Graphic t-shirt of one of the K-Dots album covers for Good Kid, M.A.A.D City released in 2012. Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.D City T-shirt Unisex Real Etsy.
The Compton MC’s long-awaited major label debut is a breakthrough, as he both resurrects and reinvents West Coast hip-hop. Instead of fantasies of stacks and strippers, Lamar spins tales of everyday life with telling details. Over diverse beats he captures the heat of the street and the inner lives of people trying to survive these trying times. He’s preoccupied with money and power, but he recognizes that they come with responsibilities. Tags: hiphop, damn, king-kunta, good-kid-maad-city, to-pimp-a-butterfly. Following on from the Bowie Remix series, I wanted to apply the same interpretive graphic process to a selection of other iconic record sleeves.
“The Recipe,” felt very much like the Cali connection it represented, but, with its polish and Dre’s presence, it was not what longtime Kendrick fans anticipated. With that pairing, the stage was set and the anticipation was high for the release of GKMC.Despite the high expectations, or perhaps because of them, when the first taste of Kendrick and Dre’s union surfaced in April of 2012, it was a slow burn. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment, joining one of the most promising voices to ever come out of that oasis of Hip-Hop with its most decorated veteran ever. City, Kendrick had signed a deal with fellow Compton native Dr. Still, in the year between the release of Section.80 and good kid, m.A.A.d. Even before that, Kendrick had shown he was a force with which to be reckoned on projects like the Kendrick Lamar EP and Overly Dedicated mixtape, as well as on standout guest verses on songs by TDE flagship artist, Jay Rock, and others.
The focus, for most artists, was on making huge hit songs, instead of cohesive bodies of work. Even before streaming had revolutionized the music industry–literally redefining how “album” consumption was calculated–iTunes had already made it a singles business. By 2012, albums were a dying art form. The song received airplay, but was built to move minds, not bodies.When the album officially arrived, after a leak days earlier, it didn’t just exceed expectations, it obliterated them. As has become the case in much of Kendrick’s catalog over the years, with its dark chords and even darker themes, “Swimming Pools” was about art, not commerce.
Notably, “The Recipe,” the good kid, m.A.A.d. Rather than the customary 3 minutes allotted for radio songs, the records on the album averaged well over 5 minutes, with “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” clocking in at a whopping 12 minutes, with its accompanying skit. The narrative was inter-dependent on both the music and the numerous skits in between songs, as its subject matter ranged from the typical cravings of an adolescent boy to the types of traumatic events typically reserved for war torn soldiers (and many inner city youths).The songs on GKMC were sonically and thematically complex, and sprawling. Part Boyz N The Hood and part Menace II Society, the album was Kendrick’s coming of age story and invited the world in to see how he survived the mean streets of Compton.
It’s classic worthy, you know? But it has to stand with the time and have the years behind it. People are labeling this a classic even without the years behind it, so it’s a great feeling. In speaking with HipHopWired in 2012, Kendrick said “The attention and great reception it’s been getting… it’s overwhelming. The LP sounded like a classic and felt like a classic, yet, many, including Kendrick, himself, were reluctant to label it as such because it had not stood the test of time. Instead, it was addended as a bonus track.The praise for GKMC was unanimous, with many hailing it as the finest Rap album in a generation.
“Let’s use the Source as an example since it pioneered the Hip-Hop perspective of what’s considered a classic album. Hunte contends “the idea that an album needs to stand the test of time to be considered a classic is overrated.” In making his case, he looks to the past and lists a number of albums that most believe were correctly assessed as classics, and a number that were missed because of hesitancy. City and the trepidation behind declaring instant classics. The word should not be used lightly and, in the age of click-bait, hyperbole is more the rule than the exception, but on the rare occasion where greatness presents itself with universal recognition, it should be acknowledged as such.In the latest episode of TBD, Justin “The Company Man” Hunte takes a look at the critical reception around good kid, m.A.A.d. However, the fact is those who declared it as such back in 2012 were also right, and it begs the question of whether “the test of time” should truly be a factor in determining whether an album is a classic. There is absolutely no question that good kid, m.A.A.d.
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