DAMN: Two Albums in One?

When DAMN was first released to the delight of all hip hop fans, rumors suggested that Kendrick would be releasing another album shortly after called NATION. As the album was released on Good Friday, people postulated that he would release another album on Easter Sunday as his rise back from the dead, parallel to Jesus. DAMN would have red art and NATION would have blue art–together, the album would form DAMNATION. Kendrick even hinted at this by changing his profile picture on Spotify from a red background to a blue background.

Image from Reddit

However, this rumor was soon proved wrong with Kendrick himself tweeting that he has more content, but nothing that would be coming out soon. A recent interview with Kendrick shed some light onto the situation however. His comment inspired me to take another listen to the album again.

The journey when listening through the album forwards is one of growth and maturation. He goes from talking about how gang life is hardwired in his DNA to approaching his religious beliefs and those that are important to him in YAH and ELEMENT. What follows is an introspective musing of his situation in FEEL with LOYALTY talking again about everyone that he appreciates in his life. PRIDE and LUST pick apart his sins, while HUMBLE tells his opponents to be just that. XXX details his protection of his family, FEAR tells of the scariest moments in his life, and DUCKWORTH wraps up his life thus far. When listened to backwards however... I'll let you discover that for yourself. Listen here.

Feature image via tinymixtapes