Kendrick Lamar broke his customary long pre-album silence last week with a weird announcement about a new company called pgLang. I'm still not convinced it isn't some kind of high concept album promo, but either way we're probably getting new music soon. Kendrick has been looked at as one of the greats or on his way to it since pretty early in his career, but now that he's got a catalog going back a decade, it really feels like he's in the conversation. If nothing else he's gonna be at the top of every conversation about his generation of rappers.

Kendrick Lamar deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Hood Politics
2. m.A.A.d city featuring MC Eiht
3. ELEMENT.
4. Black Panther
5. Hol' Up
6. Money Trees featuring Jay Rock
7. You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)
8. untitled 08 | 09.06.2014.
9. Blow My High (Members Only)
10. FEEL.
11. Complexion (A Zulu Love) featuring Rapsody
12. Ignorance Is Bliss
13. Opps with Vince Staples and Yugen Blakrok
14. untitled 06 | 06.30.2014.
15. Keisha's Song (Her Pain) featuring Ashtro Bot
16. u
17. DUCKWORTH.
18. Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst

Track 12 from Overly Dedicated (2010)
Tracks 5, 9 and 15 from Section.80 (2011)
Tracks 2, 6 and 18 from good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
Tracks 1, 7, 11 and 16 from To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
Tracks 8 and 14 from untitled unmastered (2016)
Tracks 3, 10 and 17 from DAMN. (2017)
Tracks 4 and 13 from Black Panther: The Album (2018)

Obviously his catalog still isn't that large yet -- 3 big blockbuster albums, a couple of beloved early independent projects that are on streaming services, plus an outtakes collection and a soundtrack. And there's not really much on his major label albums that can be categorized as an obscurity -- hell, "m.A.A.d city" was performed at the Grammys, and at one point it was one of Kendrick's most streamed songs, but still, it was never a radio single, so it's fair game. And that Beach House sample on "Money Trees" is so awesome, still probably the high water mark for rap sampling indie rock.

I remember hearing a song or two from Section.80 and not being really taken with him yet, it really took some time with good kid and his features that era to really appreciate Kendrick. And even now there are things about his writing, his awkward and forced way of putting words together for the sake of rhyming, that grate on me, but he's still at the top of his field in so many other ways, particularly the production team he's got. And I go back now and enjoy Section.80, even if I disagree with the early adopters who still swear it's his best album. That at Overly Dedicated are still pretty impressive for what they are, and apparently "Ignorance Is Bliss" is the song that made Dr. Dre want to work with him.

In my end of decade list, I put To Pimp A Butterfly near the top and good kid in the middle, but DAMN. is no slouch either. I'm reticent to include a really long song when I can use that playlist space for multiple shorter songs, but I really couldn't do without the 12-minute "Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst." And putting it after "u" and "DUCKWORTH." makes that song land even heavier, he's really got some amazing music.

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