Tracks like "HUMBLE." and "PRIDE." show the tug-of-war between the ego required to be the "best rapper alive" and the humility demanded by spiritual faith.
By the time work on DAMN. began, Kendrick Lamar was already widely considered the most important rapper of his generation. He had crafted a cinematic coming-of-age story with good kid, m.A.A.d city and a sprawling, funk-and-jazz-infused socio-political epic with To Pimp A Butterfly . The pressure to deliver something equally monumental was immense, but Lamar took a different approach.
When Kendrick Lamar dropped his fourth studio album, DAMN. , on April 14, 2017, the hip-hop world knew they were getting a major release. They did not know they were witnessing history. The project solidified Lamar's status as a generational voice and broke industry barriers by becoming the first non-classical, non-jazz album to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music.
: A complex look at American politics, gun violence, and the hypocrisy of mourning. The Introspective Core
