Kendrick Lamar's 25 favorite albums

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Kendrick Lamar's favorite albums

• 

  Jay-ZThe Black Album

  I love that album. That’s one of my favorite Jay albums. Everybody say Blueprint, I love The Black Album. First time I heard Encore I flipped out. I was probably in tenth grade playing that in class like 10 times in a row.

• 

  ClipseLord Willin’

  The Clipse, Lord Willin’, hell yeah. That’s a great memory. Just off the fact how much we beat on the table making that beat and freestyling at school. That was probably one of the best memories.

• 

  NasStillmatic

  That was a point in time where I was just into buying CDs heavy, and that was one of them I purchased. One of my favorite tracks on there was him and AZ, The Flyest. I just thought it was a dope vibe, had a West Coast feeling and spitting some of the most intricate lyrics on there. It’s one of Nas’ best tactics as far as storytelling as well, him spitting raps backward [‘Rewind’]. I mean, come on. That’s genius.

• 

  DJ QuikBalance & Options

  My homeboy Earl would play that album all day. One of the first songs on there I Don’t Wanna Party Wit U is one I could remember that really jumps out to me and really gave me that feel. It was summertime, we was running around and that was always playing.

• 

  Dr. Dre2001

  I remember ripping the packaging for that CD, my pops had brung it. I just remember him playing it all day just for months, for months for months for months. For months. Got attached to it. And years later he’s still playing it so that’s how I know it’s an actual classic.

• 

  KuruptTha Streetz Iz a Mutha

  He had a lot of lyrical content. My lyrical content come from what he did on the West Coast. Lyrics stand out, he did New York, New York, just that alone influenced how I flip words being from the West Coast.

• 

  E-40Charlie Hustle: Blueprint Of A Self-Made Millionaire

  Nobody ever sound like E-40, still to this day. He’s reinvented himself as whole new artist. Nobody’s gonna sound like him. That’s my whole thing too.

• 

  Lil WayneTha Block Is Hot

  They was killing the game. Cash Money was a heavy influence on the West Coast, I don’t think the world know. Mannie Fresh made the type of beats that still have the bass in it. L.A. love that bass. We weren’t really choppin’ to the boom bap feel until later on, but they had that bass, that ridin’ music. They had a style, that’s why we love ‘em.

• 

  Hot BoysGuerrilla Warfare

  I would say Turk and Wayne were killing it—B.G. too. My favorite joint was probably Ridin. Summertime, they had us on lock.

• 

  B.G.Chopper City in the Ghetto

  How raw it was. It was just dirty. I like B.G.’s tone too, the way he pronounces words. I like all their tones. They’re all just unique in their own way. [Favorite song is] probably Thug’n. That and Cash Money Is An Army.

• 

  DJ QuikRhythm-al-ism

  Down, Down, Down, that used to be crazy. I came across this record in middle school. Middle school, just playing Down, Down, Down all day. Going on the bus and bumping that. Speed was crazy, Hand In Hand. The interlude was crazy too, he always has a lot of crazy interludes.

• 

  Juvenile400 Degreez

  Aww, 400 Degreez, that was one of my favorite summertime... Early Cash Money was some of my favorite years in life. I checked that album, top to bottom all day. There was one particular summer just the whole neighborhood just playing it.

• 

  DMXIt’s Dark and Hell is Hot

  That’s the first album that got me writing. I wrote my first lyrics to that album actually, about 13-14. [..] That will always be one of my favorite albums. [..] That album inspired me to be a rapper.

• 

  The Notorious B.I.GLife After Death

  I remember being a kid with my homeboy, trying to learn the verse for the R. Kelly joint, Fuckin You Tonight [laughs]. That flow. We thought that was crazy. Same thing on that. The storytelling was ridiculous. Now as I look back and listen to it now, I see he basically takes us through in another direction to where it opens up to the masses.

• 

  2PacMakaveli

  The reason I like Makaveli, one of my favorites, is the aggression of it. I look back, there was so much controversy about that album that I really couldn’t understand at a young age. Him being on a cross and the 21 gun salute [Against All Odds]. It was just so much aggression and I think that was ‘Pac’s greatest niche. Have that emotion, have that aggression on that track and it really felt like he wanted to go to war listening to it.

• 

  Jay-ZReasonable Doubt

  I had to double back and listen to Jay-Z once I started writing. And one of my favorite tracks on there is Politics As Usual. Just the vibe of it and the flow. I really captured that flow and stole that cadence just being a student of the game. It really stuck with me.

• 

  2PacAll Eyez on Me

  You know what’s crazy about these Tupac albums? These three records, Me Against The World, All Eyez On Me, and Makaveli [The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory] was played so much that you start mixing up what songs was on what album because there was so much in heavy rotation. With the older songs and the newer songs, they were played so much in the household.

• 

  Tha Dogg PoundDogg Food

  Yeah, with Let’s Play House. [Laughs] Yeah, Dogg Pound, Dogg Food, Kurupt. They was so cold with it. That was all the stuff I was playing in the house too. I was exposed to all them crazy raps. Daz on the beat, Kurupt spitting crazy bars. Let’s Play House was one of the standout joints.

• 

  2PacMe Against the World

  It really was just in heavy rotation. Constantly going back and forth where we was just mixing and matching songs together. It was really dark. Death Around The Corner, So Many Tears, you can tell what type of space he was in.

• 

  The Notorious B.I.GReady To Die

  [What resonated with me was] the storytelling, just the storytelling, how in-depth the storytelling was. The storytelling and the flow.

• 

  Snoop DoggDoggystyle

  Who Am I (What’s My Name) is probably one of the first rap records I really learned all the way. I remember watching it on The Box, the cable channel you had to like order and call.

• 

  Lauryn HillThe Miseduction Of Lauryn Hill

  That [record] probably had the most hits on it than I’ve ever heard. Even going back and listening to it now. Crazy, I think she was way ahead of her time — just the feeling and the cohesiveness and the concept behind it. It was just genius to me.

• 

  Ice CubeDeath Certificate

  It's just a crazy, crazy album. A Bird In The Hand is one of my favoritest joints.

• 

  Dr. DreThe Chronic

  That was probably the first rap album I remember them playing in the house from top to bottom. Songs that I actually remember as a kid.

• 

  DJ QuikDJ Quik

  Sweet Black Pussy, I played that all day in my house. This is background music for me, way ahead of my time.

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