(The Root) — Big Sean gave the Internet a day’s worth of conversation and debate fodder last night when he released “Control,” a song featuring Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica.
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At least, we think Jay Electronica and Big Sean are on the track. Kendrick Lamar did his very best to make sure that he’d be the only one remembered — and he did a pretty good job. In the song, Lamar basically said, “I respect you guys very much, but I’m better than you” and went on to demolish the very men he shared the track with.
Twitter has been talking about it nonstop because it’s a good verse, yes, but also because it’s refreshing to hear what many consider a return to real hip-hop. Some, like online mag Vulture, mistook Lamar’s hard-hitting gauntlet throwing for legitimate beef or the beginnings of a real-life feud, which illustrates how far removed from this brand of rhyming we all are.
That kind of braggadocio is intrinsic to hip-hop, going way back before Master Gee rapped about “going down in history/as the baddest rapper there ever could be.” As Twitterer @ashe_phoenix pointed out, rappers still brag today, but more often than not, they brag about being better than their listeners.
So Lamar had everyone talking, inspiring several worldwide trending topics, including #TwitpicYourKendrickVerseReaction and #RappersKendrickDidntMention. Check out some of the ongoing conversation below.
Read more at Complex.
Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.
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