Kendrick has a unique sound that represents a new age of Hip Hop and he manages to find a perfect balance between a refusal to compromise on his musical ambition and pleasing fans and industry professionals alike. Although haunting in places, these spiritual and contemplative undertones – alongside the repeated and unmissable references to his Compton roots, most notably in ‘Compton’ featuring Dr.Dre – chart an apparent dichotomy in his personality. The album opens with a prayer, and religion (more specifically redemption) is a theme which is present throughout. The end of the album sees Lamar confident and mature, “ from a dark place of violence, becoming a positive person”. Master Splinter’s Daughter’ to struggling with the influence of his peers in ‘The Art of Peer Pressure’, to the 12 minute two-part epiphany track ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst’. Aptly subtitled A Short Film By Kendrick Lamar, the 12 track album documents a story of internal conflict – a good kid in a mad city – ranging from the innocent 17 year old Compton teenager in ‘Sherane a.k.a. The album cover (a vintage Polaroid) is an initial glimpse into the raw honesty that Kendrick portrays in this largely autobiographical album: a window into his own personal history. This major-label debut has been eagerly anticipated and with a fast-growing reputation as one of Hip Hop’s best lyricists, it had a lot to live up to… Dre protégé found following the release of his independent album Section.80, this major-label debut has been eagerly anticipated and with a fast-growing reputation as one of Hip Hop’s best lyricists (long praised on the underground scene as the King of L.A rap), it had a lot to live up to… It did not disappoint. Not since Kanye West's early shows has a major new MC balanced swagger and sensitivity with such aplomb.After the success which the Dr. Sometimes the gap between the records and their live versions produces intriguing tensions: the nauseous soul-searching of Swimming Pools (Drank) effectively becomes a boozer's anthem when the whole venue is shouting "Drank!" It's a tightrope act that doesn't feel like one. The way Lamar delivers hip-hop's visceral pleasures without resorting to the usual cliches is quite something, so you can't feel too aggrieved that some of his more sophisticated tracks go unplayed or that his vocals lose their melancholy nuances in translation to the stage. Dressed in top-to-toe black, he mixes inspirational pep talks, rags-to-riches testimony, pantomime humility ("I don't even know if y'all like Good Kid, MAAD City"), flattery, flirtation, jokes and so much gratitude that you might come away thinking he'd be on skid row were it not for the charity of Londoners. This much enthusiasm could go to anybody's head, but just about the only thing Lamar doesn't do is brag. Online mixtape tracks are greeted like time-tested radio hits big songs such as Backseat Freestyle trigger shuddering roars. The crowd seem to know every word, so Lamar can bounce lines back and forth, employing the audience as sidekick MCs. Often he strips it down even further by instructing the DJ to kill the music so he can finish a song a cappella. It's impossible to replicate an album as finely tuned as this on stage, but what Lamar does instead is equally impressive, crafting a captivating show out of hip-hop's basest elements: an MC and a DJ on a large, bare stage. Billed as "a short film by Kendrick Lamar", Good Kid, MAAD City is a morally complex, sometimes startlingly moving narrative about a young man who tries to do the right thing even as his friends and environment conspire to lead him astray. Lamar respects his neighbourhood's illustrious history, not least because he's mentored by an older notable of the city, Dr Dre, but he's no gangsta-come-lately. Now it is back on the map thanks to 25-year-old Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, whose Good Kid, MAAD City is the most impressive hip-hop album in years. Twenty-five years ago the Los Angeles suburb was the epicentre of a hip-hop revolution, spawning NWA and hence gangsta rap. O n a snowy night in London, Compton seems as distant as Mars.
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