Kendrick Lamar - Section.80 (2011)

Fuck Ronald Reagan.

I like to make fun of Kendrick Lamar a lot, I admit it. I'd fucking love to hang out with him and then make fun of his parents the entire time, because in the words of a stoner, opiate-addicted friend of mine: "Why make fun of the seed when you can make fun of the fucking fruit?" Ah ah ah!! Anyhow, I think this is a good, solid album for what it is, I really do. I don't dislike a single song on here (can you believe that some people actually dislike "No Make-Up (Her Vice) (feat. Colin Munroe)"?) but I don't think any of them are really -great-. Still, I think this is pretty fucking refreshing to listen to, even with how Kendrick's last few albums are supposed to be his magnum opus, I think the jazz-rap sound on some of the tracks on here is a lot more accessible and generally better than you'd probably expect. I still ain't the hugest fan of his rapping, nor his hooks (even though these are probably the best hooks I've ever heard him have, ever) but this album is very youthful and pretty happy at times. Wouldn't mind hearing more music in the same vein as this from Kendrick Lamar in the future. On a side note, did you know THIS shit exists in the Genius annotation of "A.D.H.D"?:

[Hook: Kendrick Lamar]
Eight doobies to the face, fuck that

[Genius annotation:]
The overall concept of the song is that a person diagnosed with ADHD is going to have a short attention span when it comes to thoughts, conversations, etc. They display a sense of apathy characterized by the “fuck that” mentality.

Kendrick pronounces “that” with a weird inflection so to make it sound like the word “thought,” referring to how people use drugs as a way to avoid thought. The marijuana, alcohol, painkillers all mess with and disable our thoughts. It’s a social commentary on the mental state of the ever-increasing medicated and apathetic youth. It’s important to add that he’s not judging them for the “Fuck That” mentality. He’s merely showing the state of his Section 80 generation and highlighting that they are more than anything a PRODUCT of their times.

“Fuck that” is also pronounced in a way to sound like he could be saying “Fuck Dot”, a reference to his former rap name “K-Dot”. Saying “Fuck Dot” could be Kendrick’s way of saying he has moved beyond his old ways and is now proud to be Kendrick Lamar; a kid who doesn’t need 8 doobies, 12 bottles, 2 pills or a half weight to make him happy.

It’s not unlikely that Kendrick is trying to be ambiguous here; rappers often bend words phonetically to give them new meanings. M.I.A. does so in “Lovalot”, making “I really love a lot” sound like “I really love Allah,” which is pertinent given that a huge part of the song is a response to Russian teenager Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova’s 2010 suicide bombing. Kendrick very powerfully complicates the subject matter of his song the same way, so consider the way he says “Fuck that” a triple-entendre / sound pun.

[Another Genius annotation:]

Actually, it’s likely that he is talking about what pregnant women and to-be fathers in the 80’s are thinking as they get themselves ready to have a child or conceive one. This can be evidenced by when he references in his second verse, “okay then we all crack babies”, “You know why we crack babies, because we born in the 80’s that A.D.H.D crazy.”

It can be inferred that he is talking about what the to-be moms and fathers of the 80’s are thinking as they down “8 doobies to the face, or 12 bottles in the case” because they’re really like, “fuck that”, as in their child is the least of their worries since they’re having fun. Section 80 — 80’s babies..
Just a little insight.

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CurbChron here again, and this is ex-fucking-actly why I'm against giving Adderall to white suburban teenagers, because you get that fucking dumbass shit. I absolutely cannot believe what I just read.

7/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!