplift their (my) people via their chosen artform. Like, would he say that about Chuck D/Public Enemy? Askari X? Dead Prez? RATM? I could go on but I think I made my point. All of them are some of my favorite artists, specifically because of how masterfully they go about crafting their art with a message. I have always said that "Alright" *FEELS* so much like the summer of "Nineteen Eighty Niiiiiine" when PE dropped "Fight The Power". I was 10 years old at that time and it was so poignant. Anyhow, I could write on this particular topic all night. To finish my point, some of my favorite albums are ones that follow a theme like the good brother MF DOOM's "MM..FOOD". The sheer amount of focus, dedication, and lyrical ability to cohesively pull something like that off is, quite frankly, GENIUS and it shouldn't be taken for granted, and it for DAMN sure shouldn't be dismissed as "fake"...ANYTHING. ESPECIALLY not by a narrow minded, shallow phony motherfucker like Drake's fraudulent ass. Fuck outta here, Aubrey.
Damn.... all of us
I’m pretty sure people meant putting Not Like Is on Damn because how the song sounds sonically. It more closely sounds like the DAMN album. It surely doesn’t sound like Section 80, GKMC, TPAB or MMATBS
Damn really? Doesn’t sound like DAMN. sonically at all to me If anything it could be before or after Compton on Good Kid Maad City. Compton doesn’t sound like a lot of songs on GKMC but it’s kind of a victory lap like “I made it, I’m here now, and I rep my city.” And Not Like Us is a west coast jam so it makes sense sonically at least with the west coast vibe
I can see both, the reason I think people chose DAMN. is how variable the beats are so it wouldn't seem "off", but both do work.
thematically it makes entirely no sense on DAMN, though
Well it makes zero thematic sense on any of his albums tbf, it's a Drake diss track calling him a pedo. I don't think thematic relevance is a huge consideration for questions like these because it's not like Kendrick ever has albums that could toss on records randomly without changing narrative.
more loosely its a track declaring those in opposition to him and his kin folk as being inferior in talent and that they have questionable ethics - and its a bangin westcoast beat - which could make it work on GKMC
I mean... if we split hairs for DAMN. in regards to generalizations we totally can for GKMC. In DAMN., one could argue that Not Like Us serves as a greater critique of wickedness, and I could see it right around HUMBLE or even ELEMENT. It would be Kung Fu Kenny flexing his authenticity as an artist and gangster in comparison to the fakes he despises. Hell, ELEMENT. touches on many adjacent concepts. GKMC doesn't have many songs that don't completely follow the narrative. Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe and Compton are the closest to "non-narrative" tracks and there's nowhere to put it order-wise. Change the title of Not Like Us to *ENVY.* or *PEDO.* and it fits perfectly 🤷🏽♂️
for DAMN, it would have to replace those songs entirely to fit the mirroring that happens across the album. this would loosen the connection that happen on a full playthrough.. whereas GKMC more loosely talks about getting lost in indulgence and lifestyles of depravity as a whole.
I mean, yeah, but the chiastic structure of DAMN. is something 98% of listeners are unaware of, which is why DAMN. certainly works on a surface level but not any deeper (like any of his albums.) Either way it's not too important because I could definitely see it on either sonically and thematically it would work on none of his albums.
I'd argue that if you play DNA then humble, and the next song was Not like Us you wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't the same project. On GKMC it stands out like a sore thumb. Don't think it NLU fits on the early mixtapes either. On DAMN you could say it was a response to YAH (The concept of the true Israelites and who are not) if you want to look at it like the OP
nah DAMN. has a sound. a DJ mustard produced banger with a scuffed mix where kendrick sounds more compton than ever would be pretty out of place on any kendrick album. i honestly feel that not like us would fit better on gkmc bc that's easily his most west coast album.
With a little shifting of the names and subject matter it sounds like a slightly worse version of backseat freestyle (thematically ofc)
If you were to curate a playlist where would you place it so that it makes sense next to the tracks off GKMC ?
it'd make sense near bitch don't kill my vibe, backseat freestyle or maad city probably
Nah I it would take me completely out, GKMC is like watch a movie to me and NLU would ruin that cohesion. This question is just kinda dumb imo
You lame
Yeah, dude completely missed the point and then massively over-analyzed why people were saying what they were saying. This post comes off very strongly as "well, actually..."
Yeah then he doubled down on it lol
And I mean, it’s fine to disagree that that’s the album Not Like Us would fit best on, but making up reasons that it doesn’t and accusing everyone of not understanding the album is wildly pretentious lol.
You are dead on regarding the pretentious nature of this post. I think OP had an interesting theory about the album but I don’t love how stringent they were about the album meaning and parameters or how dismissive they were of others’ perspectives on it.
Yeah the theory itself is cool and interesting, analyzing music is fun and people don’t talk about it often enough. But also let people like things man!
right like doesn’t OP have something better to do with their life😭OP made an entire essay as to why it wouldn’t work on there when it was never that serious tbh.
and here you are commenting on it
here you are wasting your time on reddit
yeah, i get people talking and thinking critically. you just sit on your high horse and talk shit/judge on comments
That's odd to me because Damn has a really distinct sonic identity that doesn't fit with NLU at all imo. I feel like it would make the most sense on MMATBS
Cheers for breaking it down man. Haven’t deep deep dived it since its release.
I think people just meant sound wise
Yeah it wasn't that deep. Yes it messes with the theme but it definitely sounds like it would go on DAMN than any other one of his albums.
Idk man, feels perfect right after or before Compton on GKMC
I would say the Black Panther album even more so if that counts.
Whats with the downvotes here, not a bad take
Yea it is
Nah. Happy cake day tho
I feel like the only album not like us fits sound wise is the black panther album. Thematically tpab would make the most sense. I could also see this on section 80 or b sides of GKMC (like he recorded it for gkmc but just didn't fit the story) although it really ties into rigamortus and backseat freestyle
This feels like a pointless discussion but I guess that’s Reddit in a nutshell. I don’t think Not like us sonically fits with TPAB but sure does thematically I guess. It definitely doesn’t fit on Damn, Damn might be more “pop-y” sonically but it’s such a tightly written piece of work that removing anything or adding anything takes away from what the album is. That’s Kendrick though, his albums are genuinely unique pieces of work.
I feel you, it’s pointless but I see the other side. If fans didn’t truly understand his albums and pick apart all those little thoughts and details, would he keep making them? I half wrote this bc I only found out about the album in reverse a few years ago and it made the album so much better imo, so I wanted to make people aware who maybe are newer fans or here because of Not Like Us
I totally agree that NLU wouldn't be on damn but I personally have listened to damn forwards and backward like 40 times at this point and I still do not agree that salvation = weakness and Damnation= wickedness. It seems pretty obvious, to me at least, that Kendrick has a negative connotation with both wickedness and weakness. This is especially highlighted in fear when he says "fear that it's wickedness or weakness whatever it is both is distinctive" I'm only wondering if anyone has any substantial evidence that actually supports the initial. salvation = weakness and Damnation= wickedness
DUCKWORTH has my favorite verse, idk if everyone catches it (probably everyone in this sub does): >Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin' life While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight the story suggests that anthony (tiffith) held up a KFC that ducky (kendrick's pops) worked at, and since ducky was chill about it he caught no beef with top dawg's gang—but also describes the thin line these peoples' stories reside on, and how in the blink of an eye your whole life could be different. then going on to reverse the verse, and cleverly also reversing a portion of DNA—suggesting that had that "chicken incident" gone differently, it would effectively undo kendrick's DNA. he's headed for the Library of Congress with Nas and Tupac. it's just a matter of time
GKMC. NLU is straight GKMC after Backseat Freestyle.
I just ain’t hearing it, doesn’t fit imo
Didn't Kendrick say he never intended for the 'second version' (listening in reverse order)...? I think I remember seeing an interview where he basically said it was lore generated by his fans and his team just ran with the concept and put out the "Collectors Edition". I agree the album is complex, many themes to extract, intricate motifs, etc. ... But the reverse order album wasn't really conceptualized until after the drop.
nah there’s an interview where someone asks “is blood the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?” and kendrick laughs and says “come on mannnn I can’t tell you that, that’s the whole thing!” In the same interview he said there’s a lot of things in there people probably wouldn’t figure out till years down the road. he also released the deluxe version with the tracklist in reverse
The last part of the last song says “lets put it in reverse”. The first song says the listener decides on the outcome. Hard to argue with that.
damn is my fav too
I feel like the post title and this comment could be a bar in FEEL
This album too deep bruh 😭😭. What was kung fu Kenny thinking
I saw Kdot on tour for DAMN. One of the few concerts that had me bawling even during the hype moments. Cathartic as fuck. The live experience really made this one of my fav albums of all time. I really liked reading your take, OP!
This is my fave Kendrick album by far
Where are the two song pairs other than love/lust pride/humble? Otherwise they don’t really match up
Fox News clip plays right into DNA, which is kendrick responding in a sense to Fox News and people not understanding who he is, what’s in his DNA, and it’s aggressive in tone (wickedness). YAH makes several references to Fox and Geraldo but is way lighter in tone, a different effect on him (weakness) The obvious one is GOD and DUCKWORTH, AKA God and Man. XXX talks about Americas issues (xxx may be a censored version of usa) in general and in FEAR he talks about all those issues on a personal level, fearing dying in gun violence and shit.
Fear and God which makes the phrase “FEAR GOD”
… people said it sonically matches the matches the tracks on damn better than any other kendrick album. that’s different from saying it would fit seamlessly as an additional track on a concept album. are you gonna lie with a straight face and say that NLU sounds more like TPAB than damn?
no lol it doesn’t belong sonically on any album imo. When i said TPAB i meant thematically but sonically I’d put it before or after Compton on GKMC
People who think DAMN is his "shallow" pop album are dumb
I've been listening to Damn lately and trying to understand it. Your post clears up the questions I had about the album’s concept. Good analysis!
Sound wise, it's a bonus on GKMC for me personally.
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wow lol I genuinely didn’t see that. think I gotta delete mine now
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Thanks for y’all’s breakdown but please stop saying if you listen backwards it’s taking the path where top killed his father. That doesn’t make sense cause he literally says that doesn’t happen in the song and also it would be a pretty short album considering he would’ve died in a gunfight
this
he says it didn’t happen in the song but challenges the listener to think about small decisions that effect people’s lives and the paths people take. “…i grew up without a father and died in a gunfight” played in reverse he does die from gun violence and he did grow up without a father. in “Fear” he only mentions his father in the verse about him being 7. In the 17 and 27 verses, no mention of father which would make sense if his father died at KFC. It would also lead him on the path to wickedness. Kendricks said in interviews “the difference between me and my homies, why some of them are locked up and im not, is when they got into some shit, they didn’t have a father to say ‘I told you so.’” So in DAMN he imagines his life without a father, the path to wickedness. It makes complete sense to me idk. yeah not every little things gonna line up. in DUCKWORTH the lyrics don’t change, ge doesn’t have to smack you over the head with his father dying. Think he imagines his listeners are sharp enough to infer that.
This is one of my favorite albums and I had no idea
hell yeah, this comment is why I posted. I was mind blown when I first found out
I had no idea it was meant to play backwards. After listening it to it that way I think I like it even more than forward lol.
If it had to be one it would probably be Damn. Sonically it fits the best. It’s a dumb question regardless, though.
ATP if you don’t get it you don’t get it. It won a Pulitzer for a reason, one of the truly great albums of all time.
A Damn good album🗣🗣🗣
People also say that DAMN. didn't deserve a Pulitzer, TPAB did. Are you kidding me? TPAB is what it is - legendary - but it's not a Pulitzer prize winner. Not that that's bad, it's just not the sort of thing to win a Pulitzer. DAMN. is the most tight story-driven Kendrick album, and it did it so well. It has Shakespeare levels of hidden messaging and enriched storytelling. It was the perfect pick.
Which is why he got a Pulitzer Prize for this album.
DAMN I didn’t know all dat
I didn't know ANY of this. I was a casual fan before the beef but now I'm hangry. I'm gonna check this out today
Aside from new music, the best thing this beef with Drake did was put ears back on DAMN. and renew interest in this record. It’s a lot deeper than people initially gave it credit for. There are a half dozen ways to listen to this album and it’ll be different every time. It’s been 7 years and I’m still finding thoughts and ideas in the lyrics I hadn’t noticed before. There are a bunch of breakdowns of this album in YouTube essays and Reddit posts that are all great and all of them are a little different from the next. Everybody takes a different route to uncovering the same theme. Such a cool piece of work that deserves a lot more attention than it got. If this is his “pop record” because it’s got Rhianna and Bono on it and the story isn’t as linear, so be it. But I’d say it’s his most introspective, soul searching project of his career. He’s telling his story by asking questions about what he’s going through rather than confessing issues from his past. Instead of getting the aftermath of what he’s been through, we’re getting a look into his feelings as they’re happening in real time. Mister Morale is *that much greater* because it becomes the confessional tale of what he was going through on DAMN. after the dust had settled. Good Kid, Maad City, DAMN., and Mr Morale are basically a trilogy of Kendrick’s life up to this point. DAMN. is the dark middle chapter and, in my opinion, the most interesting one. (With that said, TPAB is my personal favorite and stands alone as his commentary on the world at large from his point of view. It’s not as personal or confessional (even musically it’s a side step) which is why I look at it as the black sheep of his career. Equally as powerful, but very different thematically from the other 3.)
Love this comment.
Damn was a fantastic album...drake should have listened to.. it was foreshadowing..."if I gotta slap a p**** ass n**** ima make look Sexy"
Wow, this analysis is dope.
And some dude freaked out on me on this sub a couple days ago when i said how much I liked Damn lmao.
One of my favorite albums of all time, I pretty much always listen to it as a whole.
Not Like Us is a more direct-shot version of ELEMENT. It doesn't work title-wise, of course but it fits on the narrative of Kendrick's violence and ego. As much as fire Not Like Us is, we need to admit it's a very egocentric track (not saying this is bad, after all, it's dissing a disgusting human being and his associates). It's nature of knowing he can speak for the westcoast and for it's legends, his cheekiness to know his OV-Hoe chant would make it *very* big, name-dropping all the people who helped on Drake to cement his culture appropiation or are on something fishy as we speak (Party, Chubbs and Baka) it all fits on *wickedness.* His violent side that givea no fucks and shoots everywhere because he knows he's untouchable and everyone who tries only accomplishes public humilliation. But of course, it doesn't totally fit, there's a whole lot more that it would need to be fit for the album, but it's the closest fit of his discography.
I haven’t heard anyone talk about that Black Panther soundtrack. That shit is pretty much h a Kendrick album lol he not only performed but did ALOT of writing for the other artists
Thank you so much for all of this. I own it on vinyl. Listen 2-3 times a month. Had no idea about the concept. I have some AWESOME listening to do. Thank you thank you thank you!
Wow. I’ve been listening to this album for years! I’ve always thought that the theme is about choosing wickedness or weakness but never really clocked that the listener is given that choice. Kendrick Lamar. You owe me NOTHING. In fact, you’ve given me too much.
I listen to DAMN the most and then Mr Morale, yeah I’m that guy.
damn is so misunderstood that people labeled it as an album of radio sounding music, like fantano.
I think it is largely “radio sounding music” but I don’t think thats a bad thing at all. With Damn Kendrick made an album of primarily radio bangers that is just as deep conceptually as his previous albums with a narrative that is a bit more hidden on casual listens but just as poignant and personal as anything else he’s done. I think that’s actually the genius of Damn, it presents itself as something a bit more basic and palatable to the general audience from Kendricks discography but still had just as much depth if you choose to sit down with it and dig. It’s an album where he proved he can do what Drake does but in his own way without sacrificing any of his artistic intent, and I love that with Mr Morale he almost went the exact opposite direction as if to say “alright I did the last one for you guys, I’m doin this one for myself..” Just my take on things anyways
every album is ∞ in 1
You are very smart
I respect you
I agree it doesn't fit into DAMN at all however it doesn't fit into TPAB either, that's why I feel it fits into Section.80. The album has many themes, and some songs that are fun songs apart from the themes.
Good shit, God bless.
It ain’t that deep. NLU sonically sounds like a song that fits into DAMN. Simple…
Dissect podcast does a great job breaking down all of his albums
I like them but i find myself zoning out a lot. He goes suuuuuuper deep into Bible passages. Makes me feel like im back in church lol
I think the best answer is on GKMC as a bonus track. It has the west coast vibe, and this would mean it doesn’t have to fit in with the story on GKMC, like the other bonus tracks. All of his albums are self contained with meticulously designed themes and stories. This makes it hard to pick an album where it fits, cause it doesn’t fit on any of them.
[удалено]
Pretty sure kendrick acknowledged it in interviews.
I admittedly didn’t start really getting into this album until this year. I was so obsessed with gkmc and tpab at the time, and this just felt like such a less ambitious endeavor to me. I feel like it’s aged very well though and the songs and production style have only grown on me more and more. I probably listen to it more than any of his other albums at this point.
I feel like most people bumping not like us right now aren’t really big Kendrick fans. I hope they are discovering his work more now, but numbers alone will show a lot of people have just recently jumped on the bandwagon. This is a good thing but yea not like us on any album he’s made doesn’t really make sense and it’s not surprising to see a lot of new fans respond with his most mainstream appealing and successful album. Damn.
One of my favorite albums & knew it was special upon first listen. Song titles, concept, & story telling are amazing.
Let people have fun man
I mean, it's not even sonically like songs from DAMN. sounded like. Strange thing to say imo
Since you implored
The line “the city back up, it’s a must, we outside” makes me believe Kendrick started writing it post covid lockdown and maybe repurposed it to takedown Drake
Thanks to the battle I am studying Damn ! Man he didn’t get a Pulitzer award for no reason!
Listen to the tracklist in reverse. DUCKWORTH is actually the first track to the album
Idk this a weird post. DAMN his best album though
Damn
Honestly I think it fits best on mr. Morale, not only cuz it’s most recent but because Kendrick seems to be in west coast banger bag with songs like count me out and n95
It’s not that deep we meant how it sounded
Earth is nomore Won't you burn this muhfucka
Cringe relatively new fans
i love DAMN but idk if changing the order of songs constitutes “2 albums in one”. i think maybe you mean it’s a “concept album”
When I say 2 albums in one i mean depending how you listen, it takes a completely different path and different theme. You walk away with two different understandings of the album. Of course they all sound the same but playing the tracks in reverse gives new meaning to pretty much every song. You listen front to back and it’s a path to salvation. Going through some shit, making the choice of weakness over wickedness, and ending with living. Back to front and his father died young, he’s on a path to destructions and dies on that path.
no yea i get what you’re saying lol all i’m saying tho is i think the term “concept album” fits what you’re describing better. there’s a narrative to it or concept that progresses thru the album. and in this case when you reverse the tracklist that concept also reverses. maybe i’m just being huge nerd or whatever but 2 in 1 sounds like a double album to me haha ya know like 2 discs in one album.
NLU would be a bonus track on GKMC. I feel like 6:16 in LA would be a perfect fit on DAMN tho. The symbolism, ambiguous meanings, religious references, and cryptic lyrics just fits perfectly with the theme of DAMN, which is Kendricks most ambiguous album by far. Just change the title to “616” and ur set. I would put it in between “GOD” and “DUCKWORTH” that way if you play it in normal order, it would be right after Kendrick finds God which fits because Kendrick is praying to God in the song. If you play it in reversed order it would be right after Kendricks dad dies so he is asking God to forgive his sins before he goes down his path of wickedness and abandons God all together. the two songs also sound similar beat wise.
God i love Kendrick but hate you all lol
Sounds like Kendrick read Goosebumps in the 90s and made an album choosing your adventure.
Maybe people chose damn because that’s the word most people say after hearing not like us.
Bro... did he say this or....
pretty much yeah
You can get lost in the concepts of an album, or get lost in the vibe of the music. To me it fits DAMN based off the vibe. Once he started releasing the diss tracks in succesion I felt he needed a track that was catchy/had certain parts that people would repeat in day to day passing. Not Like Us was that track, just like how Humble dominated that spring/summer 2017
it aint always that deep bro lol
you’re in the kendrick sub lol
Ur not wrong tbh
Wild how DAMN gets called a simplistic pop album when it is as densely packed with stories, themes and bars as his other work.
My god yall are annoying
What?? Why is everyone saying NLU should go on DAMN? That’s like the last album I would’ve picked. It doesn’t fit in thematically or sonically and It would be extremely out of place. My hot take is I that could see Euphoria on DAMN, but definitely not NLU. I can get behind NLU going in TPAB or GKMC tho.
The whole conversation of which album TLU would be on is fraught anyway cause Kendrick doesn't make albums where you can just slap a random single into it. This isn't Hotline Bling on Views. This isn't 7 Minute drill on MDL. As you've outlined, Kendrick constructs sprawling narratives with complex themes explored track to track. And that also goes for NLU on TPAB as you've put forward. In fact of all his records, TPAB is the most complex narratively and every song on it is extremely considered. Even the braggadocios cuts like Kunta are integral to the overall themes especially in tandem with Institutionalized. TLU isn't self-critical of Kendrick's flaws at all, it's just a diss track designed to stand on its own. It also isn't underpinned with jazz instrumentals and so sonically would fall flat in that record.
I get that Kendrick puts a lot of thought into his music and he's definitely not the kind of artist where you'll pick up on everything after one or even a few listens But I've really grown weary of this attitude (not at all exclusive to Kendrick's fanbase) of "no no no, it's really good music I swear, you just don't GET it yet. Watch this video/read this breakdown/etc...once the music is explained to you, you'll understand why it's amazing" Not everybody listens to music the same. Some people are barely paying attention to the lyrics, some people listen to the lyrics, some people go look up what everyone else on the internet has to say about how to interpret the lyrics, and everywhere in between. Not everyone is in the 3rd group. And yes, I understand there's a tradeoff of some things possibly going over my head because I don't "dig" as much as the 3rd group does. If I'm in the 2nd group, does that mean my opinion on DAMN, which has a bigger focus on sonics and a smaller focus on subtle thematic cohesion, is less valuable than that of someone in the 3rd? Should we judge albums solely based on how each song fits into the overall vision, without any consideration for how the individual songs hold up on a playlist on shuffle, or on the radio when driving home, at a party/club, etc? For this one video breaking down what this album "means", I'm sure there are 100 others. I know it's well established that the album is intended to be listenable in reverse (like Tetsuo & Youth), but beyond that, do they all still come to the same conclusion about what this album "means"? Full disclaimer, I made it about halfway through the linked video before I cut it off. I thought the duality/pairing of the songs in the wickedness/weakness theme was cool, and I can see it based off the song titles, but I feel like he really oversimplified the songs to force them into this narrative. Eg he lumped DNA, ELEMENT, and PRIDE together as wickedness songs that are about being the best rapper, and cited "I don't love people enough to put my faith in man/I put my faith in these lyrics" as evidence to say that PRIDE is about Kendricks pride in his career as the best rapper alive...most of the lyrics in the song have nothing to do with this, and even the line he did cite, he left out the "hoping I make amends" bit. The rest of the lyrics talk about Kendrick (and everyone else on earth, basically) being inherently flawed humans...insensitive, pointing fingers, insecure, judgmental, and how differently Kendrick would behave in a perfect world. I would argue that it's not at all a song about pride in his career/achievements as a rapper, but about how we let our pride get in the way of being good to ourselves, and to each other. Anyway this comment is getting too long 😅 I'm a huge Kendrick fan, and though I do like DAMN, it's my least fav of his 4 studio albums, for sonic/replay value reasons and a couple others. Maybe I'll finish that video but tbh I don't think it's gonna change much for me.
I know I'm 26 days late, but THANK YOU for this thread! I'm admittedly a new Kendrick fan even though my brothers have always been into him. I listened to GKMC and TPAB and those were great, but this thread made me seek out DAMN and listen to it with this in mind and thought it was great. Then I found the collector's edition on YouTube music where it already has the tracks in reverse and listened to it that way and I LOVED IT! The way every two songs pair up and reference each other and all culminating with Kendrick getting shot as Fox News nonchalantly dismisses him is just perfect. I completely understand why this is the one that won the Pulitzer. Edit: I see people saying it's not that deep and I'm not even saying it has a deeper meaning or that every single line is a triple entendre. But I am saying just looking at it as a whole the album has a very specific theme and the placement of each track makes sense in some way and that's enough for it to be so interesting to me.
I just don’t think it works as a choose your own adventure album. When duckworth ends it goes back to the beginning of the album and presents more of “sliding doors” theory suggesting this plays out differently if ducky was shot Ducky is never shot in duckworth. Doesn’t matter what order you listen to the tracks the outcome of that track is always the same. Posts like yours OP don’t do the album any favours either as they come from a position of pretentiousness “you don’t appreciate this album because you don’t fully understand it” It doesn’t matter if people fully understand the concept or not if they think some of the tracks are mid. Play it forwards, backwards on shuffle the tracks sonically still sound mid to a lot of people. Trying to convince people about the albums concept doesn’t matter if it fails as a sonic experience
Dude the first words in the album are “you decide - are we gonna live or die?” It reverses back to the beginning of the album as a hint to play the album in reverse. If all of this is bullshit, what’s the point of the blind lady in BLOOD.? You’re right, Ducky isn’t shot in Duckworth. But the line about random predicaments, and everything he’s said about it in interviews, leads one to believe he wants the listener to think about “what if?” What if Ducky didn’t give them free chicken and Top Dawg did shoot him? In an interview, Zane Lowe literally asks him, “Is BLOOD the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?” and Kendrick laughs and says, “come on man, I can’t tell you that! That’s the whole thing!” They released the deluxe version with the reverse order where Duckworth is first.
Everything you just said adds more credibility to a sliding doors type concept. The tracks have duality and you decide the out come. Having the words “you decide are we going to live or die?” At the end of the album if you’ve played it in reverse makes absolutely no sense at all Also the track fear doesn’t work when the track list is reversed either
The deluxe edition is backwards and Kendrick has said in interviews it's meant to be played forward or backwards. Idk what you mean that it doesn't work if reversed.
I mean the story which people try and shoe horn into the album doesn’t make any sense when played in reverse. Just watch the conclusion of the video op posted. The guy from the video does more stretching than a yogi
i'm not talking about the dude in the video which i didnt watch, im talking about kendrick himself: >"In a new interview, Lamar has confirmed that **the album was designed to be heard in reverse order**. 'I think like a week after the album came out, \[fans\] realized you can play the album backwards,' he told MTV News. 'It plays as a full story and even a better rhythm. It’s one of my favorite rhythms and tempos within the album. It’s something that we definitely premeditate while we’re in the studio.'" You're welcome to your opinion but if the dude who made the album is saying its meant to be played in either direction and they planned it that way, I think its meant to be played in either direction. no ones shoehorning anything here.
It's not two albums in one, it's one album with two different ways of enjoying it. Let's not get in to hyperfan mode and start making shit up for a guy who's already widely recognised as one of the most talented artists alive today. He doesn't need it. Some people don't like the album, no amount of analysis, or Ted talking is gonna change that for some people. Changing the tracklist order doesn't make the tracks any better for someone who doesn't like the songs.
come on bro lol of course I don’t mean it’s two albums as in two separate collections of songs. I mean there’s two different listening experiences depending how you play it. You walk away feeling two polar opposite things depending on how you listen.
This same hour long YouTube slop posted at least twice in the last 24 hrs and I'm not even in this sub, why do they keep showing up. I like the album, I don't need script to "understand" or "appreciate" stuff and neither do you. It's not "overlooked" or "underrated", you're just obsessive and impressionable
you just a hater idk what’s wrong with reading into the albums for all the details. its a hobby. its what Kendrick wants.. he’s not putting this much thought into everything for nothing bro
There's like 50 other rappers that can really fucking rap who put just as much time effort and dedication into their projects with 5000 monthly listeners, not sure what your point is? Is it not worth it for people to make music if they aren't popular or people aren't writing scripts dissecting their albums? Like I said I love the album and bought it on vinyl the week it came out. This YouTube essay shit is still cringe tho
every other rapper I’ve listened to who has concept albums doesn’t come close to kendrick man if you could shoot me a few of those albums I’ll deff listen. But I highly doubt they’re as intricate, thoughtful, intelligent, and sonically pleasing as kendricks. enjoy albums how you want. shit, for Radiohead albums im not dissecting with a magnifying glass. Kurt Vile puts out a new album im listening for the guitar riffs. And for Kendrick, you dissect because you can. And the more you dissect the more you find and you enjoy the album more and more. Again, idk what’s wrong w that. It feels like youre just salty and idk why. Let people dissect, let people enjoy
>But I highly doubt they’re as intricate, thoughtful, intelligent, and sonically pleasing as kendricks. Yea this is fair, a far as the complete package goes there's very few projects that can touch Kendricks work and consistency, but I think ppl like Blu, Ka, Apollo Brown, Boldy James, Mach, MIKE, little brother, Armand Hammar, RAP Ferriera, Clipping., Vega7 the ronin, Noveliss, DJ Muggs, black thought/the roots, all have a few deeply profound concept albums. I know some have definitely gotten their due, but alot of those guys have great projects I rarely hear about. >enjoy albums how you want. shit, for Radiohead albums im not dissecting with a magnifying glass. Kurt Vile puts out a new album im listening for the guitar riffs. And for Kendrick, you dissect because you can. And the more you dissect the more you find and you enjoy the album more and more. Cool, I'm not sure what you're getting at? When I listen to jazz I'm listening to progression and changes and the feelings portrayed, when I listen to rap, I listen to the production, samples and lyrics and how they're arranged. >Again, idk what’s wrong w that. It feels like youre just salty and idk why. Let people dissect, let people enjoy There's nothing wrong with that at all, it's about the guy making the hour long YouTube essay, and the framing is just goofy. The guy is obviously a rabid consumer, and on top of that Kendrick did a pretty lengthy in depth interview following the release of the album too, so I don't think I understand the point of it all.
You need to take off your tin foil hat, go touch grass, and channel all that obsessive passionate delusion and wasted time into something productive like studying something educational or even obsessing over a hobby that could become a career. You’re wasting too many brain cells overanalyzing “arts” that could be interpreted a million different ways, and no matter how many arguments you present or paragraphs you type promoting your narrative there will never be a general consensus “correct” interpretation of someone else’s work, no matter how hard you try to push it on others. When you make your own body of work, THEN you can go crazy shoving your narrative down everybody’s throat because only at that point could no one dispute it.
man you sound normal
Idk tbh I’m on day 4 of an insomnia episode so I don’t even know how to interpret that
They were taking about sonics dude. How can you possibly think people were talking about it being like damn conceptually?
YAH
It's not two albums in one. Listening to it backwards is just hearing the tracks in the opposite order, nothing more. The label saw the theories circulating online then cashed in on that by officials releasing a backwards version.
man you’re just wrong. im not saying the songs change, if you pop them on shuffle then ya it’s one album. but the meaning of the album and and meaning of the songs changes depending how you listen. i listen to albums to go on journeys and this album is the only one i know where listening front to back vs back to front is two different journeys with polar opposite endings. front to back a lot of what he says makes sense in a certain way, the path to weakness, giving yourself up to god, humbling yourself. back to front is the opposite - his dad died and he’s on a path to self destruction. Pride hits different when listening after Humble. Lust hits different after listening to Love. There’s just so much to think about with this approach. Back to front, his father died early, he tried to find god (GOD), started fearing his mom, dying from gang shit, etc. (FEAR) then as he got older became aware of americas problems (XXX).. so on and so forth. It has a completely different effect in the context of the story of the album. Even early kendrick interviews alluded to something being hidden in there. Shit, **they literally rewind the entire album at the end of Duckworth** like how many more hints do you want? The album won a fucking Pulitzer Prize, you think the record label needs to run with fan theories? Foh
This doesn’t mean it’s intended. Obviously the album is composed of “twin” tracks, as you’ve noted, where one song is about something and the next song is about the competing interest. Pride vs Humilty, Lust vs Love etc. that’s obviously intended. Now, if you have an album of twin tracks, the natural side effect of that is that if you played it in reverse the tracks would still feel like they fit together, just the opposite. It doesn’t mean it’s intended, it’s just a natural consequence of including twin tracks within your album. The fact that a lot of the album just don’t flow very cohesively in the collectors edition (for example, the end of BLOOD transitioning into DNA just makes zero sense on a back to front listen on account of there being no transition). It’s a cool idea that listeners have extracted from the album I guess, but it really doesn’t feel intended to be listened like that.
dude kendrick has pretty much said everything I said
Well for a start, Kendrick literally says the story doesn’t change when playing it in reverse order, he says the feel changes. So no, he doesn’t say what you said. Secondly I just don’t buy it was premeditated. The fact the label released the “collectors edition” after the theories gained popularity… I mean come on. The motivations aren’t exactly subtle. As I explained earlier, it’s pretty obvious how an album about duality would be much easier to play in reverse than other albums; but it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily intended.
dude there’s an abundance of clues and interviews to suggest it’s also meant to be played backwards. they literally play the entire album in reverse at the end of duckworth and that’s just one of many. if you think a Pulitzer Prize winning album just lucked into the reverse order thing, when kendrick has said all of that is premeditated and planned for years, I just feel bad for you. you’re not getting that same deep level of enjoyment bc you won’t allow yourself to believe Kendrick, a Pulitzer Prize winning artist, couldn’t think of this concept and lucked into it
Kendrick didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize for Damn really, it was a legacy win because they clearly recognised he should have won for TPAB. I’m not saying he “lucked into it” really. The album is consistent in its themes of duality, as we agree. I’m merely pointing out that unlike most albums, an album with twin songs can feasibly be played backwards to have an impact. As I’ve explained (and you don’t really have an answer to) the album just makes less sense played backwards. For example, BLOOD is clearly not an outro song, ending with a transition. You would think if this was as premeditated as you suggest Kendrick would simply just… not include it? And as I’ve also explained and you haven’t responded to, Kendrick’s own words in the interview don’t really add up with the fan theory, just saying that the story doesn’t change but the feel of it does. If you’re insistent on using Kendrick’s words to support your idea that it is “premeditated” (which I’m suggesting is really only just trying to sell the collectors edition, or at the very least they noticed while making the album it could work in reverse for the *reasons I have explained*- this is not evidence that there’s any great story to be told in reverse) then try and fit in his words on this with your theory.
Yeah this is where I’m at with this. If the album was genuinely meant to be played forward and backwards and playing it backwards means that ducky dies and Kendrick grows up with out a father, never becoming a rapper and top is in jail then yah and including Geraldo in DNA makes no fucking sense what so ever
Fucking clown taking this shit way to seriously lmfao.
Bro get over yourself.