Sunday 6 December 2015

HEAR NOW: Kendrick Lamar/ J.Cole- Black Friday



In accordance with this year's Black Friday event, MC's Kendrick Lamar and J.Cole decided to do a switch up and write a rap/free-style for a beat selected from each other's back catalogue. Lamar chose J.Cole's eerie 'A Tale of 2 Cities' beat, produced by Vinyls on his 2014 album '2014 Forest Hills Drive'. Cole chose Kendrick's trap/jazz fusion track 'Alright' for his version, produced by Williams & Sounwave for Lamar's celebrated 'To Pimp A Butterfly', which dropped earlier this year. 

In the vain of previous singles like 'King Kunte' and 'Backseat Freestyle', 'Black Friday' finds Lamar in less introspective and slightly more braggadocious, shallow guise as he raps lyrics like "I'm yelling vote Kanye West for president, he'll probably let me get some head in the residence". Just like those previous singles however, there are hints splattered here and there with the literary genius that his full-lengths expose in abundance. It's almost exactly what one would expect from Lamar, complete with super-fast flows and ability. 



Image Credit: DeShaun Craddock flickr 


J.Cole's variation of 'Black Friday' sees him rapping with slightly more energy and fire than has previously been expected. He sounds disenfranchised as he spits "Fuck you know about my pain?" and more direct jibes like "no snakes in the grass 'cause I mowed it N*gga". He ends the track tentatively indeed, as he rasps "This February shit gon' get scary when I drop-" before he's cut out by a long, high pitched bleep. If there is a new J.Cole project arriving shortly then here's to hoping we see more of this vitriol within the tracklisting.

You can hear both Kendrick and J. Cole's versions of 'Black Friday' below.




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