Kendrick Lamar has spent his whole career in pursuit of being unequivocally the best rapper in the world. For years, he shared real estate in the “Big 3,” a concept that anointed him, Drake, and J. Cole as the triad that controls hip-hop. The heart, the mind, the soul. Then, it allowed debate for who was actually the best. Kendrick used to just let his work speak for itself. By 2022, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers suggested that none of it mattered to him anymore. What else did he have to prove?
Fast forward two years, and apparently, Kendrick Lamar still had everything to prove. Eventually, he had enough of Drake’s antagonism and vanquished him. J. Cole left before things got out of hand, and he could get involved. Now, with a Super Bowl Halftime show under his belt and all the adulation, the “Big 3” concept is dead, and Kendrick has that elusive throne he always wanted.
With his historic 2024 run behind us, let’s look back at four of Kendrick Lamar’s greatest songs of all time. In doing so, it’ll allow us to see what made him such a special artist in the first place.
4 of the Greatest Kendrick Lamar Songs of All Time
‘FEEL.’
Kendrick is one of our rawest and greatest writers in hip-hop history. He unearths every thought, every emotion out of his mind and spirit without hesitation, even if it’s ugly and imperfect. There’s a courage to his rapping, a fearlessness in bearing everything with his audience and himself. It manifests on a record like “FEEL.” and eventually builds to a manic outburst.
“I can feel it, the phoenix sure to watch us, I can feel it, the dream is more than process. I can put a regime that forms a Loch Ness, I can feel it, the scream that haunts all logic,” he lashes out. The mental anguish exasperates and crumbles when he asks, “But who the f**k praying for me?“
‘Crown’
Kendrick’s entire career had been structured around this idea that he was hip-hop’s savior. A record like To Pimp a Butterfly was magnified to the point where Kendrick Lamar was looked at as the man with the answers. In trying to make sense of a disorienting world, he was feverishly asked to help people figure it all out.
“Crown” is the radical act of letting go of that responsibility. He repeats the sobering refrain, “I can’t please everybody,” because he’d hardly cared for himself. By the time he enacted his feud with Drake proper in 2024, this idea had a little less weight to it. It seemed like he represented hip-hop in a battle for the genre and culture’s soul against artists like Drake. Maybe by then, he felt like he could please everybody again. Regardless, a record like “Crown” shows an artist who knows when it’s time to walk away.
‘untitled 08 | 09.06.2014.’
“untitled 08 | 09.06.2014.” proves he doesn’t have to forsake a catchy, addictive song in order to prop up strong writing. Records like “A.D.H.D” and “Count Me Out” have proved this over the years, but Thundercat’s sweet coos, funky bass thumps, and sour synthesizers take the cake. Kendrick Lamar juxtaposes the saccharine with a sharpness in his thesis, success in spite of the persecution. Take what you want because it’s not truly given. It takes a skilled artist to balance the medicine with the sweet.
‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst’
Kendrick Lamar’s Magnum Opus, the moment where all of good kid, m.A.A.d city comes together. He raps about how gang culture and street life slowly eat away at people, whether through gang culture or prostitution. Kendrick Lamar knows these are decisions people make in order to survive in a system that doesn’t aid their success.
By the third verse, he sighs through all of the pain and utters one of the most gutting lines in rap history. “I suffer a lot. And every day that glass mirror get tougher to watch, I tie my stomach in knots.” It all lends to Kendrick’s thesis statement as an artist. Survive and prosper because none of it is promised.
The post The Kendrick Lamar Mount Rushmore: His 4 Best Songs of All Time appeared first on VICE.
