Kendrick Lamar - Section 80 Review. Kendrick Lamar is a relatively “new” rapper on the scene. He’s dropped some mixtapes up to this point, but Section 80 is his first real release. He’s messed around with some popular mainstream artists like J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, and I make it no secret what I think about those artists — bad, bad, not good. However it seems that Kendrick has separated himself enough from that crowd to be on my radar for his first release. So this is made to be somewhat of a concept album. Kendrick says that Section 80 stands for the time period that people born in the 80s until now live in, or something to that degree. This album revolves around the lives of two fictional characters Tammy and Keisha, but I don’t see that being a consistent theme through the entire album. We’ll see how concrete the idea of a concept album is, let’s listen. 1. Kendrick Lamar - Fuck Your Ethniticity This track starts off with a deep voices narrator who’s standing around some sort of bonfire addressing the two aforementioned girls and saying “fuck your ethnicity”. Really dig this beat off the bat, great groove and piano under it all. Initially I figured this would be some sort of track on racism but it turns into the basic song about who the rapper is, why they’re great, and some witty lines. Not awful but a lot more could have been done with it, the beat shines over the rapper certainly. 2. Kendrick Lamar - Hol’ Up. Damn. I love this beat. Total vintage jazz sample that turns incredibly lush when the lyrics come in and a vocal sample that sounds like it’s from THE SONG I’ve been trying to find for months and then the classic James Brown “one, two, get down!” sample. Get’s a cool look about how Kendrick views himself in this song and a laughable quip on fucking the stewardess, a sexual terrorist. This song has a catchy mix of straight up ignorance and social commentary, as hypocritical as that sounds. A lot of talking about how growing up in the 80s shaped and helped advance his maturity because of the war on drugs, though I question that because the dude is only 23. This has a great line in it, though, “Wicked as 80 reverends in a pool of fire with devils holding hands, from a distance, don’t know which one is a Christian.. damn.” Love that. 3. Kendrick Lamar - A.D.H.D. So here we get an interesting commentary about the over-medicated youth of today and the desensitized (as far as drug use goes) culture that is around him/the people of his age. An interesting thought but kind of an uninspired commentary, doesn’t go much deeper than noticing that everyone is sippin’ the sizzurp and trippin’ off that good shit, I guess. There is no doubting this song is incredibly catch though, especially the hook. Beat has an interesting ambiance that is very reminiscent of the Clams Casino beats on A$AP Rocky’s new joint.  4. Kendrick Lamar - No Make Up Right off the bat I do not like the hook from Colin Monroe. Feel like I’m being shot back into 2005 emo band trying to create some sort of cross-genre fusion. Ew. This entire song is an ode to realizing how girls are more beautiful without their make up on, a real panty dropper. Sike. This is incredibly dry and boring and sounds like something Drake is going to steal for his next LP. 5. Kendrick Lamar - Tammy’s Song (Her Elvis) Well here we get back into the supposed life of Tammy and Keisha. Really like this beat off the bat, it reminds me of something I heard a while back, maybe a Fat Boy Slim beat but I’m not sure. The song is about the trust issues Tammy has around her boyfriend, checks his phone, see’s he has been cheating on her and then ices the poor sap because of it. He has a very Kanye Dark Twisted Fantasy flow going on in this and I’m beginning to see the likenesses between the moods on this and Kanye’s last album, just not quite as avant-garde.  6. Kendrick Lamar - Chapter Six A very slow, soulful beat with just two hooks on this song. My guess is that it’s a commentary on the mindset of the youth today and their jaded drug-induced nonchalant attitudes. The narrator around the fire pops back in as well to address that they talked about Tammy’s sins but wants to address a more serious issue which is what the Reagan era turned people into. This seems to be more of a skit than a song. 7. Kendrick Lamar - Ronald Reagan Era That of course leads us right into the aptly named Ronald Reagan Era. Ash Riser gives a pretty cool hook with this to set up a sweet boom bap beat and very lush sounding song. Kendrick is way hungrier on this song than the previous ones and I really prefer his delivery on here much more. I’m a bit confused with Kendrick’s lyrics though, he borders between commentating on the issues that the youth faces by being so drug-induced but then goes on to talk about how he’s driving on E and rolling shit up, I guess that’s part of the “concept” here, but it really screams of inconsistency to me. Worst of all he says ”you niggas Marcus Camby, washed up”, if you’re 38 and pulling down 10/10 and 2 blocks a game you’re not washed up. Camby gets boards man. 8. Kendrick Lamar - Poe Mans Dreams First off I love this beat, sounds like something Madlib would have put on Yesterday’s New Quintet records or something. This is a great introspective look at a kid growing up in Compton and wanting to be like what he sees around him, wanting to get a gun, wanting to end up in jail, thinking it’s cool to be that kind of guy. “Stare at the sun and you’ll be lookin’ in my eyes homie. Stand for something or fall for anything, and you working with two left feet at the skating rink” is one of my favorite verses in this. CLG has a great verse on this as well, “Apply yourself to supply your wealth, only limitations you’ll ever have are those you place upon yourself.” I hear that. 9. Kendrick Lamar - The Spiteful Chant As soon as I saw Schoolboy Q on this I knew it was going to be ignorant as fuck, but in the best way possible. Oh shit, war horns? BASS? WHAT’S THAT… “I’M GOIN’ BIG, SUCK MY DIIIIICK. TOO MANY NIGGAS, NOT ENOUGH HOES, AND SOME OF YOU NIGGAS ACTIN’ LIKE HOES.” I’m not even going to legitimately get into this song, there’s no need, this is what it is, fake people are fake, hoes are hoes. Just let this ridiculous chorus wash over you and bob your head. Kendrick says that “Everybody heard that I fuck with Dre and they wanna tell me, I made it. Nigga I ain’t made shit, if he gave me a handout I’mma take his wrist and break it.” Well it’s official, Detox is never coming out. 10. Kendrick Lamar - Chapter 10 So I finally figured out what this shit reminds me of. Flying Lotus. I swear this is from a FlyLo track. I’m gonna look around for it. Another “skit” sort of, he just spits a super fast quick verse about how growing up in the 80s is an excuse for ignorance. Lovely! 11. Kendrick Lamar - Keisha’s Song  Is that you Chris Martin? Swear to god that’s a Coldplay hook. This song is like a lyrical interpretation of a Law and Order: SVU episode. Keisha is a prostitute that hates her life but has to make ends meet somehow, was sexually abused as a child by her mother’s boyfriend which was inevitably a major factor for her life to come. Couldn’t get help, couldn’t tell anyone, and then forced into prostitution by a pimp who takes all of her money. The song ends by Keisha catching a knife in the stomach from a bad customer who leaves her dead in the street. “My little sister eleven, I looked her right in the face the day that I wrote this song, set her down and pressed play.” Damn.  12. Kendrick Lamar - Rigamortus Well I definitely needed a pick up after that last downer and this beat comes out in full funky force. KABLAM! He goes pretty hard on this track, and with most hip-hop records of this type, it has to have an obnoxiously flamboyant ode to the greatness of the rapper. This is made more unique by the ridiculous metaphors and wordplay on this song like the hook, “Got me breathing with dragons, I’ll crack the egg in your basket, you bastard, I’m Marilyn Manson with madness, now just imagine the magic I light to asses, don’t ask for your favorite rapper — he dead”. Damn. He really picks it up as the song goes on to. Like it a lot. 13. Kendrick Lamar - Kush & Corinthians This has a much more southern feel to it, the beat is somewhere in between Big KRIT and an ATLiens single. Kind of slow until the third verse, talking about morality and choices that you have, to Kendrick everyone is just a saint that takes a sinner’s advice. Not much to say about the song, it borders on being deep but doesn’t quite get there. Still a chill vibe though. 14. Kendrick Lamar - Blow My High Uh what the fuck? Well ok… the first 15 seconds of the song are Pimp-C’s verse from Big Pimpin’ verbatim. Not sure why. K then. Just a song of Kendrick announcing he’s here and to fuck the haters, and, for some reason, an ode to Aaliyah and Left Eye. RIP… I guess… This song is all over the place. He then samples Aaliyah at the end of the song. I guess this dude really digs her. Sure. 15. Kendrick Lamar - Ab-Souls Outro For one, I want the instrumental on this so badly. It’s just a sweet Jazz jam that he and Ab-Souls are rapping over. This is by far the best track on the album. A serious look about the future of not only his/their career(s) but the world in general. “Odd Future’s aight, but our future is not, that Martial law shit dropped and wee gonna all gonna get got. “See I’ve spent twenty three years on the earth searching for answers til’ one day I realized I had to come up with my own, I’m not on the outside looking in, I’m not on the inside looking out, I’m in the dead fucking center, looking around. You ever seen a newborn baby kill a grown man? That’s an analogy for the way the world make me react.” I think we can all relate to that, and god damn, that instrumental. 16. Kendrick Lamar - HiiiPoWeR Kendrick is on his most Kanye on this beat, even taking lyrics from So Appalled and completely going on a Kanye flow all over this entire song. The beat is great and really shows how much better J. Cole is as a producer than a rapper, that’s a fact. Kendrick feels like the world is collapsing around him, people and the times are out to get him, and he has to fight back. Ode’s to MLK, Malcom X, and Huey Newton, gotta fight back when shit around you is collapsing. Very reminiscent of the times with OWS, SOPA, the Revolutions going on all over the world, this song is seriously high powered, pun intended.    Well. This album is really inconsistent to say the least, it borders on being an actually concept album but doesn’t quite reach it. A lot of the hooks are kind of weak and Kendrick is a much better rapper when he has hunger in his voice and a more intense tone, so I wish he’d go to that a bit more. There are some songs that are just kind of dry and empty but this album is saved by the seriously great beats and catchiness of it all. If you don’t look too intensely into the albums lyrics and just enjoy it for what it is you will not be bored, and in all honesty, it’s worth a listen. It’s not that the lyrics are terrible or anything, on some of the songs they’re actually really good, but again, inconsistent. All that being said I didn’t find myself bored at any point on this album which is a good thing, and some of the songs on this are on repeat for certain.  I’m giving this album a light 7/10. As always, if you want something reviewed, the ask box is on the left.

Kendrick Lamar - Section 80 Review.

Kendrick Lamar is a relatively “new” rapper on the scene. He’s dropped some mixtapes up to this point, but Section 80 is his first real release. He’s messed around with some popular mainstream artists like J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, and I make it no secret what I think about those artists — bad, bad, not good. However it seems that Kendrick has separated himself enough from that crowd to be on my radar for his first release.

So this is made to be somewhat of a concept album. Kendrick says that Section 80 stands for the time period that people born in the 80s until now live in, or something to that degree. This album revolves around the lives of two fictional characters Tammy and Keisha, but I don’t see that being a consistent theme through the entire album. We’ll see how concrete the idea of a concept album is, let’s listen.

1. Kendrick Lamar - Fuck Your Ethniticity

This track starts off with a deep voices narrator who’s standing around some sort of bonfire addressing the two aforementioned girls and saying “fuck your ethnicity”. Really dig this beat off the bat, great groove and piano under it all. Initially I figured this would be some sort of track on racism but it turns into the basic song about who the rapper is, why they’re great, and some witty lines. Not awful but a lot more could have been done with it, the beat shines over the rapper certainly.

2. Kendrick Lamar - Hol’ Up.

Damn. I love this beat. Total vintage jazz sample that turns incredibly lush when the lyrics come in and a vocal sample that sounds like it’s from THE SONG I’ve been trying to find for months and then the classic James Brown “one, two, get down!” sample. Get’s a cool look about how Kendrick views himself in this song and a laughable quip on fucking the stewardess, a sexual terrorist. This song has a catchy mix of straight up ignorance and social commentary, as hypocritical as that sounds. A lot of talking about how growing up in the 80s shaped and helped advance his maturity because of the war on drugs, though I question that because the dude is only 23. This has a great line in it, though, “Wicked as 80 reverends in a pool of fire with devils holding hands, from a distance, don’t know which one is a Christian.. damn.” Love that.

3. Kendrick Lamar - A.D.H.D.

So here we get an interesting commentary about the over-medicated youth of today and the desensitized (as far as drug use goes) culture that is around him/the people of his age. An interesting thought but kind of an uninspired commentary, doesn’t go much deeper than noticing that everyone is sippin’ the sizzurp and trippin’ off that good shit, I guess. There is no doubting this song is incredibly catch though, especially the hook. Beat has an interesting ambiance that is very reminiscent of the Clams Casino beats on A$AP Rocky’s new joint. 

4. Kendrick Lamar - No Make Up

Right off the bat I do not like the hook from Colin Monroe. Feel like I’m being shot back into 2005 emo band trying to create some sort of cross-genre fusion. Ew. This entire song is an ode to realizing how girls are more beautiful without their make up on, a real panty dropper. Sike. This is incredibly dry and boring and sounds like something Drake is going to steal for his next LP.

5. Kendrick Lamar - Tammy’s Song (Her Elvis)

Well here we get back into the supposed life of Tammy and Keisha. Really like this beat off the bat, it reminds me of something I heard a while back, maybe a Fat Boy Slim beat but I’m not sure. The song is about the trust issues Tammy has around her boyfriend, checks his phone, see’s he has been cheating on her and then ices the poor sap because of it. He has a very Kanye Dark Twisted Fantasy flow going on in this and I’m beginning to see the likenesses between the moods on this and Kanye’s last album, just not quite as avant-garde. 

6. Kendrick Lamar - Chapter Six

A very slow, soulful beat with just two hooks on this song. My guess is that it’s a commentary on the mindset of the youth today and their jaded drug-induced nonchalant attitudes. The narrator around the fire pops back in as well to address that they talked about Tammy’s sins but wants to address a more serious issue which is what the Reagan era turned people into. This seems to be more of a skit than a song.

7. Kendrick Lamar - Ronald Reagan Era

That of course leads us right into the aptly named Ronald Reagan Era. Ash Riser gives a pretty cool hook with this to set up a sweet boom bap beat and very lush sounding song. Kendrick is way hungrier on this song than the previous ones and I really prefer his delivery on here much more. I’m a bit confused with Kendrick’s lyrics though, he borders between commentating on the issues that the youth faces by being so drug-induced but then goes on to talk about how he’s driving on E and rolling shit up, I guess that’s part of the “concept” here, but it really screams of inconsistency to me. Worst of all he says ”you niggas Marcus Camby, washed up”, if you’re 38 and pulling down 10/10 and 2 blocks a game you’re not washed up. Camby gets boards man.

8. Kendrick Lamar - Poe Mans Dreams

First off I love this beat, sounds like something Madlib would have put on Yesterday’s New Quintet records or something. This is a great introspective look at a kid growing up in Compton and wanting to be like what he sees around him, wanting to get a gun, wanting to end up in jail, thinking it’s cool to be that kind of guy. “Stare at the sun and you’ll be lookin’ in my eyes homie. Stand for something or fall for anything, and you working with two left feet at the skating rink” is one of my favorite verses in this. CLG has a great verse on this as well, “Apply yourself to supply your wealth, only limitations you’ll ever have are those you place upon yourself.” I hear that.

9. Kendrick Lamar - The Spiteful Chant

As soon as I saw Schoolboy Q on this I knew it was going to be ignorant as fuck, but in the best way possible. Oh shit, war horns? BASS? WHAT’S THAT… “I’M GOIN’ BIG, SUCK MY DIIIIICK. TOO MANY NIGGAS, NOT ENOUGH HOES, AND SOME OF YOU NIGGAS ACTIN’ LIKE HOES.” I’m not even going to legitimately get into this song, there’s no need, this is what it is, fake people are fake, hoes are hoes. Just let this ridiculous chorus wash over you and bob your head. Kendrick says that “Everybody heard that I fuck with Dre and they wanna tell me, I made it. Nigga I ain’t made shit, if he gave me a handout I’mma take his wrist and break it.” Well it’s official, Detox is never coming out.

10. Kendrick Lamar - Chapter 10

So I finally figured out what this shit reminds me of. Flying Lotus. I swear this is from a FlyLo track. I’m gonna look around for it. Another “skit” sort of, he just spits a super fast quick verse about how growing up in the 80s is an excuse for ignorance. Lovely!

11. Kendrick Lamar - Keisha’s Song

 Is that you Chris Martin? Swear to god that’s a Coldplay hook. This song is like a lyrical interpretation of a Law and Order: SVU episode. Keisha is a prostitute that hates her life but has to make ends meet somehow, was sexually abused as a child by her mother’s boyfriend which was inevitably a major factor for her life to come. Couldn’t get help, couldn’t tell anyone, and then forced into prostitution by a pimp who takes all of her money. The song ends by Keisha catching a knife in the stomach from a bad customer who leaves her dead in the street. “My little sister eleven, I looked her right in the face the day that I wrote this song, set her down and pressed play.” Damn. 

12. Kendrick Lamar - Rigamortus

Well I definitely needed a pick up after that last downer and this beat comes out in full funky force. KABLAM! He goes pretty hard on this track, and with most hip-hop records of this type, it has to have an obnoxiously flamboyant ode to the greatness of the rapper. This is made more unique by the ridiculous metaphors and wordplay on this song like the hook, “Got me breathing with dragons, I’ll crack the egg in your basket, you bastard, I’m Marilyn Manson with madness, now just imagine the magic I light to asses, don’t ask for your favorite rapper — he dead”. Damn. He really picks it up as the song goes on to. Like it a lot.

13. Kendrick Lamar - Kush & Corinthians

This has a much more southern feel to it, the beat is somewhere in between Big KRIT and an ATLiens single. Kind of slow until the third verse, talking about morality and choices that you have, to Kendrick everyone is just a saint that takes a sinner’s advice. Not much to say about the song, it borders on being deep but doesn’t quite get there. Still a chill vibe though.

14. Kendrick Lamar - Blow My High

Uh what the fuck? Well ok… the first 15 seconds of the song are Pimp-C’s verse from Big Pimpin’ verbatim. Not sure why. K then. Just a song of Kendrick announcing he’s here and to fuck the haters, and, for some reason, an ode to Aaliyah and Left Eye. RIP… I guess… This song is all over the place. He then samples Aaliyah at the end of the song. I guess this dude really digs her. Sure.

15. Kendrick Lamar - Ab-Souls Outro

For one, I want the instrumental on this so badly. It’s just a sweet Jazz jam that he and Ab-Souls are rapping over. This is by far the best track on the album. A serious look about the future of not only his/their career(s) but the world in general. “Odd Future’s aight, but our future is not, that Martial law shit dropped and wee gonna all gonna get got. “See I’ve spent twenty three years on the earth searching for answers til’ one day I realized I had to come up with my own, I’m not on the outside looking in, I’m not on the inside looking out, I’m in the dead fucking center, looking around. You ever seen a newborn baby kill a grown man? That’s an analogy for the way the world make me react.” I think we can all relate to that, and god damn, that instrumental.

16. Kendrick Lamar - HiiiPoWeR

Kendrick is on his most Kanye on this beat, even taking lyrics from So Appalled and completely going on a Kanye flow all over this entire song. The beat is great and really shows how much better J. Cole is as a producer than a rapper, that’s a fact. Kendrick feels like the world is collapsing around him, people and the times are out to get him, and he has to fight back. Ode’s to MLK, Malcom X, and Huey Newton, gotta fight back when shit around you is collapsing. Very reminiscent of the times with OWS, SOPA, the Revolutions going on all over the world, this song is seriously high powered, pun intended.   

Well. This album is really inconsistent to say the least, it borders on being an actually concept album but doesn’t quite reach it. A lot of the hooks are kind of weak and Kendrick is a much better rapper when he has hunger in his voice and a more intense tone, so I wish he’d go to that a bit more. There are some songs that are just kind of dry and empty but this album is saved by the seriously great beats and catchiness of it all. If you don’t look too intensely into the albums lyrics and just enjoy it for what it is you will not be bored, and in all honesty, it’s worth a listen. It’s not that the lyrics are terrible or anything, on some of the songs they’re actually really good, but again, inconsistent. All that being said I didn’t find myself bored at any point on this album which is a good thing, and some of the songs on this are on repeat for certain. 

I’m giving this album a light 7/10.

As always, if you want something reviewed, the ask box is on the left.