Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an accomplished rapper who is apart of a star studded record label group. In my opinion, he’s a top 5 hip hop artist ever and has 2 of the best hip hop albums ever. Today I’m going to present to you his 5 best songs, in my opinion.

#5: The Art of Peer Pressure

We start this song off by some beautiful vocals over a soft beat from Kendrick. It then transitions into a sinister storytelling style with menacing lyrics such as:

“hope the universe love you today
Cause the energy we bringin' sure to carry away
A flock of positive activists and fill they body with hate”

Kendrick also takes us through him and his friends breaking into a house. Multiple shout outs to legend Jeezy flow through this track.

A big reason Kendrick was able to fight peer pressure off was his father, he had too much respect for his father to throw his life away into drugs and gangs.

This track is Kendrick’s 5th best as the production is absolutely incredible, the transition is flawless, the storytelling makes it feel like a movie and it’s mixed with clever lyrics which make it feel like you’re in the car with Kendrick and his homies.

#4: The Blacker The Berry

This track starts off with a darker production but Kendrick is still displaying his vocals which leads into him proclaiming himself as the biggest hypocrite of 2015. As Kendrick says in the song, he woke up at the age of 16.

He realized that the holders of power don’t like him because of his skin colour. Kendrick using his anger and aggressiveness while shedding light on a huge problem all over the world is an absolute masterpiece, an unapologetic “fuck you” over an incredible production.

#3: Wesley’s Theory

This is Kendrick’s best produced track in my opinion. It starts off slow with some crackling which you can hear during Boris Gardner’s sample, until a vibrant “Hit Me!” at the 0:45 mark. Josef Leimberg leads us right to the chorus of the track:

The title of the song references actor Wesley Snipes who served a 3 year jail sentence from 2010-13 for failing to file federal income tax returns.

The reason this is the 3rd best Kendrick track for me is because of all the things going on in this track and the way he manages to pull it all together and create an absolute masterpiece. The complex beat and plethora of samples with unique features creates the best intro ever.

#2: How Much A Dollar Cost

This song starts off with a beautiful violin-like sound then we get some clapping to add to a simple yet powerful beat. We now get to the meat of the track, the picture perfect storytelling.

The story of this song, retells K Dot’s experience with a homeless man at a gas station. Lamar is asked for a dollar by the homeless man but Kendrick refuses to give it because of his selfishness.

At the ending of the song, we find out that the the homeless man is God and the cost of the dollar was worth Kendrick’s spot in Heaven.

“and I'll tell you just how much a dollar cost
The price of having a spot in Heaven, embrace your loss, I am God”

The reason this is Kendrick’s 2nd best song in my personal opinion is because of the absolutely phenomenal storytelling and how he made such a simple story so complex and beautiful. Making such a small action, one that is bigger than life.

#1: Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst

This beautiful track starts off with a soft beat and Kendrick rapping a story from other people’s point of view. He was speaking from a hurting friend of his who Kendrick helped after his brother passed.

The 2nd person he also spoke on behalf of was Keisha’s sister from KDot’s Section 80 song, Keisha’s pain. Keisha’s sister didn’t want Kendrick to talk about her or her sister on the song as she didn’t want any of the attention.

The last part of sing about me is from Kendrick’s point of view and him asking himself if he did enough or if he put enough work in to share his experiences. This could also mean if he out enough work in to be at the top of the rap game.

The dying of thirst part is Kendrick tired of him being in gang circles and using water for his sins. The reason he’s dying of thirst is because he needs holy water to fight back against his sins.

The reason that this is Kendrick’s best song ever in my opinion is because of the raw pain and emotion which you can really feel on this track. The storytelling is top tier and the emotion directly flows into the storytelling. This song has also got me through some hard times.

The soft beat on sing about me with the incredible lyricism and story telling mixed with the beautiful best on I’m dying of thirst with more emotion and raw frustration makes it a top tier Kendrick song.

Thank you for reading this thread!

Here are a few honourable mentions:
Untitled 02
The Heart Part 4
Rigamortis
Duckworth
XXX
ADHD
Ronald Raegan Era
U
Momma
M.a.a.d city