We have classified (objectively) ALL the albums of Kendrick Lamar

That’s it, rapper Kendrick Lamar’s classic, Good Kid, MAAD City, became the first rap album to remain on the US Billboard for ten years. This record shows the consistency and impact of the Californian rapper’s discography on the music of the 2010s. Since the album has just celebrated its tenth anniversary and Kendrick was in Paris to two monumental concertswe took up the challenge of classifying his seven projects, a broad vision of the last twelve years in the world of rap.

This very good first album was a real electric shock, even if it was difficult, at the time, to anticipate the extent that Kendrick Lamar was going to take. With the very interesting mixtape Overly Dedicated released a year earlier Section.80 form a new generation Californian rap duo where we meet many actors of the time, such as Dom Kennedy, Overdoz, BJ the Chicago Kid and his acolytes from TDE Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock. Listen again Section.80 allows you to immerse yourself in this very abundant universe of the early 2010s in Los Angeles. And then there is “Hiiipower”, “ADHD”, “Rigamortus”, strong signs of a possible after.

Breathing project between two mastodons, Untitled Unmastered is a sort of end point to the diptych Good Kid, MAAD City / To Pimp a Butterfly. A lot of titles released between the two albums can be found here, like magnified orphans. This disc is a bit special for me because it contains the untitled 03 that Kendrick had performed live at Stephen Colbert on December 16, 2014.

This live is perhaps one of the best made on television, with Thundercat on bass, Terrace Martin on saxophone, Anna Wise and Bilal on backing vocals, a madness. But the story is even crazier: basically, the production is signed by a Frenchman, Astronote, who turns out to be an artist with whom I worked a lot in the early 2000s in Orléans. An incredible loop which gives yet another dimension to this transition record.

Among Kendrick’s monster projects is this movie soundtrack mainstream the biggest of the 2010s. Black Panther is a tidal wave that is both engaged, representative and entertaining. And Kendrick’s work on the search for sounds between current rap, hyperpop and music that could come from Wakanda is a real tour de force. A real world opening for the artist, this successful project allows him to be identified as the most intransigent artist of the moment. And there’s still Mozzy and SOB x RBE in the line-up, it’s an incredible movement in itself. And this is surely the last project where he places his entire TDE family, a kind of grandiose end point.

The explosion that changed everything. This album in the form of diary of Kendrick’s youth in Compton, between angel and demon, made everyone agree when it came out. He unified the rap audiences of the time and erected Kendrick Lamar as the new headliner. Many pieces remain timeless classics that the rapper continues to magnify in concert, ten years later. “Money Trees”, “Swimming Pools”, “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”, “Backseat Freestyle”, Kendrick has been able to make a coherent album which can be listened to in one go but whose highlights will live alone for years. “mAAd city” invites MC Eiht to connect generations and gangs. And ending on “Compton” with Dr. Dre finishes crowning Kendrick as the new prince of California. Before becoming king.

Kendrick’s latest opus is dense, deep and powerful. After several months of listening, we have not yet deciphered all the subtleties. The artist tackles personal and divisive subjects, offering redemption, healing and understanding to an entire community. Built a bit like To Pimp a Butterfly but more introspective and spiritual, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers could still take a place in this top in the coming months so much each listening is a new discovery.

Kendrick goes against the trend by refusing the obvious hits, the sounds of the moment or by highlighting complex and maligned personalities like Kodak Black. His reflections on his family, his relationships, his heritage are both personal and universal. He has never been so touching and sincere as on “Father Time”, “We Cry Together”, “Mother I Sober” or “Mirror”. And he’ll get Portishead’s Beth Gibbons or Ghostface Killah to put them to best use. This strong and imperturbable vision of Kendrick Lamar always results in extremely complete, very written albums, with many facets to explore. To see his adaptation on stage was a pure delight. We go back.

A world album. To Pimp a Butterfly is a love letter to all of Kendrick Lamar’s inspirations and role models. The Roots and the Soulquarians, the Dungeon Family and the Organized Noize team, The Isley Brothers, George Clinton, a whole heritage of Afro-American music is integrated into this labyrinthine album, claiming as much P-Funk as Common, as much 2Pac (which he stages in a fake interview at the end of the album) as free jazz and spoken word.

The musical depth that also calls Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield or Prince is abysmal, leaving a powerful dizziness at the end of the listening. But Kendrick still releases timeless anthems, like “Alright” or “King Kunta” that will remain rap highlights of the 2010s.

The sum of everything. I strongly believe in Rick Rubin’s mantra of “reducing” rather than “producing”. DAMN. is the brevity of everything Kendrick Lamar, his vision of a blockbuster where each piece has a specific purpose, none is dispensable. It’s the Good Kid, MAAD City adult version, it hits hard with “HUMBLE.” or “DNA.”, it pops on “LOYALTY.” or “LOVE.”, it is told on “ELEMENT.”, “PRIDE.” or “DUCKWORTH.”. It’s the condensed version of everything Kendrick understood, the most direct, the most unique version. Everything is only sins, emotions or principles, to listen to upside down or upside down, everything is symmetrical, nothing is too much. Perfect anti-To Pimp a Butterfly, DAMN. shows that Kendrick Lamar is surely the artist of the past decade. The crowning of a vision.