Kendrick's 'DAMN.' Is a Spiritual Reawakening

If heaven exists, it's a damn fact most of us will struggle to get there. Lies, hedonism, jealousy – as a species we seem incapable of exercising the restraint necessary to gain entry. Sometimes we slip up and make mistakes; other times we knowingly engage in immorality. Some of us aren't even believers, surely the most imperative requirement of them all. If the big bearded man in the sky is indeed real, do you think he has a checklist where the good is levied against the bad? Or are we, as the saying goes, eternally damned to hell? Did we fuck it already?

On his latest album DAMN, Kendrick Lamar emerges from these questions in a state initially resembling a crisis of faith. As a Christian (Lamar is reported to have been baptised in 2013) and one of the biggest rappers of a generation, Lamar's religious beliefs seem to be at odds with both his career choice and troublesome upbringing in Compton. "That's why you feel like you got a chip on your shoulder", his cousin Carl says on "FEAR", after referencing the Book of Deuteronomy, which states those who disobey God will be punished. By the end of the album Lamar is asking not to be judged. There's also a knowing tension: "This what God feel like," he says on "GOD", perhaps aware of the religious implications of his superstar status.

This isn't the first time Lamar has mentioned religion. The narrative of his breakthrough album good kid, m.A.A.d city centred around The Sinner's Prayer, documenting how young kids in Compton sought salvation through evangelical teachings. Its follow up To Pimp a Butterfly saw Lamar converse with both the Devil and God (on "Lucy" and "How Much a Dollar Cost", respectively). As his third major label album, DAMN feels like the conclusion of a trilogy: Lamar has already been "saved", he's witnessed and partaken in good and evil, he's now grappling with the ramifications the latter will have toward his future judgement. Yet despite the fact DAMN is glued together with a litany of theological references, its takeaway needn't be strictly religious. Instead, its divine conclusion feels more based in the here and now: a journey through karma, fate and the opposing yin and yangs that make us the living, breathing humans we are. Spiritual shit, basically.

Looking back on Lamar's lyrical stance throughout his career gives this idea some credence. As much as he is religious he's also deeply spiritual, wrapped up in his star sign ("Very emotional, I'm a Gemini") and attuned to the deeper energy of the earth connecting us all ("I can feel your energy from two planets away"). On DAMN, it's as though this metaphysical world merges with Lamar's religious beliefs, complimenting and contrasting with them to enlightening degrees. Sitting between his Christian conviction and desire to never be anything less than the most honest portrayal of his self, the record symbolises Lamar's biting point.

Read more on NOISEY.