Fr he conquered that sound with TPAB and made a legit masterpiece but now dudes can't get over the fact that he wants to go into different bags now instead of making the same album over and over

TPAB gave Kendrick's discog the same curse that CTRL did to SZA, incredible and classic albums that everything they've dropped since has been wrongly compared to when it's clear that they just wanna make different stuff with different sounds

💀

Falsehood is crazy

The Kanye leak community was running the game for years but them s***s lost value fast so other vaults are coming out

oh s***

in general keeping it straight i can't think of many hip hop or r&b artists (or just artists w/ pop/mainstream appeal really) who have been able to pull off a successful string of increasingly critically acclaimed albums while simultaneously not alienating fans a little bit each way.
recent antics and controversy aside, Kanye is maybe one of the few I can think of in the string from TCD to MBDTF, but even then he started losing some people around 808s & MBDTF era and then there's still huge debates over Yeezus & TLOP following that.
if we're not talking "mainstream pop crossover" acts, then I'd say D'Angelo w/ Brown Sugar - Voodoo - Black Messiah but i mean he's like on a completely different plane of existence in terms of music career habits and sector of the industry

Oh yeah for sure, and I think a lot of people cling to one sound and aren't willing to accept other artistic directions as valid or good despite their own merits because of this

A lot of that in recent times seems to have to do with release timing. Going to your example with kanye dude was effectively pumping out yearly albums from 2004-2010 (save for like 2006 & 09) so there was a constant evolution of sound rather than someone like Kendrick or SZA who waited nearly half a decade to release again. Those years of anticipation definitely hurt reception for their (IMO) incredibly valid projects due to mounting expectations during that time

I really fear the same thing is gonna happen to Frank if/whenever he drops next, there's so much anticipation that no matter how amazing the project is if it's not the second coming people are gonna be disappointed and angry

It's largely the same reason why Dre hasn't dropped a real album since Chronic 2001 (not counting Compton since that was more a movie tie-in than anything), the longer you wait the more critical fans are gonna be, ultimately holding back the artist regardless of how good their next work really is on it's own

it's not that i dont appreciate him going in different directions the music just isn't great

the context of an artist def matters a lot and i think its a big thing that labels (and artists themselves) kinda overlook. an example of an artist rapidly changing their sound (and image) while getting more mainstream would be playboi carti weirdly enough but even then a lot of fans between each album were quick to call the next album trash (although thats largely been retroactively changed now).
for most artists the space you have for "acclaim", "growth", and "audience" is pretty narrow with each successive album. Like for Kendrick S80->GKMC was only ever going to bring more success because of where he was at in his career, what he was getting known for, etc. But GKMC to whatever followed (even if not TPAB) was far more of rolling the dice fitting into those categories.
You're def right that mounting expectations build on this context and create a pretty hard challenge for artists, esp when they also need to take relative commercial performance into account.
I definitely think it's very likely this happens with Frank like you said if/when he drops again. Like the 2017 singles like Chanel, Biking, Lens, etc. were almost Blonde B-Sides so they got nothing but love but cut to 2019-20 w/ DHL, In My Room, Cayendo, etc. and people were already like "this is kinda weird idk about this". The whole "PreP nightclub" album aesthetic thing was super trashed as well and i wonder in part if this is why he never released anything after those singles.
By comparison for someone else who hasn't released music in like forever, it feels like no matter what Rihanna releases next it's gonna be well liked and sell well. I can't remember any real overt negative reception for Anti and that was a pretty huge departure from her work <2012. I remember some critics having mixed thoughts but the album was undeniably a major success despite being a massive aesthetic and sonic turning point in her career from her prior work

Falsehood is great

He was in a crazy bag TPAB era

to you

niggas gonna understand MM in time.

TPAB is my fav Kendrick album but DAMN. and Morale are great

Yeah this, TPAB is always gonna be my favorite Kendrick album, that s***'s a generational classic, but to completely discredit Damn and MM because of that has always baffled me, especially MM which is quickly jumping up my own personal Kendrick rankings. The personal subject matter of that album hits so perfectly for me, it's not trying to build a critique of society, he already did that on TPAB and Damn, it's more a critique of the complexity of the self, and I think it's beautiful

Sza huh

MM gonna be appreciated by the majority in a couple years, watch. TPAB was not praised like it is now when it first dropped. There was a lot of people who called it boring or a favorite term on KTT1, “critic bait”.

Mr. Morale just getting alot of heat right now because it’s gonna be on the majority of best albums of the year lists and some Stan’s don’t agree.

Tbh though, Drake stans have hated on every Kendrick album post GKMC.

Real post

Tbh I almost like DAMN. just as much as TPAB both are 2 of my fav albums ever and I love every song on both but TPAB is just different.

Morale is amazing and my AOTY and honestly my third fav kendrick album i can acknowledge im probably just a bigger fan of him than most people on here but those albums are super overhated on here

L

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