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The 16 Best Kendrick Lamar Songs of All Time
As Kendrick Lamar gets ready to headline the Super Bowl, revisit his best songs, from huge hits to intricate verses.
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Kendrick Lamarâs ascension to the top of the rap game has no parallel. Equally lauded for his lyrics, songwriting, creativity and perspective, Lamar has amassed a catalog that nimbly balances self-reflection and analysis of the world around him.
Whether rapping about addiction, violence, class, his family, Compton, or how he really hates Drake, Lamar contorts his voice and writes his lyrics to evoke different narrators, depending on the story he aims to tell. Over the years, this evocative storytelling has brought Lamar both critical and commercial success, with chart-topping songs, Grammys and even a Pulitzer Prize. His next gig? Headliner of this yearâs Super Bowl Halftime Show. With an assist from SZA, Lamar is set to bring his complex narratives to the biggest stage in the world.
In preparation for the show, Variety staffers selected Lamarâs key tracks. Inevitably, some favorites didnât make the cut, but this list shows a cross-section of some of Larmarâs best lyrics and songwriting, and are all essential. â WE
All the StarsThe lead single to Lamarâs âBlack Pantherâ soundtrack, âAll the Starsâ previewed the vision he and TDE had for the sonic companion to Ryan Cooglerâs Marvel movie. Itâs one of the more lowkey of the albumâs tracks, yet a standout: Lamarâs stoic delivery matches SZAâs otherworldly vocals on the main hook (âThis may be the night that my dreams might let me know / All the stars are closerâ), all over a propulsive, synth-heavy and string-embellished beat. A ubiquitous radio smash, âAll the Starsâ was also a critical hit, earning the usual recognition at the Grammys and MTV VMAs, plus netting Lamar his first Academy Award nomination for best original song. In a sense, the âBlack Pantherâ experiment was Lamarâs formal entrĂ©e into cinema, as he and PGLangâs Dave Free continue with their comedy film co-produced by âSouth Parkâsâ Matt Stone and Trey Parker. â AJ
AlrightBy opening with a reference to Alice Walkerâs seminal novel âThe Color Purpleâ (âAlls my life I has to fightâ), Lamar makes a statement: âAlrightâ is a work of Black genius â emphasis on Black. Released as the fourth single off âTo Pimp a Butterfly,â the track became the protest song of a generation as Lamar examined the duality of the Black experience. He sat on the Pharrell-produced beat for six months before he found the right lyrics, landing on an approach he described as âuplifting but aggressiveâ â calling out police brutality with biting (and woefully misunderstood) lyrics like âAnd we hate po-po / wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho,â while offering a message of hope that, despite it all, âwe gonâ be alright.â â AJ
Backseat FreestyleOne of Lamarâs greatest instincts is knowing when to switch from a pensive flow to a growling roar, and âBackseat Freestyleâ revved up the snarl to maximum effect. The Hit-Boy-helmed track is skeletal compared to the rest of âGood Kid, M.A.A.D. Cityâ â âBitch, Donât Kill My Vibe,â this isnât â which is precisely why it cuts through. There are no bells and whistles to distract from this ode to Compton, just the knocking clang of metal and well-earned demands for respect, a celebration of what heâs accomplished with the prescient caveat that heâll never take his eye off the ball: âMy mind is livinâ on cloud nine and this nine is never on vacation,â he raps. â SH
Bitch, Donât Kill My VibeBy the time this fifth single was released from Lamarâs breakthrough album âGood Kid, M.A.A.D City,â Lamar had already delivered two certified bangers with âSwimming Pools (Drank)â and âBackseat Freestyle,â as well as a hot collaboration with, yes, Drake on âPoetic Justice.â Originally conceived as a team-up with Lady Gaga, the song would evolve into a meditation on his status in the industry and his mindset as an artist â a declaration of Lamar as an iconoclast, and a glimpse at the integrity and passion heâd use to set himself apart from his peers. â TG
DNAIf thereâs one thing Kendrickâs fans learned early on, itâs that he makes you put in the work. He can drop bangers any time he wants, but heâd rather challenge listeners â and himself â with something unexpected. As if the jazz fusions of âTo Pimp a Butterflyâ werenât enough of a curveball, you get one in a single song with the mind-melting âDNA.â It starts off with a catchy, swampy groove and bounces along, until it suddenly starts getting weirder and weirder and there are suddenly three totally disparate elements happening at once that your brain can just barely keep in the same frame. Yet thereâs little mystery â although plenty of nuance â in the lyrics, which showed his deep self-awareness and recognition of the conflicts within himself even then: âRealness, I just kill shit âcause itâs in my DNA / I got millions, I got riches buildinâ in my DNA / I got dark, I got evil that rot inside my DNA / I got a troublesome heart inside my DNA.â â JA
EuphoriaLamarâs first Drake diss track may not be the cultural juggernaut âNot Like Usâ became, but itâs a brutal attack that dismantles the pop star through three increasingly aggressive beats. With a low-key intro that starts with some great veiled threats (âKnow you a master manipulator and habitual liar too / But donât tell no lie about me and I wonât tell truths âbout youâ), âEuphoriaâ escalates into some pointed barbs (the accusations of absentee parenting that follow âI got a son to raise, but I can see you donât know nothinâ âbout thatâ are especially brutal). Every line is a shocker and set the stage for âNot Like Usâ to inevitably break the internet. â WE
Kingâs DeadLamarâs curated soundtrack for âBlack Pantherâ culminates with this explosive hip-hop team-up between himself, Jay Rock and Future. Even if Futureâs verse leaves a bit to be desired in terms of sticking to the themes (much less plot) of Ryan Cooglerâs film, Lamar and Jay Rock more than elevate the track to the epic level deserving of a king, whether heâs alive or dead (so much so, in fact, that Jay made it the lead single to his next album). Even within the confines of a superhero movie soundtrack, Lamar evidenced his ability to rule whatever creative challenge he faces. â TG
Money TreesOver a woozy beat courtesy of DJ Dahi and Hit-Boy, Lamar delivers a call-and-response flow that evokes the nostalgia infused throughout âGood Kid, M.A.A.D City.â Obsessed with both music and tragedy, he drops references to Usher and E-40 as casually as the violence he sees outside. In the chorus, the profundity of âEverybody gonâ respect the shooter/But the one in front of the gun lives foreverâ becomes a theme for this sprawling album. Jay Rockâs taut featured verse is also a career-best, with urgent rhymes about drug dealing, filled with enough specifics to lay the blueprints for a small business. â WE
Not Like UsEven before it claimed five Grammys, âNot Like Usâ was a near-instant classic in Lamarâs illustrious catalog of timeless hits. It aimed at all the right targets â mainly Drake, but it also catered to a starving fanbase of West Coast hip-hop that hadnât had a superstar serve up a ubiquitous anthem in years. (Younger acts, ranging from Shoreline Mafia to Mike Sherm, have long been party starters for Downtown Los Angeles and Bay Area warehouse parties.) âNot Like Usâ filled that niche, showcasing two acclaimed artists â Lamar and DJ Mustard â at the top of their game, doing what they do best. Built on a foundation of borderline aggressive syncopation, the beat is clean-cut and minimalistic with Lamar rapping feverishly ahead of typical phonetic patterns, creating that classic West Coast sound. Thereâs a lot to be learned from the success and freshness of a song like âNot Like Us,â but the most important theme here? Embrace your inner hater. â TG
Poetic JusticeFramed around a sample of Janet Jacksonâs honeyed vocals from âAny Time, Any Place,â âPoetic Justiceâ featuring Drake is presumably the only love song on âGood Kid, M.A.A.D Cityâ â and itâs a great one. Being that itâs one of his most commercially successful songs to-date, âPoetic Justiceâ ultimately relies on the timeless sensuality of Jacksonâs original, and once you get past the Canadian elephant in the room, itâs clear that the now-foes once had strong chemistry. The cherry on top is in the beauty of the songâs visually-striking one-liners â âIf a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?â â TG
Rich SpiritAnchored by a chorus featuring the lyric âStop playinâ with me âfore I turn you to a song,â Lamar offered a FAFO warning with this track from âMr. Morale & the Big Steppersâ that would be fulfilled two years later with his historic (and now Grammy-winning) beef with Drake. At the same time, it also feels like an admonishment for himself â particularly in the context of verses where he examines his accomplishments â and responsibilities in the music industry and relationships with a growing circle of confidantes, collaborators and even supposed loved ones (âAnd my cousin tried to sue me like he got the privilegeâ). All of this, he notes, is increasingly complicated by his success. â TG
RigamortusâSection.80â was an introduction for those who hadnât been tapped into the spark of Lamarâs mixtape run. His 2011 debut album crystallized his foundational strengths as an emcee â equally adept at examining the pain of street life while extolling the vices that come with escaping it. âRigamortusâ found a middle ground by focusing on his skills as a lyricist, sending caution to his rap colleagues that his wordplay was a weapon. He doesnât just tell it, either â he shows how nimble he can be as he skates across the horn-powered instrumental, toying with double and triple meter while firing warning shots at every turn. If there ever was a starting line for Lamar, itâs hard to deny that it was partly drawn here. â SH
Swimming Pools (Drank)Lamar was a relatively new artist, making his Interscope label debut, when he released this introspective party song. In it, Lamar tackles the issue of alcohol abuse through rhyme, and in hindsight, the track is an obvious and excellent precursor to Lamarâs widely regarded political approach to rap music. Right away, he establishes the allure of a drink â âSome people like the way it feel / Some people wanna kill their sorrows / Some people wanna fit in with the popularâ â only to introduce a warning from his conscience mid-way through the song. When we arrive at the end of âSwimming Pools (Drank),â Lamar has unspooled a precautionary tale, one thatâs deeply personal, and representative of a cycle of violence in Compton. â TG
TV OffAlthough this track is light-hearted, and less lyrically complex than what weâve come to expect from the Pulitzer Prize winner, âTV Offâ is an irresistible and catchy victory lap of a song. Starting with a sample of MacArthur Parkâs âMonk Higgins,â Lamar incites and calls for action against conformity, telling listeners to âturn the TV offâ to fight off being unconsciously influenced. From its triumphant horn section to the meme-worthiness of âMustaaaaaaaaaard!â and âCrazy, scary, spooky, hilarious,â Lamar builds on the success of âNot Like Usâ with another classic Mustard production. â TG
untitled 05 | 09.21.2014.Lamarâs craft is razor-sharp on this bleak lamentation on class. In the first verse, his character is at the end of his rope (âOnce upon a time I used to go to church and talk to God / Now Iâm thinkinâ to myself, hollow tips is all I gotâ) and commits a shocking act of violence, nested inside a jazzy chorus from Anna Wise and a creeping Thundercat bassline. Lamar sounds raw vocally and emotionally, and passing the mic to Punch and Jay Rock during the following verses only heightens the intensity. These lines stick, even more so because theyâre on a demo album: Bars like âJustice ainât free, therefore justice ainât me / So I justify his name on obituaryâ end up being precise throughlines in Lamarâs storytelling. â WE
XXXLamar tackles the American Dream and religion in this ambitious track. Changing up his flow to align with several variations of the beat, the latter half of the first verse finds Lamar in breathless mode, rhyming about the futile nature of comforting a friend whose child was killed over money: ââI canât sugarcoat the answer for you, this is how I feel / If somebody kill my son, that mean somebody gettinâ killed,â he raps, as police sirens threaten to overtake the beat. Soon, the song downshifts to a jazzy vibe, with Kendrickâs verse bouncing off the thematically appropriate voice of Bono. Big ideas arrive like a flood: âItâs murder on my street, your street, back streets, Wall Street / Corporate offices, banks, employees, and bosses with / Homicidal thoughts, Donald Trumpâs in office.â â WE
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