No Skips: Amelia 'Meals' Enticott on Kendrick Lamar's DAMN.
The backbone of the Pōneke's music scene dives into a No Skip record that changed her life...
The premise of ‘No Skips’ is simple: I think the advent of music streaming/algorithms has inadvertently made our music tastes very insular. Personally, I’ve found it a lot harder to find new music to fall in love with that’s not just something an algorithm thinks I’d be keen on based on data it’s collected on me.
So to broaden my, and hopefully your, musical horizons, each week I reach out to musicians I love to get their recommendation on an album they believe deserves the title of 'No Skips'— one you can listen to front to back without wanting to skip a single track.
This week we have Amelia ‘Meals’ Enticott breaking down how Kendrick Lamar’s ‘DAMN’ opened her up to a whole new genre of music.
If you’ve ever been out to watch live music in Wellington, there’s a good chance you’ve been served a pint from Meals. As the BACKBONE of the Pōneke music scene, she’s been the friendliest face behind the bar at all the greats: Little Beer Quarter, Laundry, San Fran, Rouge and Vagabond, and Meow. She’s also part of the hard-working team that puts on the best fest in the bush: Twisted Frequency, which is celebrating their TENTH year of New Years doofn’ tickets are on sale now if you have no New Year’s plans.
So trust me when I say Meals knows a thing or two about good music…
I'd been listening to Kendrick for a couple years when ‘DAMN.’ dropped. And boy oh boy did I rinse that puppy when it came out. I was still new to the rap game - back in the day, this genre TERRIFIED me. I couldn't understand how someone could get down to something with such brutal lyrics and threatening melodies.
In 2014, I found myself in a bit of a rut. Depressed, playing video games too much, and dropping out of university after 6 months of shit grades. My mates suggested I find a hype song to help me get out of my rut, and played me Rigamortus (from section.80, another banger of an album). Needless to say, that song was on repeat for a good month. It made me feel some kind of emotion I'd never felt before. Or some new frame of mind where it was okay to be angry with yourself and the world, and you weren't alone cause Kendrick was writing bars about it and dropping them over some beats that just slapped so hard.
His lyrics run much deeper than disses and "fucking bitches" (although he also disses and raps about fucking bitches like any famous rapper). He talks about his own depression/mental health struggles, the state of the fucked up world we live in, the haters, the lovers, and everything in between. ‘DAMN.’ is no exception to his realness.
I was so god damn excited when this album dropped. I’d been bumping his tunes for a good few years, flexing my newfound rap appreciation to all my homies (much to their indie-loving disgust). I was in awe. Listening through for the first time, I think I sat there with my earbuds in, staring at the album cover on Spotify, Kendrick looking hot as hell, sporting a real ‘don’t fuck with me’ glare. Little did I know this album would be the soundtrack to my 2017.
Each track hits for a different reason lyrically and emotionally. You need the ebbs and flows to move the energy as the album unfolds, much like a live gig. It starts with BLOOD., a track about police brutality and the all too common racism that communities face from the police, especially in America. I can't relate to the racism that Kendrick faces, but I can feel his emotion from the lyrics and music. BLOOD. really sets a tone for the rest of the album. For me, it's about identity and belonging which is something many of us struggle with for different reasons. We live in a judgemental world. I’ve certainly had my fair share of feeling like an outsider just wanting to be let in.
After BLOOD. We get a cold hard smack in the face with DNA. That’s a tuuune. "I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA". Yeah you do K. Dot! Maybe I do too? What a bop, absolutely stonkin beat on this track! And relatable lyrics that make me feel like a real life bad bitch?! This is the reason I stuck around in the rap game. I’d been waiting for my next hype track since Rigamortus and here it was.
YAH. ELEMENT. FEEL. All bringing the energy back down and making me question whether I started listening to the album because I wanted to hype up my bad bitch side or did I need a reminder that it's okay to feel things.
I'm not gonna blab on about every track (even though they are all legendary and definitely NOT skippable) but I do have to mention the other absolute smack in the face of a track... HUMBLE. Rapping about natural things like asses with stretch marks? Iconic. This track took the world by storm and is arguably what made Kendrick the household name he is today. His left stroke indeed went viral. Coming in at number 49 of most streams on Spotify to date. Go off king.
This album makes me feel like I'm allowed to belong to whatever I want to and feel whatever I feel. That shit's empowering. I also rate the capitalised and punctuated album and track names. What a power move.
DNA. An absolute bop of a beat and some hearty lyrics. It hypes me up about myself, reminds me that I'm a kick ass person with realness. Real pain, real emotion, real good taste in music the song goes straight in. It's all gas, no breaks from the beginning. There's a 2nd drop two thirds of the way through and if you thought you were already hyped, hold on, you're about to get extra riled up.
PRIDE. A laid back and lax beat. Easy listening, some would say. Ethereal guitar, lush almost hidden bass, and a simple yet effective drum beat. Musically, it's simple and palatabl - which is a sneaky hook for those non-rap fans. Band music mwahaha. Reel ‘em in with the kind of music you could have playing in the background at Nan's that she probably wouldn't even notice was rap. Lyrically, Kenny gets me in the feels with that relatability again. Simple hooky melodies and beats, with expertly layered vocals, and some deep lyrics that dive into the downfalls of pride and the priority we place over love. Something I’m definitely guilty of doing.
I wouldn't say that DAMN influenced my taste, nor did it not. I'd never loved an entire rap album before so it was surely a first. But I think Kendrick's music in general was the influential turning point you're talking about. When my mates showed me Rigamortus and I started listening to him, I made a Playlist of all of my favourite tracks. good kid, m.A.A.d city was the last album to drop when I got on the Kenny train which had pleeenty of bangers to choose from alongside section.80 and Overly dedicated. I can undoubtedly and proudly say that Kendrick's music was my entire personality for a good few years there. His music helped me out of dark places, and made me feel like the gangsta babe that I deserve to feel I may or may not have been booked in for a tattoo of Kenny's face inspired by DAMN.'s album art and I may or may not have backed out Funny to think that 10 years ago I was scared of rap.
Thanks again to Meals for taking a break from festival organization to share No Skips fav! If you see her behind the bar this weekend, give her a crisp high-five from me!