I took some time out on Tuesday to figure out who Kendrick Lamar was and what this whole Twitter "battle" was all about. Because very obviously, looking at my timeline, Twitter was outraged.
The first thing that came to my mind after a quick search, which wasn't that hard because his name trended all day, is that there is this rapper (Kendrick) who basically sounds inaudible to me and he knows girls want "dis dip" and he was trying to pull a marketing ploy by breathing new legitimacy into the hip-hop game and recreating one of those Tupac/Biggie stints. Side note: while all this attention-seeking goes on, I still don't know who shot Tupac and that's pretty worrying. But anyway, I'll play the game. Of course, Twitter dictates my life. So now, here's what I know in five succinct points:
1. There's this other rapper called Big Sean who has a seven-minute track called Control. Kendrick Lamar is featured on the song and it was released over the internet.
2. In the song, Lamar uses his verse to bust a rhyme (see how down with this I am?) and he basically spews forth words annointing himself as the "king of New York, king of the coast, one hand, I juggle them both".
3. He then goes on to tear into his peers by name. These names, to be specific: J Cole, Big K.R.I.T, Wale, Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake (I know this guy, he's responsible for that annoying Yolo teen slang phrase), Tyler, The Creator, Mac Miller and his partners on the same song, Big Sean and Jay Electronica.
4. An example of the lyrics:
I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you niggas;
Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas;
They don't wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you niggas;
What is competition? I'm tryna raise the bar high.
5. Why is it necessary for all of this to trend on Twitter for two days? Because the hip-hop community is once again divided into two and because it's not the nineties and you don't have to pledge your allegiance by throwing a gang sign, you can pledge it with a tweet. Or several. Or a meme. Many in the Lamar camp are excited by his tendencies because they say it raises the bar in rap music, incites competition and urges artists to do better. Other folks feel like Lamar's lyrics are a cheap shot and unnecessary. Lamar is an LA rapper (West Coast) and to declare himself the king of New York (East Coast) is just ridiculous, with which I agree. Has this guy heard of Jay Z, who has a stake in the basketball team the Brooklyn Nets, in Brooklyn, in New York? *Haji pledges Jay Z allegiance with tweet*.
So now that we're all caught up, here's a look at five reactions in memes:
1. Will all the New York rappers say "I"?
2. Obviously Jay Z and Diddy fill their days with Kendrick banter:
3. Comedian Kevin Hart donates his two cents on the situation:
4. Kanye just can't handle it right now:
5. And Drake … shame:
