DAMN Desert Island

If you like stories full of ups and downs, character development, creation and destruction, not to mention, some fucking awesome melodies and beats, then DAMN is the album for your desert island. To many, DAMN is the best story-telling album ever created for many reasons, starting with the author. Kendrick Lamar is arguably the greatest lyricist ever and the only rapper to ever win a Pulitzer prize. DAMN is a story about Kendrick’s life, from the past events that shaped his life without even being born in the track “DUCKWORTH.”, to Kendrick’s eventual rise to fame in the track “HUMBLE”. If stuck on a desert island, you would want an album that could keep you entertained for as long as possible where something new could be learned or interpreted for every listen. In this description of DAMN, you will realize why this album is a masterpiece and an album to keep your mind occupied while satisfying the soul.

DAMN is a story about Kendrick. So many might ask, what is this story about? Can every track be a story? Or do the tracks need to be listened in a certain order? Although music is meant to be interpreted by the listener and therefor can be interpreted in any order, it is most likely that Kendrick wanted DAMN to be listened to from last to first. The reason being, that the last track of DAMN, “DUCKWORTH.” is the story of Kendrick’s father “Ducky” before Kendrick’s birth, but would eternally shape Kendrick’s life, “then you start reminding them about the chicken incident whoever though the greatest rapper would be from coincidence because if Anthony killed Ducky, top dog would be serving life while I would be born without a father and be dead in a gun fight”. This line in “DUCKWORTH.” describes how Kendrick’s father worked at a fried chicken spot where Anthony a “top dog” wanted to rob the fried chicken shop and would end up killing Kendrick’s father “Ducky” in order to do so, but, “Ducky” realizes this and befriends Anthony by “giving him extra biscuits” or “free chicken”. Anthony changes his mind and reunites with “Ducky” and Kendrick in the studio twenty years later. So, is “DUCKWORTH.” really meant to be listened to first? What is interesting is that in DAMN the collector’s edition, all of DAMN’s tracks are in reversed order, with “DUCKWORTH.” as the first track, but, the last in the “normal” album. Again, it is up to interpretation and may not have a definitive answer, but, it is certainly one of the most influential tracks in the story of DAMN. I love that Kendrick uses events before his birth to tell his story. It makes me and I’m sure other listeners intrigued about the circumstances that brought their parents together or kept their parents alive. My father immigrated from Moscow when he was seven years old and faced many challenges growing up, from dealing with Anti-Semitism in Russia to Russian hate in the United States and although Kendrick’s father and mine had very different challenges both fathers managed to overcome and be there for there sons.

“BLOOD.”, the last, or first track of DAMN is a story or dream Kendrick recounts, where he meets an old blind woman who appears to have lost something. Kendrick offers to help her find it by asking her what she’s lost and the blind old woman says “your life” and proceeds to shoot Kendrick. This creates quite an eerie entrance/exit to DAMN as this story is being told over a trancey slow piano melody. What is even more strange, is that the very beginning of “BLOOD.” is the very ending of “DUCKWORTH.”, with the line, “So I was taking a walk the other day” and at the end of “DUCKWORTH.” before Kendrick gets to that line, the track quickly rewinds through every track of DAMN. “BLOOD.” and “DUCKWORTH.” tie/loop the story of DAMN together set the vibe of the story.

Continuing down the story of DAMN, we get to the track “DNA.” that transitions seamlessly from “BLOOD.”. “DNA.” takes a big turn from “BLOOD.” as the track jumps into a ferocious beat with heavy bass as Kendrick observes how his hood life affects his everyday life “I know murder, conviction/burners, boosters, burglars, ballers, dead” how it has shaped him, and how hip-hop has affected his community. “DNA.” is what defines everything about a human and can even change overtime, Kendrick observes the positives and the negatives of this as his first bars go “I got loyalty got royalty inside my DNA”, “I got power, poison, pain inside my DNA”. What I love about this track, although no one has gone through what Kendrick has gone through, is that everyone has their stories and life experiences that shaped them and their DNA to the point they are in today, making “DNA.” a track everyone can relate too.

Next, comes “YAH.” (possibly short for Yahweh a Hebrew name of God) a track about Kendrick’s beliefs on the fate of the world, and his treatment by his friends and family. This track is laid down with a mellowed-out melody created by wavering drums and what seems to be short bursts of a horn. Kendrick discusses people’s opinion of him as he raps “Interviews wanna know my thoughts and opinions, Fox news wanna use my name for percentage. My latest muse is my niece, she worth living. See me on the TV and scream: “That’s Uncle Kendrick!””. “YAH.”, then fades out and Kendrick flies into the more jumpy track, “ELEMENT.”. In “ELEMENT.” Kendrick describes how he’s risen to his position from Compton and has had to leave “friends” to continue on his path to fame “relocate, jump on the same G5, checking for me heavy because I go yea I go yea, they never be ready yea I know, yea I know yea”., Kendrick has left people in the past for his fame in “ELEMENT.” but, in “FEEL.”, Kendrick is alone “I feel like friends overrated, I feel like the family been faking, I feel like the feelings are changing”. Kendrick raps over an echo of possibly his own voice in his head reminiscing, sounding like a tide rolling in and out of the sand as his feelings are staying and going as the line “Ain’t nobody praying for me” repeats throughout.

“FEEL.” ends, and “LOYALTY.” begins, featuring Rihanna smoothly flowing in and discussing the people Kendrick has maintained relationships with who are loyal to him. “LOYALTY.” unlike most of DAMN is more of a radio hit song with a catchy remixed Bruno Mars beat and of course the addition of Rihanna’s beautiful voice, as Kendrick and Rihanna go back and forth discussing loyalty among each other. From Loyalty till the end of DAMN, there is a clear change in the style of the melodies and beats of the tracks, where it seems Kendrick is experimenting with new sounds, but making it work alluringly, with Kendrick’s amazing ability to maneuver his flow. “PRIDE.”, the next track in DAMN, takes a funky tune while Kendrick explains how his pride comes from faith in himself “I don’t trust people enough to put faith in them, I put my faith in these lyrics”.

Ironically, after “PRIDE.” Kendrick’s currently, most listened to track “HUMBLE.” is played. A recount of Kendrick’s humble begging’s to remind himself to “Bitch sit down, be humble”, but at the same time, a public display of his accomplishments. This is all over a tenacious beat produced by Mike Will MADE and a punchy piano chord progression with snarling sirens.

After hyped up “HUMBLE.”, “LUST.” transpires another ironic contrast to “HUMBLE.” as Kendrick recounts his inability to fight the urges sex, money and fame “way too hot to simmer down, might as well overheat”. From “LUST.” comes “LOVE.” another current top hit of Kendrick’s with an appealing smooth Drake type vibe with not as much depth in terms of lyrics, but a display of Kendrick’s talent to make a hit track and flow effortlessly with a catchy melody.

Kendrick takes a dramatic change from “LOVE.” to “XXX.” as “XXX.” is a track depicting life on the street addressing street violence, lost homies and interactions with the police, and the struggles being in the hood in America “the great American flag is wrapped in drag and explosives, disorder, sons and daughters, barricaded, in borders, look what you taught us, I’m on your street, my street, back streets”. This song also has an amazing change of flows from a trancey slow intro to a jumpy hip-hop beat with a lot of record scratching, and mixes of intermittent sirens and awkward piano chords, to finally a slow jazzy piano where the lyrics quoted earlier come in.

The struggles of “XXX.” mesh into Kendrick’s “FEAR.” as Kendrick describes the fear of losing everything he’s achieved from the money to the opinions held of him “I’m scared to return to section eight (Compton neighborhood) with my momma stressing thirty shows a month and I still won’t buy no Lexus”, “at 27 years old my biggest fear was being judged”. “FEAR.” to “GOD.” is another graceful transition as in “FEAR.” one of the main repeating lines is “why god why god do I got to suffer?” and ends with “Shalom”. Kendrick then explains what god feels like with very Kanye like vibe and beat and another display of Kendrick’s accomplishments. A good way to sum up Kendrick’s life before the progression to “DUCKWORTH.”

Damn is an incredible story and the short description of each track in the album cannot do the album justice. However, with an overview of damn I was able to connect through broad aspects of Kendrick’s life, like feelings of lust, power, or fear. Music has never been an aspect of life that has shaped me, but, more something of appreciation and a form of meditation. Interpretation of Kendrick’s lyrics while enjoying the amazing production behind his words is a great way to let your mind wander and take a break from all the thinking going on everyday. Listening to Damn may not have changed my life, but, it filled me with emotion, provided me a better understanding of one of my favorite artists and set the bar on how to tell a story through music.

Sources:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2017/04/14/kendrick-lamar-damn-track-by-track-instant-review/100452644/

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/18947-kendrick-lamar-humble/