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10.0
129952
10.0 |
The Independent
A tender opus from the defining poet of his generation
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10.0
129953
10.0 |
Evening Standard
Still light years ahead of the game
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10.0
129955
10.0 |
Clash
‘Mr Morales & The Big Steppers’ is one of his most profound, complex, revelatory statements yet, a double album fuelled by sonic ambition, the will to communicate, and Kendrick’s staunch refusal to walk the easy path
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10.0
129958
10.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Truthfully, an album likes this makes sense. It’s Lamar putting down his testament; defining himself to contextualise the rest of his burning supernova story
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10.0
129962
10.0 |
The Guardian
After a five-year hiatus, the Pulitzer winner returns with an exhilarating epic that ties personal pain to collective trauma – and lets no one off the hook
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10.0
129963
10.0 |
Dork
Musically, lyrically and spiritually, it’s a tour de force that reaches a level few others can. Daring, ambitious and supremely confident, it’s also a very insular and personal album – probably the most personal statement he’s ever made
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10.0
129966
10.0 |
NME
The rapper's first album in five years sees him overcome "writer's block" to triumph with a collection on which his observational skills go into overdrive
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10.0
129974
10.0 |
The Arts Desk
It might not be funtimes, but it is truly, compellingly brilliant
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9.5
129968
9.5 |
Northern Transmissions
This album, like many of his albums, (notably the jazz masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly,) dabbles in rap form with all sorts of modern music, including classical, funk, pop, and underground
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9.0
129985
9.0 |
PopMatters
Kendrick Lamar observes the strife plaguing his kingdom and consciously abdicates the throne
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9.0
129986
9.0 |
A.V. Club
He's metaphorically put his whole heart on the table, with yet another body of work worthy of multiple spins and endless dissection
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9.0
130001
9.0 |
Gigwise
NEW
Few storytellers, if any, are able to deliver a comment on society that is both as observative and introspective as Kendrick’s
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8.0
129988
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
NEW
The album is a gripping treatise on the relationship between Lamar’s inner turmoil and the cultural landscape
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8.0
129991
8.0 |
Loud And Quiet
NEW
A record that reaches out halfway and asks you to do the rest of the work, and it’s deeply rewarding as a result
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8.0
129977
8.0 |
The FT
On a bravura album, the Pulitzer-winner sheds egotism, incorporates many voices and opens his private world
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7.6
129979
7.6 |
Pitchfork
It’s ambitious, impressive, and a bit unwieldy
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7.0
129983
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
The Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper spends much of his fifth studio album deconstructing his own mythology. The result is at moments brilliant but on the whole, frustratingly uneven
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6.6
130005
6.6 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
NEW
The listening experience is defined by languorous stretches between big moments, and becomes more of an exercise in patience than an engaging and enlivening journey
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