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| kendrick lamar |
But how much of a game changer? In both the short and long term, we think it could bring about some serious change in hip-hop. Here, 7 ways we think Kendrick Lamar's "Control" verse will change the rap game moving forward.
1. The "King of New York" title will actually mean something from now on.
Who is the King of New York right now? One of the reasons Kendrick Lamar's verse on "Control" was so potent is that there really isn't anyone sitting on the throne in NYC at the present moment. Sure, you could give the crown to, say, Jay Z or Nas simply by default. But Jay has moved on to bigger and better things in his life and Nas seems above claiming the crown now, too.
NYC needs a younger and, dare we say, hungrier rapper to come after the crown and take a seat in the throne. And while we're not sure who that rapper is going to be just yet, Kendrick Lamar just made the "King of New York" title a very attractive goal for some young rapper out there. We see a lot of rappers angling for the title in the coming years.
2. New York rappers who've been in the game for years now will be forced to put their foot back on the gas and really start rapping again.
A lot of rappers from New York—specifically guys who have been around for a decade-plus—are essentially on auto-pilot at this point in their careers. We won't go the Kendrick Lamar route and name names (pictures are worth a thousand words, though, right?!), but those guys seem content with what they've already accomplished in their careers.
The problem? That's not how hip-hop works. The second you stop trying to be the best, you fall back into the middle of the pack and lose a lot of your luster. So we're hoping that what Kendrick Lamar just did will make those guys hungry again and force them to come with their best stuff from now on.
3. The rappers who Kendrick Lamar name-dropped on his verse—from J. Cole to Mac Miller—won't get too comfortable in their current spots in hip-hop.
From the guys mentioned above to guys like Drake, Wale and Meek Mill, every rapper who got called out on "Control" was called out for a reason. They're on top of the rap game right now. But as we've seen so often, fame is fleeting and half of the rappers Kendrick Lamar named could fall down a few notches as far as popularity goes a year from now.
But since they were called out, we think every one of them will strive to do better than they're doing right now and take advantage of the moment. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to call Kendrick Lamar out. But it does mean that they're going to rise to the occasion and try to stay on his level as we move forward.
4. Southern rappers will prove that they were listening to Kendrick Lamar's verse just as hard as New York rappers were listening to it.
Kendrick Lamar didn't completely ignore the South on his verse (he mentioned Andre 3000 and Big K.R.I.T. on it). But you'll notice that guys like T.I., Young Jeezy, Ludacris and, specifically, Lil Wayne weren't mentioned. Why?
Well, to be honest, Kendrick Lamar didn't have all day to sit and name every single artist that he respects in the rap game. But by not naming more Southern rappers—and by choosing to make his "King of New York" reference one of the verse's real sticking points—we think he may have opened a few eyes and ruffled a few feathers in the South. So we wouldn't be surprised at all to hear some of those guys stepping their games up in the coming months and years.
5. West Coast rappers will take pride in the fact that Kendrick Lamar is ranking himself alongside hip-hop greats.
We don't want to turn Kendrick Lamar's verse into a East Coast/West Coast thing. But as recently as a few years ago, everyone was wondering why there were no West Coast rappers making any noise. Now? The West Coast has a winner in its corner, and they need to make the most of that. They can do it by following Kendrick Lamar's lead and using him as an example of the impact that a West Coast rapper can make today.
6. Rappers will no longer be afraid to compete with one another.
This might be wishful thinking on our part. But we would like to think that what Kendrick Lamar just did is going to bring back the competitive spirit in hip-hop. Does that mean that every single rapper has to write a song calling out every single other rapper on the planet? Not at all. But it does mean that rappers shouldn't be afraid to one-up each other on their songs, push each other in the studio, and—when appropriate—take shots at other rappers.
By nature, rap music is competitive. But it seems like, too often, rappers only like to deal with fictional foes on their songs. Now that Kendrick Lamar has called out his peers, maybe they'll be a little more willing to deal with their peers directly, too, since those peers are the ones preventing them from being called the greatest rapper on the planet.
7. Kendrick Lamar will eventually prove why he deserves to be mentioned alongside the likes of Jay Z, Nas, Eminem and Andre 3000.
A week ago, very few people would have named Kendrick Lamar alongside guys like Jay, Nas, Em and Andre. But now that he's throwing his name out there as one of the all-time greats, he has a chance to do something really special in the future. And we can't wait to see how things turn out with him.
Even if none of the other changes on this list actually happen, Kendrick Lamar just turned himself into one of the special rappers of the current generation. And he could go down in history if he plays his cards right over the next year or two. We'll be watching.
What do you guys think?
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