The last track I wrote about from Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. came almost three years ago. If you want to see the context of how I came to listen to the album and where I was when I did for the first time, go ahead and read that. My feelings on the album, another thing I touch upon in that previous post, haven’t changed much since then. The one big thing I can tell my past self is that that new Kendrick album did arrive eventually, but it was still a bit of a wait to get there. I also stated that there would be one more song from the album that I was to write about. And here it is. It’s ‘PRIDE.’, the seventh song on there and hands-down my favourite out of the 14 tracks it offers.

Now, I know that hip-hop as a genre is one in which the lyrics within any song of its kind are to be considered as the utmost important aspect to consider when writing. That may all be well and good. But when it comes to me, and I’ve said this quite a few times before, I’m not much of a lyrics guy. I’m more of a feeling person who listens to the movement of the music and how the words fit in the spaces. Melodies too, if there are to be any in there. Lamar raps about the weakness he feels he possesses while being the number one hip-hop artist on the planet, a GOAT, all the superlatives, and struggling to maintain a balance between his faith and indulging in the materialistic and lustful pleasures that come along with being such a public figure. His voice alternates between higher and lower pitches to capture the contrasts between his ideals and his actions. At least that’s what Genius says. He also brings feigning humility into question, a topic that’s addressed at the forefront on the song that follows on the album.

But what I adore most about the track is the hypnotic guitar chord progression that plays underneath it all, and the beautiful, soulful choruses that come in between. Well, I say soulful, but there’s also something just slightly creepy about them in the way they’re delivered to provide this uneasy, almost tense feeling to the proceedings. Still sounds so great, though, always a hair-raising moment on those “Maybe I wasn’t there” repetitions. These are straight up taken from a demo composed by artists Anna Wise and Steve Lacy, though it may have been made for demonstration to show Kendrick so he could incorporate his lyricism onto it. I really don’t know. But even in that short form, that’s a strong piece of music to have as a basis to build something even bigger upon. And with that, this is the last time you’ll be seeing any Kendrick Lamar in this series. Made a note to myself a while ago to stop adding songs to my phone, otherwise this would go on forever. Plus, all his songs I do have on there currently, A, all begin with previous letters of the alphabet, and B, weren’t all existing when I was covering their respective letters. But I’d say if there was a song to go out on, ‘PRIDE.’ isn’t too bad of a selection.