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10.0
95061
10.0 |
The Guardian
Luscious harmonies and hints of psychedelic soul – plus guest support from Bono and Rihanna – couch brilliant, sharp-edged storytelling from an artist at the top of his game
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10.0
95074
10.0 |
Pretty Much Amazing
DAMN. sounds more like a follow-up to Good Kid than To Pimp a Butterfly. So the real question: where does he go from here?
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10.0
95075
10.0 |
NOW
Countless rappers claim to have transcended the game. Kendrick Lamar actually does
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10.0
95085
10.0 |
A.V. Club
Lamar trusts every idea to stand on its own. When you’re making art this substantial, vital, and virtuosic, there’s no need to wrap a tidy bow around it
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10.0
95089
10.0 |
State
We need nothing more than these 14 tracks to solidify that Kendrick Lamar is the best rapper of our generation
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10.0
95143
10.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
Three months in, DAMN. feels like our first Trump-era classic. It’s as bold and as hard and as hopeful as it is bursting with vitriol. It’s as distracting as it is inciting. It’s as cohesive as it is dense
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10.0
95234
10.0 |
Evening Standard
The era-defining rapper follows up his last masterpiece with another deep listen
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10.0
95269
10.0 |
The Observer
More than drugs, crime or gynaecology, greatness is arguably the meta-theme of all hip-hop, and Lamar both tells and shows his pre-eminence
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10.0
95591
10.0 |
DIY
A masterpiece fuelled by anxiety and contemplation
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10.0
95664
10.0 |
Q
Its tracks are taut yet complex, full of thrilling twists and details. Print edition only
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10.0
95727
10.0 |
The Quietus
DAMN. is the sound of a man who knows he's working in rarefied territory
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9.5
95182
9.5 |
The 405
This is Kendrick Lamar playing the game, and making everything else look dangerously irrelevant while he's at it. Be afraid
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9.2
95087
9.2 |
Pitchfork
A widescreen masterpiece of rap, full of expensive beats, furious rhymes, and peerless storytelling about Kendrick’s destiny in America
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9.1
95069
9.1 |
Paste Magazine
With DAMN., Kendrick Lamar plays by the rules and then sets the rule book on fire, and continues one of the most impressive run of albums of any artist in recent memory
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9.1
95124
9.1 |
Consequence Of Sound
DAMN. is an album with no resolution, driven by what might be the boldest statement Kendrick Lamar has ever made
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9.0
95125
9.0 |
Loud And Quiet
Lamar spent three albums building a legend status, just to show that he’s as fragile as the rest of us – or maybe it just takes someone praying for you. I’m not religious but ‘DAMN.’ is divine like little else
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9.0
95134
9.0 |
All Music
n a way DAMN. is just as lavish and singular as the preceding albums, its quantity and weight of thoughts and connected concepts condensed into a considerably tighter space
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9.0
95172
9.0 |
Crack
In spite of his faith, Kendrick Lamar is a flawed human being. DAMN. is his way of showing it
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9.0
95077
9.0 |
Slant Magazine
The specter of violent death becomes a narrative device that wraps its arms around the whole album
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9.0
96283
9.0 |
Punk News
DAMN. isn’t the same kind of masterpiece that To Pimp a Butterfly is, but it’s a masterpiece nonetheless
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9.0
95122
9.0 |
Rolling Stone
Much like the recent A Tribe Called Quest record, Damn. is a brilliant combination of the timeless and the modern, the old school and the next-level
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9.0
95283
9.0 |
Clash
After ‘DAMN.’ he finds himself beginning to creep into the conversation about the greatest of all time
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9.0
95205
9.0 |
PopMatters
The title is our reaction to his verbal gymnastics, his brazenness. And it’s a question: are we damned?
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9.0
95319
9.0 |
Drowned In Sound
This is an artist in his absolute prime: artistically, lyrically and musically
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8.9
95135
8.9 |
Gig Soup
Although Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and To Pimp a Butterfly set Kendrick up as a sharp, sincere storyteller, it wasn’t until DAMN. that we were able to hear what happens when the lens was turned fully inward and onto himself
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8.8
95333
8.8 |
Earbuddy
If Kendrick Lamar on autopilot can make an album as involving and charming as DAMN., I anticipate being a fan of his for a very long time
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8.5
95111
8.5 |
Spectrum Culture
Like our new day-to-day reality, DAMN. is full of fear, confusion and dismay at the world around us
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8.2
95070
8.2 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
DAMN. remedies a lot of its predecessor's mistakes and gives us something better – a Kendrick not seen since Section.80, throwing tonally and stylistically inconsistent songs together in a desperate scramble to tell us just what the fuck he's feeling
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8.0
95198
8.0 |
Mojo
He’s in imperious form
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8.0
95574
8.0 |
Under The Radar
It's pure, direct, and bitterly spat. Just like the curse word that is its title. We should count ourselves lucky to witness the reigning era of such a brilliantly vulgar street poet
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8.0
95231
8.0 |
The FT
The artist employs hard-boiled rap and strung-out jazz-funk to explore the album’s theme of doubleness
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8.0
95286
8.0 |
NME
A powerful, potent look inside the troubled mind of a genius
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8.0
97417
8.0 |
The Skinny
The beats are heavy, spare, and hard. Lamar demonstrates the versatility of his flow
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6.0
95128
6.0 |
Exclaim
He's refined his ability to convey emotion and delivers some of his most clever, cinematic storytelling. But the missteps are too obvious to ignore
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