'M.A.A.D City' (stylized 'm.A.A.d city') is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, from his second studio album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). The song, which appears as the eighth track on the album, features a guest appearance from fellow Compton native and West Coast rapper MC Eiht. The song was produced by Top Dawg in-house producers THC and Sounwave for the first part of the instrumental, and Terrace Martin for the second part. The song peaked at number 75 on the BillboardHot 100.
'm.A.A.d city' | |
---|---|
Song by Kendrick Lamar featuring MC Eiht | |
from the album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City | |
Released | October 22, 2012 |
Recorded | 2012 |
Genre | |
Length | 5:50 |
Label | |
Songwriter(s) |
|
Producer(s) |
Background[edit]
In the song, Lamar tells the story of his upbringing in Compton and its results. The song features MC Eiht of American gangsta rap group Compton's Most Wanted. The song also features additional background vocals from Lamar's Black Hippy cohort Schoolboy Q, doing his signature ad-lib during the refrain. He also explained 'M.A.A.D' is an acronym for 'My Angels on Angel Dust'. It is also known as 'My Angry Adolescence Divided.'[1]
On 'm.A.A.d city', Lamar talks about driving down Rosecrans Avenue in Compton, references smoking the PCP-laced blunt that he smoked in 'The Art of Peer Pressure,' and talks about being fired from his job for a robbery. Lamar also talks about how he saw his uncle being shot at a local burger stand.[2] The song features the violent climatic change in the Good Kid, M.A.A.D City story.[3] Yo-yo honey singh age.
Critical reception[edit]
The song was met with universal acclaim from music critics, praising the production and both rappers' performances.[4][5]XXL called 'm.A.A.d city' the album's 'creative and cinematic climax.'[6] David Amidon of PopMatters praised the songs production saying, it 'feels like Dr. Dre's The Chronic had a love child with Chronic 2001.[7] Andrew Nosnitsky of Spin described MC Eiht's appearance as show stealing.[8]Complex named the song number 25 on their list of the 50 best songs of 2012.[9].
Chart performance[edit]
The week of the October 2012 release of Good Kid m.A.A.d city, 'm.A.A.d City' debuted at number 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 due to high downloads. For unknown reasons, the track re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending September 8, 2013, at number 98.[10] Following Lamar's performance of the song at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, the song re-entered the chart, reaching a new peak of number 75 on the chart.[11]
Live performances[edit]
On March 31, 2013, Lamar closed the Good Kid m.A.A.d City portion of Black Hippy's set, at Paid Dues 2013 with 'm.A.A.d city'.[12] During his Good Kid m.A.A.d City World tour on July 12, 2013, Lamar performed 'm.A.A.d city' in Birmingham, England while backed by a live band.[13] Lamar also performed 'm.A.A.d city' and 'Money Trees' alongside Jay Rock, at the BET Experience concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[14] On September 17, 2013, Lamar performed 'm.A.A.d city' on The Arsenio Hall Show, along with Schoolboy Q's single 'Collard Greens'.[15] On January 28, 2014, Lamar performed 'm.A.A.d city' on DJ Skee's SKEE Live.[16] Following that, at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Lamar performed 'm.A.A.d city' again, along with a remix to 'Radioactive', in a mash-up with American rock band Imagine Dragons.[17] Then on February 15, 2014, Lamar performed 'm.A.A.d city' and 'Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe' on national television, during NBA's All-Star Saturday Night.[18] Lamar has performed 'M.A.A.D City' at every show on the Damn tour.[19]
Remixes[edit]
The song was sampled for American singer Cassie's debut mixtape RockaByeBaby (2013), on the song 'I Know What You Want'.[20] The song was also sampled by Dominican rapper Sensato, for his mixtape La Parte 3 Del 28 (2013), on the song 'Back in Business'.[21]
Kendrick Lamar Good Kid Maad City Download
Charts[edit]
Chart (2012) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot 100[22] | 75 |
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[23] | 24 |
US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)[24] | 10 |
Certifications[edit]
Region | Certification | Certified units/Sales |
---|---|---|
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[25] | Gold | 15,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] | Silver | 200,000 |
United States (RIAA)[27] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000 |
^shipments figures based on certification alone |
References[edit]
- ^Kendrick Lamar, 'good kid, m.A.A.d city': Track-By-Track Review | Billboard
- ^'The Narrative Guide To Kendrick Lamar's 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' | NOISEY'. Noisey.vice.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^Rytlewski, Evan (2012-10-30). 'Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City | Music | MusicalWork Review'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^'Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d city | Album Reviews'. Pitchfork. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^Dan Jackson. 'Review: Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city (Interscope)'. Cmj.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-08. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^'Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d city - XXL'. Xxlmag.com. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^Amidon, David. 'Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d. city'. PopMatters. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^Nosnitsky, Andrew (2012-10-23). 'Kendrick Lamar, 'good kid, m.A.A.d City' Review'. Spin.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^25. Kendrick Lamar f/ MC Eiht 'm.A.A.d city' — The 50 Best Songs of 2012 | Complex
- ^Paul Grein September 11, 2013 4:32 PM (2013-09-11). 'Week Ending Sept. 8, 2013. Songs: Race & The R&B Chart - Yahoo Music'. Music.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/music-news/chart-watch-radioactive-just-won-t-quit-013522916.html
- ^HD VIDEO: Kendrick Lamar Performs “m.A.A.d. City” w/ TDE Crew at Paid Dues 2013 | Pt. 5 | ItsTheDaily
- ^Watch: Kendrick Lamar Performs 'm.A.A.d City' With Full Band In Birmingham | Vibe
- ^Kendrick Lamar Performs 'm.A.A.d city' & 'Money Trees' At BET Experience Concert - XXL
- ^Watch Kendrick Lamar Perform 'm.A.A.d city', 'Collard Greens' With Schoolboy Q on 'Arsenio Hall' | News | Pitchfork
- ^http://www.vibe.com/article/kendrick-lamar-performs-maad-city-skee-live
- ^Llacoma, Janice (January 26, 2014). 'Kendrick Lamar & Imagine Dragons 'm.A.A.d city' & 'Radioactive' (2014 GRAMMY Performance)'. HipHopDX. Cheri Media Group. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
- ^http://www.complex.com/music/2014/02/kendrick-lamar-nba-all-star-saturday-night-performance
- ^Masley, Ed (July 13, 2017). 'Kendrick Lamar launches DAMN. Tour in Glendale with triumphant one-man show of force'. AZ Central. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
- ^Cassie's I Know What You Want sample of Kendrick Lamar feat. MC Eiht's m.A.A.d City
- ^http://www.datpiff.com/Sensato-DJ-Danny-S-Presents-La-Parte-3-Del-28-The-Mixtap-mixtape.531443.html
- ^'Kendrick Lamar Chart History (Hot 100)'. Billboard. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
- ^'Kendrick Lamar Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)'. Billboard. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
- ^'Kendrick Lamar Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)'. Billboard. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
- ^'Kendrick Lamar 'Maad City''. IFPI Denmark. August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
- ^'British single certifications – Kendrick Lamar & MC Eiht – Maad City'. British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 30, 2017.Select singles in the Format field.Select Silver in the Certification field.Type Maad City in the 'Search BPI Awards' field and then press Enter.
- ^'American single certifications – Kendrick Lamar – M.A.A.D. City (feat. MC Eiht)'. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 13, 2018.If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH.
Label
Aftermath
Some rappers just have more to say than others. A chronicle of his adolescence in Compton, Kendrick Lamar’s debut album for Dr. Dre’s Aftermath imprint, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, is less concerned with the rapper’s formal schooling than his street education, but it’s not a stretch to assume that Lamar was the student who single-spaced his term papers to squeeze a few extra thoughts into their page limits. In a raspy, rubbery patois tinged with shades of André 3000 and Bizzy Bone, he rhymes with a novelist’s attention to detail and seemingly no off-switch, frequently stretching his verses to 32 bars. He hits 38 in one verse on Good Kid’s 12-minute epic “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst,” and probably could have topped 50 had the verse not faded out for dramatic effect, the implication being he’ll happily go on and on if left unchecked.
On 2011’s independently released Section.80, the critical breakthrough that secured his place on the Aftermath roster—although a Compton rapper this gifted would’ve ended up under Dr. Dre’s wing eventually—Lamar’s run-on pontification sometimes overwhelmed his songs. On that album, he couldn’t resist the impulse to simultaneously weigh in on everything—relationships, identity, addiction, poverty, politics—but on Good Kid he ditches the soapbox, organizing his sprawling thoughts into an orderly narrative about the challenges of leading a normal childhood amid Compton’s precarious backdrop. In his world, every indulgence is a potential trap that could lead to the wrong page of a Choose Your Own Adventure book: alcohol (too addictive), weed (could be laced), friends (they’re gateways to crime), and girls (even the best intentioned of them are, by virtue of their surroundings, femmes fatale). Yet instead of retreating from these temptations, Lamar engages with them, albeit cautiously. “I always knew life could be dangerous,” he raps over the blissful guitar strums of “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”—the most laid-back track on an album with its share of them—but, he argues, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live it.
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Coming from the label that virtually created the template for the modern blockbuster rap album, Good Kid is an exercise in tasteful restraint, with Lamar employing his boundless budget in creative ways. When his thoughts turn to romance on the Drake-assisted single-in-waiting “Poetic Justice,” he sets the mood with an expensive Janet Jackson sample. When his tale takes a violent turn on “M.A.A.D. City,” the change is marked by a cameo from hardcore veteran MC Eiht, rapping over a blustering throwback to his Compton’s Most Wanted days. Even Pharrell Williams, who has often been grandfathered dead weight on recent rap albums, is put to real use: His dazed, Blaxploitation beat on “Good Kid” perfectly heightens Lamar’s narrative intrigue. Only the closer, “Compton,” with its overblown Just Blaze beat and chest-beating, city-repping assists from Dr. Dre, rings false. The track’s broad strokes are wholly out of place on an album that otherwise understands cities are too vast and complicated to be represented by one person, or captured in a single song.
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Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (stylized as good kid, m.A.A.d city) is the second studio album by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar. The album was released on October 22, 2012, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, and distributed by Interscope Records. The album serves as Lamar's major label debut, after his signing to Aftermath and Interscope in early 2012. It was preceded by the release of Kendrick's first studio album Section.80 (2011… read more
Tracklist
Track number | Play | Loved | Track name | Buy | Options | Duration | Listeners |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter's Daughter | 4:33 | 22,317 listeners | ||||
2 | Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe | 5:11 | 48,391 listeners | ||||
3 | Backseat Freestyle | 3:32 | 362,008 listeners | ||||
4 | The Art of Peer Pressure | 5:24 | 268,501 listeners | ||||
5 | Money Trees | 6:24 | 263,875 listeners | ||||
6 | Poetic Justice | 5:00 | 334,070 listeners | ||||
7 | good kid | 3:34 | 242,148 listeners | ||||
8 | m.A.A.d city | 5:50 | 276,709 listeners | ||||
9 | Swimming Pools (Drank) (extended version) | 5:13 | 267,785 listeners | ||||
10 | Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst | 12:03 | 186,400 listeners | ||||
11 | Real | 7:23 | 121,202 listeners | ||||
12 | Compton | 4:08 | 134,275 listeners |
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