A TALE OF TWO KENDRICKS: MY DAMN. THEORY Okay. I believe *DAMN.* can be reversed, having two completely different stories. What leads me to this conclusion is what is said on the tracks BLOOD. and FEAR. "BLOOD." Is it wickedness? Is it weakness? You decide are we going to live or die? "FEAR." Wondering if I'm living through fear or living through rap? Damn. ------------------------------- When you play the album front to back, we see a confident Kendrick exposing his anxieties very subtlety until FEAR. where he lays out an entire lifetime of what scares him. He does admit insecurities on FEEL., but I view this as more an awareness of people treating him differently because of his success; a theme that makes sense leading into LOYALTY. This is the story of him not wanting to show *weakness* by admitting he is *living through fear* of losing his career or his life. I also believe this is the story of the real Kendrick, the one addressed on DUCKWORTH. that came out of Anthony not killing his father. ------------------------------- On DUCKWORTH., Kid Kapri says "We gon' put it in reverse!" The track ends with Kendrick saying, "Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin' life while I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight," followed by a gunshot and the entire album sonically reversed until the, "So I was takin' a walk the other day" of BLOOD. This gave me the idea to play *DAMN.* back -> front. This is the story of the Kendrick that would have resulted in Ducky being killed. -------------------------------- In reverse order, the tracks tell of a different Kendrick, which I believe could be "Kungfu Kenny," who fiends for women, riches and respect. He becomes very materialistic in his ways and angry if he doesn't get what he wants. This is especially evident on the new transitions of LOVE -> LUST. & LOYALTY. -> FEEL. On LOVE. he tries to be genuine with his girl but when she won't put out he gets impatient on LUST. and just wants to fuck. On LOYALTY., he addresses the obvious of wanting those surrounding him to not screw him over, but on FEEL. sees through that guise and details his lack of confidence in others. There are other examples of these new dualities, but I feel those are the strongest. The arch of Kungfu Kenny shows him *living through rap*, having a fallout with his career and who he assumed were friends. On YAH., he reflects on this and admits that he needs to change his approach on life and seek his own forgiveness. He also brings back his cousin Carl's voicemail about the verse from Deuteronomy, realizing he's cursed. This leads into the "final" track DNA. where he brings back the anger and aggressiveness but in a self-aware light. Although knowing he can't escape his *wickedness*, he tries to show kindness to a blind woman on BLOOD. This random act gets him shot. "While I grew up without a father and died in a gunfight" ---------------------------------- I also believe the two Kendricks are shown through the album art: i.imgur.com/RRFNHTQ.jpg ---------------------------------- CONCLUSION: BLOOD. and DUCKWORTH. are interchangeable Intros/Outros, the tracks in the middle are the two stories. Playing *DAMN.* normally gives you the story of the Kendrick we know, the Kendrick living through fear and the Kendrick who lives. Flip it, and you get Kungfu Kenny, the fatherless Kendrick who lived through rap and got killed. "Wondering if I'm living through fear or living through rap. Damn." Album is called *DAMN.*, this is Kendrick telling us its theme. "Is it wickedness? Is it weakness? You decide are we going to live or die?" You decide Kendrick's fate by how you play the album. I made this reply already in the comments, but to those who are just reading this now suggesting he dies both times: I think this is foreshadowing the album's duality concept, because right after he's shot we hear "is it wickedness" again but not "is it weakness." The album you're about to hear is the weakness side. If he straight up died we wouldn't have 13 more tracks. Playing it backwards, the last track Kendrick actually dies and becomes another generic news story. There's nothing more after that. The gunshot on DUCKWORTH. is Anthony killing Ducky, setting the second story in motion.

Y'all realize BigQuint might not even get past DNA.

"Am I living through fear or living through rap? Damn." There's the key everyone.

I think all Kendrick fans lost their shit when they first heard DNA.

My wifes boyfriend loves this album

this man had to light up a cig after the album lmao

Im sorry but Kendrick is now the greatest

THAT TRANSITION FROM BLOOD TO DNA WAS PURE FIRE, THAT SHIT WAS MORE HOT THAN A SLIDE IN SUMMER 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

A guide to the sounds of Tabby: 1:15- Dad suffocating you with a pillow 1:22- Girl sees a spider 1:39- Girl finds out the spider isn't actually dead 1:47- When consent wasn't mutual 3:11- Abused dog 4:03-4:18- Wiener too big, won't fit 6:20- When you do some lowkey gay stuff and realize you've been gay this whole time 6:23- When the bassline's really familiar 8:17- You act like your five year old cousin's magic trick was really cool 9:02-9:22- Wiener too big, but he goes for it anyway

YOU KNOW THE REACTION GONNA BE BRAZY WHEN HE IN HIS CAR

bruh imagine driving past tabby when he's blasting this shit in the middle of the home depot parking lot after hours & he's losing his shit busting all kinds of nuts

"Love's gonna get you killed, but Pride's gonna be the death of you...."

The moment I finished DNA I couldn't wait to see your reaction and BOY I was not disappointed

DAMN in reverse order. The reality is that this album is about Kendrick looking back in life...and thinking "DAMN." all this work,all this pain,and this is where I got.In a place where he is not safe and nor exactly who he is as a person (14) He is born as 'DUCKWORTH' (13) Raised with a faith a 'GOD' (12) But as he grows up he has to face the 'FEAR' of growing up. (11) And there's lot of temptations.('XXX') Therefore mostly giving up on his faith in 'unseen deities'. (10) And within these temptations,these fears,and this process of growing up he finds 'LOVE'. (9) But love is something very fragile and can be damaged by a lot of negative thoughts,especially 'LUST'. (8) And giving into lust,thought Kendrick that he should be a lot more 'HUMBLE'. (7) But the environment he grew up in and his frustrations broke his family and introduce him to 'PRIDE' (6) And pride is the thing that can make or break 'LOYALTY'. Loyalty,which is a major conflicting part of environment he grew up in. (5) But then Kendrick realized that all of these negative experiences affect him in ways that he felt like the world worked against him.('FEEL') (4) Until he found his 'ELEMENT'.Until he found his real calling. (3) Until he regained his faith ('YAH'). (2) And this entire journey basically is part of his 'DNA'.It's who he is.He is all of the above. (1) Therefore as much as he tries..he can never be 'Lady Justice' (The Blind Woman' who shot him).He can never be a 'Yeshua' because he is human like everyone else.He is bleeding ('BLOOD') he accepts it who he is.With all his 'goods' and 'bads'.A complex Human being. "DAMN."

Your hype and passion is so surreal, while also keeping up an appreciation for the dark elements and trying to understand Kendrick's characters. A lot of reacts miss that.. props to you man.

Luv u, Tabby. Love this damn video and I lost my mind during this album and just DAMN.

"YAH" is so fucking good

BLOOD. - 0:52 DNA. - 1:11 YAH. - 2:04 ELEMENT. - 2:42 FEEL. - 3:50 LOYALTY. - 4:35 PRIDE. - 5:27 LUST. - 6:19 LOVE. - 7:46 XXX. - 8:48 FEAR. - 9:56 GOD. - 11:50 DUCKWORTH. - 12:43

i lost my shit when he started imitating DJ's

Your reaction to DNA was exactly like mine. I LOST MY FUCKING SHIT

Tabby really took his inhaler during XXX lmaoooo

Gotta say, this is one of the best reaction videos I've ever seen

YESSSSS, first Shawn Cee now you, jus waiting for Theneedledrop and Bigquint

Kendrick is the GOAT, he has had 3 classics arguably 4. Name a rapper that can release 4 10's, kenny is the only one to do it.

DNA is my neighbors favorite track on the album

Loyalty, aka Kendrick does Drake better than Drake.

KENDRICK THE G.O.A.T.

This is an iconic video and i keep coming back to it

White boy only reaction i see, that is passionate and actually listening. Each track should hit you if your actually listening cause it did that to me. And i see it in you. great reaction.

Listened to it 5 times in 12 hours and it still amazes me. This video is as much of a classic as DAMN.

Kendrick resurrecting on Easter; SOMETHING IS UP

"Dj FuckFace" 😂😂💀

did anyone else notice the end of loyalty Rihanna saying "It's hard to be humble", leading into "PRIDE." and then "HUMBLE."? The cohesiveness and lyrics of Kendrick's albums sets him apart

i swear this guy has the best editing out of all these reaction channels, hilarious brodaaa 😂 album sounds straight-forward on surface but it's actually deep af. someone might not even get the concept of the album. 9/10

Just wait til he drops DANIEL. on Sunday

Paycheck came in, tax return came in, and KDot dropped the best thing this year... ON THE SAME DAY!! BEST FUCKIN DAY EVER

DNA & XXX by far the stand outs.

Not only are your reactions entertaining, but unlike other people, you are able to pull things from the lyrics other reactors can't. You formulate intelligent conclusions from what you hear and it's enlightening and pleasant to hear. And it's not only you, other people like Shawn Cee, Meami, you guys really give more than a generic reaction and I'm thankful for that. They're reactions I can relate to and even learn from. Keep doing what you're doing dawg.

Lust reminds me of an OutKast song

"you are a rubiks cube of a rapper" LMAO

This honestly proves why artists like J Cole, Logic, and Drake are no where near the level Kenny is at. This album is similar to "4 your eyes only", but a way better version of it. This is my current album of the year and lastly thank Kendrick for a beautiful body of work.

You look like Jessie pinkman

This album is legendary

I seariously stopped listening to Damn to watch this lol

like if this album is the aoty

Imagine hearing the beat shift in DNA for the first time again

these rumours about one more album sunday are hyping me more and more

Bro, you are so underated, it hurts. You're one of the best reviewers on the god damn youtube. Thank you man, sencerely.

I re-watch this whenever I'm depressed as fuck and it always cheers me up. thank you.

98/100 on metacritic and listening to over than 20 times, I confirm this is AOTY

Stop smoking cigarettes

Chirstmas came earlier than me

Did you notice that the ending of duckworth , its rewinding back the album to the beginning and starting off at blood again , that was just .. amazing. It reminded me of those movies where you see all this stuff happen and when you get to the end , it's at the beginning and all those things haven't happened yet

Imagine going to a parking lot in the dark of the night and see this dude jumping around in his car

GOD DAMN. i miss these reactions so much..

This definitely the most entertaining reaction I've seen so far. Keep up your grind, my guy.

I'm FUCKEN DEAD 💀 #HAHAHA 😂 Pure flames!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I wish I could listen to DAMN. for the first time again

TABBY IS ME during "Duckworth." I had to sit in silence for at least 15 mins after it. I have never been so shook since the end of TPAB.

My favourite reaction video of all time so excited for the new k dot album

DAMN, from the word DAMNATION, the curse to leave everything on Earth and still be punished for it in the afterlife once we die. In the beginning Kendrick dies. At the end we realize it's like Kendrick was seeing his life flash before his death. The entire album is Kendrick re-living and summarizing his life and everything in it. Its all a big loop, of things that make up life and our curse to live, even in our last moments on Earth we see PRIDE, LOVE, LOYALTY, ECT. the things we think matter. But as the album keeps reminding us "WHAT HAPPENS ON EARTH STAYS ON EARTH" We have to face the fact that once we die, none of that matters, and all we can say is... DAMN. the true meaning of being DAMNED, a curse word that we made out of our curse of DAMNATION.... Just my humble interpretation.

I stopped watching dunkey to watch this.

I was waiting for this video. thank you so much I loved it man, keep it up

was waiting for this all damn morning!!

Kendrick's album is ridiculously great

Been waiting tabby!!!!!!

Thank you for having a lot of great content - it’s making this quarantine a little easier

it’s tradition to watch this every month

First. FUCKING THANK YOU. 2nd, if those resurrection/2nd album theory is real/drops on Easter Sunday, then K.Dot just elevated the genre even further. This album alone has already to an extent but my god.. what if.. DAMN.

I'm so glad you exist bro, funny as hell

Love your reactions ❤️

this is the funniest music reaction I've ever seen

Damn Tabby, you never cease to amaze just how much you can pick up and digest on just one listen. This is probably his most cryptic album yet in terms of message and you caught that on the first listen. Keep doing you man 👍🏼

the best reaction video!

I come back to this just to see him react to DNA

Can we all just agree TDE has some of the best engineers, producers, and sound mixing in the industry?

this is why I love Kendrick and this proves why he's the greatest rapper of our time we literally have to dig in deep af to reveal the concept and the story as of right now I'm lost af to what the album was about what happened to The Blind lady ? what happen to Duckworth and who's that and is Anthony Top Dawg he was talking about ? this is such an amazing album

love u tabby, thats the kind of reaction video i was searching for this album....

Rewatching this for old time's sake. I love ya tabs.

When he claps he looks like a seal 😂

I think fear is kdot's best song ever... no fukkin lie

I appreciate people like you bro

Why did I just discover this channel. The positivity and entertainment is off the charts. Much love bro🔥👊

Tabby you a cool dude, keep doing your reviews man!

We're witnessing the GOAT. We really need to appreciate him while he's still around.

happy 6 years

Been waiting for this lol

Can’t wait for mr. Morale reaction

2nd album on sunday means another great video

literally just came back to this video to relive tabby's reaction to DNA! gets me so hyped everytime, the beat switch is legendary

Tabby is the hypeman we all deserve

once a week, I return and watch this reaction just so I can see how appreciated this album is lol

"Thank you for this project that will change the game for the next two years". TWO DAYS YOU MEAN.

Love your review! Hype, intuitive, entertaining 👍🏽💯

you deserve way more subs man. keep it up

hands down the best first reaction to damn.

this man is about to become a meme if someone records him from the outside while he listens to albums 😂

best reaction on yt hands down, i have no idea why i watch reaction videos but this is a masterpiece truly

You have the best reactions EVER!!!! Great stuff!

RIP BigQuint