The Authorized Anthropology of Compton Kids | Hip Hop Grew Up

good kid, m.A.A.d. city: The Authorized Anthropology of Compton Kids

1. ?Sherane A.K.A. Master Splinter?s Daughter? [Prod. Tha Bizness]

?My tactics of being thirsty probably could hurt me? Grab my momma?s keys, hopped in the car, then oh boy? ? Kendrick Lamar

Bavu: ?Let me just get something off my chest. The attention to creative detail that allows Kendrick Lamar to rep his city as an anthropologist is amazing. Sure, he?s telling his story, but this is literally a movie about Compton kids.

We?ve accepted Rick Ross and 2 Chainz as merely entertaining us, not to be taken seriously. And here comes a kid a decade younger than them, using all the resources in the world to make some very deep art. The poetry and production go neck-and-neck on this album, down to the skits, eq?ing, recording techniques, etc.

GKMC starts with a cunning, sophisticated intro to a cunning, sophisticated album. ?Sherane? basically breaks down into three parts. First, we hear some young kids accepting Jesus as their savior ? interesting. Second, Kendrick?s first raps form a colorful narrative that establishes the setting for the album ? typical Compton teenage life [and thirst]. Third, an unabridged voicemail message from his parents ties everything together ? ghetto kid borrows mama?s van to get laid. This is multi-layered like OutKast, and definitely a movie intro.

Easy: ?This is the scene at the very beginning of a movie before any theme music or credits roll. ?You get to meet the main character and get an idea of the dilemma he?ll spend the next 90 minutes [or in this case 66 minutes and 56 seconds] trying to solve. ?Like you said, Kendrick is a sophisticated storyteller and this first track gives you a great preview of what to expect lyrically and sonically from his short film ? then the intro credits and theme song roll in the form of track #2 ?

2. ?B*tch Don?t Kill My Vibe? [Prod. Sounwave]

?I?m trying to keep it alive and not compromise the feeling we love / you?re trying to keep it deprived and only co-sign what radio does / ? / you can remain in a box / I?ma break out and hide every lock? ? Kendrick Lamar

Samples ?Tiden Flyver? by Boom Clap Bachelors

Easy: ?I thought it was ironic that a video surfaced last week showing Andre 3000 sitting in the studio with Kendrick and Dr. Dre listening to this track.? The album, and this song in particular, hints at what a solo Andre 3000 album might sound like. ?This album will be studied and decoded for years to come because it has layers and plenty of intricate, personal encoding. ?Kendrick left ample room for interpretation.

To me, this song sounds like his letter to the rest of the Hip Hop community. ?Whereas the ?bitch? in the ?bitch don?t kill my vibe? refrain could be interpreted as a misogynistic reference about a woman distracting him; I take it to mean that he?s separating himself from all the other rap that?s being promoted and fed to the masses.

It also sounds like he?s telling the powers that be, from radio program directors to record labels, to stay out of his way as he works to build a new sound and style within Hip Hop. ?He has a lot to say and offer and on this track he?s telling everyone to give him the time and space to get his complete vision out. ?And the ill part is that he?s saying that he?s fine, even happy, with being alone if no other artists feel the need to push the art and culture in a new direction.

Bavu: Plus this song was set up as much as possible with the skit that precedes it. Yet ?Kill My Vibe? deviates from the overall movie concept the most of any song, since it seems to be in the present tense. Thankfully, it comes early enough in the album to introduce us to Kendrick?s artistic bent without throwing everything out of sequence. Technically, it marries his father?s statement to his mother with Kendrick?s present mentality. Musically, it put me in a ?featuring Devin the Dude and Andre 3000? vibe. Lyrically, this is up-to-date commentary from the director/narrator that digresses by the final bridge duet with a female voice [3:45].

3. ?Backseat Freestyle? [Prod. Hit-Boy]

?All my life I want money and power / Respect my mind or die from lead shower? ? Kendrick Lamar

Bavu: ?Random teenager bars. ?A Milli? energy. When you?re the best rapper on your block, your freestyles are largely shaped by what the homies want to hear. The homies are your core audience. This makes sense in context, while as a standalone song it?s awfully random!

Kendrick exudes raw rapper energy with an overview of his range of vocals and flow. I?ve been listening to his last few releases, and this song includes most of his range except the somber, half-crying style. If ?Backseat? wasn?t clearly set up as a teenager-freestyling-in-a-car scene in this script, I?d have a harder time appreciating it. But sandwiched between the outro of Track 2 and ?The Art of Peer Pressure,? this is apt screenwriting.

What happens around 2:15, does he get possessed or what?

Easy: I don?t know if I should call this song a guilty pleasure or not. ?It?s riddled with all the language and images that deserve a Parental Advisory sticker, but it fits into his story neatly and sounds so damn good. ?I?m not sure how deliberate of an artist Kendrick Lamar is yet, but this comes off as one of two things ? 1. A direct bite of Lil Wayne?s ?A Milli? flow or 2. A warning shot to all mainstream emcees that even though he?s a thoughtful poet, he can still use multiple styles to beat them at their own game. ?I want to believe it?s the latter.

4. ?The Art of Peer Pressure? [Prod. Tabu]

?I hope the universe loves you today / ?cause the energy we bringing sure to carry away a flock of positive activists and fill their body with hate.? ? Kendrick Lamar

Easy: This track is one of many honest observations that Kendrick delivers about his youth, and urban culture. ?Every confused youth of every race and background can relate to it. ?Even though I?ve grown past some of the emotions and sentiments he expresses in this song, I have vivid memories of my rolling days.

There?s a line in the chorus where he says ?Really I?m a sober soul but I?m with the homies right now ? Really I?m a peacemaker but I?m with the homies right now.? ?That line pretty much summarizes the psyche of young black males being taught and raised by each other. ?I wish he would have done more with the music that starts this song. I could listen to that intro as an instrumental on repeat for hours. ?The soundtrack of this entire song is another example of this album finding its balance as a lyrical and musical picture book.

Bavu: Agreed. This is one of those classic Cali hood movies, a sociological piece. I can relate as well. My mama used to tell me I had too many friends, who couldn?t all possibly be my real friends. Also, the same things that I?d said I?d never do, I eventually did ? with the homies. Some call it groupthink, Kendrick Lamar calls it the art of peer pressure. Try one drug with the homies, and you can mess around and take extra drugs ? true story.

As much as people say music has no effect on young people, Kendrick references ?bumping Jeezy? as something that impacts their attitudes. This message won?t fall on deaf ears, the youngsters will receive this. As for us grownups, we?ve learned through experience how important our peer group is. This is one of my favorite GKMC songs.

5. ?Money Trees? featuring Jay Rock [Prod. DJ Dahi]

?It go Halle Berry, or hallelujah / Pick your poison tell me what you doin? / Everybody gon? respect the shooter / But the one in front of the gun lives forever? ? Kendrick Lamar

?Samples ?Silver Soul? by Beach House

Bavu: ?This is Down South riding music, a catchy song with multiple hooks. ?Ya bish? is its own hook, for example. Lyrically, this is a nice summation of the environment the Good Kid is growing up in throughout this album as short film. Like Jeezy earlier, E-40?s ?Big Ballin? With My Homies? is cited as music that programmed their minds, but does not represent their reality.

This is definitely soundtrack music, again illustrating Kendrick?s teenage environment. Jay Rock, who has somehow become the underdog of Top Dawg Entertainment, has a great cameo verse here. Someone recently argued with me that ?the one in front of the gun lives forever? is pure guff. It may be a theological statement by Kendrick, or about remembering dead homies, how witnessing a murder is a permanent memory, how killers live on like zombies, etc. Either way, I think this poet chose his words carefully.

Easy: ?This is one of my favorite cuts on the album. ?It might be my Southern rap roots, but the beat is the star on this track. ?It?s heavy enough to talk tough on, but open enough that Kendrick has time to finally space out his lines so the audience can catch every word. ?I thought it was an important ingredient to this project to slow things down at some point, because Kendrick?s flow can be relentless to a fault.

I hope he finds a way to include tracks like this on his future projects ? it works. Oh, and salute to Jay Rock. ?He stood up on this track. ?I think it was only fitting for him to get this look, seeing how TDE?s early missteps with his debut created the environment that birthed the machine that is Kendrick Lamar.

6. ?Poetic Justice? featuring Drake [Prod. Scoop DeVille]

?love is not just a verb / it?s you looking in the mirror / love is not just a verb / it?s you looking for it maybe ? breathe slow and you?ll find / gold mines in these lines.? ? Kendrick Lamar

Samples ?Anytime, Anyplace? by Janet Jackson

Easy: This song wasn?t that great to me as a standalone piece. ?But it?s essential for the part it plays in the story. ?I think it sets up the arc of Kendrick?s story of growing up as a good kid in a mad city. The movie Poetic Justice was definitely a coming of age story. ?It was set in California and featured Tupac Shakur, one the greatest emcees to ever rise from the West coast Hip Hop culture and a definite influence on Kendrick Lamar. ?For those reasons, the sample of Janet Jackson ? who also starred in that movie as the character Justice ? is fitting.

Drake?s cameo is an afterthought. ?I?m sure Kendrick decided it would make sense to have Drake on this song because it?s essentially a love/lust narrative. ?The greatest part of this track was not the song, but the interlude that ends the track. This interlude, set up by the song, best illustrates the danger of being a good kid who is not gang-affiliated in a mad city overrun by gangs. It sets up the second half of the film and album perfectly.

Bavu: That interlude, like the song itself, takes us back to Sherane?s house. Horny young Kendrick gets charged up by gang members and his life is threatened as a result of typical teenage behavior ? chasing girls. But first ?Poetic Justice? takes us back to him trying to bed her.

As for the actual song, I?m a sucker for a good R& B sample. I?ll be seeking out this instrumental. Kendrick Lamar has Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre and all the resources in the world at his disposal. So he?d be a fool not to put Drake on the player track, after all Drake has done for him. But this is still a Kendrick song, so it may be a bit complicated for radio.

7. ?good kid? [Prod. Pharrell]

?Track attire just tell you I?m tired and ran away / I should ask a choir what do you require / To sing a song that acquire me to have faith / As the record spin I should pray / For the record spin I should pray / For the record I recognize that I?m easily prey / I got ate alive yesterday? ? Kendrick Lamar

Bavu: ?Loving Pharrell?s vocal interpolation of a Roy Ayers classic, first of all. This could pass for a Dre beat. I love when Kendrick gets into this ?Rigamortis? flow pattern where it sounds like he has no room to breathe, yet you can hear every word.

He?s driving the main themes home again, now in a laid back, mid-album mood. ?If it?s not the gang culture causing trouble for Kendrick, it?s the cops. So he can?t win for losing when it comes to flashing red and blue clothes or lights. The third verse takes me back to ?ADHD? on Section.80 as well. But this song is just an intro to the next joint, which gives us tirelessly frantic street imagery and eventually traditional Compton Hip Hop ? ?m.A.A.d city?.

8. ?m.A.A.d city? featuring MC Eiht [Prod. Sounwave and Terrace Martin]

?seen a light skin nigga with his brains blown out / at the same burger stand where [censored] hang out / now this is not a tape recorder saying that he did it / but ever since that day I been looking at him different? ? Kendrick Lamar

Easy: This is my favorite record by a west coast emcee since Game?s ?It?s Okay (One Blood)? for many reasons, the first of which is the flip. That?s the simplest way to describe what happens on this track at the 2:35 mark. ?The second reason is because I can easily see this track being the highlight of Kendrick?s live show. ?And the third reason is because MC Eiht pops up on here spitting his own style of spoken word before proceeding to rip his verse.

The A-section reminds me of Lloyd Banks ?Beamer, Benz, or Bentley? beat. ?I?m assuming that Kendrick has heard dead prez?s ?Malcolm Garvey Huey? because he borrows their flow on the A-section of this track. I also liked the spoken word Kendrick kicked at the end of the track. The line ?Compton made me an angel on angel dust? is powerful imagery. ?This album is full of lines that point to Kendrick being more a poet than a rapper. Personally, I feel like Hip Hop is in desperate need of more poets and less rappers. This song and album represents hope.

Bavu: I pretty much lose the plot of the movie/album at this point, and just hop in Bobby Dixon?s Beretta and ride to my high school on this one. The intro is a crunk setup, but the dominant B-section is pure Compton nostalgia, MC Eiht and all. Plus it?s sandwiched by spoken parts by both emcees. This track is a two-for-one, like Track 10.

I like how Kendrick?s voice sounds all worn out on this one in the old school section, as if by the end of high school he was really tired of the drama. In another 10 minutes or so, every character in this story will feel that way.

9. ?Swimming Pools (Drank)? Extended Version [Prod. T-Minus]

?Some people like the way it feels / Some people wanna kill their sorrows / Some people wanna fit in with the popular / That was my problem? ? Kendrick Lamar

Bavu: ?The cautionary tale about alcohol abuse as a commercial single, like ?I?m on One? with content more like ?Why I?m Not On One?. It?s a very heady song for such a contemporary pop sound. Fits well in the album sequence, where alcohol is a normal way to escape.

Then shots ring out, and one of the homies is murdered.

Easy: Screenplay writing at its best. ?You mapped it out perfectly. ?At the end of Track 8 (?m.A.A.d. city?) the homies console Kendrick with liquor after he got jumped trying to go ?get some? from Sherane. ?This track makes me reflect on all the reasons we drank so heavy as youngsters. ?We poured up to celebrate, to mourn, to write, to listen, to love, to hate. ?It?s amazing that any of us make it out of those years free of addiction. ?And like you alluded to, alcohol abuse leads to erratic and irresponsible behavior and, in this case, it leads to a shootout ?

10. ?Sing About Me? [Prod. Skhye Hutch and Sounwave] / ?I?m Dying of Thirst? [Prod. Like]

?see my hormones just run away and if i could get ?em back to where they used to be / then i?d probably be in the denim of family gene that showed women how to be woman? ? Kendrick Lamar

Samples ?Maybe Tomorrow? by Grant Green

Easy: Lyrically, this track is masterful and one of the best examples of Kendrick?s knack for storytelling. ?He compliments his 5-mic verses with a melodic and catchy chorus that proves Kendrick Lamar is destined to be more of the next Andre 3000 than the next Nas. ?On the surface, this track could be interpreted as Kendrick?s plea to be remembered for his music, but it?s much deeper than that. He only spends a portion of the third and final verse speaking on his own aspirations. ?He spends the first two verses tying together stories he told on Section.80 and GKMC. Then at the [7:30] mark another ?flip? happens.

?return of the student that never learned how to live righteous / but how to shoot it? ?? Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick spends the B-section of this track setting up the conclusion of his story. ?At some point, the Good Kid in the album?s narrative decided that there was more to life than hanging out with the wrong crowd. ?I would say the track ?m.A.A.d. city? was the turning point, but that?s debatable. ?K. Dot?s flow is liquid swords on this B-section as he paints a vivid picture of the culture and divided psyche of kids attracted to the violence of the streets and the hope of religion. ?I imagine this is what The Roots were attempting to do with their last album undun.

Bavu: The way the first narrative verse ends in an abrupt shooting, and the second a gradual fade out, is high definition cinema. Kendrick is addressed by relatives of former song characters who both presumably die. So ?promise that you will sing about me? seems to correspond with ?the one in front of the gun lives forever?. Hmm. Kendrick pulls it all together in first person, breaks it down and sings that smooth hook again.

We?ve gone from ?Swimming Pools? of alcohol to a murder to dying of thirst in about seven minutes. The Compton kids are exhausted. After the flip, the movie starts resolving, and Kendrick still has great taste in music. The sound has gone deep and solemn for a sad hangover. And everyone confesses their sins and gets led to Jesus by a Maya Angelou sounding lady; it?s the first scene of the album from another angle. Full circle. Roll the credits.

11. ?Real? featuring Anna Wise [Prod. by Terrace Martin]

?You love streets, you love runnin?, duckin? police / You love your hood, might even love it to death / But what love got to do with it when you don?t love yourself? ? Kendrick Lamar

Bavu: Kendrick Lamar?s ?Poetic South Central Boyz 2 Society? movie ends in catharsis. The film?s director gives you the moral of the story. After skits of welfare woes, domino withdrawal, musical healing and vibe-killing, Kendrick?s parents call dropping knowledge and inspiration. It?s not a Tyler Perry ending, but it?s all relative.

Easy: The phrase ?keep it real? is overused in rap, and music in general. ?So many songwriters claim that whatever their newest project is, ?it?s the most honest project they?ve ever done and this time around they kept it real with themselves and the audience.? ?I?m sure Kendrick Lamar noticed this trend and responded in his own way. ?It?s almost like the word ?nigger?. ?We added it to our Hip Hop vocabulary to take control of it, and in this track, Kendrick says ?I?m real? so many times as a way to redefine and repossess the word?s meaning. ?Violence and drug abuse don?t make us real ? coming into a knowledge of our spiritual purpose makes us real. A wise song from a young wise old man.

12. ?Compton? featuring Dr. Dre [Prod. Just Blaze]

?this was brought to you by Dre / now every motherfucker in here say / look who?s responsible for taking Compton international? ? Kendrick Lamar

Samples ?What?s This World Coming To? by Formula IV

Easy: Finally Dr. Dre shows up on the record. ?Unfortunately, his grand entrance gets overshadowed by Just Blaze?s production and the author of Dr. Dre?s verses. ?Now, don?t take that to mean that Kendrick and Dre fail to deliver ? they both go in and make this a classic rebuttal to Jay-Z?s ?Empire State of Mind?. ?Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Dre both sound confident and validated on this track. ?They sound excited that they found each other when everyone thought this kind of emceeing and executive producing was exhausted after Jay-Z?s Blueprint. There?s not enough I can say about the B-section (lots of a/b sections on this album) of this song. ?It?s fitting that one of the best albums to come out of the West since Doggystyle ends with a tribute to the Roger Troutman and Zapp sound that helped push their brand of Hip Hop to the forefront of music. ?This album short film is pure genius from beginning to end.

Bavu: I love the beat and the chorus. It?s a celebration. ?I am Compton?, he said, ?and Dr. Dre raps like me.? This is Kendrick Lamar?s torchbearer anthem, and basically the bonus track before the Bonus Tracks. Since it?s a short film and all, this is the wrap party. A toast to Kendrick; good job, kid!

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Source: http://hiphopgrewup.com/2012/10/30/the-authorized-anthropology-of-compton-kids/

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