Let me tell a story, It's 2011. My ex-gf had a twin sister who was super into the hip-hop scene like I was. I'm tuned into her podcast because she was always listening to mine when it was that time of the week. We went to institutions separated by 300 or so miles. Anyways, her show is winding down and she rants and raves about a song that just so happened to be produced by J. Cole. It was titled Hiiipower. This is how I was introduced to Kendrick Lamar and Section.80.
I never would have imagined what Kendrick would grow into. After listening to this eclectic collection of sounds that would create this LP I figured here's another guy who's clearly conscious and not afraid to tackles issues like institutional racism and generational differences. Just another conscious rapper who would eventually sign to Interscope where they don't dabble in the sounds of their artists. One would make comparisons to Joe Budden. Clearly a clever guy with a lot to say. Boy was I wrong.
Section.80 was the beginning of K. Dot's takeover of hip-hop. Songs like Blow My High, No Make Up (Her Vice), and Hol' Up are jams, all easy to listen to.
The aforementioned Hiiipower is preceded by Ab-Soul's Outro where Soulo takes complete control of the verses. Terrance Mart laces the song with elements of jazz via alto-saxophone solos. Kendrick enters the end of the song with a spoken word poem leading into the next song. Deep stuff. Earlier in the album he does the same with Poe Mans Dreams where GLC finishes it off with words of wisdom. Kush and Corinthians also gets deep. The song features BJ the Chicago Kid who is probably one of the most underrated singers in today's industry.
Section.80 in all complexity is one of Kendrick's best bodies of work. Perhaps not the best but it's even worth the argument.
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