Rapper Kendrick Lamar making good

The album begins with a prayer, and then the sinning begins.

But rapper Kendrick Lamar is repentant for it all, ambivalent about his womanizing and pill popping, though clearly he enjoys both.

Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City,” released last fall, was one of the more eagerly anticipated debuts in hip-hop in recent years, and it lived up to the lofty expectations with alternately thoughtful and damnable rhymes delivered in Lamar’s smooth, prepossessing flow.

Lamar speaks of confronting peer pressure, unsuccessfully, in his native Compton and his uncertainty over whether to attempt to rule the streets or try to escape them.

With the success of “Good Kid,” he’s accomplished the latter, intentionally or not.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.