No posts about THAT Kendrick verse?

LokoOne

I thought this would have had its own post by now....




http://rapgenius.com/groups/the-forum/discussions/33117-Kendrick-lamar-control-memes

LokoOne

Joell's response...

Reynaldo

Saved rap.

Hotsauce84

LokoOne said:

I thought this would have had its own post by now....

So did I. Back in the day it would've. Ah well... Bassie mentioned it in the Rap You're Feeling thread.

b/w

"This couldn't go in the rap ur feeling thread?"

rain103

Oh, hip-hop...

Hotsauce84

DocMcCoy

I contemplated starting one.

I thought too about posting the track in the "Rap You're Liking" thread, but I figured it'd end up becoming a lightning rod for the standard-issue State Of The Art debate, as it has been on Twitter. I have no objection to those debates, but I dunno whether we still have a broad enough range of opinions on here to make it worth the trouble starting, much less reading.

batmon

LokoOne said:

http://rapgenius.com/groups/the-forum/discussions/33117-Kendrick-lamar-control-memes

Hilarious.

cookbook

i really dont get who thought it was a good idea to put K dot in the middle of this song? LET THAT BISH BREATHE

heard that jay elec recorded the verse almost a year ago, and kendricks was recorded saturday. not that that changes anything... this is typical KL imo, nothing to see here

Beatnicholas

didn't think the verse was particularly good tbh, he sounded a bit weak sauce

also thought the idea that it was inflammatory / a diss was completely blown out of proportion - sounded very considered and well meaning.

bassie

DocMcCoy said:

bassie said:

The headline is that he names names, that's really all.

I've seen some people acting all "meh" because he's invoking rappers "that 13 yr olds who don't know no better think are 'lyrical'" (actual quote from Twitter), and that this somehow lessens him as a rapper. Apart from this second point being utter bullshit, it ought to be obvious by now that this is the territory he's after - that occupied by lightweight pop-rappers coasting through their career on little more than charisma and the patronage of a handful of kingmakers, self-appointed or otherwise. It's not like he isn't demonstrably better than all the rappers he named.

(imported from the Rap You're Liking thread)


This is the type of Lamar gusto I like, but I feel pretty meh about the roll call. Without it, what are we left with? Probably not half the hype or a mention in Business Insider lol?

It would have been a nicer verse (not charitable, but better) and much more elegant had he left it at calling himself the king of New York.

Grandfather

I thought the song was kinda boring but his rap was very cool. The most incendiary part IMO was when he called himself the King Of NY. That was a big throwback to east vs west kinda beef.

I liked Jay's rap more than Kendricks as a whole but Kendricks had the ultimately, most memorable lines.

JectWon

With out the name drops, we wouldn't be talking about this. For those listening, THAT part of his verse made total sense and isn't sensational at all...it's how every braggadocio-stle MC is supposed to feel.

People come off as so eager for any potential



type of moment that they aren't willing to actually listen to what he's saying. Just..."YO HE CALLED THESE DUDES OUT AND EVEN ON DUDE'S OWN TRACK?!?!?!?!"

EDIT: Only shit Big Sean needs to be embarrassed about is how forgettable his verse was.

b/w Nice to hear that Funk Master Flex is still utilizing the most annoying and distracting name drops ever. Brings me back to the "CLUE! NEW SHIT!" days.

DJ_Enki

JectWon said:

EDIT: Only shit Big Sean needs to be embarrassed about is how forgettable his verse was.

Big Sean needs to be embarrassed about himself, period. That dude is straight-up garbage.

bassie

DJ_Enki said:

JectWon said:

EDIT: Only shit Big Sean needs to be embarrassed about is how forgettable his verse was.

Big Sean needs to be embarrassed about himself, period. That dude is straight-up garbage.

Yes.

DocMcCoy

JectWon said:

People come off as so eager for any potential

I think this is a fair point, but really, the only people who still think Kendrick is just a rapper with "potential" are either those "rap game Grandpa Simpson" YouTube comments types who are all "back in my day it was like this every week.." (no, it wasn't), and those people who've taken Drake's "Started From The Middle" narrative at face value, swallowed it whole and took it as a reliable metric for what constitutes a great rapper in the present day. Kendrick been doing this. He's not "good by current standards" - he's good, full stop. If anything about Kendrick is in any way a surprise, then you haven't been paying enough attention.

As for the people who ask, "yeah, but is he as good as Kane/G Rap/Rakim/Prince Whipper Whip/[insert name of Golden Age touchstone here]?"...well, personally, I don't need nor expect someone to reinvent the wheel every time they step in front of a mic. "Being a good rapper" and/or "making good rap music" will do to begin with. I mean, maybe the food doesn't taste the same as it did before they started pumping it full of chemicals or additives or whatever. But you can still get something good to eat when you need it. Feel me?

4YearGraduate

Not for nothing, but as far as the west is concerned and LA in particular, kdot did reinvent the wheel and deserves every ounce of respect and praise he gets. And he's a better mc than 98% of the old crusties stinky dudes like to fetishize.

JectWon

DocMcCoy said:

JectWon said:

People come off as so eager for any potential

I think this is a fair point, but really, the only people who still think Kendrick is just a rapper with "potential" are either those "rap game Grandpa Simpson" YouTube comments types...

Totally accurate points. I think my quote is written poorly on my part. I meant that people are so eager for anything that can be seen as a 'oh shit did you hear that epic DISS' type moment now. I write like an idiot. I wasn't trying to say K is a potentially good MC...he's good at this very moment by any standard, in my opinion.

HarveyCanal

Clearly, Kendrick sits at the top of the heap right now. And for him to challenge other dudes to step up their games in a competition with him is just downright good for the music. Unfortunately though, I've already seen too many stans praising that Joell Ortiz response track when to me it's utterly remedial and lacking in style. Also, I kinda wish Kendrick woulda left Big KRIT outta the mix as he's already in his own lane that properly competes with Kendrick. As for the rest of them rappers mentioned, consider yourselves crushed.

Nabozo

don't think it will change hip-hop's new directions much, I feel Kendrick is exploiting his popular position and style a bit here, he's rather on the conservative side of what constitutes good rapping, but it's been a real while rap is moving away from rigorous technical flow (kanye, lil wayne etc). I'm not talking about big sean here (he doesn't seem good for what he's going for), but it's not new that there are massive differences, they're really due to approaches. I don't know, listen to something like Leaf/Take 1, according to the old wheel the difference in skill is ridiculous, yet I generally prefer Main Attrakionz to AsapRocky. /rant

white_tea

Somewhat of a side note - caught K-Dot's set at Lollapalooza a few weeks back and, despite his voice sounding a little shout-y (per usual at hip-hop concerts, obvs.), it was a great show and a cast of thousands of Chads and Beckys were singing along to every song. Good for him - he has crossed ova!

This new song seems all in good fun - for everyone 'cept Lupe Fiasco (per usual, obvs.).

Scott

I defer to the best place for the breakdown of current rapps:

rootlesscosmo

batmon said:

LokoOne said:

http://rapgenius.com/groups/the-forum/discussions/33117-Kendrick-lamar-control-memes

Hilarious.

that whole website is lulz.

I've never seen a bigger collection of nonsense.

JectWon

Scott said:

I defer to the best place for the breakdown of current rapps:

Hahaha...holy shit that was painful.

rootlesscosmo

JectWon said:

Scott said:

I defer to the best place for the breakdown of current rapps:

Hahaha...holy shit that was painful.

wait is this real? or a parody?

hogginthefogg

I was gonna reply, but I'll be damned if I wouldn't just be echoing everything that Harv and Doc have already said. But they said it better than I would have, anyway.

So yeah. I fuck with this verse. And for dudes to say shit like, "BITD, rappers named names!" does exactly zero to diminish this. The fact of the matter is that no one calls out anyone now, unless it's Shyne trying to, well, get some shine.

Kendrick kinda hinted at this in the Blacky Hippy remix of "U.O.E.N.O" when he said, "I been in the lab with my opponents." Now he's just telling them that all fair's in a fight.

vintageinfants

hogginthefogg said:

So yeah. I fuck with this verse.

now that the shock and awe has worn off and the dust has settled, isn't the bigger diss NOT being named in this song?

bassie

Perhaps for the guy who said he made the best rap verse of all time a couple months back.

rootlesscosmo

vintageinfants said:

hogginthefogg said:

So yeah. I fuck with this verse.

now that the shock and awe has worn off and the dust has settled, isn't the bigger diss NOT being named in this song?

I was gonna say. If I'm Drake or J Cole or Mac Miller I'm positively thrilled to be named in this song. It's actually a huge validation.

Hotsauce84

Yeah, rappers are being mad at NOT being named while smart dumb cat fans are like "ooooh...he dissed Drake, J. Cole, etc!" If anything, this exposes the people that just don't get it.

Hotsauce84

rootlesscosmo said:

If I'm Drake or J Cole or Mac Miller I'm positively thrilled to be named in this song.

Now THIS is a meme I'd like to see.