I was told in the Taylor Swift thread that Kendrick Lamar was an artist. I have heard of him so I'm watching it right now.
I've played music for >45 years so I'm not an uneducated hack. I see not much artistry in what I'm watching. Mainly a drum machine with a few synth chords thrown in every so often. No melody from the vocalist, just rapid fire rhythmic rhymes. I don't expect pop music to rival Bach and Mozart. But this type of 'artistry' really seems like least common denominator type stuff.
Serious question: how do any of these types of artists distinguish themselves? There is not singular musicianship, choreography, melodic content, etc.
I won't say it sucks. There's just nothing to it. I would put it alongside modern art where the artist just randomly throws paint on a canvas and declares it 'art'.
In 25 years, will Kendrick Lamar music be remembered or still be influential? I would highly doubt it.
He is a 22 time Grammy award winner, has won a Pulitzer prize for music, still in his zone, WTF do you think ? Rap / Hip Hop is best in studio version, live rap concerts for some reason just does not come out anything like the studio version. But music ? How about the A Minorrrrrrr ????? (joke). I am 57, and I know the answer to your question, YES. He is very intelligent and witty, he knows music.
Serena being there as like everything Kendrick Lamar does, was calculated and there for a reason. Drake followed Serena on the ATP Tour and attended not just major tournaments, but also smaller ones starting in 2011. In 2015 while she was still a highly rated Tennis star, Drake wrote a song about her "Too Good". In 2022 Drake called her husband (Co-founder of Reddit) a "groupie" in the song "Middle of the Ocean". It was odd, and Kendrick has a line in Not Like Us that says "better not speak on Serena" (She is from Compton, same as Lamar). As with the song, he brought out Serena to defend her, give her a opportunity to strike back at Drake, and himself continue his grudge against Drake. Like I said, everything he does is calculated and has a purpose, although you may not see them in plain view.
Listen to him a little more, he does more than "rap", he has several features with quite a few big artist. Listen to his lyrics, they have a meaning and he is not just a rapper out there bragging about money, drugs, and women. In several of his songs he appears to be using women in a negative light, when in all actuality, he is defending women.
It is odd you say he does nothing in the form of music, but on his studio albums, he uses several older Motown, Jazz, and Blues artists music in his songs. He is more than "just" a drum machine, actually the reason MOST hip hop fans who do not like his style, it is because he doesn't just use Club banger beats and actually uses music not normally associated with Hip Hop / Rap in his songs.
