In 2015, Kendrick Lamar has amassed as much critical acclaim and fandom as he could ask for. Being a fan since my ears first caught on to "HiiiPower", I soon after checked out the man's debut album Section.80. I certainly was excited to see where his career would be headed, as his lyricism, ear for beats, and substance were quite impressive, and stood out to me. To me, Kendrick Lamar is the greatest MC and hip hop artist of the new school, and part of it is his consistency. The fact that Section.80, a fantastic album, is still his weakest album goes to show how talented he is.
On his mixtape, Overly Dedicated, Kendrick Lamar proved himself to be quite the MC, but little did hip hop fans know that he would come back even harder with Section.80. The album is simply filled with great concepts and lyricism, and like his following 2 albums, it's a concept album. Kendrick Lamar touches on various topics, and develops characters for the story. The characters are Tammy and Keisha, and both of their stories revolve around pretty much the same premise. Abusive, unfaithful boyfriends, so the two end up becoming unfaithful to their partners, and end up sleeping with each other, as detailed in "Tammy's Song (Her Evils)", then "Keisha's Song (Her Evils)" (the best song on the album).
Aside from the storyline, Kendrick touches on a wide range of topics on the album. As expected with a song title like "Ronald Reagan Era" (a standout track), the MC touches on the crack epidemic from the 80s over a triumphant beat from Tae Beast. "A.D.H.D." (another standout track) touches on a similar topic, how people born in the "Ronald Reagan Era", tend to be abusing drugs more. The beat on there from Sounwave is dark, atmospheric, but never boring or tedious. The production is pretty much on point from front to back on this album, there's not one beat that should have been changed or cut from the album except maybe "Rigamortus", but that isn't even a weak beat in reality, just the weakest one on the album. The producers did an excellent job on this album, most of the beats have multiple elements and detail to them, which helps the album's dark, somewhat dreary, but yet uplifting vibe throughout. The whole album is great for the most part, the only weak(er) tracks on it are the aforementioned "Rigamortus", "Chapter Six", which still has an excellent beat and solid lyrics, it just isn't a standout, "Ab-Soul's Outro", which has superb rapping just a weak beat, and "The Spiteful Chant", which has an excellent beat, but sub-par rapping and as a whole could have been left off of the album.
Section.80 is a daring debut album, and as good of a debut as you could ask for. Little did fans (including myself) know that Kendrick Lamar had room for improvement, and indeed he improved on his sophomore album. However, the fact that THIS album is his weakest studio album goes to show how talented he is, and why he's one of the most celebrated artists of this generation. My only true complaint for this album would be that the story could have been more developed, but perhaps I'm nit-picking, and Kendrick Lamar would flex his storytelling skills on his sophomore and third albums on a whole other level. If you're a Kendrick Lamar fan, chances are you have heard this album already, but for those that have barely heard the guy, check this album out, along with the follow-ups. There's a lot to take in with this album, but quite simply, it sounds great, and the lyricism is impressive.
Ratings:
1. F**k Your Ethnicity: 4/5
2. Hol' Up: 4/5
3. A.D.H.D.: 4.5/5
4. No Make-Up (Her Vice): 4.5/5
5. Tammy's Song (Her Evils): 4/5
6. Chapter Six: 3.5/5
7. Ronald Reagan Era: 4.5/5
8. Poe Man's Dreams (His Vice) (feat. GLC): 4/5
9. The Spiteful Chant (feat. ScHoolboy Q): 3.5/5
10. Chapter Ten: 4/5
11. Keisha's Song (Her Pain): 4.5/5
12. Rigamortus: 4/5
13. Kush & Corinthians (His Pain) (feat. BJ the Chicago Kid): 4/5
14. Blow My High (Members Only): 4/5
15. Ab-Soul's Outro (feat. Ab-Soul): 3.5/5
16. HiiiPoWeR: 4.5/5
Best songs:
Keisha's Song (Her Pain)
HiiiPower
Ronald Reagan Era
No Make-Up (Her Vice)
A.D.H.D.
Weakest song: Chapter Six
Production: 8.4/10
Lyrics: 8.6/10
Overall rating: 85/100
Grade: B
