Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’ Tops Greatest Concept Albums List
Kendrick Lamar is over ten years into his run and still one of Hip-Hop’s titans, in large part due to his seminal 2012 sophomore album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. The highly-lauded project is regularly discussed in the Compton rapper’s canon and earned another major compliment in claiming the number one spot on Rolling Stone‘s Top 50 Greatest Concept Albums Of All Time list.
“The cover promises ‘A Short Film By Kendrick Lamar,’ and the rapper delivers with a coming-of-age opus, the cinematic scope of which has been rightfully compared to Scorsese and Tarantino,” Rolling Stone contributor Mosi Reeves wrote to open his blurb. “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City vividly takes us through a day in the life of K. Dot, with local color that includes hilarious “dominoes” skits featuring the rapper’s parents.
More from VIBE.com
“The topics covered here range from the perils of binge drinking on ‘Swimming Pools (Drank)’ to intimate lovers’ talk on ‘Poetic Justice.’ Its centerpiece, ‘Sing to Me (I’m Dying of Thirst),’ is a complex tale of how Lamar finally manages [to] resist his city’s gangland traps and embrace his Christian faith. Subconsciously but importantly, the album eschews the G-funk style that defined L.A. hip-hop for decades.”
The now RIAA-certified three-times Platinum album earned the 35-year-old five nominations at the 56th Grammy Awards and has spent 519 weeks on the Billboard 200 album chart, making it the longest-charting Hip-Hop album of all time.
Fellow Compton spitter The Game recently praised Kendrick’s critically acclaimed body of work as well.
“I watched Kendrick in his essence going from literally a good kid in a mad city, how he fought through being non-affiliated and staying the course. And then putting out that album, which was the one that should have won the Grammy to me.”
Hip-Hop had a strong presence in the top 5 of Rolling Stone‘s list, as Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx sat at #4. Needless to say, both K Dot and Rae’s classic albums will continue receiving praise for generations to come.