Going Deep with Kung-Fu Kenny on DAMN.
Note: This post contains explicit material. I’m very late to the party but perhaps the fact that I’m a 60-year-old white southern male might allow you to cut me some slack. I recently purchased the digital download of DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar and, as I do with most new music, I have obsessed over it the past few days. My interest in Rap/Hip-Hop emerged last year. I mentioned it in my “ Loose Ends ” post in December. At the time, I was only familiar with a few of Kendrick’s songs, HUMBLE. being one of them, of course. It was such a phenomenon when it was released in 2017 that I became aware of it through my normal music news feeds. Anyway, I’ve now listened to DAMN. multiple times and glanced around YouTube and other spaces for reviews and analysis of the album. In this review I'll mention the music some but my main focus will be to take a closer look at Kendrick’s lyrics, their ideas and structural aspects. DAMN. is a concept album. The tracks stitch together to fo