Kendrick Lamar will kill your favorite rapper for money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBvngg87998

This has got to be the flow of the year and I figure he deserves a thread of his own like Lil B.

Wiki says Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Game crowned him the "New King of the West Coast" in August and also that Lamar has seen Tupac in a dream telling him to "Keep doing what you're doing, don't let my music die".

I'd like to see if this goes somewhere!

the fuck your ethnicity beat has been in my head for the last couple of days

yeah, i guess besides being really good it has sort of an embracing feel

i like this guy

need to finally download his album plus maybe a mixtape or two

Lamar has seen Tupac in a dream telling him to "Keep doing what you're doing, don't let my music die"

say no more

did i miss some era of pac's career when he was in freestyle fellowship or something?

kendrick is good... he def seems like a cool person, like hanging out w/ currensy & kendrick would just be really fun

"rigamortis" is really cool too, would like to see him do it w/ an actual live band

album is sneakily one of the better rap albums of the year too, certainly for a debut

Yeah, def. top 5 rap albums this year.

He has this knack for pulling off corny backpacker shit w/o coming across at all like a corny backpacker. But really, he's exactly the black hippy he claims to be.

Thing about this dude is he's not only a skilled rapper, obviously, but his beats/tracks are SO much more interesting (to me, at least) than, like, A$AP Rocky, Spaceghost, Mr. Exquire, and most of the other current, blog-buzzy hip-hop acts. And I like what Clams Casino is doing; I like the Rainforest EP. But I don't know ... I was trying to listen to that Spaceghost record the other day, and I didn't hate it, but ... just how dumb are we gonna allow the rhymes to be before we say enough is enough?

To me, this guy elevates up into the Shabazz Palaces / Serengeti realm rather than all the buzz stuff that just doesn't hold up.

(Tyler/Goblin/OFWGKTA left out of this post on purpose. Dig the beats, but overall, not for me.)

am i the only person who thinks "The Recipe" is kind of a shitty, awkward-sounding song?

yeah, i'm not really a big fan of it

it's okay, nothing really special

the part where dre raps is still just really ill fitting

I put it on my "faves of 2012" playlist without really listening to it and it really doesn't belong there

lol

the production is gorgeous enough to overcome the not-especially-memorable rapping imo

tho obv it's no "cartoon & cereal"

see it doesn't sound very gorgeous to me! drums are so clunky

hmm never noticed the clunkiness before, the strings are what i think of though

just listening to it now, Dre sounds like Kendrick's bored grandpa and Kendrick sounds like he's imitating Lupe Fiasco poorly

Man, you guys are jaded! This track doesn't fill you with joy? The stings? Kendrick's kinda weird sorta singing voice? His constant flow switch-ups? The no-hurry pacing? The shameless summeriness of it all? None of this does anything for you guys?

like I said, it's okay

and the Lupe Fiasco compare is just harsh! I mean, yeah, dude is in entertainer mode here, but the shit coming out of his mouth still makes sense

i had no concept of it being summery in any way until i listened close enough to figure out what the words in the chorus were. the flow in KL's first few bars is really really awkward imo.

I actually like how off the drums are, too. They're mixed to sound the way all drums do when you're driving really fast with the windows down and the radio turned way up

i didn't really get into it until i heard it on the radio driving down the freeway and then i decided i loved it

recipe is awesome

'drums are so clunky' this sounds like criticism for dummies type shit

recipe is one of the best songs of the year imo

i would like it way better if it just didn't have dr. dre on it

i dont see why this is the best he's sounded in years

ive said this elsewhere (or here maybe, too, i don't remember) but dre's parts on it sound 100% like kendrick karaoke, which makes sense since kendrick of course wrote the verses.

but idk i find it distracting and kinda embarrassing... not as much as "i need a doctor" but it def has the feel to me of an old baller trying to do a bunch of and 1 tricks or something

Yeah, I agree with that; the verse is not Dre's voice (in so much as Dre even has a voice these days). I give it a pass, though, just because his presence is so iconic and it's a key part of the song's Visit L.A. sales pitch

Dre's verses have always been karaoke

u sound young

he used to be better at hiding it

thats silly. ppl used to criticize his rapping all the time & they were wrong then too

xpost I dunno, 2001 was pretty much all Dre karaoke and it was awesome in part because of that (this was the beginning of his "so what if I use ghostwriter? no shame in it phase.") I think the problem is he's never had a ghostwriter with a voice as distinct as Kendrick's

i dunno, he used to seem less slavish in his imitation of his writers. i kind of put the fault on kendrick for writing dre something so obviously in his own voice tho.

eminem?

xp i don't buy that. jay-z, eminem, snoop, cube, doc?

yeah, eminem/snoop/cube were all strong voices too, obviously, but their personas heavily overlapped with Dre's in a way that Kendrick's doesn't. They all have their quirks, but there are a lot of interchangeable verses among the four of them. Kendrick is a real outlier

i kind of put the fault on kendrick for writing dre something so obviously in his own voice tho.

yeah, this is kind of true, but I give him a pass since I like the verse well enough anyway

i dont think kendrick is an outlier, its just a new voice
'forgot about dre' is super obviously a bunch of em verses in like every way, we just give it a pass cuz we heard it a bunch & its a dope song

yeah i don't know how you could consider kendrick's flow more distinctive than now "eminem" dre's verse in forgot about dre was

i dunno, maybe it's just that i didn't realize he didn't write his own raps at the time, but dre sounds way more "himself" on the chronic and 2001 to me.

totally agree; the ghost verses on "Forgot About Dre" were all angry and defensive, so they played on the popular image of Dre in a way that was believable enough

it must have been hard for eminem to channel than angry and defensive vibe dre wanted

for me it's less about the content than the rhythms

otm

some spin on the ball here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwamhuY6Yy8

It wasn’t quite “rap and country” in my small town it was really more “rap and Skid Row and Guns n Roses”

The shitkickers loved Pantera, country, Tupac and racist slurs in equal measure IME.

The Petri dish that begat Kid Rock really.

they got in the pit and tried to love someone

i remember being excited & a little scandalized to find ppl my age who listened to 2 Live Crew, or NWA out in the open, or played it at parties. Being kind of sheltered, I was like “you can do that?” Because the news media at the time obv made it seem soooo verboten to me as a youngish teen.

And even stuff like BodyCount that crossed over w metal heads i knew in high school

I guess at the time it opened up so many more musical worlds to me that I hadn’t known about because i was raised pretty sheltered & very white conservative in Australia you don’t really find hip hop or rap until it finds you, or me at least. and i have variously loved & enjoyed it ever since.

sorry to drone on boringly but the other thing i meant to qualify above was not just playing the music for shock value, which was also the move for ppl at the time, but real appreciation for the music & writing ie NWA… like i was kind of mad that ppl were trying to shield anyone from it, like this shit is SO good wtf

anyway enough of my drivel

express yourself

lol

I enjoyed reading this thread since the halftime show. My social media is filled with memes like this...

http://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCopSpvTnIlmB-HG-82JFH2J9Uh2rSdczI1g&s

key random memory circa 1988/89: my friend’s boyfriend from Werribee (iykyk) this scrawny white dude with dreadlocks styled into a sort of weird KidNPlay flattop & he wore the most hideous neon parachute pants.
I vividly remember him walking on the beach with us & he loudly sang 2 Live Crew’s “Do Wah Diddy” and i was thinking “thats not how that song-whaaaat agghh nooo” (i was 12, to be fair)

So what else did Iggy Azalea's dad do.

listen its not out of the question

Moved to Canada, recorded “Informer”

it was yahoo serious

I enjoyed reading this thread since the halftime show. My social media is filled with memes like this...

http://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCopSpvTnIlmB-HG-82JFH2J9Uh2rSdczI1g&s

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, February 11, 2025 8:24 PM

the good versions of these randomly have drake in the middle.

In Mexico there isn’t really a concern for hip hop (or country) It’s a very popular genre in US but the culture doesn’t translate that well over here. I guess corridos and norteños are our version of the country/hiphop spectrum that you have there.

The good side about it is that hip hop fans over here are pretty knowledgeable about it and those who don’t care about it don’t have a strong counter opinion about it. I’d probably scorn anyone who says eminem is the only rap artist they like.

Also we latinos are very predisposed to rhythm in our music, so a little bit of hip hop is generally acceptable in social gatherings in ways country isn’t.

That said, reactions for Kendrick Lamar were mixed. Those of us in my circle who like hip hop loved it, others felt lukewarm about it and felt it lacked more bombastic “production” which is a stupid complaint when the only artist to have achieved bombast in all its forms in any halftime is Prince.

That said, reactions for Kendrick Lamar were mixed. Those of us in my circle who like hip hop loved it, others felt lukewarm about it and felt it lacked more bombastic “production” which is a stupid complaint when the only artist to have achieved grandiloquence in any halftime is Prince.

Oops double post

lot of people watching the superbowl in mexico?

At least noone said “should have invited eminem instead”

Xpost: 9.5 million viewers. Which is nowhere near the viewer ratings in the US, but still very important.

In percentage it’s almost 10% of the population vs 30% in the US?

wow!

I'd guess there are spanish language announcers, then? I'd love to hear that

is american football popular or are people more just watching the superbowl cause its a big event

To put it in context. Soccer is the most popular sport in Mexico and the Champions final gathers 6M viewers and the world cup final 15M.

is american football popular or are people more just watching the superbowl cause its a big event

― lag∞n

Definitely the latter. There is a big NFL fandom but the superbowl brings in the people who only care about a good afternoon of beers and “carne asada” with friends and curious about the halftime show.

football is the most popular sport in america but its the same deal with the superbowl here tons of people its the only game they watch all year

about a hip restaurant in chicago ... would blast loud NC-17 rap during dinner

Sounds like Schwa.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, February 11, 2025 3:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

lol also my first thought. the one time I ate there (in 2011) they were blaring "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" and someone from the kitchen passed a joint around the dining room.

I'd guess there are spanish language announcers, then? I'd love to hear that

― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Wednesday, February 12, 2025 10:07 AM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It was broadcast on Telemundo

I figured they meant Fat Rice

we have carne asada here, too

xp Good call. Also more likely that kids would be eating there than at Schwa.

(Love that place, even in its current unpublicized version!

nfl hosts a game in mexico city every couple years, almost always featuring the raiders, who've had a big mexican (and mexican-american) fanbase for decades

I'd guess there are spanish language announcers, then? I'd love to hear that

There was def. a Spanish language OTA broadcast we tuned into for a bit.

xpost Stop giving juice to the Raiders

Not sure about the rest of latinamerica but “ESPN en español” is a thing and they use the same announcers they use on monday night football.

https://bsky.app/profile/piccone.bsky.social/post/3lhu4ism66c2j

a thread of SB highlights in Spanish. One million times better than Tom Brady.

what if it was just tom brady speaking spanish

"eminem"

just in case you were serious, no, Kendrick! he gets a pass from people who don't listen to rap around here. they must have heard about him on NPR. Michael Franti still draws a big crowd around here. is he still considered rap?

https://bsky.app/profile/piccone.bsky.social/post/3lhu4ism66c2j

a thread of SB highlights in Spanish. One million times better than Tom Brady.

― symsymsym

Lol yeah this is pretty much every Mexican sports narrator. They get very hyped.

well, that answers my question of whether they yell "touchdown!" or not

Spanish-speaking announcers should use GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL for every sport regardless of the proper terminology.

Most of my friends understand english (except when Kendrick is rapping apparently) but we usually watch UFC, NFL, NBA in spanish because the english narrators don’t narrate it as if they were doing cocaine.

Watching soccer is specially jarring since you can go 90 minutes without any goal and they will still narrate as if it was the most exciting thing ever

Center holds it! Holds it!! Holds it!!!

I’m thinking about the 9.5M numbers in ratings in Mexico. Does anyone know how they measure it? Is it just by a single tv watching it. If so the number is actually higher as most people watching do it with collectively in bars or houses. I managed to gather 25 people in my home.

"They" recently changed how viewership is measured. Probably due to shrinking numbers because of illegal streams (which is how i watch sports) they started counting 'out of home" views for bars and gatherings.