The samples behind Kendrick Lamar's 'good kid, m.A.A.d city'

A great hip-hop album is arguably only as good as its samples, and the eclectic choices used on ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ certainly would suggest that there’s just as much truth in that old adage now as there ever has been. The opinion that Kendrick Lamar ’s debut studio album is one of the best hip-hop records released this year is currently spreading like wildfire, and it’s easy to see why (if you want to know specifics, see why it made our ‘Album of the Week’ here).

After having tracked down the plethora of samples which existed in Kendrick’s previous material and compiling it onto the mixtape ‘Kendrick Lamar – The Musical’ last year, Babylon Cartel have made the same thing happen for ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ with the aid of Gianni Lee and Mike Blud. Ranging from Danish hip-hop group Suspekt, to dream pop acts Beach House and Twin Sister, to Yeezy, Janet Jackson, Ohio Players and a whole load more, it’s clear to see that Kendrick took inspiration from plenty of great music so as to craft such an intriguing, multi-dimensional record.

‘good Kid, m.A.A.d City – The Samples’ provides an insightful, as well as informative look into how one of the best albums of the year was crafted – you can find out more about the mixtape and download it for yourself here.

In other Kendrick-related news, the Compton rapper will make another venture across the Atlantic early next year to play a handful of UK dates, which are as follows:

Dates

Thursday 17th January 2013 – HMV Ritz, Manchester
Friday 18th January – HMV Institute, Birmingham
Saturday 19th January – O2 Academy, Bristol
Sunday 20th January – Indigo2, London

Aftermath/Interscope released ‘good Kid, m.A.A.d City’ on the 22nd October 2012.