The Greatest Rapper Alive

Sensei Mel
Apr 16, 2017
4 min read

With Kendrick Lamar dropping his newest album, DAMN. (this album is incredible go and check it out), it's sparked some debates in the hip-hop industry. The most obvious being, is he the greatest rapper alive? Which he calls himself on the track The Heart Part 4, which surprisingly did not grace the album. Now I wanna get into this a little bit, but before I start let me say calling someone a greatest rapper doesn't mean another rapper is bad (because this is what most of you will think after this…but I'm not saying that). It seems to me the real debate is based on artistry not just lyrics so I'll include other aspects too.

Kendrick, can be considered the greatest because he's lyrically untouchable. I'm not even talking about his recent work on DAMN. or even To Pimp A Butterfly, I'm referring to the Kendrick that proved his excellence before good kid, m.A.A.d city was even a concept. Got me breathing with dragons/ I'll crack the egg in your basket, you bastard, if you have no clue where that lyric stems from then you haven't been listening to Kendrick for long enough to appreciate his genius. The lyric comes from the track Rigamortus, on his debut studio album Section.80; in the track Kendrick changes his flow several times whilst rapping over an orchestral type beat. Section.80's concept is about two females Tammy and Keisha and the hardships they experience in their lives; it delves into deeper and darker thoughts situations but it's beautifully executed by Mr. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth. If you wanna have a preview listen to Keisha's Song (Her Pain) on the album.

I think we all need to appreciate Kendrick's consistency when it comes to putting out mind-blowing albums. Which brings me to my next point of why he's the greatest rapper alive…his ability to rap about completely different concepts and still make people feel meaning with his lyrics. There's two albums which actually demonstrate this ability and they are, good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp A Butterfly. Both these albums were AMAZING (please, this is not up for discussion) and they both were pretty much about different topics. GKMC detailed Kendrick's life as a teen growing up in Compton, California and included biblical skits (at the beginning of Sherane A.K.A Master Splinter's Daughter) as well as straight up g-funk classic tracks (m.A.A.d city ft. Mc Eiht). Kendrick had tracks on GKMC that you could bounce to or just deep life with, the experimentation of pace, flow and features created the perfect album and well deserving of critical acclaim. The whole album opened us up to the person, Kendrick Lamar and what life has been like for him so far.

But then 2 years later and we were blessed with TPAB. This album was mainly about Kendrick coming into his position as one of many spokespeople for his brothers and sisters of not only Compton, but everywhere. The album fused jazz and hip hop (a fusion made by the Gods) with vivid imagery through the use of metaphors, in tracks such as, These Walls. I think he should be praised on this because not every rapper can fuse genres and sound so pleasing to the ears. Like come on, Kendrick even raps conversations as tracks and personifies feelings whilst making us feel like we are in a dreamlike realm, he's untouchable. TPAB showcases Kendrick's ability to target many areas in his music not only black injustice and institutionalised racism but also mental health particularly, depression. I feel depression should be addressed way more in hip hop as a lot of rappers do experience it. Yeah, that's right your favourite rapper who's doing cocaine, popping molly or xans may actually just be depressed at times (not all the time, just sometimes). But on a lighter note, TPAB also gave us some of the best music videos we had seen from Kendrick in a long time (my favourite being Alright and These Walls). TPAB came at a perfect time as well as some people started to believe Kendrick didn't care about the monstrosities (ay, come see vocabulary) occurring in America surrounding black people. I slyly think people felt this way because he didn't post all over social media, but this guy hardly posts on any socials (he's got 2 insta posts please) apart from his albums and videos we hardly ever see or hear from him. But from songs like King Kunta, Blacker the Berry and Complexion (A Zulu Love), it was evident Kendrick was more woke than some once thought.

But here's where it ends, personally I feel Kendrick is the greatest rapper alive. He's consistently produced ridiculously amazing albums, whether it be a 19-tracked album of a description of his childhood, to an 8-tracked album of unreleased songs which are all called untitled. I think it's evident Kendrick is in a league of his own and will go down in history as one of the greatest rappers to ever live (along with another rapper who is possibly the only one who could attempt to compete with Kendrick, but we all know who that is).

Click Here to check out this weeks' playlists.

P.S. This is going to be my last post & playlist on the site for a while (I'll still be doing monthly posts on mcmmagazine.co.uk) because I got exams *sighs* but I'll hopefully be back by late June/early July. Till then see ya later guys, stay blessed.