BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - December 2019

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BEATROUTETOPIN THE LAST TEN YEARS WE’VE SEEN A RADICALTRANSFORMATION IN THE WAY WE CONSUMEMUSIC—YOUTUBE AND SPOTIFY TRANSFORMEDTHE LANDSCAPE AND HAVE OFFICIALLY BECOMEA FACTOR IN CHART PLACEMENT. YOUNG MILLENNIALMEGA STARS, LIKE FRANK OCEAN AND ED SHEERAN,BILLIE EILISH AND FKA TWIGS, MATERIALIZED FROMINTERNET PHANTASMAGORIA TO FLESH-AND-BLOODWUNDERKINDS. VIRTUOSOS FROM THE AUGHTSSPILLED OVER, PROVING CHAMPIONESQUE ENDUR-ANCE. HERE, WE GIVE YOU A RUN-DOWN OF THISUNFORGETTABLE TIME IN MUSIC HISTORY WITH OURTOP 10 ARTISTS FROM THE LAST DECADE.102010 – 2019artistsofthedecade6 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
1NºKendrickLamarARTISTOF THEDECADEDuality has always been afacet of the overarchingnarrative of hip-hop. At itscore, the music is woventogether, with everyrapper contributing a differentpart of the same anthology ofstories. Every release adds to a sortof invisible balance that gives theaudience a temperature check on theoverall health of hip-hop at any giventime. Throughout the 2010s, KendrickLamar single-handedly kept this gaugebalanced.Without discrediting the host ofother incredible MCs that emergedduring the decade, Kendrick’s role inmoving the genre forward was bigger,and bolder. Through a near-perfectrun of releases, his music built a newenvironment for contemporary hip-hopto live in, and recast the ambition of therappers attempting to play in his house.As brilliant and as “conscious” as he is,Kendrick Lamar, very early in his career,understood the importance of amplifyingdynamics—morality alongsidepleasure, exasperation in tandem withhope, pain as a catalyst for redemption—to give us a front row seat intohis ever-changing emotions, ideas,and feelings that led him to producethe most consistently inspiringwork of the 2010s.On December 31, 2009, theartist formerly known as K-Dotreintroduced himself as KendrickLamar with a self-titled EP that ranover an hour long—so, not an EP atall—and offered a clear indication thatKendrick, and his camp, might not be allthat interested in playing by the rules. Tofollow up, he released a companion pieceto the full-length EP, Overly Dedicated. Theproject ended up outshining its parent, garneringKendrick accolades on the blogs of the timewith personal songs about childhood, family, andrelationships like “Cut You Off (To Grow Closer)”and “Average Joe” alongside a Lex Luger-esque,Schoolboy Q-introducing knucklehead banger“Michael Jordan” and a beautifully introspectivemanifesto with “The Heart Pt. 2”.It wasn’t just his versatility that stood out, butalso the distance between his subject matter andhow comfortably he was able to shift betweenthem. By the end of the year, he’d effectivelycarved out a niche for himself, building up a followingof fans, peers, and critics alike, including hisCompton, California hometown hero, Dr. Dre.While a bigger deal between Dre and Kendrick’slabel owner Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith wasbrewing, he readied the pivotal Section.80. On “TheSpiteful Chant”, Kendrick says “Everybody heardthat I fuck with Dre and they want to tell me I madeit / Nigga, I ain’t made shit, if he gave me a handout,I’ma take his wrist and break it.” As he was aboutto venture off into super stardom, partly off the impendingDre backing, it was a point for Kendrick toestablish that he has made it on his own merit. Hewent extra hard on Section.80 to prove he couldmake a classic before the big budgets and officialco-signs were involved. It will always be part ofKendrick Lamar’s legacy that he laid a foundationas a successful independent artist, before takingoff, and Section.80 exemplifies that.A year later, it didn’t take much to unearth thedichotomies in good kid, M.A.A.D. city. For thehyped Kendrick Lamar—at that point, hip-hop’snext chosen messiah—to speak so candidly aboutnavigating feelings of ostracisation in his ownneighbourhood, saw him immediately cash in onthat hype as audiences who might’ve initially comefor the bars were able to connect and relate toKendrick on a deeper level. For an artist as youngas Kendrick to be so vulnerable was a breath offresh air.Kendrick lays out his options in “Money Trees”picking between “Halle Berry or hallelujah,” usingreferences to sexual attraction and religion to symbolizeinstant gratification and doing the right thing.It’s something Kendrick has had to balance as anartist as well; delivering hit songs—leaning on currenttrends to help attain radio play—or aiming forCONTINUED ON PG. 9 kSECTION.80 / 2011GOOD KID, M.A.A.D CITY / 2012TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY / 2015DAMN / 2017k
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BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - December 2019

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