Here is the list of the best Kendrick Lamar songs.
Kendrick Lamar previewed the album—his “last TDE album,” as he put it—on a website that went live in August 2021. “May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life’s calling,” he wrote at the time.
“There’s beauty in completion. And always faith in the unknown.” He signed the note, “Oklama.
The Special appearance at Coachella 2022 that everyone was anticipating was Baby Keem’s cousin and regular collaborator Kendrick Lamar. Keem pulled out Kendrick for two tracks during his weekend two Coachella set last night (4/22), “Family Ties” and “Vent,” two of the three Kendrick collaborations on his 2021 debut album The Melodic Blue.
Kendrick Lamar’s songs are transcending poetry as he is bearing the flame as the vanguard of the current hip hop generation. DAMN., the TDE rapper’s certified double-platinum fourth album, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, cementing the emotional LP as his highest-ranking to date. Kendrick Lamar’s song possesses a modest level of complexity. His library is chock-full of hidden treasures that you may have overlooked or were unaware of. Perhaps you overlooked his outstanding 2016 effort, untitled unmastered, or his exceptional series of mixtapes released in the years leading up to his popular debut. And then when it comes to classics, he has a knack of outsmarting him- so comprehensively that each killer completely replaced the previous one in our collective mind. “Swimming Pools (Drank)” is one of the best Kendrick Lamar songs of the last ten years, and it’s on the same album (2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city) as “Backseat Freestyle,” which is even better. To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN., his instantly recognizable LPs, are also replete with gems.
As Kendrick Lamar has shared a fresh link to his Oklama website through Twitter. With new Kendrick Lamar songs coming through, on the site, the rapper disclosed the title and release date of his new album: “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” will be released on May 13th.
Let’s have a look at the top 10 Kendrick Lamar songs which panned over his career:
10) “The Blacker the Berry” (2015)
It was difficult for me to determine which Kendrick Lamar song is the finest because they’re all really fantastic, but I think “The Blacker the Berry” is his finest. Kendrick simply lets everything go in this song, and you can hear and feel his emotions. I don’t believe any other rapper, including Tupac, has communicated their feelings, as well as Kendrick, has in this song. The beat, Kendrick’s lyrics, and his flow all work together to create this gem. He handles racism well while simultaneously exposing its dishonest character.
To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar’s follow-up to Good Kid Maad City, was a difficult, haunting left turn that signified Kendrick’s grappling with his personal status and the Black community, which echoed across broader concerns of American history.
9) “B**ch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” (2012)
K-not-so-subliminal-Dot’s dissatisfaction with popular success was evident in “B**ch, Don’t Kill My Vibe.” The comic was competing for creative control, and comedian Mike Epps made a funny appearance in the video. Nonetheless, the song was written with Lady Gaga’s help in mind. Because of the MC’s impending LP deadline, that cooperation never materialized. JAY-Z eventually remixed Lamar’s song, so all was not lost.
Lamar divides his time between catchy bangers, late-night musings, and a handful of pained epics to represent every aspect of his Compton upbringing on good kid, m.A.A.d. city, which functions as a broad coming-of-age tale. He coined several of his early career’s great phrases and refrains along the road.
8) “Sing About Me (I’m Dying of Thirst)” (2012)
This is, without a doubt, one of the finest Kendrick Lamar songs of all time. He just pours his heart and soul into this song, which has a groove that makes you feel so nostalgic when you listen to it. He discusses his personal life as well as the challenges that young African Americans face in Compton. The title is also ideal because it represents how he felt at a time in his life when he lacked spirituality.
“Sing About Me (I’m Dying of Thirst)” sounds eerily similar to a Faulkner theme. Interestingly, Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick provides us with work deserving of intellectual geniuses. His internal monologue (about why he chose to immortalize his close pals in his songs) is as moving as the discourse from a timeless untrustworthy narrator. If Kendrick has any reservations about his artistic responsibilities, we have none about his being the finest of his generation.
7) “Alright” (2015)
The aria “Alright,” co-produced by Pharrell Williams, is a hopeful moment of clarity for Lamar. The MC is able to learn from his blunders thanks to divine wordplay. And he intended for them to serve as a beacon of light guiding him to his best self. Kendrick Lamar’s song, well aware of the unfair atmosphere, underlined the unresolved agony that people of colour experience. While the video for “Alright” highlighted unrelenting police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement, it also garnered the MC four Grammy nominations, two of which he won.
Kendrick’s greatness lies in his obliqueness. So, what made this one stand out? The movement looks and sounds like “Alright.” Pharrell’s hook isn’t aspirational – it doesn’t conjure up images of the holy. It’s simply a hand-on-your-shoulders assurance to straighten you out. Tired of senseless murder after senseless murder, Kendrick Lamar’s song has offered us all a victorious moment to catch our breath.
6) “Fear” (2017)
DAMN. might be considered as a form of a comeback following To Pimp A Butterfly: lean, straightforward, and more directly engaged with the present pop world. At the very same time, this is Lamar, but he does everything his way. After the bangers and crossover tunes of the first two-thirds of the album, the last act enters a new set of tones: the trippy light of “LOVE.” and “GOD.” or the multi-part American catastrophe of “X-X.” with a haunting U2 sampling, among other things. But there came “FEAR,” the album’s culminating crescendo.
Kendrick Lamar’s song takes an experimental approach to excavate his subconscious over a slow-rolling sample of the 24-Carat Black’s 1973 hit “Poverty’s Paradise.” As a lyricist, the rapper excels at the viewpoint change, imbuing tracks with storylines befitting an analyst. We track the evolution of fear here, from infancy worries of parental retaliation to adult anxieties of financial collapse, from a germ of a feeling to the discovery of a world of feelings.
5) “m.A.A.d city” (2012)
“Me an Angel on Angel Dust” provided listeners with an unexpected refrain song by Kendrick Lamar. It corresponded with his label debut, excellent kid, m.A.A.d city. His thundering start of “m.A.A.d city” poetically highlighted Compton’s often-lethal troubles, acknowledging his hometown’s competing gangs, Pirus Bloods and Compton Crips. The melancholy melody samples two songs: Compton’s Most Wanted’s “Growin’ Up in the Hood” and Ice Cube’s “A Bird in the Hand.”
Paranoia, distilled into a lengthy swig of something potent. From the back seat, a live horror show. This song of Kendrick Lamar’s continuing development as an observer and participant, with truths, kept hidden until the stillness becomes unbearable. When you combine that with the work of MC Eiht, you have two generations of victims of capitalism and governmental involvement who are riddled with bullets and needles. Everyone else changes within chaos; chaos is the constant.
4) “Loyalty” feat. Rihanna (2017)
Kendrick isn’t particularly a didactic or “aware” rapper, despite his greatest skill being the capacity to create finely nuanced maps of his inner self. He’s far too complex to be pigeonholed into a single category. He’s also simply too darn skilled at writing simple pop songs. Consider the word “loyalty”: The Rihanna-assisted tune from 2017’s DAMN. has all the makings of a smash, but Kendrick elevates it to new heights with his inventively acrobatic cadence. Naturally, Kendrick has lyrical depth, but he’s also as excellent as any rapper at having a good time.
In the verses of “LOYALTY. trustworthy,” Lamar and Rihanna collaborated for the first time in the studio. TDE’s CEO created classic samples from Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and JAY’s “Get Z’s Your Mind Right Mami” (Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith). “It’s a secret society/ All we want is trust/ All we have is us/ Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty,” the song’s radio-friendly chorus became nearly inevitable. The hit’s daring video was followed by additional triumphs when the duo was honoured with a Grammy for the addicting tune.
3) “A.D.H.D.” (2011)
Kendrick Lamar was establishing himself as a budding voice around Section.80, and the song of Kendrick Lamar still engaged more intimately with its local environment at the time. “A.D.H.D.” is the album’s standout track, and it helps explain why one of Kendrick’s early guest verse highlights was on an A$AP Rocky song; “A.D.H.D.” has the same kind of bleary, airy drug-rap sound that was just a little closer to the sun and more luxe than the more narcotized sounds that would take over pop in the following decade.
Here, K.Dot is in the function’s corner, attempting to politic, party, and negotiate, but never in that sequence. Section.80 saw him focusing on this balance, and “A.D.H.D.” provided the clearest insight into his future of writing anthems inspired by communal suffering and overindulgence. These are notable callbacks, similar to his proclivity for turning pronunciations into earworms. “F**k that” or, “F**k thought,” as the case may be. Kendrick enjoys giving us choices.
2) “DNA” (2017)
“DNA” is a musical representation of Kendrick Lamar’s song of blunt trauma, with K.Dot discussing his origins and how he is now flaunting them. He goes at everyone from every aspect, including a Fox News clip that criticizes his music. He’s fighting the rhythm. As a consequence, the song may be heard in advertising, pregame intros, and on the streets around the country.
The ink of Cortez Kenny’s in-your-face bars inspired the frantic pace of his earworm, “DNA.” “I have hustle however, ambition flow inside my DNA/ I got power, poison, agony, and joy inside my DNA” is a personal confession of rewards and hardships. Lamar’s tale, however, is best portrayed onscreen. The twosome pulsated the needle of a polygraph beside actor Don Cheadle. The rhyme on camera together, adds to the story of where the rapper’s ability comes from.
1) “Humble” (2017)
The Compton-based Top Dawg emcee emerges in a pope outfit, ready to preach the memorable words of his first-ever Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, “HUMBLE.” The graphics in the “HUMBLE.” video grabbed everyone. Lamar railed against the tendency of social media magnifications over a Mike WiLL Made-It piano-based rhythm and guitar strings. “I’m so f—in’ sick and tired of the Photoshop/ Show me somethin’ natural like afro on Richard Pryor/ Show me somethin’ natural like a*s with some stretch marks, he shouts. And that is exactly what acclaimed directors Dave Meyers & the small homies depicted.
Part of the impact of “HUMBLE.” was its video. It essentially became one of the all-time greats upon arrival, with enough indelible images to fill something like five classic music videos otherwise. Lamar had long since perfected the visual language to accompany his music, but the “HUMBLE.” video was like one epic flex — golfing on top of the car, a Last Supper, Kendrick with his head on actual fire. This is what you get when a visionary also becomes a star, and they have the resources to go as big as possible. You get someone on a wavelength all their own.
