By shelz.
Section.80 is an album that takes a while to sink in. It’s a convoluted trip through the good, the bad and the ugly in the lives of young adults looking for their place in a world that threw them curve balls early in childhood. Spending time with it is necessary, rewinding to make sure you hear what Kendrick says is essential to comprehending his point. But after a few listens it becomes obvious that this thoughtful young man has a lot to say and he does it with a passion that hovers above most of his peers.
The LP is beautiful in its melancholy and brutal in its honesty. With tales of abuse, guns, drugs, gangs, sex, crime and ego; Kendrick presents his layers in no uncertain terms and challenges the listener to tell him he’s wrong. And you can’t. He speaks to the 80’s babies, born during the decade of the fledgling crack head and the trickle-down theory and the journey they currently find themselves on.
“F*ck Your Ethnicity” reconstructs the struggle as generational as opposed to racial, while “A.D.H.D.” tackles the effect self-medication has on him and his peers. “No Make Up” is a sneaky take on domestic violence and how it dismantles a victim’s self-esteem. Colin Munroe on the chorus is beautiful. “Ronald Regan Era” is a gang hymn that doesn’t glamorize nor demonize. He simplifies the complicated and suggests it just is what it is. He even attempts a shot at why.
Young girls being pimped, raped and murdered, lesbianism, youthful pessimism, religion, criminal endeavors, snitches and threat of incarceration are all considered in between self-aggrandizing bars where Lamar claims access to your girlfriend, all the smoke you need, love of gang members near and far and loads of diamonds. The breadth of the album is wide, but so is the life he reports on. The lack of cohesion in this situation actually makes sense.
Coupled with Lamar’s challenging topics is production from a handful of beat makers including Wyldfyer, Sounwave and THC that draws high drama out of jazz and R&B samples, lounge keys and atmospheric synth. Layers and layers of instrumentation coalesce with electronic lines creating full and riveting soundscapes that are as intricate as the bars that cover them.
The brotherhood of Lamar’s group, Black Hippy, is present as well. “Ab-Soul’s Outro” is a fiery piece that leans heavily towards spoken word with a loud, frenetic, free-form jazz foundation that will surely go down as one of Terrace Martin’s best moments. Ab-Soul’s aggression and his black revolutionary vibe are affective. It takes a confident emcee to allow a fellow artist to run away with a track on his own album.
It’s not all sonic perfection though. “Spiteful Chant” trudges both musically and lyrically, recalling Bone, but slowing it down to a dreary speed. The hook is delivered with a nasal infection. The Pimp C/Aaliyah/Left Eye ode “Blow My High” is too scattered thematically, an issue revisited in other songs. Also, Lamar’s delivery at times reads flat and from there his delivery turns awkward. Learning when to punch it and when to lay back is something that comes with years of practice. Mr. Lamar still needs a bit.
There are places and spaces on Section.80 that are brilliant. Listen and listen intently, especially if you are a parent of one of these embattled youngsters. Lamar, among a myriad of other young hopefuls, claims to be the voice of his generation. It’s a claim normally discarded with all the other ridiculous Hip-Hop hubris. But with Section.80, Mr. Kendrick might just be right.
Out of 5
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