Hyperbolic statements are hardly rare in hip-hop, thanks to its culture of ego and oneupmanship. So it was little surprise this year saw Rick Ross and A$AP Rocky claiming to have made history. Sony vegas pro 13 full crack. But the hip-hop album of the year came from an unexpected quarter: Kendrick Lamar.

This extraordinary coming-of-age album – following last year's Section 80 mixtape – tracked his growth from teenage gangsta-in-the-making to clean-living penitent. The cover shows a photograph of him as a child, setting the tone for a record that took us through his life. The 'mad city' is his hometown of Compton, California. On the album's final track, named for the city, he collaborates with another Comptonite, Dr Dre, in what might be a symbolic passing of the SoCal hip-hop baton.

On first listen you could be forgiven for writing this off as a one-dimensional cloud-rap offering. The hazy, ethereal beatscapes designed for dope smokers (though Lamar rarely partakes, it's probably not news his fans are partial to a puff) certainly support that view, but for all the lulling basslines and languid drawls, it is the rich sexuality of tracks such as Poetic Justice or dance-ready injections on Swimming Pools (Drank), as Lamar barks stern instructions on how to drink properly ('You fill a pool full of liquor and you dive in it') that show off his rich talents as a songwriter and producer.

From the opening prayer on Sherane to the skits that run throughout the album, which feature fragments of his mother's voice offering warnings against temptation, Lamar creates a detailed narrative of the moral dilemma facing the good kid placed in a mad city with all its lures.

Lamar is a playful and conscious observer with a huge ego: after all, what is a hip-hop album without it? His braggadocio is thrilling (we hear him rap about himself and Martin Luther King in the same breath in Backseat Freestyle), and he throws in the euphoria of youth when he boasts about having a 'dick as big as the Eiffel Tower'. And while it might seem too early on in his career to be making a track that refers so specifically to his legacy (Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst), soberly urging us to sing about him when he's gone ('When the light shine off and its my turn to settle down, my main concern/ Promise that you will sing about me'), it is that willingness to do the unexpected that shows his sophistication as a rapper. Both the young Kendrick, dreaming up a monster penis, and the mature one, ruminating on how he'll be remembered, sound utterly convincing.

Lamar has taken tropes from classic rap albums to make something that felt as exciting as Dr Dre's 2001 more than a decade ago. Here was proof that Compton's contribution to hip-hop history continues.

Review by David Jeffries

Hip-hop debuts don't come much more 'highly anticipated' than Kendrick Lamar's. A series of killer mixtapes displayed his talent for thought-provoking street lyrics delivered with an attention-grabbing flow, and then there was his membership in the Black Hippy crew with his brethren Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, and Jay Rock all issuing solo releases that pleased the 'true hip-hop' set, setting the stage for a massive fourth and final. Top it off with a pre-release XXL Magazine cover that he shared with his label boss and all-around legend Dr. Dre, and the 'biggest debut since Illmatic' stuff starts to flow, but Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City would be a milestone even without the back-story, offering cool and compelling lyrics, great guests (Drake, Dr. Dre, and MC Eiht) and attractive production (from Pharrell, Just Blaze, Tabu, and others). Here, Kendrick is living his life like status and cash were extra credit. It is what makes this kid so 'good' as he navigates his 'mad' city (Compton) with experience and wisdom beyond his years (25). He's shamelessly bold about the allure of the trap, contrasting the sickness of his city with the universal feeling of getting homesick, and carrying a Springsteen-sized love for the home team. Course, in his gang-ruled city, N.W.A. was the home team, but as the truly beautiful, steeped-in-soul, biographic key track 'The Art of Peer Pressure' finds a reluctant young Kendrick and his friends feeding off the life-force of Young Jeezy's debut album, it's something Clash, Public Enemy, and all other rebel music fans can relate to. Still, when he realizes that hero Jeezy must have risen above the game -- because the real playas are damned and never show their faces -- it spawns a kind of elevated gangsta rap that's as pimp-connectable as the most vicious Eazy-E, and yet poignant enough to blow the dust off any cracked soul. Equally heavy is the cautionary tale of drank dubbed 'Swimming Pools,' yet that highlight is as hooky and hallucinatory as most Houston drank anthems, and breaks off into one of the chilling, cassette-quality interludes that connect the album, adding to the documentary or eavesdropping quality of it all. Soul children will experience déjà vu when 'Poetic Justice' slides by with its Janet Jackson sample -- sounding like it came off his Aunt's VHS copy of the movie it's named after -- while the closing 'Compton' is an anthem sure to make the Game jealous, featuring Dre in beast mode, acting pre-Chronic and pre-Death Row. This journey through the concrete jungle of Compton is worth taking because of the artistic richness within, plus the attraction of a whip-smart rapper flying high during his rookie season. Any hesitation about the horror of it all is quickly wiped away by Kendrick's mix of true talk, open heart, open mind, and extended hand. Adobe photoshop lightroom 6 for pc torrent. Add it all up and even without the hype, this one is still potent and smart enough to rise to the top of the pile. [A Deluxe Edition added a second album with five bonus tracks.]