Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City (2012)
My son insists this is one of the top 5 Hip Hop albums of all time. He further insists that Kendrick has at least two albums in that top-5 list.
I definitely don't agree with the the second point, and less stridently disagree with the former. This is a great album, but for an old head like me, I have heard hundreds and hundreds of great albums. My top 10 list of Hip Hop albums probably has at least 30 albums on it and I'm not sure this makes the cut even with 30 albums. JazzySon gets me loving Tupac (Me Against The World) and Nas (Illmatic), but he can't wrap his brain around the idea that another two dozen albums are better than this one.
But this is still a marvelous album, deserving of all the accolades it gets. And I completely understand why ears younger than mine might place this in the top 5.
I just checked and discovered that I have 58 Hip Hop albums rated at 4.5-5.0 stars. Assuming naturally that this (which I rate 4.5) doesn't beat the 10 that have 5 stars, I wonder where, approximately, this might fall in the space between 11-58? Not as high as The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (which should probably be re-evaluated to 5,) but not as low as 58. Though, as I look over the list, it's hard to say this beats People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm (A Tribe Called Quest), or Doggystyle (Snoop), or Things Fall Apart (the Roots), or Be (Common), or Joyful Rebellion (K-Os) ... all of which might one day be re-evaluated to 5 stars. Maybe I'll give it the nod over Big Tyme (Heavy D) but even that is a tough call and that's just one album. It sounds ridiculous to say this is my 57th favorite Hip Hop album of all time, but maybe that just speaks to all the great albums that have been released since Hip Hop was born.
I remember LowNotes being an early promoter of this album. He was recommending it long before I even knew who Kendrick was. If not for LN, it might have been months later before I got turned on to this. I wonder where LN ranks this all time?
My son insists this is one of the top 5 Hip Hop albums of all time. He further insists that Kendrick has at least two albums in that top-5 list.
I definitely don't agree with the the second point, and less stridently disagree with the former. This is a great album, but for an old head like me, I have heard hundreds and hundreds of great albums. My top 10 list of Hip Hop albums probably has at least 30 albums on it and I'm not sure this makes the cut even with 30 albums. JazzySon gets me loving Tupac (Me Against The World) and Nas (Illmatic), but he can't wrap his brain around the idea that another two dozen albums are better than this one.
But this is still a marvelous album, deserving of all the accolades it gets. And I completely understand why ears younger than mine might place this in the top 5.
I just checked and discovered that I have 58 Hip Hop albums rated at 4.5-5.0 stars. Assuming naturally that this (which I rate 4.5) doesn't beat the 10 that have 5 stars, I wonder where, approximately, this might fall in the space between 11-58? Not as high as The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (which should probably be re-evaluated to 5,) but not as low as 58. Though, as I look over the list, it's hard to say this beats People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm (A Tribe Called Quest), or Doggystyle (Snoop), or Things Fall Apart (the Roots), or Be (Common), or Joyful Rebellion (K-Os) ... all of which might one day be re-evaluated to 5 stars. Maybe I'll give it the nod over Big Tyme (Heavy D) but even that is a tough call and that's just one album. It sounds ridiculous to say this is my 57th favorite Hip Hop album of all time, but maybe that just speaks to all the great albums that have been released since Hip Hop was born.
I remember LowNotes being an early promoter of this album. He was recommending it long before I even knew who Kendrick was. If not for LN, it might have been months later before I got turned on to this. I wonder where LN ranks this all time?
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