The Art of Peer Pressure is one of the strongest hip hop songs of all time in my opinion, and really highlights what “peer pressure” actually is for a lot of kids. Peer pressure is often misrepresented and overdramatized in tv shows, with the classic scene being “the main character doesn’t want to do this thing, but their friends are around so they go through with it uncomfortably”. When in reality, a lot of times peer pressure can mask itself so deeply that the main character *genuinely* wants to do things they wouldn’t do on their own, and since they’re among peers they act in a way completely different from how they normally would, without even really forcing it. This is honestly what makes peer pressure as dangerous as it is, and I think it’s depicted in the song so so well with the way Kendrick almost seems to flip between the way he’s acting in the moment versus the way his subconscious is aware he’s only acting a certain way because his friends are around
Great analysis. After listening to the lyrics word for word for a couple of listens you can tell the absolute masterpiece this song is. It will never get old for me, personally I can’t relate to the song as I hardly struggle with peer pressure but the sheer thought of the experience Kendrick was in makes the song so sentimental. “Another lucky night with the homies”
It's the Grammy's, who gives a fuck? They;ve been garbage for decades. I don't see why people actually care about stuff like this. Taylor Swift robbed TPAB a year or two after the Macklemore thing. I didn't even watch that Grammy's, I only know this b/c I've just heard people cry about it incessantly for years. When will people stop paying attention to them ffs
This album has aged really well 10 years down the line, songs like don’t kill my vibe and the title track still feel so ahead of the curve and feel like they changed so much in hip hop when they dropped!
I agree but tbh Damn has aged the worst of his four studio albums. Still a very good record though. Kendrick's songwriting over the years has been genius.
What do you mean by “what it was in the moment”? As in like, it was such a monumental record that it woke people up to the fact something like this could even be made?
Relating to your last point about the old woman easily convincing them to choose a good life: not every one did. In fact, Kendrick’s friend whose brother died went against the advice of the old woman and was shot too, in the part where he says “and if I die before your album drops I hope-.” So not everyone followed religion to peace. I think that helps to convey more nuance in the narrative.
@@lemonadejakey4825 yeah something felt off about his vibe to the album back then and even what he was saying in this video seems odd, something is ticking him off about this album, one of the strangest 9 score ever.
Okay a few things I need help clearing up, doesn’t that verse and line come before they meet the religious lady? Maybe it’s not linear, it’s a retrospective verse i’m guessing. However what still doesn’t make sense is how his friend dying has a direct or indirect connection to him not choosing the religious path? Isn’t the entire album about a good kid in a mad city where anything can happen even when you’re doing what’s “right”? Isn’t that why the gun shots come right when he says “I hope”? Maybe a better example of not choosing the religious path is the woman in the 2nd verse but she wasn’t with the religious lady. So I guess I’m just wondering how him dying connects to not choosing the religious path the lady told him about?
thats def a characteristic i hadnt appreciated about it, i just personally dislike the repetitive way he'll end a lot of sentences getting slower and lower with his voice, and just in general the lower tone he speaks in, it sounds kinda unnatural compared to how he talks now
I was 17 when that lp dropped, a classic and one of the most influential albums in my life. for me kendrick will never top gkmc, simply because of the emotions that are tied to this and what it means to me. king kendrick 👑
Yeah, TPAB is a great album too, but in my opinion people are way too quick to call it his best. I honestly think a lot of the insistence that TPAB is his single best album is mostly due to herd mentality around it and what taste-makers have told fans is his best (Anthony included, sorry). It's totally fair for someone to say TPAB is their favorite, it's great, but it's very different and none of his albums to this day have hit me as hard as Good Kid Maad City did. I think GKMC is his best.
@@WinterReflections For sure, GKMC is my favorite as well. I think the album just hooks you with that very personal and emotional aspect, the fact that it’s Kendrick just actually telling us a crucial story from a very important point in his life. I love TPAB, and I also love it’s more political focus, but man, GKMC’s focus on Kendrick’s personal experiences, stories, and emotions just does it for me. Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst will always be my favorite Kendrick song because it exemplifies all that I love about GKMC perfectly
@@WinterReflections I just think TPAB is a tighter, more experimental, cohesive, layered, and mature record as a whole. GKMC is utterly fantastic, and does everything that TPAB does, but just not to the same extent imo. GKMC is probably a more accessible record and it’s easier to go back and listen to individual songs, whereas TPAB sort of demands that you listen to the whole album. I totally respect people enjoying GKMC more, but looking at each album as a sole piece of art rather than a collection of songs, TPAB is not only better, in my estimation; It may be the greatest album ever made.
The fact that mainstream Billboards like the Billboard 200 still have this in the top 50 ten years later just show the effect on the industry this album had. It’s absolutely revolutionary at every corner, pushing lyricism boundaries and leading the new concept of story telling albums. Easily a 10/10 ‘Sing about me I’m dying of thirst’ and ‘Backseat freestyle’ will never be forgotten.
I remember my dad showing me ‘the internets busiest music nerd’ in the early days of RU-vid. Never really thought that I’d be here listening to a 10 year retrospect take on the on the same guy this far down the line. Love it.
@@keldonjohnson1 poetic justice isn’t a favourite of mine, the only song on the album I don’t thoroughly enjoy. Still a near perfect experience in my opinion, totally get why people would rate it a 10/10.
The Art of Peer Pressure, Money Trees, mAAd city, Swimming Pools and Sing About Me are just incredible and historic songs in rap history, and it’s amazing that they all came together within the same 6 track window. By far my favorite album of all time
Honestly same. I saw a headline somewhere that this album was the focus of a college seminar and I was like huh, let me youtube a review of this thing. I had already listened to it 80% of the way thru and loved it by that point
This album and TPAB are both 10s to me, but I also don't get bored from Real like a lot of people do. I have good memories coming home from work at 4 am with the windows down and no one on the highway with this album blasting. Felt like I was the only person in the world just enjoying the breeze and listening to one of the greatest albums of all time.
I always felt that while TPAB was incredible in its scale and ambition, GKMC was tighter, more cohesive and had a better flow to it. They're like Sgt Pepper and The White Album.
I think what you say here is valid. I like to remember that TPAB was intentionally meant to have some avant-garde choppiness to it though. Think of it as still cohesive, but with the finish of a layered collage rather than a smooth painting (like GKMC)
As a newer Kendrick Lamar fan, good kid mad city was something that took me a while to appreciate (as well as some of the songs on TPAB) but I’m so glad I took the time to listen to it more and read the lyrics. I tear up sometimes listening to any one of the tracks from this album. Thank you Kenny
GKMC is a masterpiece, a classic album. Kendrick went hard on every single song, features were amazing and each beats was unique yet felt like they all belonged together.
gkmc had Section.80 to build it up. To me both those albums are companion pieces. All 4 of his albums are classics. TPAB is my favorite album but considering we’re grading greatness with greatness is a testament to how important Kendrick is. Can’t wait for the next album.
It’s crazy when you react to your old reviews and me remembering I was 12 watching this when it came out lol and I’m still watching you now. Literally just enjoyed seeing someone else be just as big of a nerd for music as me since I was a kid
I’ve always interpreted the ending with them being baptized and reborn in holy water as another form of escapism. Swimming pools of liquor to drown your sorrows in feel thematically parallel to “hop in that water and pray that it works”. I know Kendrick is religious himself but maybe he’s admitting that religion too can be a form of escapism for people in his situation, which isn’t far fetched when u consider how popular religion is in poor and impoverished communities. Regardless, that’s the benefit of a narrative only told through song lyrics and short voice clips - there’s a lot of room for interpretation.
Kendrick deliberately allowed for this album to be interpreted but I’ve always seen a link between Swimming pools and Sing about me I’m dying of thirst
Didn’t listen to this album fully for the first time til 2019, and it still sounded fresh and catchy. Was not expecting a hip hop album from 2012 to hold up that well
@@MatchaCutie14 I haven't gotten around to listening to the album yet. I'm going to watch it soon tho. I've listened to Section.80 and remember enjoying it (but barely remember it because I've listened to it once and it was a while ago). I didn't really enjoy TPAB both times I've listened to it. I don't understand all the hype. I appreciate the philosophical element, but I'm only really into one song off of it.
@@just-a-me1168 trust me you ll get drawn back and realize what a masterpiece tpab is, first listen i disregarded it as boring then after months i came back and i listened to it i was so into it thats i started trying to dissect every little aspect. Id go to school and all id think about would be the tracks and that i wanted to go back home and listen to it again 🤣
This was a good ALBUM. It deserves to be listened to as a whole. MC Eiht was a highlight. The skits where the 'Mom' calling him to get the van back so she can get to the welfare office seem like a slice of life for us poorer folks in Arkansas.
lol, listened to the album when it came out, because my friend burned me a CD of it, along with copies of Wolf by Tyler and Channel Orange. my first impression was that the production was fucking weird, clean, and idiosyncratic. i had never heard anything like it. at school people had been saying "pour up, drank." or whatever and when that song came on it threw me for a loop because i didn't know that was a kendrick song. maybe, because i was so young, i didnt absorb a lot of the storyline that you talked about. i obviously knew the themes of fantasy and coping with life, because me and my annoying hipster friends would be like "omg, they totally don't know that this song isn't about partying." but i don't remember the full story of the record. i lived in a small southern town, so for me the album was a portrait of a life i've never known and a way to explore the characters of people i'd never met.they're still amazing party songs, with a depth that's never bottomed out after a million listens. i used to drive around, delivering pizzas and play it for 8hrs straight. lol, along with Acid Rap. the album is quintessentially 2010s, all the good things that the decade should have been. it couldnt be made any other time than when it was, and i feel like it was a future that we never reached. lol didnt realize i had so many thoughts about this album, i can't even figure out how to explain how surreal and progressive the production is on that album.
I would definitely like to hear more on your thoughts about “the future we never reached” that’s another topic that could be fleshed it among countless people. Great point made
I think that in his review, Anthony really got caught up just explaining the concept of the album, which is always a pet peeve of mine in reviews. But in this case, I think it was just clear how much Anthony was sucked into the album. I remember being like "Wow, Anthony is just gushing about this thing, he seems like he was really sucked in." This album is so good, definitely the defining album of my young adulthood.
Honestly, I dont think it was just a sudden change to be a more positive moment by the end of the song. I always thought that there was that underlying voice in the back of his mind that said that he doesnt really want to do this. I'd like to think that Sing about me is the many weeks or months of Kendricks main character processing the loss of his brother and contemplating it as his death makes him more and more weary. I'm dying of thirst is that final realization for that character who's tired of all the bullshit in his life and finally turning to god to finally turn his life around. Like, that underlying voice in his head finally won out.
I absolutely love these videos Anthony. As a subscriber since 2011 it’s nice nostalgia, it’s a good measurement of your progression of your channel, and it’s a gentle celebration of the album. Keep it up
I'm happy you did this... because to this day I randomly watch that review while eating or something. I was very young when the album came out, you put me on and helped me understand most of it
I was in 2nd grade when I first heard Swimming Pools on the radio, I was actually in my moms dark purple van (not sure if it was a caravan, but you get it). At that time, the radio was my only concept of music, I didn't even know what albums were. Now I'm almost 19, and this album fills me with so much nostalgia.
This would actually be a nice series to do, I think. I'd love to see you react to some of your more prolific reviews 10 years later. Can't wait to see what you think of Channel Orange.
I love these reflections on his previous reviews because he has another chance to use his experience to articulate his thoughts even better and allows us to see new updates to what he's thinking about these classics.
His change at the end isn’t as simple as running into the old woman. Dave’s death and the verses on Sing About me Dying of thirst really confront his fear of death and the exhaustion of his environment (tired of running). Not to mention the harsh perspectives/realities of the people around him deeply affected by the maad city (Dave’s brother and Keisha’s sister). These all influence his turn to the right path in the end.
Plus his internal conflicts with morality on the art of peer pressure and recognising the systematic oppression and racial profiling in his environment on good kid and money trees.
This is pretty interesting, you should consider doing more of a deep dive on previously reviewed albums or classic albums. So in addition to reviews, another format of content could be album breakdowns where you get into the nitty gritty details of what made an album great in a way you wouldn't normally be able to in just a standard review.
This review helped me to understand the nuances of this album when it was released and I honestly have never put it down or stopped listening to it over the last 10 years since then and you definitely get a share of the credit for that Anthony. Thank you 🙏
This album is so important to me. Before this, the only hip hop i listened to was stuff like Doomtree, Brother Ali and Sage Francis. This album introduced me to the more popular hip hop world. Coming from a punk rock and hardcore background, mainstream hiphop was a sin to listen to. This showed me that these guys have more to offer and now this album is still in heavy rotation for me. Hell, I listened to it twice yesterday lol anyways this album is definitely in my top 5 favorite albums of all time.
Great point. I remember that perception of Backseat Freestyle and after realizing how it fits into the overall narrative. I remember not judging TPAB singles so much at face value as a result.
Thats hilarious I just listened to this record this morning. It was not my favorite first listen (coming from a white kid in a very rich city) it definitely has grown on me since then.
Growing up as a Black kid in a low income city in Southern California, I, and others around me, thought it was an instant classic on first listen. I don’t think I have related to almost any album more than this it just captures what it’s like trying to avoid trouble but it being around you and just living with the consequences. On top of that, the Tarantino style out of order story was so mind blowing I still remember trying to piece it together
@@TheHappybunny671 Yeah man I totally get that. I am of the mind set that tpab is the greatest rap album of all time, and possibly the greatest album period, but even with that mind set and it being my favorite rap album, I still will never be able to truly relate to it like some people can.
@@jonasjorgensen8759 No it's not about that. While skin color can go into it, being white does not mean you cannot understand it. It was more of just another thing to add to the rich city thing. Music is for the people, not for certain ethnicities.
I listen to this album almost every week or even songs from it, just yesterday I found myself analyzing for the 500 time some lyrics. They just never seem to keep unraveling new and deeper meaning. Some bars just hit different even if you know them already.
What you said about the end with that abrupt decision change. I felt like that was a little odd at first as well, but then I saw Boyz In The Hood, which is something that K Dot has said inspired him for this album, and it's actually the exact same story. The main character changes his mind in an instant at the end of the movie.
10 years from now Melon will put out a 40 minute review reacting to his reaction of the review and bumping this classic up to a strong 10 🙏 true Bo Burnham style
It takes an amazing artist to transport the listener to another time and place, which this one does to me entirely. I feel young and naive again listening to GKMC. What a fucking masterpiece.
Ever since the half time show, I have gone back and listened to good kid, m.A.A.d city front to back idk how many times now. I remember it was all we listened to when it came out and it still holds it own as a masterpiece. It's easily in my top ten.
i think i first listened to gkmc in may this year and i didn't like it very much because it had such an innovative vibe, but when i listened to it again on august it just clicked right. for me it's about a 9.6/10, the album literally scratches perfection (tpab would be 10/10), and i just love every song on it, especially the art of peer pressure and sing about me, i'm dying of thirst. i don't know how they did it, but dre and kenny managed to reinvent the sound of conscious hip hop with a stunning literary masterpiece, and yet it still is incredibly catchy and enjoyable. one of my favourite albums of all time for sure. and don't worry melon, the review is very good ❤
I wish I could have my memories listening to this erased. I remember being 17 first hearing Swimming Pools and it stuck with me since; I actually relistened to it for the first time in a long time and it made me feel 17 again. With that said, this is still my favorite Kendrick album,
Kendrick Lamar is very different from other modern rappers he doesn't make music that's only hot for 15 minutes. Kendrick makes albums that stand the test of time good kid MAAD city is definitely the most influential rap album released in the last 11 years
I still stand by to this day that if you had to showcase a hip hop song to someone who had never heard the genre before, Madd City would be the track to use.
