OK so, twitter went pretty nuts when Big Sean's new track "Control" dropped last night, specifically for Kendrick Lamar's fire- branded, grizzly verse. The track spans 7 and a half minutes and after an awkward, typically jarring verse from Big Sean, it's no surprise that a rapper like Kendrick stirred up such a fuss with his technical prowess. By comparison, it's a bit like Jesus changing water into wine whilst standing next to a baker packing some bread into a plastic bag. It also features the long absent Jay Electronica, whose verse is good but in the eyes of most has paled in comparison.
It's not a terrible track. The beat has a shuddering keyboard synth and an echoing vocal sample, but it's all faded out to ensure that the protagonists' verses are what really captures the listener's attention. The thing about this track is people are behaving as though Kendrick's verse is about to change the face of rap music. Sure, in terms of technical skill, wordplay and Machiavelli referneces it's a hell of a verse.
However the part that's got most people buzzing is the lengthy list of MCs Lamar calls out as worse than him on this track. "All the best MCs, Kendrick, Jigga and Nas, Em and Andre 3000, the rest of y'all? All you new niggas is new niggas, don't get involved", and then a couple of bars later:
Now, if we're being honest, by Hip Hop standards this is absolutely tame. If Kendrick wasn't perhaps the most talked about young MC on the planet right now the reaction this caused on twitter would never have been received on the same scale. For people to suggest that this is some kind of revolutionary verse seems quite strange to me. More importantly than that though, the verse has seen a lot of people demanding or expecting responses from the listed rappers. It smacks a little bit of hyper inflation and a superior, unnecessary proportion.
Here's the original track:
Nevertheless, it's already stirred rapper B.O.B. enough to record this response titled "How 2 Rap (Kendrick Response), in which he even goes as far to gimmick Kendrick's flow on "Swimming Pools."
Here's a video made by the boys over at Dead End Hip Hop presenting their views about the track:
sik1
ReplyDelete