This is Part 1 of an ongoing series.
DAMN was released April 14th 2017. It was a hit, it had LOYALTY, HUMBLE, DNA and LOVE. Everyone was booming with these songs on their radios. It had taken the world by storm, little did we know this album was way deeper than the public thought.
This album has 14 tracks BLOOD, DNA, YAH, ELEMENT, FEEL, LOYALTY, PRIDE, HUMBLE, LUST, LOVE, XXX, FEAR, GOD and DUCKWORTH. Each song has a style of either being sin or holy. In a sense you have DNA which is Kendrick saying he is the guy no one can touch him he’s top dog more of a sin kind of song, but then you have songs like FEAR where he is saying he has fears and isn’t all perfect more of a holy song.
The album starts off with BLOOD. BLOOD is more of a story than a song Kendrick doesn’t necessarily sing. In this story the first words you hear are “Is it wickedness or is it weakness, you decide are we going to live or die.” As a listener you don’t really understand what this all means and you brush it off. Then it proceeds to tell a story of Kendrick taking a walk the other day when he stumbles upon a blind woman who seemed frustrated trying to find something she dropped. So after watching he decides to help the woman when he says, “Hello mam can I be of any assistance? It seems to me you have lost something and I would like to help you find it.” she responds with, “Oh yes you have lost something, you’ve lost your life.” POP and with that Kendrick is shot and you hear the words “Is it wickedness?” And with that you are dropped into DNA
DNA is a song about Kendrick’s DNA that he is made up of. Stating he has “War and Peace inside my DNA.” This song sounds very hyper and aggressive almost like a song of sin or as the intro song BLOOD states WICKEDNESS. Through the song it seems that Kendrick is talking himself up stating how he is the man and his DNA is strong and he has all these amazing traits to make him a true Soldier, a hidden meaning for gang leader. He also is talking down on others saying “Your DNA is an abomination.” This leads to the next song YAH.
YAH is a seemingly calm song and very relaxed almost like a song of WEAKNESS. He starts it by talking about how he has theories and suspicions and has real conditions. He then sings “My world been ecstatic, I checked the signal that read, Buzzin, Radars are buzzing.” Clearly in this song he is reflecting on his career of rapping, and the negative effects on him. YAH the name of the song is assumed to be a shortened Yeah but in fact it’s not. It’s short for Yahweh, the closest estimation to God’s name in Hebrew. He states “I’m not bout religion.” He then states he is an Israelite which according to the bible Israelites are God’s chosen people. Often linked to the book of Deuteronomy where there is a verse from this book which says these people will be cursed with confusion, frustration and illnesses until they follow God’s will. But Kendrick doesn’t care and decides to focus on his career. And with that we have Element.
ELEMENT Starts by saying ‘Ain’t nobody praying for me. God knows what happens on Earth stays on Earth.” You hear that last phrase a lot in this album. Kendrick starts to realize nobody is praying for me and no matter what he does on Earth he’s gonna end up damned. So he doesn’t care about being cursed, he’s the best rapper on Earth, kind of a Wicked mindset. But then he realizes NO ONE is praying for him. And with that we move into FEEL.
