But was Encore ever Illmatic?

You’re right, but I think that’s the issue people are having with it. He could’ve gotten any under 27 year old street rapper, but he specifically chose Kodak because of his controversial past. Even though purposeful, it still deflates some of Kendrick’s points throughout the album

For Ye, this has been happening ever since Pablo. Donda/JIK was the one exception.

When Pablo dropped, people said Yeezus was better.

When Ye dropped, people said Pablo was better.

When JIK dropped, people said Ye was better.

I think he’s really bucking cancel culture and the whole group think group morality social structure that the internet and social media have created

People aren’t perfect man. People make mistakes. It’s not our place to judge anyone. Only God can judge. That’s what I think Kodak’s feature is about.

Just because a person is flawed doesn’t mean you should disown them from society. S*** is toxic asf on some black mirror s***. Kendrick created a space of unconditional love for his little brother on his album and it’s beautiful. We really all brothers. God always forgives. Why can’t we learn to?

It just depends, people like 4yeo more after kod, people like views more after scorpion. People like pablo more after ye

Mirror is one of his best songs

Beautiful outro

I know he did it to separate himself from the “cancel culture, woke, social Twitter activist” s***. That line “I’m more Kodak Black then pro black” and then having him on the album tells me that Kodak was a personification of him wanting to separate himself from the “morally righteous”. Perhaps the contradiction with deflating a few points was done to show he’s flawed and contradicting like everyone else.

I fully believe in forgiveness too, but I think there should also be a line. I know a lot of people, myself included, who think that rape is the worst crime a person can commit, because the victim has to live with that pain for the rest of their lives.

People make mistakes, yes, but rape/sexual assault is the one mistake that I think is universally agreed upon that should never happen, in any circumstance.

I’m not saying Kodak should be ostracized from society, but I completely understand why many people believe that artists should no longer give men/women like that a platform

Haha no I mean we know it never got to that level obviously but I think he was just using dramatic effect. But it was looked upon a lot more fondly later.

And the same thing happened with relapse when recovery came out.

Happened with views to drake when scorpion came out.

When The Weeknd came out with BBTM everyone loved kiss land all the sudden.

Nostalgia is a hell of a d***. And the longer/more you listen to an artist the harder it is for them to continue to impress you and raise the bar.

That’s honestly been the most impressive thing about Kendrick and Drake’s careers (even though no one wants to hear that for Drake) is that in their respective lanes they’ve been able to keep “leveling up” over and over again. It’s genuinely amazing.

Yeah and when wlr dropped the fans on here started s***ting on Die Lit lol (both amazing albums)

It was so smart of Kendrick to do this, imo it was a good way to successfully separate himself from these woke liberal SJW's

Great album, Auntie’s Diary floored me when I first heard it

I gasped at that last line

It was a mixed bag Christmas Eve. Some people were S***TING on WLR and praising Die Lit like crazy or it was reversed.

this went from the worst kendrick album to top 3 very quickly

Man fr

Its the biggest grower I’ve heard in years. It should be required to have atleast 3-4 listens for this album before speaking on it. I know some dudes on here skimmed that s*** and then immediately started s***ting on it.

I think cancel culture is stupid and virtue signaling more than anything these days, but I think there’s also a big difference between let’s say Twitter trying to cancel a rapper for a controversial tweet from 2010, and a rapper who is literally a convicted rapist.

If Kendrick needed a rapper to fill that role who’s been involved in just as much controversy in the past year but isn’t a convicted rapist, DaBaby would’ve worked perfectly. He also would’ve tied into the story Kendrick told on Auntie Diaries.

That last point is one I agree with. Dababy being in here would’ve definitely caused controversy too though.

That nigga would not have been able to do what Kodak did nearly as effectively. Definitely would’ve caused controversy but I don’t think it would’ve hit as hard tbh

Have no clue the hate for DAMN on this forum.

Personally feel like that album lowkey saved him. Also think it’s easier for him to make TPAB and Morale type s*** then DAMN.

dababy annoying tho

Do a couple of two line intros, a spoken word interlude, and a feature verse?

DaBaby’s beats be repetitive but he’s a solid rapper, he definitely could’ve filled Kodak’s role on this album

A lotta people think Kodak’s annoying