Kendrick Lamar continues to win at life. He was the most awarded artist at the 2022 BET Hip Hop awards. He’s coming off of an amazing performance on Saturday Night Live and, earlier this year, he dropped one of the best albums of 2022, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
K. Dot just continues to impress.
At the BET Hip Hop Awards, Lamar cleaned up in six categories including lyricist of the year, hip-hop album of the year and hip-hop artist of the year. I will challenge anyone to argue why he wasn’t deserving. Let me explain why.
Mr. Morale is in rare air in terms of the different factions in hip-hop that appreciate its greatness. Pioneers of the genre, who in some cases can be very critical of today’s artists, marvel at Lamar’s ability to create new and fresh ideas while still honoring the hip hop of the past. Mainstream fans can still bop their heads to the easily digestible upbeat and energetic tracks custom-made for a diverse crowd. Backpackers such as myself can marvel at his lyrics, rhyme patterns and subject matter. Traditionalists respect his delivery and ability to just rap his ass off. Hell, even movie critics love him thanks to his short film for the song, “We Cry Together.”
Lamar has gained the respect of everyone in hip-hop. Sure some rappers are considered more popular than Lamar (Drake, Travis Scott, Kanye West), some drop music more often (Lil Baby, Future) and some are considered as good if not better pure lyricists (Royce Da 5’9, Benny the Butcher, Pusha T, Black Thought). But few can fuse all of those aspects into one person.
Something I think hip-hop fans are starting to realize is that we may only have a few more chances to enjoy Lamar’s greatness in real time. Kendrick’s debut studio album, Section.80, dropped in 2011. His second album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, dropped in 2013. To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, DAMN., in 2017 and Mr. Morale in 2022.
The time between albums is getting longer. We as fans underrate how difficult it may be for Lamar to create a full-length album that he feels is up to his and our standards. Each project is a chase to improve on the previous one, which I imagine becomes increasingly difficult as he continues to drop one critically-acclaimed project after another.
What if Lamar decides to pull an Andre 3000 and never create another album again? Would that shock anyone? What if he decides to play the background with his new music production company pgLang? All of these scenarios are in play.
So I don’t know about you, but while Lamar is doing amazing SNL performances, dropping incredible thought-provoking albums and performing at sold-out shows, I’m not going to take Lamar’s greatness for granted. I’m going to acknowledge Lamar as one of the very best hip-hop artists to ever live while he’s still throwing heat.