Kendrick Lamar: DAMN. (2LP) [TOP DAWG / AFTERMATH / INTERSCOPE]

Why you'll love it

DAMN. won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first non-classical, non-jazz work ever to do so, plus the Grammy for Best Rap Album. "HUMBLE." became Kendrick's first No. 1 single as lead artist.

This edition

• 2LP set, 14 tracks
• Top Dawg / Aftermath / Interscope pressing

About the album

Kendrick Lamar became one of the most popular artists in contemporary hip hop by setting the bar far more challengingly high for himself and for listeners than most performers of his stature on 2012's good kid, m.A.A.d city and 2015's To Pimp a Butterfly, but on 2017's DAMN. he did away with the "concept album" format and simply put out a collection of immaculately conceived and expensively produced rap songs graced with some typically heavy, soul-scouring food for thought on the lyrical front.

Recorded with an ensemble of A-list producers and big-name guests (Rihanna, U2, BADBADNOTGOOD, James Blake, the Alchemist, Greg Kurstin, Mike Will Made It and Steve Lacy among them), DAMN. really couldn't lose. And it didn't: the album debuted at No. 1 in the US and Canada and wound up becoming Billboard's biggest album of 2017, proving once again that one doesn't have to dumb it down to reach a wide audience in modern hip hop. You just have to speak to people in honest, relatable terms.

Also at Kops: more Kendrick Lamar on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Top Dawg / Aftermath / Interscope, first out in 2017.