Is GKMC the West Coast Illmatic? The overhyping of kendrick lamar needs to stop

[Harden's Beard]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/editor...p-storytelling

the mere fact that his album is being compared to one of the greatest albums of all time is an absolute joke, it isnt even the best album of the year, its #2 to life is good

this album is nothing near a classic

now or never is horrible, compton did not fit his style,and he got killed on money trees

i dont even consider illmatic to be the GOAT, but for arguments sake, for the people that do hold that album up as the GOAT hip hop album, how could this album be "the west coast" version of it?

please, great album , like it alot, little replay value, love the story telling, deep tracks like black boy fly etc, but these people need to stop it

the overhyping of kendrick lamar needs to stop, hes a great rapper, but is young and being held as if hes the best rapper alive

let him breathe, when you overhype an artist, it makes listeners who dont consider him their favorite rapper dislike him, and criticise his music more,instead of overall enjoying the artists work

just had to get that off my chest

what do you guys think? is he overhyped(not overated, jsut over hyped)? is GKMC a classic in your book?

out of 10, id give it a strong 8.8

criticisms of the album:

now or never got destroyed by mary j the same way she destroyed reach on life is good

he got killed by jay rock on money trees(great song btw)

poetic justice was horrible, especially that he and the r&b singer drake used virtually the same flow

im real was average

compton didnt fit his style at all

everything else was dope

[VRP723]

I think it's pretty easily better than Life Is Good

[spliff(TONE)]

It's a million times better than Life Is Good. Had to force myself to get through that album once, whereas I have very naturally listened to GKMC at least a dozen times already.

[ManRamForPrez24]

Over hyped? Probably a little, for sure. The hype before it was released was ridiculous, and I think it's telling that so many people did think so highly of it after its release, even with the hype. It lived up to it, and that's hard to do nowadays. I think people are eager for things not to live up to hype.

Life is Good isn't nearly the album GKMC is....not even close.


Also, Jay Rock was GREAT on his verse, and maybe "killed" Kendrick, but I think a lot of that has to do with the difference in flow, tone and tempo. Kendrick's verses were smoother, softer and slower, and intentionally so. Rock came in and added a great verse. Great compliments. And, if we're talking Illmatic, Nas got "killed" on the only song on the album that had a feature. That argument is a really flimsy reason to knock an album

[spliff(TONE)]

Over hyped? Probably a little, for sure. The hype before it was released was ridiculous, and I think it's telling that so many people did think so highly of it after its release, even with the hype.

This.

[hugepatsfan]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/editor...p-storytelling

the mere fact that his album is being compared to one of the greatest albums of all time is an absolute joke, it isnt even the best album of the year, its #2 to life is good

this album is nothing near a classic

I disagree. Simple as that.

now or never is horrible, compton did not fit his style,and he got killed on money trees

i dont even consider illmatic to be the GOAT, but for arguments sake, for the people that do hold that album up as the GOAT hip hop album, how could this album be "the west coast" version of it?

please, great album , like it alot, little replay value, love the story telling, deep tracks like black boy fly etc, but these people need to stop it

the overhyping of kendrick lamar needs to stop, hes a great rapper, but is young and being held as if hes the best rapper alive

let him breathe, when you overhype an artist, it makes listeners who dont consider him their favorite rapper dislike him, and criticise his music more,instead of overall enjoying the artists work

Why should I care what my opinion of Kendrick Lamar's music makes you think of it? That sounds like your problem, not mine.

just had to get that off my chest

what do you guys think? is he overhyped(not overated, jsut over hyped)? is GKMC a classic in your book?

out of 10, id give it a strong 8.8

criticisms of the album:

now or never got destroyed by mary j the same way she destroyed reach on life is good

Well I thought Mary J was amazing on Reach Out and really good on Now or Never.

he got killed by jay rock on money trees(great song btw)

I don't understand how you can complain about him getting killed on one song when you were preaching in the Jesus Piece thread that we shouldn't let Game getting killed on his own tracks take away from his albums.

poetic justice was horrible, especially that he and the r&b singer drake used virtually the same flow

After this comment and you're Mary J complaints, it seems to me that you don't like anything that isn't raw hip hop. If that's what you like that's what you like, but the rest of the world doesn't have to be limited to such narrow tastes.

im real was average

Disagree. I thought it was an awesome song. One of my favorites.

compton didnt fit his style at all

Maybe not. But you need to understand that GKMC was a theme album. Every song fits into the story he's telling. You have to listen to it in that context. Not just as a collection of songs.

everything else was dope

There's a difference between personal taste and judging quality. There really isn't an argument to make that is going to convince me this isn't a classic. "I didn't like it" isn't a valid reason. The album executed a brilliant concept maintaining fluidity and flow throughout (despite using many different producers - an impressive accomplishment). The lyrics were strong. There was creativity and personality sprinkled into the theme. Maybe not everyone's taste, but that doesn't take away from its quality. I don't like Illmatic all that much, but I can still listen to it and acknowledge what makes it great.

[CityofTreez]

Harden's Beard, your boy Game declared him the "King of the West Coast" awhile back.

You disagree with Game?

[Harden's Beard]

There's a difference between personal taste and judging quality.

"I don't understand how you can complain about him getting killed on one song when you were preaching in the Jesus Piece thread that we shouldn't let Game getting killed on his own tracks take away from his albums."

i see what you are saying, but when it comes to kendrick and this album, in regards to this comment, i am getting more at the whole kendrick being overhyped thing

i was referring to him being considered the best rapper in the universe right now, and people thinking this album is a classic, but the lead rapper of this album had gotten bested on a track as u see with this comment below. so i guess i should have changed my wording a bit, but understand that i was getting more at the individual artist, more than the album.



"the overhyping of kendrick lamar needs to stop, hes a great rapper, but is young and being held as if hes the best rapper alive"

albums should be judged for the overall music quality, so in short, i guess i mean to say i misstated what i was trying to get a across there, and more meant that it was a detractor to kendrick, as an overall artist, to get killed on a track on his own album, than it is a detractor to the actual album as a whole

2. Mary j blige ruined both songs, she took them over, it felt like it was more mary j ft kendrick and Nas, than nas and kendrick ft mary j.

and overall, my personal feel is that i dont like either song

im real was average

compton did not fit his style, nor did it fit the album

neither did the recepie, those songs were just throw onto the album, just like poetic justice was. none of those songs fit the concept or theme of the album, they were placed on there because every album needs a chick track, and other types of tracks

there is no argument there, none of those songs fit the concept of that album at all. i dont even believe there were skits attatched to those tracks either, reinforcing my point

[Harden's Beard]

There's a difference between personal taste and judging quality. There really isn't an argument to make that is going to convince me this isn't a classic. "I didn't like it" isn't a valid reason. The album executed a brilliant concept maintaining fluidity and flow throughout (despite using many different producers - an impressive accomplishment). The lyrics were strong. There was creativity and personality sprinkled into the theme. Maybe not everyone's taste, but that doesn't take away from its quality. I don't like Illmatic all that much, but I can still listen to it and acknowledge what makes it great.

this album is not a classic, atleast for me, each person defines classic by different terms

for me, a classic is a nearly flawless album that is consistant

the flaws for this album are: the horrible chick track, mary j, im real being average, comton not fitting his style.

and i didnt even get into the fact that black boy fly should have been higher on the track list, and that there are 2 of the same song on the album,lol

[Harden's Beard]

Harden's Beard, your boy Game declared him the "King of the West Coast" awhile back.

You disagree with Game?

hes not my boy, i simply like the artist, and he had a top 5 album this year

regarding king of the west, if he didnt run the west the last 8 years, who did?

who was the last platinum artist on the west besides him during that period? this shouldnt even be a question

his resume is certified, his first 3 albums all went platinum, so he has a following

and if you are to call yourself king, you have to have a following

his first 2 albums are classsics, his 3rd album was great, his 4th was solid, and his new one is great, its his 4th best album now

so yes, until kendrick gets a platinum plaque, Game is the king of the west

kendrick should be platinum within the next few months, and is obviously the better rapper now. but that isnt saying much, what rapper doesnt get worse after 8 years?

not to mention, he put kendrick on one of his first mixtapes and let the world know he existed

[hugepatsfan]

"The Recipe" and "Now or Never" were bonus tracks because they didn't fit the album concept, so you're right on that.

I understand what you're saying about Mary J taking over on both songs. I like both of them so it doesn't bother me. I could see how that would be annoying if you didn't like the song.

I'm sure "Poetic Justice" was partially about getting Drake a feature for sales. But it did fit in the story IMO. It certainly wasn't my favorite track, but I thought it fit.

I've never put much stock into "getting killed on your own song." IMO, what's the point of featuring a guy if he doesn't give an awesome verse. If the featured verse isn't nearly as good as the album artist's own verse, then he probably should have just done another verse himself.

The issue I had with Game wasn't his features outshining him, but just the amount. If every song has a feature, that to me does take away from the fluidity of an album. It turns it into a collection of songs as opposed to an album with a natural flow from track to track for me.

[Harden's Beard]

GKMC

1. Sherane aka master splinter-4/5

2. ***** dont kill my vibe(shouldnt have a "chill smoke song" as your second track on the album, so this detracted from my experience) 4/5

3. Backseat freestyle-5/5

4. the art of peer pressure- 5/5

5. money trees-5/5

6.poetic justice-generous 4/5

7. good kid-4/5

8. mad city(maybe the best track on the album) -5/5

9. swimming pools-5/5

10. sing about me-5/5

11. real-4/5

12. compton-4/5

13. the recepie -5/5

14. black boy fly-5/5

15. now or never 4/5

16. collect calls-5/5

17. swimming pools again 5/5

Life is good

1. No introduction -5/5

2. loco motive 4/5

3. a queens story 4/5

4. accidental murderers 5/5

5. daughters 5/5

6. reach out 4/5

7. worlds an addiction 5/5

8. summer on smash(dont know how crap like this made the album, definately not swizz best effort) 4/5

9. you wouldnt understand 5/5 (LOOOOVE this song)

10.back when 5/5

11. the don 4/5 (overated)

12.stay 5/5

13. cherry win 5/5

14. bye baby 5/5

15. nasty 4/5

16.the black bond 4/5

17. roses 4/5

18. wheres the love 5/5

so basically even when it comes to 5* ratings because swimming pools comes twice. overall, two great albums, i feel life is good is better, not by a landslide obviously, but i like the album more and feel it was album of the year

[CityofTreez]

You misunderstood my question.

A year ago, Game proclaimed Kendrick the new "King of the West". Game gave up that self-entitled role, and thus, GKMC was dropped by the the King, and It's our new Illmatic.

Game set up Kendrick with this "overrated" label on his own.

[Harden's Beard]

"The Recipe" and "Now or Never" were bonus tracks because they didn't fit the album concept, so you're right on that.

I understand what you're saying about Mary J taking over on both songs. I like both of them so it doesn't bother me. I could see how that would be annoying if you didn't like the song.

I'm sure "Poetic Justice" was partially about getting Drake a feature for sales. But it did fit in the story IMO. It certainly wasn't my favorite track, but I thought it fit.

I've never put much stock into "getting killed on your own song." IMO, what's the point of featuring a guy if he doesn't give an awesome verse. If the featured verse isn't nearly as good as the album artist's own verse, then he probably should have just done another verse himself.

The issue I had with Game wasn't his features outshining him, but just the amount. If every song has a feature, that to me does take away from the fluidity of an album. It turns it into a collection of songs as opposed to an album with a natural flow from track to track for me.

poetic justice didnt fit for me

i dont put a ton of stock into getting killed, doesnt bother me, but when people talk about an artist as if hes the greatest ever, i automatically come in with criticism when i listen to the album, unfortunately

jay rock killed the song, made it better, i felt kendrick didnt hold up his end of the song

with game, hes been in the game for 8 years, already has done what he has to do in rap, has an established resume, go ahead and have 30 featues, i dont care, just give me something to bump

with kendrick , brand new artist, prove yourself to me, show me who you are

so its 2 different dynamics

i fully understand your opinion tho, i just dont hold this album up that high

life is good 9.0/10

gkmc 8.8 out of 10

with that said, unlike most artists, i think kendrick's second album will be better than this one, and cant wait to hear it

hopefully by then, people will hop off his johnson

[Harden's Beard]

You misunderstood my question.

A year ago, Game proclaimed Kendrick the new "King of the West". Game gave up that self-entitled role, and thus, GKMC was dropped by the the King, and It's our new Illmatic.

Game set up Kendrick with this "overrated" label on his own.

in my book, you are king when you have a following. you have a following when your album sells over 1 million

when that happens, sure

edited