DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar

Album cover for DAMN. - Kendrick Lamar
1. BLOOD.
1:58
2. DNA.
3:06
3. YAH.
2:40
4. ELEMENT.
3:29
5. FEEL.
3:35
6. LOYALTY.
3:47
7. PRIDE.
4:35
8. HUMBLE.
2:57
9. LUST.
5:08
10. LOVE.
3:33
11. XXX.
4:14
12. FEAR.
7:41
13. GOD.
4:09
14. DUCKWORTH.
4:09

In the two years since To Pimp a Butterfly, we’ve hung on Kendrick Lamar's every word—whether he’s destroying rivals on a cameo, performing the #blacklivesmatter anthem on top of a police car at the BET Awards or hanging out with Obama. So when DAMN. opens with a seemingly innocuous line—"So I was taking a walk the other day…”—we're all ears. The gunshot that abruptly ends the track is a signal: DAMN. is a grab-you-by-the-throat declaration that’s as blunt, complex and unflinching as the name suggests. If Butterfly was jazz-inflected, soul-funk vibrance, DAMN. is visceral, spare, and straight to the point, whether he’s boasting about "royalty inside my DNA” on the trunk-rattling "DNA." or lamenting an anonymous, violent death on the soul-infused “FEAR.” No topic is too big to tackle, and the songs are as bold as their all-caps names: “PRIDE.” “LOYALTY.” “LOVE.” "LUST.” “GOD.” When he repeats the opening line to close the album, that simple walk has become a profound journey—further proof that no one commands the conversation like Kendrick Lamar.