Good Kid, M.A.A.D City

Untitled

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(91/100)
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com
Chicago Tribune
Consequence of Sound
The Guardian
The Needle Drop	(Light to Decent 9)
Pitchfork	(9.5/10)
PopMatters
Rolling Stone
Spin
USA Today

good kid, m.A.A.d city is the debut studio album by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar, released on October 22, 2012, under Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope Records. The album is the follow-up to his highly acclaimed independent album Section.80 (2011). The album's production was handled by Dawaun Parker, DJ Khalil, DJ Dahi, Hit-Boy, Jack Splash, Just Blaze, Like, Pharrell Williams, Rahki, Scoop DeVille, Skhye Hutch, Sounwave, T-Minus, Tabu, Terrace Martin, Tha Bizness and THC. The concept album, which follows the story of a young Lamar growing up in Compton, California, includes skits at the end of several tracks, is referred to as a "short film by Kendrick Lamar" as seen on the album cover and features guest appearances from Jay Rock, Drake, MC Eiht and Anna Wise as well as Lamar's mentor and the album's executive producer Dr. Dre.

Background

good kid, m.A.A.d city is Kendrick's second official studio album. He told HiphopDX he didn't feel the need to work with new producers. He said he wanted to prove himself and so he's working on the album with the producers he has previously worked with. Kendrick Lamar expresses that the highly anticipated studio debut album will discuss his life in the infamous city of Compton. "The kid that’s trying to escape that influence, trying his best to escape that influence, has always been pulled back in because of circumstances that be.” he said. On October 16, 2012, "snippets" of the album were leaked onto the internet via torrent websites such as The Pirate Bay.

The title of the album mainly refers to Lamar's innocence while growing up in Compton. Lamar revealed the deeper meaning of the album title, stating that M.A.A.D is an acronym with two meanings: "My Angry Adolescence Divided" which represents his rough childhood within Compton and "My Angel's on Angel Dust", saying: "That was me. I got laced. The reason why I don't smoke, and it's in the album. It's in the story. It was just me getting my hands on the wrong thing at the wrong time, being oblivious to it."

Singles

The lead single of the album was released on April 3, 2012, called "The Recipe", which featured record producer and fellow rapper Dr. Dre. It peaked at #38 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and at #3 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. Kendrick shot a video for it featuring Dr. Dre at a mansion in Los Angeles in May 2012. He also claimed the video will have a feel of 2Pac's California Love clip.

The second single was "Swimming Pools (Drank)", produced by T-Minus and mixed by Dr. Dre and TDE's Ali. The single released on July 31, 2012, as digital download, had the music video premiered on August 3, 2012 on 106 & Park. The album version of the single is present on track 9, while the single version is available as track 17 when purchasing the Deluxe Edition on iTunes.

Recording and production

Lamar stated Good Kid, M.A.A.D City will sound “nothing” like Section.80. “I couldn’t tell you what type of sound or where I’ma be in the next five years as far as music,” he said. “It’s a big difference from the next project compared to the last. And that’s what happened with this album. Going back to the neighborhood and going to different spots, chilling with my homeboys, put me back in that same space where we used to be, bringing back them thoughts, reminiscing how I was feeling. I got myself right back in that mode and I got inspired by that. So this album won’t sound like Section.80. Completely nothing like it,” he told to XXL.

On August 15, 2012, Lady Gaga announced via Twitter that she had collaborated with Kendrick on a song titled "Partynauseous" for his upcoming album, and that it would be released on September 6, 2012. However, on August 23, 2012, Gaga announced that the song was no longer being released on that date and apologized to fans for the delay. Eventually, it was confirmed that Lady Gaga would not be featured on the album.

For the project, Lamar enlisted TDE labelmate Jay Rock, as well as Drake, MC Eiht, Pharrell, Anna Wise and mentor Dr. Dre, as well as Mary J. Blige who features on the deluxe edition.

Reception

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City currently holds a score of 91 out of 100 at Metacritic based on 17 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The album is only the 9th album in 15 years to receive a perfect "XXL" rating from Hip-Hop magazine XXL upon initial release. DJ Booth, in a highly favorable review, called the album "worthy of being called a classic." All Hip-Hop noted that "it is rare accomplishment to have such an array of different producers on one project to sound this cohesive." HipHopDX stated that, "from mic to plug, 'Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City' is stellar." "Kendrick Lamar is a fascinating character and a heck of a character actor on his major label " stated Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune. "Lamar's major-label debut, probably the year's most significant hip-hop release, proves his talent to be as prodigious as his online output – the 25-year-old has released five mixtapes and one independent album to date," The Guardian wrote in their review. Pitchfork Media's Jayson Greene gave the album a Best New Album designation, writing "The miracle of this album is how it ties straightforward rap thrills-- dazzling lyrical virtuosity, slick quotables, pulverizing beats, star turns from guest rappers-- directly to its narrative." Jesse James of Stupid Dope said, "Kendrick Lamar and the TDE family have delivered, what in my eyes, is the album of the year; as far as hip hop is concerned at least. No album in years has garnered so much attention and been worthy of every bit of it, maybe even more. Mr. Lamar’s Good Kid m.A.A.d. City will go down as one of the classic albums of our generation, maybe of all time, in hip hop."

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter"	Kendrick Duckworth, Christopher Whitacre, Justin Henderson	Tha Bizness	4:33
2.	"Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe"	Duckworth, Mark Spears, Braun, Vindahl Friis, Lykke Schmidt	Sounwave	5:10
3.	"Backseat Freestyle"	Duckworth, Chauncey Hollis	Hit-Boy	3:32
4.	"The Art of Peer Pressure"	Duckworth, Rune Rask, Jonas Vestergaard	Tabu	5:24
5.	"Money Trees" (featuring Jay Rock)	Duckworth, Dacoury Natche, Johnny Mickinzie, Victoria Garance Alixe Legrand, Alex Scally	DJ Dahi	6:26
6.	"Poetic Justice" (featuring Drake)	Duckworth, Elijah Molina, Aubrey Graham, James Harris, Janet Jackson, Terry Lewis	Scoop DeVille	5:00
7.	"good kid"	Duckworth, Pharrell Williams	Pharrell	3:34
8.	"m.A.A.d city" (featuring MC Eiht)	Duckworth, Mark Spears, R. Riera, A. Morgan, Aaron Tyler, Quincy Hanley	Sounwave, THC, Terrace Martin (add.)	5:50
9.	"Swimming Pools (Drank)" (Extended Version)	Duckworth, Tyler Williams	T-Minus	5:13
10.	"Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst"	Duckworth, G. Stevenson, D. Hutchins, Q. Jones, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman	'Sing About Me' produced by Like of Pac Div 'I’m Dying of Thirst' produced by Skhye Hutch, Sounwave (add.)	12:03
11.	"Real" (featuring Anna Wise)	Duckworth, Terrace Martin	Terrace Martin	7:23
12.	"Compton" (featuring Dr. Dre)	Duckworth, Justin Smith, Charles Cason, S. Jordan	Just Blaze	4:08
Total length:				68:16

Deluxe edition disc

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"The Recipe" (featuring Dr. Dre)	Duckworth, Elijah Molina, Eric Cardona, Gabe D'Amico, Dev Gupta, Andrea Estella, Bryan Ujueta	Scoop DeVille	5:52
14.	"Black Boy Fly"	Duckworth, Columbus Smith, Dawaun Parker	Rahki, Dawaun Parker (co.)	4:38
15.	"Now or Never" (featuring Mary J. Blige)	Duckworth, Jazmine Sullivan, Jack Splash	Jack Splash	4:17
Total length:				83:03

iTunes Deluxe edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
16.	"Collect Calls" (featuring Kent Jamz)	K. Duckworth, K. Muhammad	THC	3:57
17.	"Swimming Pools (Drank)" (Single version)	Duckworth, Williams	T-Minus	4:07
Total length:				91:07

Target Deluxe edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
16.	"County Building Blues"	Duckworth, K. Rahman, D. Winslow	DJ Khalil	4:18
17.	"Swimming Pools (Black Hippy Remix)" (featuring Black Hippy)	Duckworth, Williams	T-Minus	5:14

Spotify Deluxe edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
16.	"The Recipe (Black Hippy Remix)" (featuring Black Hippy)	Scoop Deville	4:23

Notes

• Track 2 "Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe" features uncredited vocals by Anna Wise.
• Track 5 "Money Trees" features uncredited vocals by Anna Wise and Jhene Aiko.
• Track 7 "good kid" features uncredited vocals by Chad Hugo.
• Track 8 "m.A.A.d city" features uncredited vocals by Schoolboy Q.
• Track list confirmed on October 2, 2012. Production credits were announced on October 14, 2012.

Samples

• "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" contains a sample of "Tiden Flyver" as performed by Boom Clap Bachelors
• "The Art of Peer Pressure" contains a sample of "Helt Alene" as performed by Suspekt.
• "Money Trees" contains a sample of "Silver Soul" as performed by Beach House.
• "Poetic Justice" contains a sample of "Any Time, Any Place" as performed by Janet Jackson.
• "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" contains a sample of "Maybe Tomorrow" as performed by Grant Green.
• "Compton" contains a sample of "What’s This World Coming To” as performed by Formula IV.
• "The Recipe" contains a sample of "Meet the Frownies" as performed by Twin Sister.
• "Backseat Freestyle" contains a sample of "Yo Soy Cubano" by The Chakachas.
• "m.A.A.d city" contains a samples from "Don't Change Your Love" by The Five Stairsteps and "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players.
• "good kid" contains a sample of "We Live In Brooklyn, Baby" by Roy Ayers.

Personnel

Credits for good kid, m.A.A.d city adapted from Allmusic.

• Kendrick Lamar — art direction, primary artist
• Dr. Dre — executive producer, featured artist, mixing
• Anthony "TOPDAWG" Tiffith — executive producer
• Derek "MixedByAli" Ali — engineer, mixing
• Dave Free — associate producer, co-ordination, management
• Larry Chatman — production co-ordination
• Andrew Van Meter — production co-ordination
• Ashley Palmer — co-ordination
• Mike Bozzi — mastering
• Brian "Big Bass" Gardner — mastering
• Dee Brown — engineer
• Mike Larson — engineer
• James Hunt — engineer
• Mauricio Iragorri — engineer
• Archie Davis — marketing
• Barry Williams — marketing
• Don Robinson — marketing
• Hit-Boy — producer
• Scoop DeVille — producer
• DJ Dahi — producer
• Skhye Hutch — producer
• Just Blaze — producer
• Tha Bizness — producer
• T-Minus — producer
• Pharrell Williams — producer
• Terrace Martin — additional production

• Sounwave — additional production
• Kirdis Postelle — associate producer
• Terrence Henderson — associate producer
• Drake — featured artist
• MC Eiht — featured artist
• Jay Rock — featured artist
• Kent Jamz — featured artist
• Anna Wise — featured artist, background vocals
• Camille "Ill Camille" Davis — vocals
• Chad Hugo — vocals
• JMSN — background vocals
• Vindahl Friis — composer
• P. Williams — composer
• Lykke Schmift — composer
• Marcy Keating — violin
• Mary Keating — violin
• Marlon Williams — guitar, bass guitar
• Gabriel Stevenson — piano
• DJ Mormile — A&R
• Manny Smith — A&R
• Ray Alba — publicity
• Willie Long — grooming
• Kitti Fontaine — stylist
• Dan Monick — photography
• Paula Oliver — photo courtesy
• Dwane LaFleur — photo courtesy
• ScHoolboy Q — handwriting
• Ab-Soul - featured artist

Release history

Date	Region	Format(s)	Label	Edition(s)
October 22, 2012	Canada	CD, digital download	Aftermath, Interscope	Standard
				Deluxe
	United Kingdom			Standard
	United States			Standard
				Deluxe