Call me out on your track if you disagree, he suggests, but be warned: I will destroy you lyrically and, worse, “make it look sexy”. Hence Element, a post-fame restatement of the claims made on Rigamortis. It is obligatory for rappers to announce that they are the best, but the difference with Lamar is that he does it in a way that suggests he might well have a point. “What you gonna do?” he asks after detailing a litany of life’s horrors. i (2014)Īpparently Lamar’s favourite track from To Pimp a Butterfly, on which he gradually pulls himself out of depression into a state close to euphoria, buoyed up by a backing based on the Isley Brothers’ reliably joy-bringing That Lady. Rapping in a double-time flow over a twitchy, sped-up jazz sample, he offers a stream of boasts about his ability that are so relentless and inventive, even Nas – one of the artists over whom Rigamortis appears to claim Lamar’s supremacy – called him “the future”. Rigamortis (2011)įrom Lamar’s debut album, a swaggering early example of his skills. The directness of the latter’s verse is a perfect complement to the unpick-this density of Lamar’s lyrics. Cartoon and Cereal (2013)ĭropped from Good Kid, MAAD City and subsequently released as a single, the dark, Wu-Tang-goes-trap beat of Cartoon and Cereal improbably paired Lamar with the Rick-Ross-affiliated, swastika-tattooed rapper Gunplay.