In Hip-Hop today, there are so many new artists hitting the scene every day, that there is such a variety in the different content they release. I wanted to start making a list of my top rappers in the game right now. For the first installation to my list, I am starting with my favorite rapper of any era, Kendrick Lamar.

To start I want to talk about his studio albums. I was first introduced to his music through my older brother in 2012, during my sophomore year of high school. That was when he released his second studio album, first with a major label, “Good Kid M.A.A.D. City”. It received widespread critical acclaim and earned him album of the year at the 2013 BET Hip-Hop awards. One of my favorite songs off the album is “Sing About Me, Dying of Thirst”.

After becoming a fan of his through “Good Kid M.A.A.D. City”, I decided to explore some of his older music. I went back to his first studio album, titled “Section.80”. It was here that I found the song, “Rigamortis” which deserves its own blog post. This song is one of the most technically sound songs I have ever heard, and it is almost impossible to rap along with, due to the fact that his lines constantly take turns that cannot be predicted. To better explain it, one must hear it.

Fast forward to 2015, and Lamar released his third studio album, “To Pimp A Butterfly” which featured the single “i” that he had released mid-2014. The album would debut at the number one spot on the Billboard 200 list, and would earn him 5 Grammy’s, including Best Rap Album. This album features two of my favorite songs by Kendrick, “These Walls” and “Complexion”. In this album, he addressed topics such as police brutality and racial tensions in America, and solidified to many his spot as one of the greatest artists in the game right now.

In March of 2017, Kendrick released “The Heart Pt. 4” which ended with a tease for a new album to be released the next month. This fourth studio album would be titled “DAMN” and feature the single “Humble”, which would win Best Music Video at the 60^th Grammy awards.  This album is unique because it tells two stories. The more well-known story is the one told by playing the album in order from start to finish. However, Lamar confirmed suspicions in an interview that the album can be played backwards to reveal a different story. Eventually he would go on to release a collector’s edition album that had the songs arranged in reverse order. DAMN earned Kendrick five Grammy’s, and the first every Pulitzer Prize for Music awarded to a non-jazz or classical album.

These are all his studio albums to date, but one can assume there is another in the works. In the next installation I will go deeper into his artistic journey from teenage rapper to superstar.