As he’s tangled up in a historic rap beef with Drake, hip-hop legend Kendrick Lamar is reminding everyone of just how ferocious and cerebral he can be when he steps up to the mic.
The Pulitzer-prize winning rapper is one of the most celebrated artists of his generation, having received lots of critical and commercial success and Grammys for his iconic discography.
As we’re all focused on Lamar and his outstanding lyrical abilities, let’s look back on the six albums he’s released in his career and rank them for how they stack up with each other.
6. Untitled Unmastered
While this wasn’t “technically” an official album, Untitled Unmastered came as a surprise in 2016 on the heels of Lamar’s monumental To Pimp a Butterfly. It was more a series of excellent B-sides that carried over the heavy themes to that album, but it was welcomed all the same and still a very sound showcase for Lamar’s talent. However, we maintain the pinnacle of this was the arrangement Lamar put together of “Untitled 08” for a live performance on The Tonight Show.
5. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
Lamar’s most recent album is probably his most sprawling and uneven, but it’s still a powerful work as the artist unpacks generational trauma through a cathartic therapy session of an album. Here, Lamar grappled with his past and tried to pave a better path for his children. The highs are extremely high, with the poignant lament “Mother I Sober” one of his finest songs to date.
4. Section.80
Lamar announced his colossal presence in rap with his debut album, Section.80. He established himself right out the gate as one of rap’s premiere storytellers and one of the genre’s most introspective artists that hearkened back to the heydays of Lamar’s West Coast inspirations. “A.D.H.D” alone was the perfect encapsulation of what made Lamar such a promising talent.
3. Damn
Following up To Pimp a Butterfly was always going to be a tall task, but Lamar did as well as anyone could following up a stone-cold masterpiece with Damn. Expanding on the sociopolitical themes of his third album while looking inward in how fame and family impacted the way he sees the world, Damn was further proof that nobody in rap was working on quite this special a plateau.
2. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
If Section.80 was the announcement, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was the declaration of what a titanic force Lamar was in the genre. His storytelling has never been better as he weaved a cannon blast of a coming-of-age story that also painted a vivid picture of the world that shaped him. In terms of pure memorability, this is still the first album that pops in your head when thinking about Lamar.
1. To Pimp a Butterfly
To Pimp a Butterfly defined a moment in art, as Lamar’s blistering rumination on the Black experience in America that gave entire protests their anthem in the phenomenal Pharrell collaboration “Alright.” This really is one of the best albums ever, as Lamar’s masterpiece cemented him as both one of the best rappers of his generation and one of our most important artists working.
