1 upon release - the album dropped the same week as Taylor Swift’s Red - every Lamar-headlined project in its wake would. The album’s arrival and immediate impact was the West Coast’s biggest moment since The Game’s The Documentary in 2005, and was instantly recognized as a game-changer, with outlets calling it everything from a “ shot at history” to “ probably the year’s most significant hip-hop release.” And while it didn’t go No. “Swimming Pools (Drank),” “Poetic Justice” featuring Drake, and “B- Don’t Kill My Vibe” (which later featured a remix with Jay-Z) were all hit singles.
Massive critical and commercial acclaim followed. He rockets through a galaxy of themes: love, lust, loyalty, fear, anger, divinity, spirituality, toxic masculinity, gang politics, gun violence, racial profiling, teenage innocence, police brutality, survivor’s remorse, hope, self-awareness and mortality. The album itself begins with a teenage Lamar chasing after a girl named Sherane and ends with him witnessing the death of a friend and undergoing a spiritual awakening. Good kid’s cover art shows baby Kendrick sitting on a family member’s lap.
“I learned, when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing … If I’m gonna tell a real story, I’m gonna start with my name,” Lamar, who had previously performed as K-Dot, told Vulture on the eve of the album’s release. Both fought to gain control over situations that threatened their sense of self and their lives.Īftermath Entertainment/Interscope RecordsĪnd as with Malcolm X, a name change is an important signifier. Feelings of powerlessness lead to ambitious and aggressive decisions. Like Malcolm X’s autobiography, good kid, m.A.A.d city chronicles the life of a young black man, organized by fear and motivated to survive. But good kid is the album of the decade because it is The Autobiography of Malcolm X for our time, overflowing with black rage, hopelessness, fear of abandonment, and a sobering understanding (and sometimes reckless disregard) of death and rebirth. Yes, it was the 13-time Grammy winner’s major label debut. Kendrick Lamar earned an estimated $9 million between June 2013 and June 2014 before taxes and fees, making the majority from tour dates.True, Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 opus good kid, m.A.A.d city is the longest charting hip-hop studio album in history. “I’ve seen in the studio, and knowing how critical his ear is, it makes me want to take my time with it and never rush.”įans - including pop stars Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift - took to Twitter to express their joy at the digital version's early release. “I always want to perfect and challenge myself,” Lamar told Forbes in 2013. The two and a half year wait between albums may seem excessive to fans, but considering Lamar's close ties to Dre - whose next album Detox has been rumored since 2001 - the perfectionist tendencies make sense. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment and Lamar’s long-time parent label Top Dawg Entertainment, reached the top of Billboard’s Rap and R&B/Hip-Hop charts, earning certified platinum status and a spot on every “best-of” year-end album list in the process. To Pimp A Butterfly is the follow-up to Lamar's 2012 major label debut, Good Kid, M.A.A.d City, which sold 242,000 copies in its first week and cemented his arrival as hip-hop’s next superstar.