GOOD KID
Kendrick Lamar’s Debut Album, “good kid, m.A.A.d city” Accomplishes More
In 2012 I was a college freshman who had barely scratched the surface of hip-hop and rap, besides some legacy artists that my dad played in the hooks of his favorite R&B tracks. Sometimes he recalled other rappers with friends from when he was younger. I grew up in a household of jazz, funk, R&B, and gospel. The only taste of rap that I really chose to listen to was what I could steal away on YouTube in high school and the few physical albums I bought with some of the change I scrapped together living in my parents’ house.
I have always been drawn to the sounds of black music, and that is related to my parents’ upbringing. I am thankful for it. But I grew up on The Isley Brothers, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, New Edition, and Luther Vandross. Gospel music fueled my Christian household on the weekends. The hip-hop my dad did play didn’t register as important to me till later but that was Big Daddy Kane, Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Rakim, and some clean versions of Snoop Dogg. So, growing up in the early 2000s with the music scene in hip-hop shifting all I heard was reminders that the past produced better music, and nothing coming out now in hip-hop was good music.
