Damn | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 14, 2017 | |||
Recorded | Late 2016 – 2017 | |||
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Genre | Conscious hip hop | |||
Length | 54:54 | |||
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Producer | ||||
Kendrick Lamar chronology | ||||
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Collector's Edition cover | ||||
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Singles from Damn | ||||
Damn (stylized as DAMN.) is the fourth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, released on April 14, 2017, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Lamar assembled numerous artists and producers to produce the album, including executive producer and Top Dawg Entertainment label-head Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, Sounwave, DJ Dahi, Mike Will Made It, and Ricci Riera, as well as further production contributions from James Blake, Steve Lacy, BadBadNotGood, Greg Kurstin, The Alchemist, and 9th Wonder, among others. It features guest appearances from Rihanna, Zacari, and U2.
The album has been categorized as conscious hip hop, a genre Lamar incorporated on his previous studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly. The album also incorporates elements of trap, contemporary R&B, and pop. Prior to the album's release, Lamar released a promotional single, "The Heart Part 4". In the months that followed, Lamar released three singles from the album; "Humble" was released in March 2017, "Loyalty" in June 2017, and "Love" in October 2017, the first of which became Lamar's first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist.
Damn received widespread critical acclaim, with many naming the album one of the best albums of 2017 and the decade. The album topped the US Billboard 200 with 603,000 album-equivalent units earned in its first week and topped the chart of Canada while reaching number two in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It has since been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in May 2018 and was the Billboard Year-End number one album of 2017. The album earned Lamar a Pulitzer Prize for Music and the Best Rap Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards. In 2020, Damn was ranked 175th on Rolling Stone's updated list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".