REVISITING: DAMN by Kendrick Lamar

At the time of listening to DAMN, I rather abruptly decided that it was my favourite Kendrick album. With that in mind, it seems the perfect time to revisit Kendrick's underappreciated gem from 2017.

Okay, so To Pimp a Butterfly is majestic from start to finish, with cuts like 'Alright' hitting even harder than before in light of recent events over the last year. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City very much remains a masterpiece of modern hip-hop, just as relevant today as it was in 2012. Debut, Section 80, also has its moments like 'ADHD' and 'The Spiteful Chant'. But is DAMN a dud or an overlooked masterpiece? Or is it somewhere in between?

DAMN remains the last album released by Kendrick back in April 2017, meaning that Kendrick has left us in the lurch for at least four years. Given the painstaking creative process Kendrick undergoes, however, the wait is somewhat understandable. 

I remember first listening to DAMN on a train up to Glasgow via Edinburgh. I had the album playing from Newcastle, which was the final stop prior to Edinburgh. Frustratingly it was too dark to see the majestic North Eastern coastline around Berwick-upon-Tweed at the time, but that darkness would lend itself perfectly to the sinister charm of DAMN.

The album begins with BLOOD; an eerie spoken tale of death at the hands of a blind lady, which almost certainly feels like an allegory for something deeper. It segues seamlessly into the similarly eerie DNA, before a more subdued YAH takes centre stage. The opening three tracks set the tone for the entire album, with Kendrick taking on FOX News, making biblical references all the while. The grand instrumentals of TPAB aren't here anymore, but something darker and more foreboding lurks in the wings.

Kendrick takes on his contemporaries on following track, ELEMENT; a song where Kung-Fu Kenny spits over another brooding, stripped back beat, courtesy of James Blake. Admittedly, the earlier half of DAMN takes a while to get going, but FEEL is where the concept of DAMN really clicks into place. The beat is among the best on the album, with Kendrick's repeated mantra of 'nobody praying for me' at the forefront. It is brooding. It is minimal. It is DAMN.

Then comes LOYALTY, featuring Rihanna, which sees the first feature of the album, and one of the more radio-friendly cuts. That said, it carries that same moodiness that typifies the LP as a whole. Incidentally, it samples a reversed cut of Bruno Mars' '24k Magic'; one of the many skewed and unexpected samples that turns up on DAMN.

PRIDE follows, though Kendrick certainly missed a trick not having a song named FALL to follow this particular cut. Joking aside, it serves as the highlight of the album, with Kendrick introspectively singing and rapping over the most soulful beat on the album. The track that actually follows is HUMBLE; the most immediate and arguably upbeat song on DAMN. At the halfway point, however, it does mark something of a break from that initial style.

LUST is next, and could conceivably be an OutKast cut from Speakerboxx/The Love Below. It's unmistakably Kendrick though, dealing with, well, lust, making numerous parallels with power and control. It's undoubtedly the sexiest cut on the album so-to-speak, even randomly sampling South London's Ratboy - certainly the most unexpected feature on all of DAMN. 

Naturally, LOVE, featuring Zacari, follows LUST and sees Kendrick go from sexy to sweet. Much like HUMBLE, the song takes on a more immediate and upbeat vibe without feeling too out of place. That said, the track is definitely not one of Kendrick's finest. The repeated 'I wanna be with you' mantra feels a little irritating and twee.

XXX sees Kendrick go in hardest over the heaviest beat on the album, featuring sirens and screeching cars. It descends into a more mellow beat more befitting of the album's atmosphere. Bono's feature feels very much welcome, which is something I never expected I would have to write after 2003. FEAR sounds more like something that could slot seamlessly into TPAB whilst maintaining the DAMN aesthetic. 

Unfortunately, GOD provides a fairly forgettable penultimate track, but DUCKWORTH provides a more than adequate swansong for the album as a whole. That said, neither track truly sticks out in the manner that 'i' and 'Mortal Man' do on TPAB, even on repeat listens. A lot of tracks on the album do; the likes of FEEL, FEAR, PRIDE and XXX in particular amongst others, but the album almost certainly feels a track or two too long.

My favourite Kendrick album? On revisiting, perhaps not, but it warrants another attempt for those that didn't enjoy it on the first or second spin. It undoubtedly carries the weight of the world on its shoulders, and with that understandably bleak soundscape emerges, through which the occasional flash of light appears. But DAMN's overarching strength lies in this darkness.