Kendrick Lamar Is Hip-Hop’s King—But for How Long?
With his new album, the Compton-based rapper has become the biggest artist in all of music. Just how long can he keep that up?
Last week, Kendrick Lamar dropped his highly anticipated third album, DAMN., netting him the highest first-week sales of any record in 2017. He also headlined Coachella and released the Don Cheadle–assisted video for “DNA,” one of the new LP’s strongest cuts.
All of this was met with nearly unanimous acclaim. Time recently called Lamar “the most important rapper in America.” After Coachella, the Los Angeles Times crowned him a “king.” And Hot 97 radio personality Peter Rosenberg flatly declared, “Kendrick is the best rapper who has ever lived.”
Yes, four years after “Control,” in which Lamar said he’d be gunning for hip-hop’s number one spot, we are living in times of Peak Kendrick Lamar. But pop culture moves fast — hip-hop, even faster — and with attention spans shorter than ever, one wonders if DAMN. truly cements Lamar as the greatest rapper of all time, or if he’s just the greatest of all time until the next greatest of all time comes trickling down the Twitter feed.
“Rap is pretty much like high school — you have four, maybe five years to really make a name for…
