Look, I get it, we're all tired of waiting on Mr. Lamar to bless us with good music again. But that's no reason to disgrace his good name with these horrible-ass, half-assed, out-of-touch lists popping up on a certain music magazine's cancerous website (I couldn't make it past the first ten songs without it heating my phone up and crashing completely).
So, Top 20 Tuesday? Not enough. Welcome to the only Top 20 Times 2 Plus 10 Friday in site history. Friday Fifty? Ah, whatever. Enjoy these scorching hot takes:
50. "Bitch I'm In The Club" - If you're a Kendrick fan and have never heard this song, you're in for a treat. He hates this song nowadays, and it's become something of a meme amongst his close fans. It's not good, but it's so fun to hear how far Mr. Lamar has come.
49. "HUMBLE." - Great video. The song is not as great.
48. "Poetic Justice" (feat. Drake) - This is a pretty good Drake feature (it was at the height of his creativity, IMO), I admit. Almost to the point where it outshines Kenny.
47. "King Kunta" - Sometimes Kendrick has great lines, but "Life ain't shit but a fat vagina" is just not one of them.
46. "LOYALTY." (feat. Rihanna) - I don't understand the hate for this song. Is it bad? No, but it isn't the best either. I'm here for any time that Ri-Ri wants to rap for us, though.
45. "Swimming Pools (Drink)" - And with this, I think we've wrapped up the club songs. I want to stress that I don't dislike the past five songs, but that they were made for radio play. And it works!
44. "YAH." - I'm mostly including this song because Kendrick once said that listening to Frank Ocean's Blonde is directly responsible for its existence. But also, the hook is infectious.
43. "untitled 07 (Levitate)" - One club hit snuck through down here, but Levitate, as it quickly came to be known following the release of untitled, unmastered, is something else. It's simplistic and repetitive, but almost mantra-like in its nature.
42. "The Recipe" (feat. Dr. Dre) - Kendrick meeting Dre is one of the best things to happen to music, and this song doesn't get enough love.
41. "Cartoon & Cereal" - This song is bananas. Unlike anything Kendrick has ever made or will ever make again. Another lost casualty of the commercial release of good kid, m.A.A.d city.
40. "Hol' Up" - Kendrick's first official studio album Section .80 is full of hidden, unappreciated gems like this one. I'm amazed this song wasn't as popular as Childish Gambino's "3005", as it's pretty much the exact same song...
39. "PRIDE." - Absolutely nuts to think about this, but producer Steve Lacy created the beat for this song on his iPhone using Garageband, in under 30 minutes. Imagine being that good at something.
38. "The Heart pt. 1 & 3" - Alright, so I guess this is a tie, but I can't decide between these two promotional singles. Both display that unparalleled, lyrical side of Kendrick that I know and love. Both have their great moments, but ultimately I feel like they're the same song?
37. "ELEMENT." - When Lebron James previewed this song a week before the release of DAMN., I didn't know what to think. I love 'Bron's connections to the rap world (he's good friends with Drake, Kanye, Cole, etc.), but it felt like cheating for him to slip a snippet to the world before we were ready. And we weren't ready -- this song feels like walking on blacktop in a hot summers day. Too hot!
36. "Michael Jordan" - Kendrick teaming up with ScHoolboy Q is always the stuff of legend, and this song is not any different. Love the two-three (23) wordplay on the chorus.
35. "untitled 08" - Otherwise known as "Blue Faces", I love hearing songs like this where Kendrick embraces the funk. I think that style is what I missed most on DAMN.
34. "Faith" (feat. BJ the Chicago Kid & Punch) - A criminally underrated song -- if you love Kendrick and haven't heard it, or hell, the entire Kendrick Lamar EP, go listen now! What a beautiful musing of gang violence, the Black American struggle, and their ties to faith. The end of the first verse is haunting.
33. "FEEL." - This song really reminds me of early Kendrick with his hungry raps, especially in the second verse. I hope we get more of the untapped rage that appears in this song on the new album!
32. "Momma" - Besides Kendrick being on a Knxwledge beat being the stuff of legend, this song has a great deal of narrative importance to To Pimp A Butterfly. At this point in the album, he's returned home, which can be interpreted a number of ways. Try listening as though he's gone home to Compton or gone home to the motherland or gone home to the pre-fame life.
31. "Mortal Man" - Ignoring the Michael Jackson line, this song is stellar. And then to add in an unearthed interview with Tupac Shakur? Unbelievable, and unexpected from every first time listener. Blown away by the genius on display in this masterpiece.
30. "XXX." - The second half of this song is one of my favorite second halves of anything ever, and I don't say that lightly. I never thought U2 (or rather Bono) would have any business collaborating with KDot, but somehow, somehow, it just works. I'm very upset Kendrick never gave us a music video for this song.
29. "Rigamortus" - It is both a blessing and a curse that Kendrick Duckworth Lamar has never had a full out, explicit beef with any famous rapper. A blessing, because a lot of people's favorite rappers would be without a career, and a curse because I'd like to see that happen. Anyway, this song is as close as we get to a diss track (besides the infamous "Control" verse).
28. "i" (Album version) - Kendrick himself said he never expected to make this song, and so many of us never expected to hear this song from Kendrick. But this "love yourself" anthem is even more powerful when its interrupted by a fight happening in this "live" version and Kendrick begins preaching. I still get chills!
27. "untitled 03" - When I first fell in love with Kendrick Lamar, it wasn't with everyone else. I remember seeing him perform on Stephen Colbert for the first time, premiering an unreleased, untitled song. It was glorious -- rarely did I see such acute arrangement in live rap performances. It just so happens that it was this same song, and while the studio version loses some of the emotion, it still holds a special place in my heart. Peep an outdated rip of the performance above, just note it's not the same without visuals.
26. "These Walls" - I really don't know how to explain this song, besides that it's really, really good, and just absolutely wild start to finish. And if you thought the song was nuts, wait until you see the music video (above).
25. "Institutionalized" - In the opening lines, Kendrick raps "Trapped inside the ghetto and I ain't proud to admit it" -- this is the perfect song following "King Kunta." We're sent into a crashing embrace with reality following the braggadocio, realizing that despite his success, Kendrick's past and his homies' present aren't going anywhere.
24. "Keisha's Song (Her Pain)" - Off of Section .80, Kendrick has acknowledged the influence that 2Pac's "Brenda's Got A Baby" had on his life and the whole of hip-hop, and that influence really shines through in this song. Very touching, RIP Asher Rise.
23. "For Free? - Interlude" - This song separates To Pimp a Butterfly from the rest of the modern hip-hop canon. Its jazz-roots and spoken poetry tone set the scene for the rest of the album and cement Kendrick as a god-tier lyricist. An interlude, yes, but don't you dare leave it off your list.
22. "Complexion (A Zulu Love)" - Originally, Kendrick didn't even want to feature his own vocals on this song -- it was supposed to be Prince singing the hook and Rapsody rapping. Thank God we got this version as Kendrick brings it to another level, but its fun to imagine how that alternate dimension turned out, too.
21. "The Heart pt. 2" - I've never been impressed with Overly Dedicated, the last mixtape release before Kendrick started releasing studio albums, but damn this teaser is incredible. I hope his return to music equates to this level of hunger.
20. "u" - I can think of very few mega-status pop/rapstars that openly discuss their struggle with suicide and mental health. This song really gives us an in-depth glimpse into Kendrick's battle with fame and staying grounded. It floors me every time I hear it.
19. "untitled 02" - Playing this song to summon a new Kendrick album every day.
18. "Wesley's Theory" - Album intros are everything and good lord does Kendrick deliver for To Pimp a Butterfly. We're introduced to the main characters and thematic elements all in the first verse, but it's the menacing beat that I keep coming back to. Kendrick knows how to set the scene.
17. "untitled 05" - I'll be sad when Kendrick leaves TDE, as I've always thought that TDE president Punch (who features on this song) has brought the best out of his music. This isn't to say that Kendrick isn't capable as an indie artist, but that Punch grounds him in some of these old boom-bap beats, and I worry indie Kenny will leave this sound and some incredible songs behind.
16. "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" - Alright, I guess I lied -- all the radio hits were not done. "Vibe" is just on another level than most of Kendrick's popular tracks, it's hard to treat it like another top 200 hit.
15. "The Blacker the Berry" - We all make mistakes, it's true. No one is infallible. But I refuse to let the final line of this song mar what is altogether an undeniably honest, unfiltered, and intense discussion of race in America.
14. "m.A.A.d. city" - The first season of the Spotify podcast told me that "m.A.A.d." stands for "my Angels on Angel dust", which, if you pay attention to this album, it's pretty easy to catch on to, but I never could. Go figure. Regardless, this song is an excellent throwback to 90s hip hop, and the MC Eiht feature helps establish that atmosphere so well.
13. "A.D.H.D." - Section .80 covers a lot of thematic ground, but "A.D.H.D." creates an incredible narrative around the drug culture of Kendrick's generation. If only it hadn't become a party song... I feel like the irony is lost on those playing this song as parties.
12. "DNA." - On first listen of DAMN., a friend and I had a hard time making it through the entire album because we kept replaying "DNA." again and again and again. Kendrick brings back a lyrical hunger reminiscent of his earlier work, accompanied by an absolutely astonishing Mike-Will Made It beat. Seriously, a 50 minute album lasted 2 hours for us because of this song.
11. "Hood Politics" - This song is pretty self-explanatory, but bringing up Kendrick's various voices and personas once again, his higher pitched delivery is such an incredible nuance. Verse three is one of the best KDot verses of his career.
10. "Backseat Freestyle" - Many rappers do the raunchy-rap bit without being clever or interesting, and in my opinion, Kendrick is one of the few to pull it off (although time to time it fails). The chorus for this song is ridiculous and over the top, but in the context of the album, it works. For me, this is the first insight into Kendrick's ability as a poet and his intense rhyme schemes that make up so many of his features and songs. It's bonkers impressive.
9. "County Building Blues" - Alright, maybe the biggest mistake of Kendrick's career is leaving this off of good kid, m.A.A.d city's final tracklist. It was originally intended to open the album and introduces many important plot points, but it establishes some crucial facts about Kendrick's past that set up his career. I highly encourage unaware readers to discover more about his first time seeing 2Pac and future mentor Dr. Dre.
8. "How Much a Dollar Cost" - This might be one of the most important songs ever written. Famously, it was former President Obama's favorite song of 2015, but dear God, those final moments -- I don't want to spoil it for first-time listeners. This is a crucial song not just in the narrative of To Pimp A Butterfly, but I think in Kendrick's growth as an individual.
7. "FEAR." - Kendrick has famously stated this is his favorite song because of its honesty, and clearly it's up there for me. The runtime comes in at nearly 8 minutes, complete with a weird, anti-Semitic voicemail from cousin Carl Duckworth. But the three verses Kendrick spits over this incredible Alchemist-produced beat sum up a lot of the themes of DAMN. and Kung-Fu Kenny's fears through different stages of his life.
6. "The Art of Peer Pressure" - Kendrick's story-telling really takes off in good kid, m.A.A.d. city at this song, and he lets us into the lifestyle so many young Black people are not only confronted with, but forced to feel like it's necessary to their survival. This is where I first fell in love with Kendrick's voice and his many personas.
5. "Alright" - What else is there left to say about this song? It's the soundtrack to a movement. Undeniably important to so many across the world marching for change and equity. I'll never forget seeing Black Lives Matter protesters chant this song for the first time in summer 2015, and how quickly it caught fire across so many states. It's the most impressive breath control and lyrical talent of any of Kendrick's verses, back-to-back.
4. "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" - Kendrick plays his faith closer to the heart in his rhymes now, but this song is chockfull of intimate glimpses of his removal from gang culture and his renewed Christian beliefs. The second half of this song is second only to "FEAR." in its honesty.
3. "DUCKWORTH." - Peak hip-hop storytelling over one of the most godly 9th Wonder beats ever created (and he's got several) composed of five different samples. I'm still blown away by all the dominoes falling in Kendrick's life -- hell, even his parents' lives -- that led to his success. From this story, to seeing 2Pac and Dre shoot "California Love", it was clearly meant to happen.
Fun tip: listen closely to the beat/sample switches as Kendrick's lyrical perspective changes from Top Dawg to his father. Genius.
2. "HiiiPower" - This is Kendrick's conscious origin story. "Alright" may have been when he became a voice for millions, but "HiiiPower" lays the groundwork for the leadership he establishes through his later music and especially the dialogues in To Pimp a Butterfly.
1. "Money Trees" (feat. Jay Rock) - Okay, so in all fairness, they got #1 right on that other site. It's hard to deny the lyrical genius on display in this song. An infectious hook, a knock-out Jay Rock verse (harder to come by more recently), and more storytelling showmanship from the greatest alive. How many rappers are brave enough to rap over a Beach House sample? Only K. Lamar, right?
Maybe one day soon we'll be able to add to and alter this list. No new info about Kendrick's imminent fifth album has arisen, but sources say "soon." We know for sure that the Super Bowl performance will be proceeded by new music from Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg, so hopefully this is a good sign for Kendrick fans as well.
On the topic of new music, however, I'm sure we can expect a lot of the above themes and more (it's been five long years). There's so much Kendrick hasn't spoken on yet in his music: the death of Nipsey Hussle, the death of his early collaborator Ash Riser, the death of his close friend Mac Miller, COVID-19, a new president... good lord how is he gonna fit all of this in one album.
If you're interested in hearing all the songs above, here's a playlist! You're welcome :)
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How'd we do? Better than those old farts on the big, bad website? Let us know your favorite Kendrick songs in the comments below or over on Twitter!
- Ritter
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