The other critical hint Kendrick gave in his interview with Zane Lowe was in describing how to experience the album. He is literally telling us as listeners that, as many of us did as kids when we read books that allowed us to pick from multiple endings, we have the choice to experience DAMN. Are we going to live or die,” on “BLOOD.,” those words are deeply intentional. Kendrick never gives us a definitive answer to the question, but he made 2 albums with 2 different endings-one where the answer is wickedness, which leads to his death, and another where the answer is weakness which finds him alive and flourishing because weakness was overcome. What Kendrick wants to know is are our transgressions a result of wickedness that is native to us or do we just have moments of weakness that can be overcome by choosing to walk the righteous path.
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It is a deeply philosophical question akin to whether our paths are determined by destiny or whether we have free will to make our own choices. Kendrick asks the question multiple times.
The theme of “wickedness or weakness” is one that plays out through the entire project. Are we going to live or die?” That is the key to the entire sonic journey that Kendrick has architected with DAMN. It turns out that was one of the most meaningful exchanges in the entire 44-minute interview. That’s what I can’t tell you,” Kendrick says with a grin. In discussing the opening song, “BLOOD.,” Lowe asks “Is it the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?” “I can’t tell you that. He did drop 2 major hints, for those listening closely. In an interview with Zane Lowe, the only one Kendrick has done since DAMN.‘s release, Kendrick was extremely cagey about the overall concept for the album. Well, two weeks after digesting DAMN., it turns out the rumor was true.
Naturally, fans were disappointed because it was a mind-bending concept, and Kendrick was just the type of artist to pull it off. My work will be in our future TDE dates tho.” ThankU 4 the desire of always anticipating new music of my own. When it wasn’t, the theory died down, only to be rekindled days later when Kendrick said, during an album signing session, “I got some more music.” Those words caused such a furor that he later had to issue an official statement saying “KenFolk. appeared.įor 2 days the music world waited with bated breath to see if NATION. Kendrick, himself, added fuel to the fire by changing his Spotify profile picture shortly after DAMN’s release, going from one which had him in front of a red background to another that had him in front of a blue background. was red, and the conjecture was NATION’s artwork would be blue. The belief was that on the cover of NATION., the “O” would be over his head, representing a halo. was positioned over Kendrick’s head, such that it could be seen as devil’s horns.
When re-arranged, the letters spelled out a couple of phrases that bolstered the concept, such as “Earth led 2 death” and “Death 2 the leader.” Beyond that, the “M” in DAMN. Theorists speculated they were intended as an anagram. The last letters in each song were capitalized, ended with a period and spilled onto a white background to highlight them. The details supporting the theory were plentiful. This is what goes on in my mind as a writer.” Nobody speaks on it because it’s almost in conflict with what’s going on in the world when you talk about politics and government and the system. He also said in an interview with The New York Times leading up to the album’s release that “We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God. Kendrick has had an element of spirituality in much of his music, dating back to his album Section.80, which had songs like “ Kush & Corinthians” and featured a bible on the artwork. When put together, the entire project would thus be DAMNATION. on Easter Sunday, representing his resurrection. Speculators suggested he would release another album titled NATION. was released on Good Friday and represented Kendrick’s death. The key elements of the theory were as follows. The details were wildly creative yet also stunningly detailed…all the ingredients to make what would typically be dismissed as a fanciful rumor stick. It is unclear who the original author was, but the theory was Kendrick actually had plans to release 2 albums that weekend. Merely hours after Kendrick Lamar released his masterful new album, DAMN., a rumor surfaced that set the internet ablaze.