Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Big Sean ft. Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica- "Control" TRACK REVIEW

























New track from Big Sean has made waves across the Hip-hop community and also the internet and for the reasons that Big Sean probably hoped. Big Sean is due to release a new album this fall entitled "Hall of Fame". Big Sean came up through Kanye West's GOOD Music, but I have never really been a fan. He is in essence the most average a rapper could possibly be. No flow, no underground appeal, no real mainstream value and for the most part no real actual value in the hip-hop world. His verse turns out to be the afterthought of this entire track and for that reason, he probably took this track off of the final cut of his forthcoming album. This track also features Jay Electronica and Kendrick Lamar, and Kendrick Lamar delivers one of the hottest verses of the year and one of the most controversial and talked about verses in an incredibly long time.

Big Sean's verse is about money, success and him getting even more famous than he previously was (even though I doubt that's really true). He name drops here and there and all in all it's a really cliched, played out and uninteresting verse. As for Kendrick Lamar's verse following Sean's, he basically denounces everything Big Sean glamorizes in the first verse and then he calls out Big Sean! Well, slow down. He also calls out Jay Electronica, A$AP Rocky, Tyler the Creator, Drake, Meek Millz, Mac Miller, Wale, Big KRIT, Pusha T, and J Cole. This is really the line that I think people are really making the biggest deal out of here on Kendrick's new track. Either that or the fact that he puts himself on par with Andre 3000, Eminem, Nas, and Jay-Z as the best rapper of all time and quite honestly GOOD Kid M.A.A.D City is better than anything Jay-Z has put out for the most part so he's like 1/4th correct with that. But who knows, with fire and passion like this, maybe Kendrick will be one of the greatest. Who are we to decide right now?

But in all seriousness, Kendrick's "calling out" of the top rappers in the new school of hip-hop today was not at all an act of insult, intimidation or even dissing whatsoever. He overtly states that he rolls with these guys and he loves them to death. Kendrick is acknowledging that these are his peers. Rather, he's really trying to fire these guys up as much he is. He think that Hip-hop should have friendly (or not so friendly) competition and I think he is completely correct with that.

The real insults are lines before that where Kendrick completely disses this "Molly Rap" style that has taken over the game today. "Fuck your clubs, fuck your pictures". Kendrick is calling out those rappers who don't care anymore. Too many guys have become complacent and happy with where they are in the game and so they don't care about rising up to the top. As long as the labels are handing them the checks, they are free to sit back and enjoy their idly rich lives. In reality, music is an all time profession and you should always try to be the best at your craft. Just look at Jay-Z and what he sounded like on Magna Carta Holy Grail. Tell me that sounds like a rapper who really wants it. I didn't think so.

And Poor Jay Electronica delivered a really solid verse but people won't even remember it for anything at all. Just the way it goes I guess. The overall track is adequate. Kendrick overtakes the whole thing himself with this one verse and even more so he has opened up a debate throughout hte game of hip-hop which is very necessary in today's era. One thing I now have gathered from Kendrick Lamar after hearing this verse is not only is he incredibly talented, he is very driven and passionate as well. For these reasons, I'd say he is probably one of the best rappers around today and he is certainly a favorite of mine.

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