The Plot of Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid M.A.A.D. City

Since the Grammys a lot of folks have been talking about Kendrick Lamar and Good Kid M.A.A.D. City. Most people know that the album is supposed to be a 'concept album' and contains a story, but at least to me, I've always found it difficult to coherently follow the story through the album. So I listened to each track, took notes on what happens in each song and attempted to piece the plot together. I’ll first list the original track listing, and then I’ll make a chronological list of plot events, with the source songs in parenthesis. It’s worth noting that outside of the plot elements, the songs themselves more abstractly deal with the major themes of the album (i.e. the struggles of growing up in Compton, gang culture, bad influence in that culture, lack of opportunity, the importance of God and family, etc.). I haven’t spent time walking through these because they are a bit more evident and also less necessary to follow the details chronologically.

Track listing:

• Angajari politia locala sector 2 bucuresti. Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter

• Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe

• Backseat Freestyle

• Art of Peer Pressure

• Money Trees

• Poetic Justice

• Good Kid

• M.A.A.D. City

• Swimming Pools

• Sing About Me, Dying of Thirst

• Real

• Compton

PLOT:

• Kendrick (17 at the time) meets Sherane at a party over the summer and continues to stay in touch with her (At the beginning of “Sherane” kendrick narrates this and “Swimming Pools” is a more first person view of the party they met at, up until the change in the song when the women’s voice says Sherane)

• Kendrick borrows his mom’s van to go out and meet up with his friends (very last line of “Compton” the last song on the original version of the album

• He and his friends cruise around LA during the day, hassling people and just being a nuisance (this is from the Art of Peer Pressure, which is really the beginning of the chronological first person narration in the album)

• Later in the day, the boys stage a robbery and almost get caught (Art of Peer Pressure)

• After getting away from the cops, his drop Kendrick off at his momma’s fan to go meet up with Sherane. They make plans to meet up again later in the night. (End of Art of Peer Pressure & Sherane)

• While on the other side of town, Kendrick gets jumped by some hoodies who aren’t happy that he is over there to see Sherane (End of Sherane)

• Mom calls Kendrick to get her van back (End of Sherane)

• Kendrick gets picked up by friends to drive around partying and rapping to a beats CD they have (Backseat Freestyle)

• They continue to drive around getting messed up, Mom keeps calling to get her car back (Money Trees, Good Kid M.A.A.D. City)

• Later in the night, they see the hoodies that jumped Kendrick and shoot at them (end of Swimming Pools)

• During the exchange of fire, Kendrick’s friend Dave gets shot (Swimming Pools)

• Dave's brother and Kendrick talk about the situation, as well as Dave's sister and Kendrick rapping about her in his real life EP Section 80 (Sing about me, dying of thirst)

• The boys get guidance from a matronly figure, who sees blood on their shirts, on the need for religion (Sing about me, dying of thirst) Rehras sahib pdf.

• Dave's brother wants to go after the people who shot his brother (End of Sing about me, Dying of Thirst. This also ties back to the praying at the very beginning of the album)

• Kendrick’s dad calls and leaves a voicemail, giving condolences for his friend being killed, but saying that they shouldn’t retaliate and that they should instead focus on family and god.

• Kendrick’s mom calls again about the van, which still hasn’t been returned, and says she thinks it was a good idea that they went and prayed. She also says that Top Dog wants Kendrick to stop by the studio and reminds Kendrick to take his music seriously. (Real)

• Kendrick’s mom’s phone call is the end of the chronological plot line in the studio version of the album, with Compton being more of a CODA and then looping back to the beginning of the plot with the last line. (Compton)

• In the deluxe version of the album, the themes continue basically into Kendrick’s redemption through successfully getting out of the toxic Compton environment and achieving his improbable success in music.