Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, m.a.a.d City
Everyone in the world probably has a moment when they fell for Kendrick and mine was the track 'Money Trees' - more precisely around four minutes into 'Money Trees' when Anna Wise enters and effortlessly takes this already great song in a different and totally unexpected direction. Anyone else (including me) would have settled for what they have at that moment, but at the heart of Kendrick's work is the unexpected. At the time this album came out my boys were still at living at home and it was coming out of every room. It was impossible to ignore, and the deeper you go the more this album gives, which is true of all the music he has made so far. That abstract moment in 'Money Trees' is always there in his music, distilled to a song like 'Lust' on his last album, it's mind-boggling - I find myself gently shaking my head in disbelief and gratitude. I don't think he is really like anyone else but I feel a strong connection with Curtis Mayfield, taking this anger and frustration and turning it into such a positive, creative force. Undeniable. Even got Suzanne a 'Bish' t-shirt.