Before launching into the final seconds of “The Heart Pt. 2,” the opening track of his 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated, Kendrick Lamar takes a ragged gulp of air. “I swear to God most of y’all cats just don’t know Kendrick,” he rasps over borrowed production from The Roots. “You barely know yourself, so I guess most of y’all should be offended.”
Lamar’s delivery here has become the stuff of legend, with many equating the rapper’s willingness to lose his breath at the end of this verse with his urgency to get his message across. In a 2010 interview with Railroad Hip-Hop, Kendrick explained his approach: “When I did ‘The Heart Pt. 2,’ when I put them emotions on there, it felt like I was breaking all the rules.”
Kendrick Lamar’s objective in hip-hop is pure disruption, and Overly Dedicated is where he fully locked into that mission. The Grammy-winning, Pulitzer Prize-awarded artist who stands head and shoulders above the rest of the rap game today, first stood on business on his underground breakthrough.
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In the space reserved for genres on iTunes album uploads, Overly Dedicated‘s initial description simply read: “Human Music.” Lamar wears his goal of revealing the humanity of Compton on his sleeve, and he presents his arguments with substance. Overly Dedicated is full of glimpses into the Kendrick Lamar that we would later get to know in depth.
The fervid, reflective energy explored on this mixtape would eventually be transferred to Lamar’s subsequent releases, felt most intensely on his 2012 album, good kid, m.A.A.d city. “P&P 1.5,” a jaunty track lifted and revamped from 2009’s Kendrick Lamar EP, sees Lamar introducing the main storyline of his eventual critically acclaimed sophomore album. “Pushing in my momma van, stop for gas on Rosecrans/ Trust me, these n****s rushed me for something my cousin prolly did/ Guilty by association — story of my life, n***a.” The imagery of the infamous van from the album cover of good kid, m.A.A.d city is also illustrated for listeners on “Ignorance Is Bliss,” which Kendrick revealed is the song that first attracted West Coast legend Dr. Dre’s attention. “Lord forgive me,” Kendrick quickly prays, before launching into a now-familiar narrative: “Kill him where he stand and stand over him, shake his hand/ Then jump back in that minivan, double back to his block and blam.”
Ever the marksman, Lamar used Overly Dedicated to refine his focus for maximum impact and connectivity. His previous release, the Kendrick Lamar EP, saw the MC inching toward self-realization. Prior to late 2009, Lamar was strictly a rapping machine, a lyrical assailant who was more interested in attacking popular beats (à la Lil Wayne) than crafting a developed conceptual album. Overly Dedicated was Lamar’s first full-length drop under his given name, as he previously rapped under the moniker “K-Dot.” While the names are interchangeable today, Lamar explained the key difference between the two shortly after the transition. “K-Dot was just a rapper trying to find his niche, studying all the greats,” he told Railroad Hip-Hop. “Taking pieces from each individual’s styles in rap. Kendrick Lamar is me, in general, my whole life. … Kendrick Lamar is Compton, California. That’s what I represent. My whole life, that’s what I put in my music. It’s about stories of young Black males, individuals, trying their best to escape the influences of the city. That’s me, that’s what I represent. Crips, Pirus, from motherfucking cracked-out moms to motherfucking deadbeat daddies, all that shit is instilled in me. Kendrick Lamar is Compton.”
