Good Kid Maad City (2012) vs. The Chronic (1992)

[VictorVerzion5]

GKMC is overall a better album (at least right now for me), but The Chronic is more of a classic. Kendrick's album has barely been out, but we just need to give it time before it truely becomes a classic. I feel like GKMC represents more of today's music, while Dre's album represents classic hip hop, and even though Dre isn't as good of a lyricist as Kendrick, The Chronic still had some joints that we still bump to in this day. The quality and story telling of GKMC tho, is more present, but like I said only time will tell till we really can answer which album is better than the other.

[King Lance]

'The Chronic' was released some 20 years ago. Questions worth posing are; 20 years from now, in 2033, will you (or/and maybe your kids) and the next generation(s) of hiphop listeners still listen to 'Good Kid Maad City'? Can GKMC become a measure of what a 'classic' represents, just as 'The Chronic' is today? The 'time'-element is very important.

IMO, it’s quite natural that "new" hiphop listeners might enjoy ‘GKMC’ more than 'The Chronic'. For better or worse, hiphop isn't the exact same culture as it was 20 years ago; the music - in many aspects - isn't the same either.

I definitely agree

GKMC is a solid album, but it has yet to stand the test of time. Right now, I think the album is somewhat overhyped. But that's more to do with how the media works, and the fact that our society is heavily driven by trends and "following the majority"-type thinking.

I agree with tou


imo, GKMC has only 1 thing to do, it has to pass the time test.
The Media has become almost as necessary as clothing. It is true that media is playing an outstanding role in strengthening the society.
It helps us to know current situation around the world. The media has a strong social and cultural impact upon society and it's pretty fair to say that the media has changed a lot of things in the music industry.
Journalists have been talking about GKMC as an instant classic since the day of its release and I can see the album passing the time test without any problem just because of the media.
I agree that it's pretty unfair because the albums from the past had to face a much more difficult test if they wanted to acquire the status of "classic" but let's be honest, new technologies (internet,etc) are now a part of our life

By the way, if the album earned a lot of praise, It wasn’t just because more people heard GKMC (An Aftermath debut); it was because of what they hear.
Kendrick had a solid fanbase before he got famous and he earned a lot of praise before GKMC: Game, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def and a lot of rappers "gave" him the torch, Lupe called him "the next big thing", Jay-z wanted to sign him to Def Jam before the release of Section 80 and Drake decided to take him with him for the Club Paradise World Tour,... The media just talked about what was happening tbh

[Blu]

Aone1, can you please expand on why you think The Chronic is the better album? You're just saying it is better in every aspect except for lyricism but that statement has no value to it.

You might think the production is better on The Chronic, but I can easily say GKMC does.

It seems as if people here are getting tired of Kendrick's praise so they figure they must go against him to hopefully shut up the Kendrick fans. It also seems that people are only choosing The Chronic because, well…Dre made it.

[King Lance]

Aone1, can you please expand on why you think The Chronic is the better album? You're just saying it is better in every aspect except for lyricism but that statement has no value to it.

You might think the production is better on The Chronic, but I can easily say GKMC does.

It seems as if people here are getting tired of Kendrick's praise so they figure they must go against him to hopefully shut up the Kendrick fans. It also seems that people are only choosing The Chronic because, well…Dre made it.

this is what I said before

Some of the guys who said the thread was useless actually voted for an album

There are already 43 votes, it's very tight (23-20) but some people who are living in the moment will say GKMC because it's newer material and some people don't like the comparisons because of the already acquired "Classic" status of The Chronic.
There are a lot of interesting comments though

[King Lance]

GKMC is a solid album, but it has yet to stand the test of time. Right now, I think the album is somewhat overhyped. But that's more to do with how the media works, and the fact that our society is heavily driven by trends and "following the majority"-type thinking.

That's the thing, I don't see it standing the test of time. While it's a really solid album and one of the better hip-hop albums to be released in recent years, I can't see people listening to it 20 years from now, but I can still see people listening to an album like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West (IMO that's the only recent album that will stand the test of time). But, only time will tell. I'm betting that people won't be listening to this 20 years from now the way they listen to the Chronic or Illmatic. It just doesn't have enough to keep you interested.

Aone1, can you please expand on why you think The Chronic is the better album? You're just saying it is better in every aspect except for lyricism but that statement has no value to it.

You might think the production is better on The Chronic, but I can easily say GKMC does.

It seems as if people here are getting tired of Kendrick's praise so they figure they must go against him to hopefully shut up the Kendrick fans. It also seems that people are only choosing The Chronic because, well…Dre made it.

The Chronic still feels refreshing and interesting everytime I listen to it. I can barely listen to GKMC anymore because I find it gets boring fast. Classic albums can be put on repeat over and over again and never annoy you. GKMC does that to me. It annoys me after too many listens. And don't think I'm a Kendrick hater. I LOVE Section.80 and think it's a better album than GKMC. I was extremely hyped about GKMC, I didn't listen to any leaks, I waited to buy it. I bought it and thought it was a great album, just not as great as some people say it is. It's definitely over rated. The production can get quite boring, and hearing back to back stories about his life in Compton doesn't give it replay value. It's like watching a movie over and over again. People keep saying it's so great because it's like a movie. That's the thing about music, it isn't supposed to be like a movie. When do you honestly watch a movie 4-5 times a week? Like I've said before, it's a great album to go back and revisit every once a blue moon, but it isn't the type of album you can leave in your CD deck for a month straight.

This is because you have other expectations for music, not everybody has the same expectations
And for illmatic, it's the same for other classic, not everybody listen to them, I discovered these albums when I was young and I don't listen to them anymore.. it doesn't mean these albums aren't classic