Kendrick Lamar Wants to Be the Best, Making Hip-Hop Fun – Andscape

The 2002 NBA All-Star Game accommodates one in every of those Kobe Bryant moments that claims quite a bit about who he was on the court. The game is an exhibition and players generally don’t care much about who wins. Well, players not named Kobe Bryant. The Philadelphia native wanted to win MVP honors at home, in a city the 76ers had eliminated in the previous NBA Finals. Despite the crowd cheering, Bryant got here out and played prefer it was a playoff game, making 25 shots. He attempted 10 more shots than forward Kevin Garnett’s 15, and defended every possession as if the game was on the line – much to the annoyance of players on each teams.

Bryant didn’t care about anyone else. He wanted to win.

Kendrick Lamar has had the same energy since he became a participant in the Top Rap Dog competition. He brought that energy to his role Future and Metro Boomin “Like That” from their recent album. In the song, Lamar dropped bombs at Drake and J. Cole, two of rap’s biggest stars. While there’s loads of subliminal screaming and jabbing on this verse, lyrics like “” and “‘” – a comment on the value of artistry over chart-topping – are undoubtedly geared toward Drake, and J. Cole catches the shrapnel.

Although Lamar and Drake collaborated on songs like “Buried Alive Interlude” from Drake’s 2011 album, Lamar’s “Poetic Justice” and A$AP Rocky’s 2012 “F-in Problems,” things have modified , when Lamar took over his competitive streak. ON “Control” with Big Sean in 2013, Lamar took aim at almost every rapper in his class, from J. Cole and Big KRIT to Big Sean and, yes, Drake.

Lamar’s verse highlighted exactly what he was trying to accomplish: “.” This is a rapper offended by the audacity of anyone who’s on the same level as him. This is Bryant in Philadelphia. This is Michael Jordan dropping six 3s in Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals, ending all debate about whether famed guard Clyde Drexler would ever be at his level. This is Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon gutting San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson in the 1995 playoffs and winning MVP honors. That’s what great greats do. They accept competition like a python accepts its prey.

Lamar’s “Control” verse sent shockwaves through the industry, and almost every rapper he mentioned reacted. Some dismissed it as friendly competition (Lamar later created songs with several other people mentioned, similar to Pusha T and Mac Miller). Others submitted their responses – namely Big KRIT, whose “Mt. “Olympus,” he replies is as underrated as it is devastating. And then there was Drake, who never actually addressed the song directly on wax, but seemed particularly concerned about it: says in 2013“I know well and good that Kendrick will not murder me at all, on any platform.”

Since then, every time Drake’s name comes up in discussions as the best in the world, Lamar shows up ready for war. He did it through dissing Drake w in 2013. He slyly addressed Drake’s ghostwriting allegations on 2015’s “King Kunta” before Meek Mill did. And he did some not-so-veiled diss tracks throughout the Dr. album. Dre.

But now it’s “Like That.” There isn’t any room for hesitation here. There’s no denying that Lamar recorded an album with two of the biggest names in rap. But let me repeat: Lamar has nothing against these guys. He doesn’t want to fight either of them for real, and in the event that they saw one another in public, I’m sure it could just end with slaps and hugs.

However, the better part of this competitive spirit could also be that these feuds make these battles exciting again. Rap is cool when artists don’t desire to hand over their first place to anyone. Jay-Z and Nas’ beef in the early 2000s was of the same vein. It’s exciting to see Lamar keeping this energy alive in hip-hop. Now he needs willing sparring partners who’re willing to return fire. Drake showed little interest in a full-scale battle. But J. Cole may prove to be less like those 2002 NBA stars, just here to have a great time, and more like Drexler and even Jordan himself – holding his own against someone who also wants to declare himself the best in the world.

Because otherwise, what’s the point of being great in the event you’re not willing to prove it once they call you on it?