BLOOD.

The opening track of DAMN, this is also the album's shortest song. The stark scene-setter finds Kendrick Lamar narrating a story about helping an old woman, only to be shot in return. It introduces the listener to the main thread running the record, how his people have "lost" their way and become damned. The same "I was taking a walk the other day" thread, pops up again on the final track, "DUCKWORTH.". This time the scenario is reversed and Kendrick lives, breaking the chain of his people from being cursed because of the actions of Top Dawg choosing not to shoot the rapper's father.

A gunshot sounds and the track cuts to a clip of two Fox News presenters puzzledly reciting a lyric from Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly African-American anthem "Alright." One host comments: "Ugh, I don't like it." The rapper continues to muse on the broadcast, on the next two tracks, "DNA." and " YAH." Asked specifically of his thoughts on the segment, during an interview with Beats 1's Zane Lowe, Lamar said: "I thought it was a trip, click-bait. I represent my people and the culture the right way. To attack my character, I wasn't for it."