I would definitely suggest pulling up lyrics to most first listens on rap songs. For Kendrick it's a must because his lyrics are the most important part of his songs. A song you may find easier to follow along to is "Father Time" that is from his newest album.
Kendrick is a really confusing artist to get into at first. Most of his tracks are usually played as a 'character', or have linked characters and thematics between eachothers. (this track alright for example is from his album To pimp a butterfly, which has a lot of references and elements you won't get without the context of the album.) He's clearly one of the greatest lyricist in the industry and is a great entry point to rap music, but i would highly recommend watching some of his live performances first (My favorites being Untitled 8, or his performance of i, from SNL).
Something that interests me is how some ppl literally cant hear and understand rap, and im not hating you cant help if you cant understand the lyrics. The thing about rap is once you start listening to more its easier to understand what is being said. When I was younger and only got to listen to rap in the car on the radio I had no idea what words they were even saying, going back to those songs now its so much clearer. And i dont mean analyzing lyrics I mean literally not knowing wtf hes saying
Keeping up with rap lyrics (especially Kendrick’s) is definitely a skill that needs to be practiced (by listening to more rap). For sure pull up the lyrics, but lots of rap also has incredible production so you can vibe out with that too. For a beginner to rap I would definitely listen to a Kanye song. Lots of different genres of music represented in his discography and isn’t a super fast rapper so it’s a fair bit easier to keep up with. If you haven’t heard it, maybe try “gold digger” “all falls down” or ”bound 2”. If you want to try Kendrick again maybe try “Duckworth” or “Father Time”.
