MARTIN: You talked about how, you know, the album unpacks this spiritual struggle. (SOUNDBITE OF KENDRICK LAMAR SONG, 'FEEL.') It's an album that, if you allow it to, it really takes you there. And in a lot of ways, it forced me to question a lot of my own fears and ideas around faith. I mean, it's really a spiritual struggle that I think he's revealing in the album.

And I think it's because I hear Kendrick grappling with so much. What is it that really speaks so strongly to you?ĬARMICHAEL: You know, this album is an album that I've been grappling with a lot. MARTIN: What is it about this album that appeals to you in such a personal way? I'm thinking of the fact that you wrote a more-than-3,000-word essay about this album just a few weeks ago, which was some time after the album came out. And it debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, double platinum sales, seven Grammy nominations. So if you tell us a little bit about it - and why is it topping so many of the best-of lists this year?ĬARMICHAEL: Well, this is Kendrick's third major label studio album, and it really is his most personal and prophetic album in a lot of ways. MARTIN: So we're listening to one of the songs from 'DAMN.' It's called 'DNA.' This is the second song on the album. I transform like this, perform like this, was Yeshua's new weapon. LAMAR: (Rapping) I was born like this, since 1 like this - immaculate conception.

RODNEY CARMICHAEL, BYLINE: Thank you, Michel, for having me. Here to tell us why is NPR Music's hip-hop writer Rodney Carmichael. MARTIN: Kendrick Lamar's 'DAMN.' has been at the top of a number of best-of lists, including NPR's. KENDRICK LAMAR: (Rapping) I got, I got, I got, I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA.

Dna song kendrick lamar