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The Rundown: Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d. city - After months—years, really—of building expectations, consistently improving music, a steadily building profile, Kendrick Lamar has finally delivered his major-label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d. city. But did he live up to the deafening buzz, the ever-heightening hype? Is he a worthy addition to Dr. Dre's legacy of classic music and amazing proteges? And will he revive L.A., and the West Coast as a whole, as a rap powerhouse? Click on for the Rundown, a track-by-track review of good kid, m.A.A.d city that will answer these questions and much more. —Alex Gale (Photo: Interscope Records)

Photo By Interscope Records

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"Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter's Daughter" - Kendrick Lamar opens the album with the juxtaposition of good and evil, a theme that runs throughout. Here, in a look forward at the album narrative to follow, he's just a in-puppy-love Compton teenager trying to get some—until reality interrupts, in the form of two guys in black hoodies. The tinkling pianos and phasing snare drums, a blend of early-2000s Dr. Dre G-funk and Drake's drowsy, 40-helmed beats, are a good mission statement for the album's lush, expertly crafted production. (photo: John Ricard / BET).

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"B---h, Don't Kill My Vibe" - Don't like Kendrick Lamar's delivery? Don't stress—he's got about five or six different styles of spitting. Here, he goes from his thoughtful, articulate regular-guy flow to a strange, otherworldly, almost robotic sing-songy flow, while the production favors classic UGK, all guitar wahs and 808s.   (Photo: Neilson Barnard/WireImage for VEVO)

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"Backseat Freestyle" - Kendrick Lamar rhymes with new, never-heard-before levels of intensity on this left-field Hit-Boy club banger. By the end, he's built up to an eff-the-world yell, making it clear this album is going to have dangerous moments as well as deep ones.  (Photo: Moses Robinson/Getty Images for Heineken)

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"The Art of Peer Pressure" - At times good kid, m.A.A.d. city recalls Outkast's heyday—Atliens and Aquemini in particular. Here, the understated, rim-shot beat and Kendrick's overpronounced, Andre-like non sequiturs are a throwback to "Jazzy Belle," and that's a good thing. Kendrick Lamar takes the theme of the album head on: a regular kid trying, and sometimes failing, to stay out of the trouble his hometown's known for. (Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BET)

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"Money Trees" (featuring Jay Rock) - Kendrick Lamar channels Andre 3000 yet again on this standout, with his layers of funky falsetto singing and hood wisdom ("money trees is the perfect place for shade"). Jay Rock impresses with grimy gravitas on his guest verse, sadly the only contribution from Kendrick's Black Hippy collective on the non-deluxe album.(Photo: Chris McKay/Getty Images for BET)(Photos from left: Moses Robinson/Getty Images for BET, John Ricard / BET).

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"Poetic Justice" (featuring Drake) - Kendrick Lamar headlined the "Buried Alive" interlude on Drake's Take Care, and the Toronto MC returns the favor on this lust letter, backed by a sultry Janet Jackson sample and stuttering 808 programming. With their earnest approach to seduction and equally smooth, articulate deliveries, Kendrick and Drizzy are top-notch wing-men. (Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage, Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

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"Good Kid" - Pharrell unleashes one of his spookiest, bluesiest beats yet, absent the computer-love synth bloops his work with Chad Hugo is known for. His hook channels Roy Ayers' "We Live in Brooklyn Baby," while Kendrick, the titular good kid, raps of unwanted run-ins with the gang members and corrupt cops that help make Compton a "m.A.A.d. city."   (Photo: Landis/PictureGroup)

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"m.A.A.d. City" (featuring MC Eiht)  - Kendrick Lamar taps into Compton's dark side for the companion piece to "Good Kid," rapping from a gangbanger's perspective with yet another new voice, one brimming with wild-eyed, fight-or-flight intensity. The production, by Sounwave and Terrace Martin, switches from menacing modern-day trap rap to early-'90s Elifzaggin-inspired thump, while hometown O.G. MC Eiht shows up to legitimize Kendrick's hard-edged past. (Photos from left: John Ricard / BET, Courtesy of XXL)

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"Swimming Pools (Drank)" - Unlike many "radio" singles—if you could call this quirky digression that—"Swimming Pools" fits with the album perfectly. Kendrick Lamar is one of the few rappers who could make a song about alcoholism work in a club setting, though he doesn't dumb things down: At one point, his conscience raps to him in a strangely disembodied voice over the appropiately woozy beat, inspired by Drake and 40's best, dreamiest collabos.  (Photo: Leon/PictureGroup)

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"Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" - The emotional center of the album, this beautiful 12-minute opus seems to combine two separate songs. The first, "Sing About Me," is a touching meditation on death and memory, with Kendrick Lamar once again taking on multiple points of views over a gorgeous piano-string backdrop anchored by a Bill Withers rim-shot loop. The second half, "I'm Dyin' of Thirst," features an amazing Danny Elfman-inspired beat that's stuttering and serene at the same time, while Kendrick asks for forgiveness before he meets inevitable, expected death. Recorded voicemails from his parents, interspersed throughout the album to mostly hilarious effect, here provide real insight into Kendrick's past and present. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)

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"Real" (featuring Anna Wise of Sonnymoon) - With pulsing, Soulquarian-style production from Terrace Martin and a Badu-esque hook backing him, Kendrick Lamar raps thoughtfully about loving himself and his peoples, flaws and all, an optimistic lead-up to the close of the album's narrative.  (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)

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"Compton" - Kendrick Lamar transitions from the album's emotional depths to this triumphant hometown anthem, a gut-punching exclamation point. With Just Blaze providing gargantuan drums, vocoder solos and key changes, the song matches the epic bombast that defined past Aftermath releases (Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Game); otherwise, this album is undoubtedly the most subtle and understated the label's ever dropped. Dre delivers an awesome verse, obviously written by Kendrick, perfectly, and there's surprising chemistry between the two. The song confirms the point the album's been making all along—that Kendrick is indeed the new torchbearer for his city's rap legacy, from N.W.A. to Snoop to Game. Disregard the inconsistent bonus tracks that follow on the deluxe version: This is how you close out an excellent album, arguably the best rap release of the year so far. (Photo...

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"The Recipe" (featuring Dr. Dre) - The first bonus track, previously released single "The Recipe," is a sign of what many expected this album to be: There's a Dre verse (again clearly penned by Kendrick) and an accessible, G-funk-influenced beat. It bangs—the filtered-out Twin Sister sample is hypnotizing—but it wouldn'tve fit the album's concept or story arc. It's a bonus track for a reason. (Photos from left: Johnny Nunez/WireImage,Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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"Black Boy Fly" - This track alone justifies the extra three dollars for the deluxe edition of the album. Kendrick Lamar is at his introspective best, breaking down crabs-in-a-barrel jealousy and poignantly name-dropping Compton heroes the Game and Arron Afflalo over mournful Rhodes chords.   (Photo: Solomon Scott / BET)

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"Now or Never" (featuring Mary J. Blige) - That this radio-ready song—with its clear positive message, upbeat production and catchy, melodic hook from Mary herself—was only included as a bonus track is a reminder of just how subversively left-field this album is. With Mary shouting out her endorsement deals, it would've stuck out like a sore thumb placed in the middle of the album's dark introspection. It's also a reminder of how good the album is; this is probably the worst song here.(Photos from left: John Ricard / BET, Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

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"Collect Calls" - Sonically, this is no doubt the strangest song on the album, filled with reverbed synth beeps and sound effects over a tricky 6/4 meter. But it's nothing to Kendrick Lamar: He rides the unorthodox time signature perfectly, and it doesn't throw him off his melancholy message for a second.  (Photo: Aftermath Entertainment)

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"The Recipe" (Black Hippy Remix) (featuring Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock) - Kendrick Lamar's crew and Top Dawg label mates—Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock—finally show up, fashionably late. It's disappointing that they're barely there on Kendrick's coming-out party (aside from Jay Rock on "Money Trees"), relegated to this Spotify-only bonus track, but they make up for it with their undeniable chemistry. It's obvious these guys love rhyming together, but it's unclear why they don't do it more often. (Photo: Lucas Alvarado/Far Fetched Future/Complex Music)