After a commanding slew of spring 2024 releases and a prolific hip-hop beef with Drake, Compton's Kendrick Lamar has solidified himself as the greatest rapper alive. If the sold-out Juneteenth concert at the Kia Forum was Kendrick's victory lap after Record Of The Year contender "Not Like Us"decidedly knocked Drake out of the competition, consider his sixth studio album GNX – named after his beloved limited edition 1987 Buick Regal variant – his newly renovated trophy case. Kendrick is celebrated beyond his rap abilities as a poetic songwriter, an impactful community leader, and a distinctively rare generational voice who simultaneously reflects and defines culture.
Kendrick hopes to add to his long list of accolades – which includes 17 Grammy Awards, 5 Number-One songs on the Billboard Top 100, and a Pulitzer Prize – at the 2025 Grammys in February, which takes place one week before his highly-anticipated Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. Kendrick first gained a fanbase as K.Dot with a slate of impressive 2000s mixtapes, which resulted in his first breakthrough project Overly Dedicated in 2010. Since then, he has collaborated with LA-based rap legends such as Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre in addition to his Top Dawg Entertainment peers Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and ScHoolboy Q, collectively known as the disbanded supergroup Black Hippy.
While ranking Kendrick Lamar's discography requires a certain degree of hair-splitting, one key takeaway from the process is Kendrick's remarkable versatility across his breadth of work. His first studio album Section.80 (2011) introduced the world to his "HiiiPower" way of life, which professes a foundational pursuit of spiritual over material richness. He would then go on to make two of the most irrefutably outstanding hip-hop LPs of all time with Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012) and To Pimp A Butterfly (2015), the latter of which is archived in the Library of Congress and at Harvard University.
Honorable Mention - Black Panther: The Album
2018
Kendrick teamed up with TDE CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler for this hard-hitting compilation album that's worth mentioning among the rest of his main discography. While not every song is featured in Black Panther, the album acts as an extension of the groundbreaking blockbuster and a unifier of a cultural movement within and around the movie itself. Lead pop-oriented singles such as "Pray For Me" with The Weeknd and "All the Stars" with SZA – one of several collaborations between Kendrick and his former TDE partner – are the main features of the album.
Black Panther is a sharp and spirited combination of hip-hop, R&B, and alternative pop. The album's standout track, "King's Dead", brought together the unlikely combo of Jay Rock, Future, and James Blake, while "Big Shot" marked Kendrick's first team-up with Travis Scott since the latter's breakout 2016 single "goosebumps." The album also features the smooth vocals of both Khalid and Swae Lee on the drill ballad "The Ways" and another rare combo with Ab-Soul, James Blake, and Anderson .Paak on the atmospheric "Bloody Waters."
8 Overly Dedicated
2010
Overly Dedicated was Kendrick Lamar's fifth and final mixtape that landed him an initial platform as an LA-based rapper. The project is very much a product of its time, with an apparent Kid Cudi influence in the classic song "Alien Girl (Today W/ Her)" and Young Money/Maybach nods in "Michael Jordan (feat. ScHoolboy Q)." Overly Dedicated offered many people an initial exposure to Kendrick's existential perspectives laced with contemplative lyrics and wise-beyond-years bars from the reflective vantage point of an innate moral high ground.
Although Overly Dedicated is not officially an album, memorable songs like "Growing Apart (To Get Closer) [feat. Jhené Aiko]" and "P&P 1.5 (feat. Ab-Soul)" – an updated version of Kendrick's standout track on his 2009 Kendrick Lamar EP – are nostalgic emblems of K.Dot's humble beginnings.
The mixtape was released when Kendrick was just 23 years old and established early on that he was unwilling to fall into the tropes of his craft. He raps, "I don't even smoke" on "H.O.C." to let listeners know his talents are all natural. Later, he breaks down his "HiiiPower" doctrine at the end of "Cut You Off (To Grow Closer)," saying "What we're about to do is raise the level of expectations," planting a seed for what's to come.
7 Untitled Unmastered.
2016
If 2016's pseudo-LP untitled unmastered. had been fully developed beyond its 34-minute runtime, it would likely be among Kendrick's top 3 albums. Apart from being Kendrick's most stripped-down and raw project, with the dates of each song's recording doubling as their official titles, it is also ironically one of his most sonically cohesive. The eight untitled tracks are technically B-sides of To Pimp A Butterflythat either had uncleared samples or missed the deadline for the album.
From the philosophical waxings on racial injustices in "untitled 03" and the haunting self-assuring mantras in "untitled 04" to the religious-themed lyrical confessions in "untitled 05" and the outcast-embracing optimism of "untitled 06", untitled unmastered. unexpectedly works as a standalone project.
Like To Pimp A Butterfly before it, untitled unmastered. experiments with jazz orchestration and funk sounds to create a mesmerizing genre-blending experience. The two standout tracks, "untitled 02" and "untitled 07", share an eerie, near-supernatural element. "02" entraps listeners inside the "belly of the beast" while "07" defies logic as Kendrick "levitates" over a strung-out beat.
6 GNX
2024
GNX might be Kendrick's most superficial album and it's not even because it's largely a 44-minute love letter to Los Angeles. As one of the most surprising album drops of the year, it's evident that Kendrick channeled the celebratory energy from his monumental 2024 into his latest project. GNX has the most dance/party elements of a Kendrick album since 2012's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, carrying the anointed torch lit by "Meet the Grahams", "Euphoria", and "Not Like Us" and rebranding the bottled lightning of The Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert.
This palpable victorious vibe is felt in the lead singles "squabble up" and "tv off." There are also some down-tempo R&B-oriented songs on the album to balance things out. GNX's third track "luther" sounds like a combination of SZA's "Love Galore (feat. Travis Scott) and Kendrick's own "LOVE." of 2017's DAMN.
While there are plenty of lyrical flexes, it wouldn't be a Kendrick album without the reflective elements of "heart pt. 6", the self-assertion of "man at the garden", and the piercing insight of "reincarnated", which samples the 2Pac deep cut "Made N****z" and is the underrated highlight of the LP.
5 Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
2022
The five years between 2022's Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and 2017's DAMN. marks the longest hiatus that Kendrick Lamar has ever taken in his musical career. That type of wait, especially given the state of the world in 2020 which featured all sorts of major rap releases from a posthumous Mac Miller album to a Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist instant classic, certainly inflated the release of MM&TBS. The result was a two-part album that divided critics and rattled parts of Kendrick's fanbase.
Uneven and experimental by design across two 9-song discs, Mr. Morale is Kendrick's most lyrically vulnerable and personal album. The brashness of 2017's "DNA." and the boastful language of "ELEMENT." are traded for prayer-like pleas of universality on "Purple Hearts", artistic depictions of love-hate relationships on "We Cry Together", and introspection-sourced therapeutic lessons on "Count Me Out."
Unlike his other projects, Mr. Morale presents Kendrick in his most accessible human form. In "Crown", Kendrick demystifies his own legacy in real time, looking up at his larger-than-life platform from deep within, admitting he "can't please everybody", and showing a courageous and unprecedented fragility.
4 Section.80
2011
Those who missed Kendrick's Overly Dedicated likely caught up with his first studio album Section.80, which firmly established the rapper's heady lyrical themes and cultural commentary that would become staples of his brand. Nostalgic qualities aside, Section.80 is an ideal blend of two core hip-hip idioms: perceptive yet catchy lyrics mixed with feel-good, aux-worthy beats. "A.D.H.D." might be the best example of this on an album chock-full of vibey instrumentals and encapsulating lifestyle hooks such as "Smoke good, eat good, live good" on "Poe Mans Dreams (His Vice)."
Lowkey classics like "Chapter Six" and "Kush & Corinthians" fit right in with the times of Mac Miller's Macadelic and Joey Bada$$'s 1999. Although "The Spiteful Chant" isn't available on modern streaming services, it remains a highlight on the album as one of Kendrick's first declarations of a GOAT in the making. Compared to his later works, Section.80 has the most commercial sound of any Kendrick album.
Its acclaim is as much a testament to Kendrick's budding talents as it is to the landscape of the genre in the early 2010s. The jazzy unhinged energy of "Ab-Souls Outro" is interestingly the most foreshadowing track of Kendrick's later works, while the J. Cole-produced "HiiiPower" became Kendrick's very first instant classic single.
3 DAMN.
2017
2017's DAMN. concluded what is arguably the best three-album run in modern hip-hop. Despite the apparent simplicity of its 14 one-word tracks, DAMN. is very much a concept album and is the only one in Kendrick's discography meant to be appreciated ambidextrously. TDE released DAMN. COLLECTORS EDITION. with zero additional songs but with a reversed tracklist that gives the album's narrative throughline a different meaning. Aside from the obvious radio hits "DNA." and "HUMBLE.", just about all the songs on DAMN. are easily consumable with high replay value.
Rihanna ended her post-ANTI silence with a shining feature on "LOYALTY." while "XXX" offers what could very well be Kendrick's most surprising collaboration of his career with rock band U2. Other standouts include the hypnotically subdued "YAH." in which Kendrick nonchalantly calls out a Fox News panelist with an unbothered, sleepy cadence.
On "FEAR.", Kendrick recounts several instances of childhood trauma and his self-administered weed-fueled therapy. "GOD." captures a private religious ecstasy. "FEEL." depicts the lonely struggles of Kendrick's upper echelon. "ELEMENT." reaffirms Kendrick's mafioso mentality for unaware listeners. The end product is a robust and visceral assortment with zero skips.
2 Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
2012
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City felt like a proper classic the second it was released in 2012, structured with back-to-back chart-topping hits glued together with atmospheric interwoven narrative skits. "Poetic Justice (feat. Drake)" takes on a whole new meaning in today's climate but remains one of the album's standouts. Others include the invigorating "Backseat Freestyle", the entrancing "Money Trees (feat. Jay Rock)", the deceptively laid-back "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe", and the groundbreaking "Simming Pools (Drank)."
The real jewels of Kendrick's sophomore studio album, which he advertised as "a short film" on his legendary purple minivan cover, arrive in its second act. The ominous horns and anecdotal lyrics on the Pharrell-produced "Good Kid" set up the chaotic street-smart anxiety at the heart of "m.A.A.d city."
If "HiiiPower" hadn't already introduced listeners to Kendrick, the Dr. Dre-endorsed "The Recipe", released as the album's first single, likely cleared up any unfamiliarity. The 12-minute epic "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" captured the rapper's then-potential in a nutshell. Kendrick is purely specular in his coming-of-age descriptions of the world in Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, providing his most colorful and cinematic project to date.
1 To Pimp A Butterfly
2015
Few albums have genuine exigence, or an urgent necessity to be immediately realized. To Pimp A Butterfly is one of those albums. The fusion of genres – hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul, and spoken word – is iconic, educated, and historically significant, making TPAB one of the greatest albums ever made in most circles. Prefaced by the funk-driven singles "i" and "King Kunta", To Pimp A Butterfly was a surprising and deeply mature evolution for the Compton-based rapper and is a masterpiece as both an album and a recorded expression of cultural experience.
The Flying Lotus produced "Wesley's Theory" sets the avant-garde tone from the jump. "Institutionalized" conceptualizes the echoing history of physical and psychological oppression in a country founded on freedoms, while "Hood Politics" reflects the hard-learned conditions and inherent competition of certain disadvantaged communities.
The most effective songs on the album, the Grammy-winning "Alright" and the explosive "The Blacker the Berry", capture the contrasting foundational themes of the album: steadfast hope and generational rage. Capped with a cautionary message of idol worship and a reconstructed 1994 2Pac interview on "Mortal Man", To Pimp A Butterfly is the greatest album by Kendrick Lamar thus far.
Custom image by Simon Gallagher
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