During his interview on Power 106’s The Cruz Show in early April, Vince Staples proclaimed Kendrick Lamar as the “greatest rapper of our time.” Reactions to the artist’s newest release DAMN, only serve to support Staples’ claim.

Since his debut, Lamar has been known to tell stories through characters and confessions in songs. During intro track, “Blood.” Lamar tells the story of a blind woman, and samples news anchors discussing To Pimp a Butterfly in a manner ironic to the message of the album as a whole.

Although not in the same capacity of Lamar’s last album, tracks on DAMN discuss topics from racism to fame in between multi-layered lyricisms.

Once again, Lamar was open to decorating the record with features, from exploring Rihanna’s rap capability on “Loyalty.” to rock legends U2 on “XXX.”

Fans hoping for Lamar to drop another socially conscious album like his last were disappointed to see his return to fast-paced lyrically diverse raps.

Despite the departure, DAMN has already proved itself to be a landmark album in Lamar’s career and music history.