DAMN. Concept Overview Thread

DAMN is filled with lots of underlying religious tones which are mainly what I’m gonna be exploring in this thread as I think that is what the main concept is about.

To understand DAMN, u gotta start w a story from the Torah, specifically the Book of Deuteronomy. This story follows the Exodus, which was were Moses freed the slaves of Egypt. From there he brings them on a 40 year journey to the promised land.

By the time they arrive at the promised land they have developed religious laws, the 10 commandments, to follow. Moses gives them a speech pretty much telling them that they must follow the rules of God or they will be cursed. Some might even say...DAMNED.

To make it even more interesting, it is believed that 10 out of the 12 tribes of Israel were lost during the journey to the promised land. They ended up all over the world. Africa, Asia, North America, South America, ect.

We know that the people from these regions of the world are Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American. These are all groups that have faced persecution and oppression of all different magnitudes, even to this day.

Ok here’s how it connects to DAMN

Kendrick is trying to say that he and his people will continue to face this oppression until they truly follow the word of God

This is seen in the opening line of the album on BLOOD. with
“Is it wickedness
Is it weakness
You decide
Are we gonna live or die?”

He is asking if we stray from Gods path due to evil, or due to a lack of willpower. He then quotes Moses speech in Deuteronomy giving the Isralites the choice to live or to die

On YAH. Kendrick states
“In Deuteronomy states that we’ve all been cursed
I know he walks the Earth
But there’s money to get, bitches to hit
Zeroes to flip, temptation is
First on my list, I can’t resist”

This is one of the most important lines of the entire album as it explains Kendrick position on the topic. He recognizes that he has been DAMNED by God for not following his rules, however he is still sucked in by the temptations all around him

PRIDE. shows Kendrick releasing his pride and being honest about his character. It also contains another really important line
“In a perfect world, I would be perfect, world”

This is Kendrick saying that the world is too fucked up for anyone to truly follow the rules God set upon the Isralites.

A similar theme is shown on LUST. While Kendrick seems to disapprove of the lifestyle described in this song as it is against God, he encourages his listeners to make it count because either way they seem to be cursed.

The outro of FEAR. includes a voice mail from Kendrick cousin further explaining that to return to the promised land they must return to Gods way

Overall it seems like Kendrick is very conflicted. While he believes this may be true to free his people, he understands that everyone is just a human being struggling with all of the vices surrounding themselves

The track titles also prove Kendrick confliction. All of the titles work in pairs. All of the pairs are opposites

BLOOD & DNA (Blood is a physical thing we can see while our DNA makeup is invisible to the human eye)

YAH & ELEMENT (YAH represents Yahweh or God which conflicts with the periodic ELEMENTS found in science)

FEEL & LOYALTY (on FEEL Kendrick feels alone and isolated as if no one is praying for him while on LOYALTY he describes the importance of being able to rely on others)

PRIDE & HUMBLE (polar opposites)

LOVE & LUST (polar opposites)

XXX & FEAR (in XXX Kendrick is furious and lashing out, while in FEAR he lists everything he is afraid of)

GOD & DUCKWORTH (in GOD Kendrick feels as if he is a God only to be reminded in DUCKWORTH that if one event went differently he could have “grown up without a father and died in a gunfigh-“)

At the end of the day, all Kdot is left to say is....DAMN.

By doing the time and research into this album and finding how deep and multi layered it is, I’ve gain an entire new apprecion for it. Thanks for reading