- I walked around for two hours and listened to the new Kendrick album, as the sun went down, and this thin little sliver of a crescent moon rose in the Texas sky. Not my first full listen, but the first time i really got to listen the way i needed to listen, you know?
There is so much to dig through on this album. It is exciting to really want to spend time with a record, that wasn't made by myself or someone i know. I think anyone who is already telling you that they hate it, or the love it, or what it all means, probably hasn't given it the time it deserves, and probably never will. It seems trigger happy at best, and outright foolish at worst, to form an opinion on a record like this in under a week. Regardless of how i feel about it in time, good or bad, it is thrilling to me, that a album like this could be made in this day and age, and receive this much attention. At a time when a lot of very smart people will swear up and down that the album is dead, or rap is dead, or its not possible to make a pop record that isn't the musical equivalent to a can of Pepsi, an album like this comes out...and puts all that talk to rest.
As a man who is trying to make songs that y'all sing along to, without making you feel like you just ate taco bell and drank a large pepsi, this is very empowering. And if you think this is a terrible time for music, then you ain't looking hard enough, and you can tell that story walking.
Key word "empowering." Why I personally believe this album is genius, and why it will take it's place at the peak of hip-hop history for this decade, is because it's empowering. Empowering to blacks and black Americans by intent and before all else, but somehow empowering to many other listeners. I mean it makes me proud (and angry, and sad) to be African American, and I definitely am not. Kendrick is smashing the wall down like the Kool-Aid Man with a pitcher full of power-juice for everyone. Kendrick put this album out for his people, however he defines that, but he made it accessible to anyone really willing to listen. That's genius.As a man who is trying to make songs that y'all sing along to, without making you feel like you just ate taco bell and drank a large pepsi, this is very empowering.