Generic conscious rap, but it's mainstream

>Generic conscious rap, but it's mainstream
WOAH....guys, he's the GOAT

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youtube.com/watch?v=xtIr8k4eC7o
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m.youtube.com/watch?v=4lPD5PtqMiE
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>generic conscious rap
youtube.com/watch?v=xtIr8k4eC7o

is that really why you think Kendrick is as big as he is?

It was very very little to do with being "woke".
It's literally all about his musicality. He understands melody, rhythm, and is willing to experiment not only with his phrasing, recording techniques/production, but also with the instrumentals and collaborators. TPAB has the best musicianship of any rap record ever made, period. His flow is merely the glue that holds it all together, his lyrics aren't really meant to give you that "weww really makes you think" moment. They're just good wordplay with some nice little messages that sound downright pleasant to your earholes. He's also a magnificent showman/performer, arguably the best in the business.

His rapping has a rare cadence that just straight works. I couldn't possibly give less of a fuck about "I still kill me a nigga" or "jiggaboos and styrafoams".

i mean his lyrical content has a lot to do with why he's great though. i agree with a lot of you said except for undermining his ability to express his thoughts with language in an original and honest way and he crafts it so you feel what he's trying to say on a deeper level because it's combined with music elements like you mentioned. it's combining that natural musical jazz language 'you know what i mean without me saying it exactly' with thoughts and perspective on his personal life and on his culture whether that be compton or the hip hop game. he describes his life as a star and how his message is seen and is truthful to his roots and his family. the dude is a god period theres no other way to cut it

>TPAB has the best musicianship of any rap record ever made, period

All anybody talks about is his lyrics.

>its the only thing people talk about so it must be the only thing thats good
kys

Kendrick Lamar isn't interesting or unique lyrically though. He doesn't express his thoughts in an original and honest way, in rap only Kanye does that.

Young Thug beats him when it comes to melodies.
His experimentation is just stealing from Andre 3000.

>in rap only Kanye does that.
sweet n sour sauce

I AM A GOD

very thought provoking.

I know this is b8

Your post is bait, mine isn't.

kek

So much wrong with this. I don't know why Sup Forums just can't admit Kendrick is good. If Kendrick isn't unique or interesting, give me some other rappers that are very similar to Kendrick but better, also give me rappers that have something more interesting to say as well as backed by interesting instrumentation

you mean he's willing to let other musicians influence his music? fucking hell, kendrick literally hadn't heard a single miles davis album until thundercat showed him one in the studio. all the good musicianship on the album comes from other people who made the album what it is.

source?

How does that make his music worse? Kendrick is a rapper, not a producer or musician. Are you going to say that his music is worse because he hadn't heard of X artist before Y time?

Kendrick is just bargain bin Lupe and Andre 3000.
And what interesting stuff does he have to say?
GKMC was typical hood nigga shit. TPAB was typical hotep nigga shit. Didn't even bother with DAMN, but it seems like more hotep shit.

rollingstone.com/music/features/meet-thundercat-the-mad-genius-behind-kendrick-lamar-pimp-a-butterfly-20150402
""I played him Miles Davis' 'Little Church' and he was like, 'What the fuck is this?' I was like, 'This is Miles Davis, man — and one of his baddest records.' He was always like, 'I gotta come to your house and take this stuff off your hands.'"
it makes him vastly overrated. he raps over what other people create. that means he has little talent.

He's referencing this video (8:30) but is making up details
m.youtube.com/watch?v=4lPD5PtqMiE

>what is the entire roots discography

>He'd pull up old records in the studio, furnishing an advanced-level jazz seminar for Lamar: Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Mary Lou Williams and Miles Davis.

>advanced-level
fucking kek

what rappers would you consider talented

The Roots are boring.

None. It is a fundamentally flawed genre.

It's hilarious how there was literally no hate on him here before DAMN.

done talking to you then since we have no common ground.

How's your first week?

>HOW Y'ALL LET A CONSCIOUS NIGGA GO COMMERCIAL WHILE ONLY MAKING CONSCIOUS ALBUMS?

DAMN....

New copypasta, thanks user

I've been here since 2011, what the fuck do you mean? There were a few contrarians after TPaB, but not daily threads like this.

Being a good rapper =//= being a good producer or musician

Kendrick is a good rapper, that's what people call him. They don't call him a musician or producer. And his albums aren't worse for having the beats made by others, 99% of hip-hop albums are made that way. People aren't suddenly going to put down his music because they found out he never listened to Miles Davis. This stuff doesn't detract from his music. You're literally looking to be upset and I'm not going to stop you.

you can't talk to him about this because he thinks rap sucks. so it doesn't matter what kind of argument you throw out. it's going to boil down to I don't believe that people who don't create every aspect of their music are talented. then you'll argue over small details and never come to a conclusion because there is no common ground. it's over.

True, but if we're referring to actual "musicianship" the roots are hip hops first real band in the eyes of many

Perhaps you missed the post above where user claimed he was musician

I'm not going to argue with you over what constitutes a musician or if using your voice is an instrument

Then that user is sinply incorrect but that doesn't affect the music. That's not to say though that Kendrick has no input on the production. It's well known that he was working very closely with the musicians and producers with To Pimp a Butterfly

How did Kendrick Lamar become so popular with that fucking voice? He sounds like a rat.

It's unique and I like it.

It's impossible to disagree with that.

I've only ever listened to GKMC and I love it dearly. I've chosen to avoid everything else he's done in case it's a let down, am I making a sound decision?

I like the fact he's popular since now there's an easy way to tell someone's a pleb if they claim he's the GOAT

>rap
>genius

No. TPAB is sonically different and deals with less 'hood' themes but if you loved GKMC you should also love TPAB. DAMN and Section 80 are mixed bags. I like both but if I rate GKMC or TPAB a 10. then these albums would be like an 8 or 7

Kendrick is just proof you can viral market music until people like it

His whole marketing campaign has been telling us how good he is until most of you submitted

Here's his career arc
>Shitty/mediocre rapper
>Gets signed
>Forms a manufactured group in an attempt to get hipster cred, works on a very small level
>The hype and momentum from that used and he releases a bretty guud tape
>Hype increases
>He releases s80, which is around the time he gets signed, when interscope begins memeing the shit out of him
>interscope pays off critics to give rave reviews to an album/tape that wasn't that good
>Momentum grows
>Releases GKMC, gets more hype, festival placements
>GKMC reviewed well and rightfully so
>Yet Kendrick's fanbase hasn't really changed since s80.
>Kendrick is memed as a rap savior
>Kendrick getting festival placements
>Kendrick releases control
>Gets vastly overrated due to his new rap savior marketing/persona
>Hype dies down and that's it for awhile
>Kendrick then releases TPAB years later
>Literal perfect hipster bait bullshit
>pretentious as fuck
>Concept album and no one can agree what the concept is
>WOAT vocals on a rap album with the squeeky teenager voice cranked up to 10 on some tracks, weird accents abound, etc
>"Jazzy" so the critics cream themselves
>Vaguely political so think pieces everywhere
>Critics follow suit in that if a critic came out negatively against a "racial" album they'll be looked at racist and probably blacklisted
>Critics also likely on payola if not review positively from their own hipster perspective
>Kendrick crams himself into 2pac's legacy by "talking with him" at the end, one of the most tasteless moves in hip hop history. Desperately trying to continue his hip hop savior narrative
>Critics meme this shit, fantano and rym rate it highly so of course Sup Forums follows suit, being painfully transparent in their "taste"
>Kendrick has new found momentum
>Has been doing pop features before and around the release of TPAB

People used to claim that Lil Wayne was the GOAT based off of fucking mixtapes so I don't really trust anyone's opinions on hip-hop.

Kanye is the best, that's that.

Kanye isn't even a good rapper, what the fuck?

I think being able to unironically say that any rapper is the "greatest of all time" is a sure sign of a pleb.

>His whole marketing campaign has been telling us how good he is until most of you submitted
That's what most rappers do. You got niggas on Soundcloud with 3 followers bragging about how good they are instead of showing us.

>Kanye isn't even a good rapper,

>Using new spotlight releases accessible trap sound album with the occasional jazz hop inflections
>Critics cream themselves because muh Kendrick
>A couple of people are honest and say it's not as good
>Too late, it's Kendrick's most popular album yet, and the experiment worked
>Just fucking shove this shit down people's throats til they accept it, the end.

Is it any coincidence this guy came from the same people who made Eminem a thing? One of the most overrated rappers EVER?

Don't get me wrong, Em is extremely technically gifted and has made good music, but he's not even a top 20 rapper for me. His music isn't nearly as good as a lot of hip hop artists. But because he had interscope money behind him, along with his wild success, they were able to make him a thing, just like they're doing with Kendrick.

Inb4
>why don't other artists do this then hurrr
>you just don't have taste hurrrr

Kendrick clearly wanted this enough to make it happen, there is a thing called selling out and it is very real. Some people are willing to do it, some aren't. Some industry plants succeed, some fail to catch on no matter how much they market them. The music industry is a business, remember this.

No, not the rapper himself, the machine around him.

OH, my bad.

>pretentious as fuck

What specific criticism.

>no one can agree what the concept is

This is a good thing. God forbid an artist does something that's difficult to interpret.

>Critics are afraid of being racist that's the only reason they like this thing

Sup Forums level mental gymnastics

>Everyone else likes it and I don't so therefore they have inferior tastes to myself

Why people like you even bother listening to music, it's clearly wasted on you.

Tell me your favorite rappers before you start throwing around hyperbolic bullshit about Kendrick being shitty.

He doesn't even write his own lyrics genius.

>Is it any coincidence this guy came from the same people who made Eminem a thing? One of the most overrated rappers EVER?
Never even considered that. It helped of course that Eminem was white, that was part of the gimmick, before him there was only Vanilla Ice and The Beastie Boys.

>He doesn't even write his own lyrics

>Lupe
Wow really

Kanye is literally the most Sup Forums core rapper there is besides DOOM. Just because MDBTF was the rap album that got you through middle school doesn't make him good.

>Kanye is literally the most Sup Forums core rapper there is besides DOOM.
And? What's the correlation?

MBDTF > TPAB

THIS DICK AIN- oh wait, kendrick said that.

This board doesn't know a fucking thing about hip hop. Kanye is not even close to being the "GOAT" rapper by literally any metric. His discography is great but he is completely mediocre at rapping, ghostwriting aside. Andre, Black Thought, and Lupe are far more talented lyricists. No one's even put together the slightest argument (memes don't count as arguments) for Kanye being an good rapper, much less the singular greatest rapper.

Why would you assume my opinion has anything to do with this board? Kanye is the greatest rapper of all time, technicality isn't THAT important.
Lazy SoundCloud level rapping is complete shit, but you don't need to be Kendrick or MF Doom to be good, that shit is not impressive.

We aren't talking about being the GOAT hip hop artist or whatever, we're talking straight rapping. Technical skill counts waaaay before production or anything. If you put Kanye on old school drums he wouldn't sound a tenth as good as he does on his own beats. If you think that's a cop out, maybe we're having two separate discussions here, but you can't be the GOAT if you aren't an amazing rapper.

I hear greatest rapper of all time and I think of Wayne, Ghostface, Mos Def, Jay Z, Biggie, 2Pac, Nas, Scarface, GZA and T.I, in addition to the other 3 I mentioned, and probably a few more, before Kanye even enters the picture.

You think Lil Wayne and TI are more technically skilled than Kanye? 2Pac? 2Pac consistently gets shitted on for not being good technically, come the fuck on, man.

That's cause their good. They seem elder lord tier compared to the drakes and the coles.

Honestly i think kendrick just has this aesthetic about him, a really unique voice that he fucks around with, that's what i like the most at least. Like his goosebumps verse or his verse on jealous are pure kino

>Lupe
HAH
>Andre
Yes very clearly inspired, but his quite litterally been miles better since gkmc dropped.

wew just reading your comment it's clear you must be trolling, there's no way you think anyone could possible take you seriously.

Kendrick, Drake, and Cole are all shit lyricists.
But Drake wasn't terrible on Take Care.

>Critics follow suit in that if a critic came out negatively against a "racial" album they'll be looked at racist and probably blacklisted

you're a dipshit

Kanye is absolute garbage

gtfo back to r/Kanye

Kendrick is not a shit lyricist by any means, you're just tired of hearing about him so you immediately reel back and call him shit as a reaction.

Will Sup Forums ever admit Kendrick is great?

Never singled out Pac, or anyone else for technicality. I was responding to "technicality isn't that important" because it clearly is. Obviously I didn't list technical rappers or else I'd be naming Big Pun or Busdriver or some literal unknowns.

Those three are still head and shoulders above Kanye, for other reasons. Wayne's style is so obvious in half of the kids rapping today, a decade after his peak. T.I has more attitude and is more intimidating in his lyrics than Kanye ever is, while Kanye bragging comes off more hilarious than impressive.

You're not making any proactive arguments for Kanye here. If you're so sure he's the GOAT it shouldn't take too long to prove.

Maybe when he'll actually become great.

His lyrics, voice, and flow bug the crap out of me and that's basically the three elements of an MC.

fool

I'd rather listen to the worst Ghostface album than the 'best' Kendrick album.

This is "some serious pipes" tier.

What makes Kendrick a good lyricist?

I'm not gonna try and prove anything to you because you're a dumbass.
Like I said before, Kanye is the GOAT, that's that.

you're completely right, fuck what these underage kendricktards tell you

What makes him a bad lyricist? I can post my favorite Kendrick songs/verses but I guarantee no matter what I post you'll just say it's bad so what's the point?

Lmao are you fucking kidding me. Why even bother responding in the first place if you're just going to double down and not even try your defend your own opinions YOU put out in the first place. You're so afraid of actually challenging your own views?

it's because the average mu user is an underage twat who doesn't get invited to parties and whenever they hear a song from an artist they like on a girl from school who they stalk's snapchat they scream REEEEE COMMERCIAL MONEY GRAB.

sour soul is pretty good I'll give you that

It amuses me that we have the term "conscious" rap to denote "No, wait, don't turn it off, these lyrics actually have intellectual depth for once!"

Conscious just means you're talking about societal issues and topics. DOOM's lyrics have depth but he's not classified as conscious. Kill yourself

>make anything dark or satanic
>instant praise from every critics

Fuck this guy but he wasn't lying when he said :

So truthfully, calling me Kweli and Common is proof...that ignorance is bliss.

Lmao how the fuck do you manage to breathe

Don't post your favorite verses or songs by him, actually explain why you think he's a good lyricist.
I think his subject matter is boring and while he made fun of "spiritual lyrical miracle" rap on NMPILA, that's exactly the type of rapper he comes off as. He puffs up his lyrics with unnecessary bullshit and has terrible opinions on everything.

>DOOM's lyrics have depth

He gets his point across without beating you over the head. For example, on Kanye's Everything I Am, he says "Just last year, Chicago had over 600 caskets". This may be a sad thing but it makes me feel nothing. Kendrick doesn't just say "hey violence is wrong and blacks feel downtrodden". He gets his point across through use of anology, anecdotes and characters. He isn't forcing himself on the listener. So even if I may not agree with Kendrick on everything I can at least empathize with him or understand why he thinks or feels that way. Kendrickdidn't invent this style, don't think I'm saying only Kendrick does this, I just think he does it really well

Not the guy you responded to, but anyway.

Art of Peer Pressure for storytelling,These Walls for extended metaphor, m.A.A.d city for imagery and various themes, Blacker the Berry for self-reflection examination, DUCKWORTH for thematic story telling.

>terrible opinions on everything

This isn't really relevant to his lyricism. Just because you disagree with him on politics or racial issues or whatever is absolutely not a mark against his artistry.

>He gets his point across without beating you over the head. For example, on Kanye's Everything I Am, he says "Just last year, Chicago had over 600 caskets". This may be a sad thing but it makes me feel nothing.
That's beating you over the head? Jesus.

Please elaborate because we're obviously on completely different ends and I want to understand your perspective.
To me, Everything I Am has more depth, meaning, and emotion than anything I've heard from Kendrick.

word

Kanye is literally just telling me a statistic on that verse. If I wanted statistics I would google these stats. Stats like these may be sad but they don't make people really feel. Chance the Rapper does something similar where he says there's more guns in Chicago than parking spots. Without context my fuck-givage level is very low. Kendrick never says "look guys, X amount of people died in Compton or Y amount are in poverty. FEEL SOMETHING GRR". But he does make me feel something because he paints a picture, he gives context. On a track like "m.A.A.d city" he doesn't tell me explicitly to give a shit, he doesn't tell me stats, but he makes me care because he goes into detail how fucked up growing there was.

Alright. Relistening to that song I get it now. I don't think I like it, but I finally understand.
I've been trying to understand the appeal of this man's music since GKMC first dropped.
Everything I Am isn't just about hood life though. That's just one line on a song that covers a wide array of topics.
We Don't Care, New God Flow, Jesus Walks, and All Falls Down would all be more apt comparisons. I didn't refute before, but I think the purpose of the "just last year Chicago had over 600 caskets" isn't to make you sad, but to make you think, to bewilder you.

Is there any reason you're a Kendrick fan besides his storytelling? Is there any appeal beyond that?

See, literary techniques in hip-hop don't really impress me. The only Kendrick Lamar song I really like is Wesley's Theory. The whole song is from a different perspective which I'm not really a fan of, but it's kept simple and Thundercat has gorgeous production.

Act like giving a bad review wouldn't be a stain on your reputation. People get shit for not liking it here and we're anonymous, imagine what a person with a name as a critic would go through.

Pretentious is specific? It means affecting more culture or importance than possessed, which is exactly what TPAB does. It says "I am a continuation of 2pac's legacy, see, here's me talking to 2pac. I'm just like him but in modern times."

>This is a good thing

Huh, could have swore Kendrick fans claim how important the message of this album is? How's it work when no one is taking away the same meaning from it. If it's supposed to be some uplifting black shit, why do some blacks decry it's identity politics?

>Everyone else likes it blah blah blah

Never said that.

To be frank, I don't like most of this new generation. My favorites are the older ones.

Scarface, Redman, Andre 3k (Someone who Kendrick bites repeatedly), GZA, Kool G Rap.

Probably not, because he's not.

Kendrick is literal WEWUZKANGZ ham-fisted tripe. You are uniquely dim for thinking he "GOtz A g00d m3ssage XDDDD".