May 10, 2017 After 500 listens, I'm now a bit upset. Sounds like the majority of people at this point believe that the album tells a different story when played forward than backwards. Even those who haven't fully grasped it (or fully buy into it), understand that there's at least something going on there: "Is it wickedness? Is it weakness? You decide. Are we gonna live or die?"....later followed by the "We gon' put it in reverse." found on the closing track DUCKWORTH ends with the alternate scenario where Top Dawg kills Kendrick's father, Kendrick grows up without a father and dies in a gun fight. This life and death of Kendrick is supposed to bring the narrative full circle (or, rather, to start the narrative in reverse, where this scenario is now the introduction to the album). Spoiler: breakdown of the "theory" "When you play the album front to back, we see a confident Kendrick exposing his anxieties very subtlety until FEAR. where he lays out an entire lifetime of what scares him. He does admit insecurities on FEEL., but I view this as more an awareness of people treating him differently because of his success; a theme that makes sense leading into LOYALTY. This is the story of him not wanting to show weakness by admitting he is living through fear of losing his career or his life. I also believe this is the story of the real Kendrick, the one addressed on DUCKWORTH. that came out of Anthony not killing his father." "You decide are we going to live or die?" According to this duality theory, playing the album from top to bottom tells the story of Kendrick living through fear — better yet, it answers the immediate words that follow the (fatal?) gunshot on "BLOOD.," which happens to be: "Is it weakness?" This order portrays the weakness side. Through this version, we find Kendrick exposing his wounds and insecurities and it's on a record like "FEAR.," where he really digs into a lifetime of anxieties that have haunted him. Playing it in reverse, tells the "is it wickedness" side of the narrative. Where the former order tells the story of the Kendrick Duckworth we know today, thanks to Anthony not killing his father (as detailed on "DUCKWORTH."). When playing it backwards, the album details the "reverse of good karma" and reveals a story of what would have happened had K. Dot "grew up without a father and died in a gunfight." "On DUCKWORTH., Kid Capri says "We gon' put it in reverse!" The track ends with Kendrick saying, "Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin' life while I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight," followed by a gunshot and the entire album sonically reversed until the, "So I was takin' a walk the other day" of BLOOD. This gave me the idea to play d---. back - front. This is the story of the Kendrick that would have resulted in Ducky being killed." My beef with this is: If all of this is true and the theories are right, then this means that the entire album/concept/narrative hinges on the fact that Anthony (TD) was actually plotting to k--- Kendrick's father (Ducky) and that this alternate scenario of Kendrick growing up without a father exists. Because if this isn't true, and there was never any truthfulness to this scenario, then the album concept as a whole falls apart. There would be no alternate scenario, no death of Kendrick, and no duality to the album. No wickedness or weakness factor. No live or die. No deciding. It's been confirmed that Top and Ducky knew each other, and that TD was a b-----r and Ducky worked at that chicken shack (this alone is wild imo). But Was TD actually contemplating killing Ducky? My gut says that's a stretch. He would have no reason to. Kendrick even says on the track that "they robbed the manager and killed a customer last year", already eluding to the fact that "they" (TD) has no history of killing the staff themselves to begin with. I doubt that TD was ever going to k--- Ducky, and because of this, the song falls flat, and therefore, the concept of the album is highly diminished. Granted, I understand that it's just a story and of course not every detail on the album is going to be real events, but rather exaggerations/interpretations to events or entirely made up characters themselves, but on DUCKWORTH in particular we're led to believe that it's a real story and the events that transpired are 100% true.
May 10, 2017 because there's a difference between actual criticism and this dumb Lost-lite fan theorizing
May 10, 2017 lol @ thinking that digging into the most-pivotal moment of the album is "dumb" (eloquently worded btw)
May 10, 2017 not everything is a search for literal, linear answers to an album's "concept" or whatever. this is what hbo and genius did to rap fans.
May 10, 2017 "everything"? lol of course not. kendrick is a welcomed rarity. feel free to enjoy an artist who goes deeper than the rest of mainstream rap and give the guy some credit. ...or stick to dumbed-down, mindless tracks if that's what you'd prefer. i don't care -- just don't over-generalize.
May 13, 2017 people forever working to pull apart kendrick just take duckworth with a pinch of salt, like if you pick any story apart youl find inconsistencies if anyone mentions fan theories i just zone out anyway
May 13, 2017 i'm waiting for kendrick to do an interview that explains everything or he probably won't talk about the album at all and leave people to make their own opinions either way idgaf
