Fans will debate their favorite artists’ best albums until the end of time. However, have you ever wondered what the artists themselves would say? What if their opinion doesn’t quite align with yours? Or worse, what if your favorite is the one they love the least? The one thing about Kendrick Lamar is that his illustrious discography is extremely difficult to properly rank. Still, I’m not sure I would agree at all with what Kendrick proposed as his best.
During an interview on Big Boy’s Neighborhood in 2017, Big Boy and his crew challenged him to put his albums in order from best to worst. Naturally, these were all of his babies, so it wasn’t easy to place one over the other. However, he also knew immediately that his choice would ruffle some feathers. “Y’all gonna be mad at me too,” Kendrick Lamar admitted as he sorted through pictures of his albums.
The final result went as follows: 1. DAMN. 2. good kid, m.A.A.d city 3. To Pimp a Butterfly and 4. Section 80. Apparently, his mom felt the same way at the time. As Big Boy read the text message Kendrick shared from his mother, he couldn’t stop laughing.
I can’t Wrap My Head Around Kendrick Lamar and How He Ranked His Albums
But why did Kendrick feel like DAMN. was his best work at that point in 2017? Given the timing of the interview, it’s certainly plausible that Kendrick just wanted to prop up his latest release by marking it his masterpiece. But the way he sees it, it’s just an amalgamation of all of his projects up to that point.
“I think DAMN. is a hybrid of all these projects,” Kendrick Lamar said, looking down at all the pictures. “It was me finally being able to take… the message behind To Pimp a Butterfly, the sonics and the beats slapping on good kid, and the rawness of just being able to do what I want like I did on Section 80. I didn’t have no rules doing this, I was just in there creating, having fun. So when I take all three of these, it makes a hybrid of DAMN.“
It’s certainly possible he’s changed his view since then to account for the blockbuster GNX or the ultra-personal Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Regardless, it goes against the canon that fans have created, anointing To Pimp a Butterfly and good kid, m.A.A.d city as the greatest rap albums of all time. I don’t think I can pick DAMN. in favor of the musical richness of TPAB or the cinematic quality of GKMC either.
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