Shyne explains why he's not a fan of "good kid, m.A.A.d. city" 

Just the other night former Bad Boy recording artist Shyne launched an unprecedented twitter rant about his thoughts on the newly released, and critically acclaimed debut album by Kendrick Lamar, "good kid, m.A.A.d. city". Shyne stated that whilst Kendrick Lamar has immense talent he labeled the young artist album as "trash". During an interview with the Cipha Sounds and Rosenberg show, Shyne stated that he felt Kendrick had become a victim of the media and public hype machine, and he failed to deliver upon that hype with his debut. 

"I aint starting no trouble. Listen, y'all live in the United States of America. We don't live in the United States of Aftermath, Jimmy Iovine doesn't pay me, I can say whatever I want," said Shyne. "I'm not talking reckless. I said the young boy got potential and I said he was talented, but the album is trash. That's tough love". "What I said wasn't not nice, I didn't attack him as an individual, I didn't say anything disrespectful," he continued. "It's trash! I don't really listen to these rappers, but I heard him on a few joints and I was like, shorty's nice. ... So when he was coming out with an album, I was like, I'ma hear more of that." 

When asked in particular what he found "trash" about the album Shyne explained that the production quality was not up to par. Even stating that he would rather listen to a spoken word album if thats what Kendrick wanted to accomplish with "bad production". "Beats is trash, number one. And once your beats are trash, you're finished because you can't have a good flow. I don't really want to hear what you gotta say. I'll go buy Dr. Cornell West's album if I want to hear somebody talk about deep and profound things." 

Shyne continued to state that the only reason he felt the need to be so critical of the young emcee was to prevent Kendrick from feeling his buzz to much and buying into his own hype. "I feel bad for him because everybody's gassing him right now, everyone's on him. He on fire because of that Interscope machine, he's on fire because of that Dr. Dre machine. He's nice, but that's a lot of hype. All I'm saying is, to show y'all I'm not a hater, 50 Cent delivered. I never had nothing positive to say about him, but he delivered. He lived up to the hype. Get Rich or Die Trying was a classic album". 

Being the new kid on the block will always have those down the street eager to pass negative criticism and hope for an early downfall. The old guard in the rap industry should be eager to support such a young artist who loves the art of rap and is as passionate about hip-hop as Kendrick Lamar. The uplifting of an artist in the hip-hop community has always been a concept that not all artist grasps. In an era where the simplest rhymes garner the most praise Shyne should be the first to congratulate Kendrick who puts together complex rhyme schemes and songs with purpose. Shyne should know better than anyone the dark place hip-hop used to be. Uplift.  

So after much anticipation Kendrick Lamar finally released "good kid m.A.A.d. city", and it seems to have gone over really well with the fans. According to HDD it's looking like he's going to have over 200,000 records sold in his first week, if not for Taylor Swift he likely would have gotten the #1 album. If you haven't gotten a chance to get it yet, it is a great listen and will definitely be in the conversation for hip-hop album of the year. 

Kendrick Lamar explains deeper meaning behind, "good kid, m.A.A.d city" cover art  

With close to a month left until his first major studio release, the Compton MC decided to unveil the cover art for his album. During a recent interview with Fuse, Kendrick goes in-depth about the deeper meaning behind the cover depicting an image from his childhood about the life of a youngster being raised in Compton, engulfed in a negative world. 

"Two of my uncles, that's two of them, to the far right, that's my grandpa and a baby bottle next to a 40-ounce next to a gang sign, holding a kid," Kendrick explains. "The eyes blanked out, that's for my own personal reasons. You'll probably hear about that in the album, but that photo it says so much about my life and about how I was raised in Compton and the things I've seen just through innocent eyes. You don't see nobody else's eyes, but you see my eyes of innocence and trying to figure out what is going on." Kendrick states that the album is about much more than just music, but yet the story about the youth in Compton and the lives they lead. The imagery Kendrick provides gives all his fans a personal insight into his surroundings and upbringing, carefully constructing one of the centerpiece themes of his album. 

Kendrick furthermore explains the album as a self portrait, and pivotal in his growth as a person, "I feel I needed to make this album in order to move on with my life, and not have those negative vibes and demons haunting me......it's that real". K-dot goes on, "I'm glad I did, because it was a venting process to tell these stories I never told." 

Since his arrival on the rap scene, Kendrick Lamar has always given his listeners a peek into the life of a Compton kid growing up during violent times, whilst trying to comprehend it all. Good kid, m.A.A.d city, appears to have the makings of another journey down Compton blvd, with a kid trying to find his place in the world while simultaneously  battling the negative aspects of his environment.