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Kendrick Lamar · S4 E8
October 22, 2012
The album debuts at number two. Loses the Grammy to Macklemore. Wins everything else
October 22, 2012. Two albums drop on the same day. One sells a million copies in seven days. The other rewrites the rules of what a rap album can be.
A$AP Rocky, Fuckin' Problems ft. Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar (official music video, 2012). Released the same month as GKMC, this feature put Kendrick in the ring with Drake and A$AP Rocky on a mainstream banger. He did not just hold his own. He stole the entire song.
Which album was released on the exact same day as good kid, m.A.A.d city?
Fuckin' Problems ft. Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky (2012)
Released in September 2012, one month before GKMC, this A$AP Rocky single put Kendrick in the ring with the two biggest names in mainstream rap. Drake coasts, 2 Chainz delivers his signature punchlines, then Kendrick arrives and the energy shifts: his cadence is faster, his bars denser, his delivery sharper than everyone else on the record.
The Biggest Week in Music
good kid, m.A.A.d city drops on October 22, 2012, the same day as Taylor Swift's Red. Swift moves 1.21 million copies, pushing Kendrick's 242,000 to number two. Every critic in America knows which album will be remembered longer.
“You got robbed. I wanted you to win. You should have. It's weird and it sucks that I robbed you.”
— Macklemore, text message to Kendrick Lamar, posted on Instagram, January 26, 2014
TAP TO REVEAL: What did Kendrick say publicly about losing the Grammy to Macklemore?
Now or Never ft. Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar
The final bonus track on the GKMC deluxe edition, and the closest thing on the album to a victory lap. Mary J. Blige lends her voice to a song about triumph after struggle. In the context of the album's release and the Grammy controversy that followed, the title says everything.
GKMC by the Numbers
Macklemore texts his apology and Kendrick says nothing. He drives to the studio and starts building something so ambitious it will make the Grammy debate feel like a footnote. Next season: To Pimp a Butterfly.
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To be continued
Season 5: To Pimp a Butterfly
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