Dec 26, 2015 Kendrick undoubtedly has great album covers that he is known for putting a lot of time and effort into. Over time I've come to notice two common themes between the album covers that you may find interesting and noteworthy. A lot of this stuff is very obvious but I thought it would be nice to bring it up for discussion anyway. This is mainly in reference to his album covers since Section.80. Conflicting Imagery Each album cover contains conflicting imagery or some form of juxtaposition. For example: Section.80: The Section.80 cover shows a juxtaposition between being sinful and being righteous. The cover contains various items, including a crack pipe, bullets, condoms, drugs etc., that many people consider to be sinful and evil. In contrast, these things are right beside a Bible, which many people believe to be righteous, positive and sacred. GKMC: The GKMC cover shows a juxtaposition between innocence and immorality/impurity. This is displayed with at least two things in this album art. Firstly, the beer bottle being so close to the baby bottle, with the beer bottle being seen as impure and the baby bottle being regarded as pure and unassociated with evil. Secondly, the relative holding young Kendrick is throwing up a g--- sign which represents immorality, but it is juxtaposed by a young Kendrick who at this stage in his life is just a child who represents innocence. To p---- A Butterfly: The TPAB cover exhibits conflicting imagery of power. The cover presents an image of The White House, arguably the most politically powerful place on Earth, and a group of young black men from the ghetto, who would usually have no to very little political power. These powerless young men occupying the most powerful building in the world shows conflict and juxtaposition in the form of power struggle. Representation of songs Each of these album covers also have a direct representation of at least one song on the respective album. For example: Section.80: The cover has weed sitting on top of the Bible which is directly portraying the song "Kush & Corinthians". Furthermore, the prescription tablets could refer to "A.D.H.D."; the bullets and crack pipe could refer to "Ronald Reagan Era"; and the condoms to both "Tammy's Song" and "Keisha's Song". GKMC: The 40 ounce beer bottle directly represents the song "Swimming Pools" regarding Kendrick's family and friend's dependance on alcohol. Also, the g--- sign which is being thrown up by the man holding young Kendrick strongly portrays issues largely discussed in "Good Kid" and "M.A.A.D City", amongst other songs on the album where g--- issues are focused on. GKMC Deluxe Edition: Also, on the deluxe cover, Kendrick's mother's van directly refers to the song "Sherane" and the various skits throughout the album where the van is mentioned, particularly by Kendrick's mother. TPAB: This cover completely embodies the ideas behind the song "Hood Politics" where Kendrick talks about "DemoCRIPs and ReBLOODicans". The cover probably subtely represents other songs on the album too but the most clear connection is with "Hood Politics". Overly Dedicated: I wasn't planning to really talk about Kendrick's mixtapes, but I've thought of another representation from Overly Dedicated. I've never been able to really make out what the creature on the front cover of OD actually is, but I'm guessing that it could be the female alien representing the girl from the song "Alien Girl". It might be a stretch, but it seems possible. Sorry that this is a little lengthy, it actually went on longer than I anticipated... Are there any themes or hidden messages that you've come across with Kendrick's albums? Are there any more things that you can think of that can connect them? Are more songs represented by the album artwork in subtle ways? Let a brother know your thoughts. Thanks for reading.
Dec 26, 2015 @Loyalty @Koolo can you guys feature this? the OP is really well done and talks about a cool topic
Dec 26, 2015 TPAB Cover refers to Wesley's Theory, institutionalize, i & :::; King Kunta , refers to the dead judge thats on the cover & for free I believe
Dec 26, 2015 I'm glad that you wrote this. Not only was it a great read, but it made me think about the process behind creating the music within each album. The amount of thought put into each album is astounding. And you can tell Kendrick is close with the ideas that hes representing in his music.
Dec 26, 2015 this is a little OT .....but does anyone feel like the albums are also connected to one another? like .... could the "alien girl" on the cover of OD also be the same person represented in the Swimming Pools video?
Dec 27, 2015 I agree. I think the cover has subtle hints towards all those songs and some of the other main overlying themes of the album.
Dec 27, 2015 I've never thought about that before. It could be possible. What do you think makes the connection?
Dec 27, 2015 Very interesting @PoshP I never really thought to link the album cover with the songs on the album. I wonder if the people in the background of the OD mixtape have any connections. I can't see Michael Jordan.
Dec 27, 2015 the ambiguity of both characters...a female is presented in swimming pools, Kinda randomly...like the song is talking abt the negative effects of drinking alcohol and Kendricks family history with alcohol abuse...and during the video a female character is introduced ..could be just the cliché pretty video chick? But what separates her from the video is that she and Kendrick are never in the same scene. (that we see) Also there are 2 scenes in swimming pools where a female body is shown but no face 1. Where the legs are kicking in the pool 2. At the end Kendrick is pulled out of the pool by a female ...but her face isn't shown (it could be the same female dancing throughout the video) On the OD cover a mysterious female figure (with no face) is the center piece on a cover with a group of talented artists. To me that placement seemed kinda random...ofc it makes sense with your connection of it being the "alien girl" ...But I still question not who the figure is but what's the connection with the artists on the cover aside from being part of the same mixtape
