DAMN.
| Kendrick Lamar
DAMN.
Damn (stylized as DAMN.) is the fourth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on April 14, 2017, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album features production from a variety of record producers, including executive producer and Top Dawg Entertainment label-head Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, Sounwave, DJ Dahi, Mike Will Made It and Ricci Riera; as well as further production contributions from James Blake, Steve Lacy, BadBadNotGood, Greg Kurstin, The Alchemist and 9th Wonder, among others. Damn features appearances from singers Rihanna and Top Dawg signee Zacari, along with Irish rock band U2. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
A widescreen masterpiece of rap, full of expensive beats, furious rhymes, and peerless storytelling about Kendrick’s destiny in America. Rating:
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New Yorker
Religion is often invoked in hip-hop to dramatize one’s struggles against temptation or judgment. “DAMN.” uses it in a more profound manner.
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The Gaurdian
Reveals an artist at his real and metaphorical peak.
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USA Today
Sounding as musically imaginative and politically vital as he ever has.
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Independent
It's testament to his mastery that 'great' isn't enough here.
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Slate
Kendrick Lamar’s scorcher of a new album is an urgent sermon for a troubling time.
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Consequence of Sound
Kung Fu Kenny throws off the messianic trappings of a rap god and contemplates mortality.
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Paste Magazine
With DAMN., Kendrick Lamar plays by the rules and then sets the rule book on fire, and continues one of the most impressive runs of albums of any artist in recent memory.
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Time
DAMN. represents this ideal both lyrically and musically—and it does it to stunning effect.
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NME
A powerful, potent look inside the troubled mind of a genius.
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Crack Magazine
Kendrick Lamar has delivered – for us, yes, but also himself.
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Loud and Quiet
He has a lot to say, but he’s insightful enough to know that everyone else does too.
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The Nation
In the music of Kendrick Lamar, we’ve got a lot to learn.
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Hip Hop DX
King Kendrick has proved through linear vision he’s naturally able to outshine the rest of the mainstream while still working to figure out the world around him.
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Complex
'Damn' is Kendrick's smallest album, and it might be his best.
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The Irish Times
A high-powered assault of brilliance.
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The Ringer
Probably the most concise and accessible stretch of music he’s ever released.
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WSUM
DAMN provides listeners with easy, pop style sounds as well as dense, raw hip hop vibes that appeal to a wide range of listeners.
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XXL Magazine
The current king of the hill and rap's preeminent lyricist after unleashing DAMN.
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DJ Booth
Kendrick delivered a rap album unlike anything he’s ever created and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
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Green Wave Gazette
One of the strongest rap albums of 2017 so far, and deserves recognition for how well it lives up to its pre-release hype.
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Spin
It’s here you’re reminded of the best modern black music: hoodoo that moves the body.
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EW
Lamar makes the case to love thy neighbor, regardless of the circumstances.
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Atwood Magazine
Holds its ground as a heartfelt effort by one of that same game’s most supremely talented and vital artists.
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Slant Magazine
The specter of violent death becomes a narrative device that wraps its arms around the whole album.
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The Quietus
A triumph on an emotional level less because Kendrick is a coherent philosopher and more because he's a great performer.
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MTV
DAMN. in its original order is a must-listen, but hearing it in reverse will help you see both sides of the artist who loves to keep us on our toes.
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Tiny Mix Tapes
Masterpiece in a world that too often feels like a DAMN shame.
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Pretty Much Amazing
This is his first proper album where the tracks don’t serve a greater concept.
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The Wall Street Journal
Kendrick Lamar’s follow-up to the lauded ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ places his narrative talents in a new musical context.
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Vulture
Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. is brilliant, anxious, and spiritual.
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Mojo
He’s in imperious form.
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NPR
DAMN. embodies a year in which hip-hop — and America at large — finds itself wrestling in public with its inner demons.
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Clash Magazine
A seismic work that dares to tackle the biggest themes of all.
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Drowned in Sound
Taking a surprising side-step rather than a pace forward in its artistic development.
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Rolling Stone
Our take on the MC’s latest strange, multifaceted album, in which he goes deeper into his own mind.
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Esquire
This is the musical complexity that marks Kendrick's unrivaled genius.
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Now Toronto
The Compton rapper's fourth album explores the microcosm of his personal struggles through the macrocosm of society’s ills.
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Pop Matters
DAMN. is a small, brilliant thing which resonates deeply in many direction
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DIY
A masterpiece fuelled by anxiety and contemplation.
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All Music
DAMN. is just as lavish and singular as the preceding albums.
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Observer
He’s not only stuck some of his most memorably vulnerable, personal verses into a package that will be cherished by the masses—he’s also shown us it works.
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American Magazine
From “Good Kid” to “DAMN.,” Lamar has demonstrated that faith is not static but constantly changing.
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AV Club
Damn. is packed tight with thoughts, anxieties, and anecdotes, but this time Lamar doesn’t even try to shape them into a big picture.
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Iowa State Daily
“DAMN.” is a perfect example of how music has evolved into a platform for expression and Lamar is the perfect spokesperson. Oh, and the album is amazing.
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Vinyl Reviews
On DAMN., Lamar pares things back, echoing at times the sparseness of a mentor such as Dr. Dre, all the while going darker and bleaker.
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The Atlantic
Damn sees the rapper reconcile the vices inherent to pop success with a higher spiritual purpose.
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Financial Times
The artist employs hard-boiled rap and strung-out jazz-funk to explore the album’s theme of doubleness.
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Evening Standard
The era-defining rapper follows up his last masterpiece with another deep listen.
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Alex Times
“Damn” by Kendrick Lamar is brilliant, but uneven.
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Satellite
Damn. shines because Kendrick Lamar took calculated risks while creating songs that are ripe in both creativity and relatability.
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The Hoya
Balancing profound introspection with genuine pop appeal, it is simply a masterpiece.
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Black Squirrel Radio
DAMN. represents a new side of Kendrick Lamar and the latest evolution of hip-hop’s brightest star.
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The Crimson
There is nothing more reprehensible than an artist wasting his talent. “DAMN.” proves that statement’s all-caps, disappointing truth.
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Amino Apps
A GOAT if I’ve ever seen one.
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The Fader
On DAMN., Kendrick Lamar is both pious and imperfect.
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High Snobiety
DAMN. could easily be as accomplished an album as good kid, m.A.A.d. City in terms of it’s longevity.
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Indie Shuffle
DAMN. feels more like a rap record than an opera.
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Brooklyn Vegan
DAMN. is the most traditional rap album he’s done yet.
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Voice Magazine
Hip-hop may not be my forté, but upon listening to 2017’s number one album of the year, I couldn’t deny the incredible work of the great Kendrick Lamar.
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The Daily Campus
“DAMN.” is more diverse, less organized, but ultimately powerful picture of the struggles facing the Compton rapper.
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Treblezine
The album is ultimately so wonderfully constructed that it’s damn near perfect in whichever sequence it runs.
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Transvers
Kendrick Lamar's 'Damn.' embraces the complexity and talent of the man behind it.
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Sputnik Music
Don't ask for your favourite rapper, he dead
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the arts fuse
Kendrick Lamar has produced a scattered album for a scattered time.
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The Gourmet Bachelor
Lamar with “Damn” brings the focus back towards pure rap, but “Damn” is as singular and unique as any of Lamar’s previous output.
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Comm Media
This album is a certified classic, with the best replay value of an album by Lamar to date.
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Punk News
DAMN. isn’t the same kind of masterpiece that To Pimp a Butterfly is, but it’s a masterpiece nonetheless.
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Chris Triunfo
DAMN. reflects the fragmented state of our nation and Lamar himself.
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The Edge
The reversal of Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. isn't necessary in a society where streaming is king, however you can't knock the quality of music.
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Calvin Chimes
“DAMN.” works as an album both to build Kendrick’s impressive repertoire by delivering genuine music that listeners can take inspiration from, while also giving an effective platform for Kendrick to express his inner struggles with current social issues and personal shortcomings to the audience.
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Record Collector Magazine
At this point he could never rap again and still go down as an all-time great. Essential stuff.
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Rap Radar
This album in totality is great! It’s an amazing, and layered body of work.
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Medium
This album is definitely one of Kendrick Lamar’s best, and there’s not necessarily any bad tracks in the album.
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Under the Radar
It's pure, direct, and bitterly spat.
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The Line of Best Fit
DAMN is a multilayered word. It expresses displeasure, but also encapsulates surprise.
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GQ Magazine
Intelligent, contemplative, and intricate, Damn. is Kendrick Lamar proving once again why he’s the only rapper who really matters right now.
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The Daily Free Press
Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” is rapper’s most introspective, artistic album.
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Melodic
He is still pushing and finding new ways to impress us.
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StereoGum
A stark and powerful piece of art that never lets you forget what a miracle it is that you get to hear it at all.
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Gawrker
DAMN. is the closest Kendrick Lamar has ever deigned to stand by his contemporaries
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Spotlight News
DAMN. seeks to endure, to carve out a permanent spot for Lamar in the history of hip-hop, and leaves the listener with more questions than answers.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer
Kendrick Lamar keeps it elemental on the altogether impressive DAMN.
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Northern Transmissions
A record as artistically ambitious as it is cutting commentary-wise.
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Dead End Follies
It's a very good record, but perhaps not a great one. It's
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Coog Radio
An album as unique as DAMN isn’t easy to find, and there’s no doubt that it will go down as one of the classics of our era.
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EARMILK
Kendrick Lamar has never shied away from being anything but his 100% self on his albums and DAMN. is no different.
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Vanderbilt Hustler
DAMN. is a brutally honest manifesto that keeps Kendrick’s streak of amazing albums going.
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CUA Tower
If anything, the album promotes the notion that Kendrick is trying to do something more than just talk about his astronomical amount of wealth attained in a short period of time.
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The Upcoming
Damn has the hit songs you can draw from, but still makes for an impressive project to listen to in its entirety.
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The Needle Drop
DAMN. is one of Kendrick's most intriguing releases yet, delivering a series of tracks that are chaotic, layered, and deeply conflicted.
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The Current
DAMN. is the sound of a rapper at the top of the hill who seems to be dispensing quickly with his former rivals and focusing more on his next climb.
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Music Connection
DAMN. is Kendrick Lamar at his most raw and versatile; it is a panoramic window into one of the most creative minds of this generation.
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OU Daily
The wait was definitely worth it. The album set the bar high for previous and future hip-hop album releases.
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Hot New Hip Hop
With his 4th studio album, Kendrick Lamar reconciles his fame with his faith.
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Varsity
Kendrick Lamar’s new album is less ambitious but still powerful, argues Damian Walsh.
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Blackfire
DAMN. Kendrick Lamar dropped one of the most influential rap albums of this decade.
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The East Vision
“DAMN.” is without a doubt Kendrick Lamar’s most adventurous release to date, but it’s the Kendrick we know and love the entire time.
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The Crowns Nest
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘DAMN.’ is sinfully good.
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Rising Young Minds
DAMN. is one hell of an album.
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Hip Hop Scriptures
This album will be in rotation for years to come - A CLASSIC.
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positivelyunderground
Damn isn’t a concept album, it isn’t a huge, sweeping narrative, and, truthfully, it isn’t packed with as much depth and nuance as To Pimp a Butterfly and Good Kid Maad City. However, it features the best rapper of the current moment doing exactly what he needed to after an 80-minute cinematic ploy.
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The Daily Dot
On ‘DAMN.,’ Kendrick Lamar overloads us—and almost makes a classic album.
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Soul in Stereo
DAMN is a very big meal that isn’t always easy to digest. But man, it tastes good going down.
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SYN Media
Kendrick Lamar is still the greatest rapper alive and DAMN. proves he’s still at the top of his game.
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Daily 49er
With this album, Kendrick Lamar continues to show fans and listeners why he is one of the top rappers in the game.
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The Pas Print
While not showing the complexity of “To Pimp a Butterfly” or the cinematic story of “good kid, M.A.A.D. city,” “DAMN” was still an incredibly solid album that solidifies Kendrick’s place at the top of the rap game.
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Daily Break
Upon initial reactions, it is clear that “DAMN.” is an instant classic.
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Diamond in the Groove
In this sense, therefore, DAMN., imperfections and all, surely adds more to the legacy of Kendrick Lamar than not, and is a pivotal moment in his saga.
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MSU Reporter
I think that Damn is pure genius and is changing the norms of rap music in the best way possible.
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JPaulGrant
I felt like the project was no where near what I wanted to hear and exactly what I expected after having to follow "To Pimp A Butterfly."
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Afro
It’s clear that Kendrick Lamar isn’t perfect. But his latest set “DAMN.” gets pretty close.
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Immortal Reviews
While DAMN. is all about its meaning, there's a lot of musically interesting things going on.
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Nineteenth Harmony
Time will reveal if “DAMN.” is truly classic material, however it will certainly be on my year-end, top 10 list.
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