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Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Damn’ album is getting the meme treatment

Damn, that’s a good meme.

Photo of Jay Hathaway

Jay Hathaway

kendrick lamar damn meme: album cover depicting kendrick

Kendrick Lamar revealed the album artwork for his next record, DAMN., on Tuesday, and the internet has come to a consensus: it’s readymade to be a meme, and that may have been part of Kendrick’s strategy when he chose it. Both the front and back covers feature the title “DAMN.” in a serif font, over a photo of a fed-up looking Kendrick.

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It’s almost crazy how many people on Twitter had the same thought upon seeing the cover for the first time: Kendrick knew damn (DAMN.?) well it was gonna be a meme.

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https://twitter.com/TsunamiSlim/status/851826275014651906

https://twitter.com/Crombie_Kid22/status/851827341412249600

https://twitter.com/Loxb3ats/status/851815514334568448

https://twitter.com/_Politico45_/status/851806019311333376

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https://twitter.com/DeFreitasJordan/status/851801426636492800

So far, there are more posts praising K-Dot’s meme genius than actual DAMN. memes, but a few examples are already popping up.

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Remember “Damn, Daniel,” the early 2016 meme about the kid who made fun of his friend Daniel’s white Vans? That joke was dead and buried, but Kendrick has brought it back … kind of.

https://twitter.com/LandyRS/status/851763701967355904

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The “DAMN.” meme can also be used to comment on legitimately shocking events, like the violent removal of a United Airlines passenger from a plane this week:

https://twitter.com/cian_mcentee/status/851805882837065728

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Or you can use the album cover to respond to anything you would conceivably say “damn” about:

https://twitter.com/Mayberrykush/status/851843680776458241

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https://twitter.com/SteadyLosing/status/851853001056800770

https://twitter.com/zackfox/status/851844367144730624

And some people are using it to say, “Damn. Why isn’t Young Thug on this album?”

https://twitter.com/aroblessrevenge/status/851847938510860290

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All in all, it’s highly versatile, very relatable, and doesn’t take much effort to participate in—all signs of a successful meme. Plus, it has huge support from Black Twitter, one of the most influential communities in the meme game. Is Kendrick’s “Damn” album cover going to be the meme of the month? No offense to the Estonian dwarf from The Simpsons, but probably!

kendrick damn album cover is the meme of the month
Twitter

He could have the album of the month, too. DAMN. drops April 14.

Update 1o:24am CT, Apr. 18:

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The Kendrick memes really took off in the days after DAMN. was released. People are replacing Kendrick on the cover with various other characters, and replacing “DAMN.” with other, similar slogans. This heckin good doggo has been very popular on Reddit:

kendrick lamar damn meme heck dog
charlieoshea/reddit

And these variations have shown up on Facebook:

damn kendrick meme with dennis from always sunny dayman
Thomas Big T Coxe/Facebook
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kendrick damn meme hank hill dang it
Shawn Bryan/Facebook

Is this what Kendrick imagined when he picked his album art? Probably not, but you’ve got to admit it’s pretty funny.

 
The Daily Dot