Kendrick Lamar has made and continues to greatly impact the hip-hop community. One of his biggest albums that most music enthusiasts do/should know the name of is ‘Damn’. “Damn’ was released on April 14, 2017. Shortly after this, Kendrick would win the Pulitzer prize, an achievement of American literature, for this album. So, what does it all mean? I will take a deep dive into Kendrick Lamars ‘Damn’ album. 

Blood

Blood is rather strange because although it is the first song off the album, it is seemingly about the death of Kendrick. It tells a story of Kendrick taking a walk as he sees a blind woman, we don’t know who she is. As Kendrick sees her, she notices she seems agitated. He tries to go and help, seeing if what is irritating her is something he can help with. He asks if she has lost something and she responds oddly saying, “Oh yes. You have lost something. Your life.” Then Kendrick dies from a gunshot. Though, now this is confusing, later it comes together. At the beginning of this song, Kendrick introduces ‘wickedness’ and ‘weakness’; the two main themes of this album. He presents these themes as a ‘choice’ we have to make to live or die. 

DNA

DNA plays the role of introducing Kendrick to the album, who he is and what he does. When he is introducing himself, his life seems almost ‘too perfect’. This makes the timeline of DNA after Blood odd. In the first verse, Kendrick states 23 things in his DNA, which is the number of chromosome pairs in one’s DNA. He has a mix of good and bad traits. Taking a step back, we can associate the last two songs with the recurring themes of weakness and wickedness. DNA can be associated with wickedness while Blood can be associated with weakness. 

YAH

Going into the song, you can tell this has much lower energy than DNA; seemingly associated with weakness. This makes it seem that the songs on the album alternate from wickedness to weakness. In the song he talks about how he feels like he’s gonna burn himself out with the music industry and is tired of the press and the internet talking about him. The title ‘YAH” refers to Yahweh, the closest translated name to God in Hebrew. It seems to fit, as there are so many religious references in this album. What’s weird, is that in the song Kendrick states he isn’t religious but identifies as an Israelite; God’s chosen people according to the Bible. The bible states that his chosen people will be cursed until they believe and follow God. 

ELEMENT

The album opens with Kid Capri yelling “Kung Fu Kenny. Ain’t nobody praying for me.” Then he continues, “God knows what happens on earth stays on earth.” Element is Kendrick once again stating he is the best rapper in the industry. Suddenly, amongst all this confidence of him ‘not caring’ that nobody was praying for him or that he may be ‘cursed’  because he is the best, he seems to care. 

FEEL

Feel opens up with Kendrick repeating ‘ain’t nobody praying for me’ showing he does care. While he is saying this, you can hear a female voice saying it alone with him. This is the voice of Chelsea Blythe, one of his producers. This was to represent that even in the music industry nobody is praying for him, not even his team. He says he feels like isolating himself from everyone and that when he’s on stage he feels like the best, but then he realizes he’s all alone. He slowly starts to show that maybe the curse is real. 

LOYALTY

Loyalty seems to be a direct response to ‘Feel’. He’s stating he wants the loyal people in his life close to him. The music video plays an important role in this song as it carries much imagery. Such as Kendrick being stabbed by Rihanna, which could be taken as an ‘oath’ for their loyalty. Then we have Rihanna falling in love with Kendrick after he beats up a man. Then a scene where Kendrick in a black suit kidnaps and kills another Kendrick in a white suit. After all this, what the video illustrates best is how only those who are Loyal get into Kendrick’s circle, as a scene depicts many people coming up to Kendrick but then sinking into the ground. 

PRIDE

He opens stating ‘Loves gonna get you killed. But Pride’s gonna be the death of you”. This can be confusing, but he is saying love is going to get you in the ground or just physically dead, but pride is going to tear you apart; and infect your mind. This can lead to what the first song on the album, “Blood” means. Maybe he was wounded spiritually or in his soul, the Blind lady, if you remember, said he’s ‘lost his life’ which could be because he is blinded by his success, it’s getting to his head. It’s his Pride. He says he was never taught to care or share, but he also says that maybe in another life he was. In a ‘perfect’ world. He then starts doubting the idea that he never had Pride, not in any universe.

HUMBLE 

Humble is more of a rap where he’s just bragging; taking shots at not only others but himself. He states, once again, how he is the greatest rapper, but then realizes he needs to be humble. Humble seems to be a turning point for Kendrick in the album. Humble is Kendrick getting rid of one of his biggest sins, ‘Pride’.

But what about the others?