Best Bars of 2024. Plus: Drake vs. Kendrick Retrospective

Welcome everyone to DICEK, I'm your host, Kolkushna. Today's episode is part one of our special two-part year-end series discussing the music releases of 2024. The next week's episode will be our traditional favorite music of the year show, where me and Camden Ostrander award our favorite releases and songs of the year. But because 2024 was such a big year for hip hop, I thought it was worth doing an episode specifically focused on our favorite hip hop moments of 2024.

So joining me for this episode today are Torre, King Green, and James Francis. Torre is a legendary journalist, King Green is a rapper, and together they host one of my favorite new podcasts called Rap Latte. James Francis is also a rapper and producer who I discovered through social media, where he does hip hop analysis and lyric breakdowns. Together the four of us revisit the Drake and Kendrick Lamar battle, awarding our favorite songs and moments from the beef.

Then we take turns nominating and dissecting our favorite rap lyrics of 2024 before the three of them share their favorite hip hop song and album of the year. It was an incredible conversation. I hope you enjoy. Alright, Torre, King Green, and James Francis are with me.

Thanks guys for joining the show. We're going to start today's conversation all about hip hop in 2024, reflecting a little bit about the year in general, specifically in regards to hip hop. And I was kind of reflecting back on 2023 a bit and remembering on this very show our annual year in show, we started the conversation off with, and I don't know if you guys remember because it was kind of happening globally as well, this idea that perhaps hip hop was in a state of decline, losing some of its prominence. There was a lack of chart topping in 2023 with hip hop and we were kind of trying to speculate on whether that was a slump or is this a sign indicator of a more kind of global shift.

I think as it stands now at the same time in 2024, reflecting on the year in hip hop, the conversation feels much different. I think we can think a handful or more than a handful of great hip hop releases from great hip hop artists, some of which we'll talk about later in this episode. But also we had one of the biggest hip hop battles, one of the biggest hip hop events, certainly in my lifetime, and I think it's safe to say historically it's going to go down as one of the biggest, if not the biggest. So I wanted to start there and kind of, you know, we've had a couple of months of distance from the heat of the battle.

And so I wanted to kind of reflect on the battle kind of holistically reflect on the year holistically and where we might kind of historically view this battle. I want to start with you, Torrey, specifically on where or anything you want to say about the year in general, but also with your perspective on past battles, I'm thinking Tupac Big, I'm thinking J. Nause where you see historically, Drake and Kendrick might go down within that lineage, as well as kind of your just general thoughts on the battle as it stands now in December of 2024. I mean, this was unquestionably the greatest battle we ever had in hip hop.

It went faster. I think it went deeper as far as the number of songs, as far as the conversation between each other, you know, it pulled more out of Kendrick than we had seen before. I mean, like, you know, extraordinary career. And then he goes and does things that are unbelievable and moves our perception of his technical ability, his hip-hop ability forward quite a lot.

Yeah. You know, and the speed with which that Friday to the end of Saturday happened will never be forgotten by everybody who is living in this culture. Yeah, it was it was 616 Friday boarding, right? Then it was euphoria late Friday, then the Drake then family matters, right?

On Saturday and then not like us right after. Yeah. It was euphoria on the Tuesday, 616 on Friday. And then yeah, family matters, meet the grams and then not like us on the, and then part part six on Sunday.

So that's stretch. That was like, we're already like, he even tired and that was like, you should never. But I mean, I remember the texts and the excitement and the energy of like Kendrick drop, like you've got to be kidding. He just dropped like this morning.

He just dropped yesterday. Like again, oh my God, Drake, oh, how the whole video Kendrick stepped on his whole video. You know, the, the text, the excitement, the calling around. I'm calling people who I normally call during the day, but now they're midnight friends.

Like this is a breaking news event going on. I could call and be like, yo, did you? Oh my God, this live, this for, you know, it was an extraordinary moment. You know, just thinking back to Jay and Nas, Jay put out one record and then I think it was six months later came ether and super ugly was the next day.

But super ugly is not even considered a real full part of the battle. Like people don't talk about it. They consider it just a two song battle. I mean, that took a long time, but six months, these are days super ugly is the original hard part six.

We just we just said, we just said super ugly is a hot record. We can talk about later. But no, it was just and to see Kendrick take such a deep position. You are not hip hop.

You are not an American. You do not understand this culture and really dissect him on a deep level like that. It was not just I fucked your bitch. It's not just you're getting screwed by your manager.

You are not one of us. You are not American. You're not a rapper. You're not hip hop.

You're not real. Like, oh my God, this is so deep. Yeah. Green.

What about you? I'm just going to say, I mean, he's saying everyone sentiments of how we felt about that week. Like that was hip hop Christmas and Gwamza. Like it was, it was, it was like, it's like, we got a gift.

We got a gift every day and we're all it built community. And that's a difference between 2020 and 24. Our community got raised up. All of us were able to talk to each other and pontificate and just really get into it.

And that's what I look back at this year as it's like, wow, the community got built again. Like we could talk about our friends in the lunch room, but we're doing it on platforms. People, people make it money off of it. You know what I'm saying?

It's like something was dying. And now we're building community around all these things. And the battle was the battle, but it made us all, it made people who were casual listeners want to know about lyrics and listen to lyrics and talk about lyrics. I'm like, and it's funny because maybe a month before that, I was like, constant on TikTok, making TikToks about lyrics.

Yeah. And then I made one about like Lil Wayne's lyrics and that shit blew up to like a million views. And I was like, yeah, care about listening to it. Because in my brain, I just geek out about lyrics.

I'm a rapper. So I was like, I'm just going to geek out about it. And I was like, oh, people care. And then the battle happened.

It's like, no, people really care now. And it's, and I feel like since that investment people have had in it, they're just, we're hungry. So we're hungry for Tyler's new album. We're hungry when a new rapper who's called, calls himself a lyricist or has something to say, we want to hear it now.

And I feel like it's been like that the entire year. And for me, it's just been, I haven't felt like this is probably like 2015, 16, 17 about like rap, you know? Yeah. And specifically, I think you guys both touched on it.

Social media and YouTube and the reactions in this community, that felt very new. I think back to Drake, Meek Mill, I think back to Drake Pusha T. The internet was definitely a thing by then, but not in the way it is even now. And I think that played a huge part in the magnitude of the battle, not only of these Drake Meek Mill, Drake Pusha T, you know, that's somewhat of a heavyweight, but this was different.

And the amount of songs, the speed with which that we got them all felt very new. And so did the amount of conversation and reaction around the songs themselves. So James, I'm definitely interested. Again, as the youngest one here, you're experienced with it.

Yeah, I feel like it's been super, super unique for me this year because I started like taking content seriously this year. So I've seen in real time, like through my content as well, like a real shift in people's focus in terms of like caring about lyrics. I feel like it took like three or four months before I actually like started talking about like bars and like breaking down stuff. And then that just happened to coincide with the beef.

And I was like, oh, people actually care. I also circle around like a couple of months ago, back to all of the mixed stuff, all of the push and stuff. And I was just like, this was not the same conversation. Like it was, if you were already in a hip hop space, then it was big to you.

But even that beef with push and Drake, it was still very much a hip hop beef. It wasn't as global. So yeah, I just feel feeling people's sentiment shift and also like the discussion around stuff like Chroma Coopia where like people were talking about bars and away they wouldn't have asked it. Yeah, as a good note is cool on social, especially TikTok.

We talk such a great temperature check for what's going on through the weekend. There were tons of TikToks of videos from Black creators talking about Kendrick and Drake. And then on Monday and Tuesday, when they started to see white creators come in and talk about it and clearly people who do not talk about hip hop. So you start to see the growth, it's becoming pop.

People who don't care about hip hop are like, yo, there's a battle going on and it's exciting and it's like interesting and it's like pulling people into the story of hip hop. Yeah, I was going to say like, this was my mom asking me about this battle. It was like so far removed. You know, she had some some curiosity about it.

It's the level that it got to, which that's the first in my lifetime for sure. So I want to get into categories around, specifically around the beef. We have three categories. We're going to go through our favorite or best song that came from the beef, our favorite line that came from the beef and also the most quotable line from the beef.

So we'll start with our, I don't know if you guys want to do best or favorite song. Is there any actually, let me start here. Is there any conversation around what the best song is it or is it clearly not like us in end of conversation? Wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, hold on, hold on, hold on.

There's a different, in my mind, there's a difference between trying to attribute best and favorite. Yeah, like they're doing the best favorite. If we're to, if we were to highlight, nominate just one song historically as the best song that came from this battle, then it's not like us. Yeah, I agree.

No, no, my favorite is, my favorite is euphoria. Definitely. If you said favorite, we were dancing to do like us as a nation and all that, but the best song. Oh my God, the best song is not like us.

Yeah, make your case. We talked about this yesterday. And you said all the rappers will say euphoria. I don't know why you're switched up now.

Oh no, no, I never said I said the best all the rappers and all like the lyricists and the deep dive guys I didn't I didn't say that I'm one of them though. Even though I am I don't think that way I think about song writing I don't think the lyricist people are gonna say euphoria because they're like oh look at how everything in euphoria came true because it's like Prophetic and and you know you could dissect it and all the things that you dissected and that all four of us dissected Were actually real it came to account right yeah, but not like us as a song. I think the best song I'm a songwriter before anything. It's like that's the best song like that's the best this song ever made Yeah, it's hard to argue it's hard to Battle and you know that it's the best song ever made and I'm standing on that Look I read through euphoria last night in preparation for this and it's just so devastating And I'm not saying not like us is not great not like us is amazing and I listen that song a million times this year But God what he's doing in euphoria.

I mean just at this the final line When he's when he just when he's the way when we don't want to hear you say nigga no more and I'll go Later that that's that's incredible what he's talking about This is where we get you know I hate the way that you walk the way that you talk the way that you dress the fairy tale stories I mean there's you know the line about violence which I want to talk more about there's so much in euphoria And I'm not just talking about the prediction which is amazing, but there's so there's so much in euphoria that it's just extraordinary writing I think I think that there's it's it's a Simpler and it's the same concepts and not like us where the density that exists in euphoria I think is a it's taste level I think there's just different tastes and for me structured as a song when I think about song I think about I want to listen to this a whole bunch of times from a mass level versus versus The the finding lines because let me say this in the next question that Coles gonna ask us about the best line I think my best the best lines are from euphoria. Yeah, yeah The best lyrical lines are from you for the most quotable lines are from not like us I don't think that listen ability being able to listen to it over and over and over is a necessary thing It is a great thing but you can make a song like that like a Bob and not like us But my god that the best this song is meet the grams that means to your soul We all started listening to it had to turn it off in the first verse like oh my god You take your soul like pedophile is nothing compared to like hey, I want to talk to your son about what a shitty man You are I was talking about your mom. I was like your dad. Oh my god.

Oh, I 100% agree with you heart surgery I'm 100% agree with you because look at what you said and I'm so much about dissecting This is the dissect podcast you said this is the best dis song and I would agree with you that meet the grams of the Best this song this question says the best song from the beef the best off of the beef is not like us the best This song is meet the grams and the end of my favorite lyrics come from you for you. Hey, man. I like that sector Yeah, yeah, the best favorite thing is just semantics at this point. Obviously, I think so we're all do we all agree that?

Okay, everyone with Tory thinks not like I said the best song but is all of our favorite song you for you because that's my That's my step in the euphoria. Okay, I said that on towards blood cost. Okay. What for what reason specifically for what reason specifically?

I feel like oh There's so many reasons Yeah, I feel like it's the best summary of the dissection of Drake's character in the beef like meet the grams He tells him apart and it's a bit brutal But I feel like you for is like it's actually the balance between all like us and meet the grams Yeah, yeah I what I love about it particularly where it came in the beef was that you know his first Kendrick's first response is for you know aside from like that as the kind of the kicker of this whole thing But that was just a single verse what I love about euphoria is obviously the strategy Tory talked about the kind of Premonition of it all and just that opening slower melodic part all came to fruition He told Drake exactly what he was going to do what Drake himself was going to do and Drake still did it which in retrospect? It's just fucking crazy But what I love about euphoria is there's no hook it is six seven minutes of just straight wrapping Yeah, and this is a rap battle and this is Kendrick in his opening gesture saying let's rap like fuck the dirt If you're gonna take it to the if you want to get dirty I'll get dirty unprepared for that he says that directly But if you want to keep it above the belt and just wrap here. I am here's six seven minutes of I'm just wrapping I'm giving you several cadences different flows different voices showing you a whole bouquet of my skills I want you to match it or if you're gonna go dirty I'm I'm prepared for that too, but I just love that he his opening statement was one about wrap I mean, maybe we're all sort of using the word favorite and best differently or maybe they land on us differently because To be favorite his heart and best is in your head, right? And if not like cuss comes on my heart will leap even to this day Right and I will want to dance to that record if euphoria comes on I want to sit and think and want to vacate and like refine listen to these lyrics come through me So I mean to me now like us is my favorite out of this and euphoria is the best because it is the best written song And I think we're saying the opposite thing But maybe we're just defining best in favor in different ways.

I think beside that we're saying a lot of the same things Yeah, I think so there's anyone want to give any shine to any of the Drake's songs as Making a face right now for yeah, I was Drake's most concise effort I think family matters that second verse impressive, but he should have just focused on Kendrick push-ups was the great and greatest display and Like the Metro line like at the point push-ups essentially changed the narrative. It was brief But it did change the narrative. I think push-ups is the most solid track out of that drink put out and family matters I don't know why you're talking about other people. It's just me and you you start punching other guys in the ring That's that outside the ring is weird.

Yeah, I agree. Okay, so let's move on to the next category favorite line from the beef I'll start I have two One is I'm cheating here because I just had to mention this one more time My this is my most enjoyable line out of the whole beef and it comes from the heart part six. It's a win It is when Drake says you mentioned an A minor, but you guys got a B sharp and tell fans who was it You thought you left D flat D major so the music theorist in me just fucking could not get over this line I was so happy when I heard this because essentially Drake is trying to flip the A minor line from from not like us Yeah, and he says you got a B sharp. So in music theory B sharp is kind of not a thing It's just C right there's some technical cases you can make but Him trying to be clever and flip it with something that doesn't exist essentially was just I was petty and I was so giddy when I heard this I was just in heaven So that's the most enjoyable moment of the beef for me.

I think as a some of the Drake haters Not a hater, but I just you know before the battle I was just not that into Drake I like some of his songs. I've just never been interested in his music since like nothing was the same Yeah, nothing was the same was the last album that I listened to and full and still listen to the stuff that came after that Not a big fan so I was rooting for Kendrick and that line gave me so much joy, but I guess my favorite line And it's obviously so hard to choose but I think it has to be you know a colleague you a fucking colonizer and Just from in terms of singling out like one line and obviously this has a lot to do with what everything that comes before this Line in that third verse about like us, but to whittle down his angle in this beef to articulate it in such concise but vicious way and the masterful Setup a verse long setup that had to have been written mind you either the night family matters drops or the next day because this isn't direct conversation response with Drake saying you're having like you're always trying to get the slaves free and that's the setup of this entire third verse about like us And he goes through obviously all these and I had to artist and he's just jab jab jab jabs All setting up this final punchline of you not a colleague you fucking colonizer You get the alliteration with Kali colonize or just every technical merit you want to give it There not to mention the message of it everything about that line for me is just so brilliant So when I was going through the many lines I wanted to nominate That's the one that kind of landed on at this moment, but green Let's go to you and your favorite line from the beef that verse in that line and is in there And I can't get that entire verse out of my mind But the one but I had to pick something from you for you And it was I even hate when you say the word nigga But that's just me I guess because I fell out on the floor laughing when I heard that for the first time and that was the only time and the entire beef Where I was just on I was just dying that was hilarious. It's like the whole hate thing got me I was just like this dude Ten things I hate about you. I said I hate when you say to work I guess like his ability to play with his voice is just next level There's no I said that the tour the other day like he is the best ever at being able to create character in rap never So yeah, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go with that But you're but the your pick is an entire verse actually to me is a pick Yeah, that moment does like to your point the way that he just switches cadence all of it He's like vicious up until then and then on a dime.

He's just like that's just me I guess some shit just cringe worthy. It would have to be deep like that Yeah, brilliant moment Tory what about you? There's a line that I mean, you know There's a million lines in you for you that we could all do and a million lines that a lot of people have talked about and There's one line that really resonates for me that I feel like I haven't really heard people really underline Tell them run to America. They imitate heritage.

They can't imitate this violence and Part of what he's doing is saying you cannot be as violent as me But he's also saying you cannot imitate the violence that I have received that me and my people and like me have received Which creates our ability to be violent people and it sort of points out okay Drake You can see the quote-unquote heritage the culture part of America That's on the surface, but you can't see the violent roots that shape America as an extraordinarily violent place in the country What we do in terms of foreign policy school shootings all these sort of things So the violence of America, you know and what somebody in Compton would deal with from police or mother gangs from his own Family members his own gang friends He's saying violence is a critical part of America and you don't understand what's in the heart is critical part of America I find that really deep. Yeah very well stated. Yeah, and that is not a line I've heard anyone talk about in detail. So very nice James.

What you got? Yeah, I've been debating because because we've got best line and best quotable I was gonna put best quotable as the Atlanta the Atlanta line And the best line from well, I was ping pongodin to I was gonna do the hellcat line from euphoria Just because that's just so much there of like everybody want to be demon to get shit by throw away And the other the other I was thinking of was the have you ever which he's still playing out on GNX even right? Yeah, which one did you ultimately land on I feel like to have you ever just because it's the ultimate like he'd like He's my calling card and it's such a it's such like hip-hop cultural cache And I feel like that's he set the precedent of the battle being that on euphoria because after that Then for Drake is like, okay, I've got it because now one family matters Drake's being like, oh, what do you mean? I do this this and this is like okay, but you just allowed him to set the precedent for the way that the battle Yeah, right I agree with that and that's the what you have you ever goes into exactly what tour I said to which it sets the entire president of the whole thing where this is how I am and I had to come through this And this is just who I am that's who you're trying to be and why are you trying to be that you don't need to do that?

I liked when you were yourself. I like when you sing your little songs. I like Drake with the melodies Yeah, exactly why did you go this way and I love when people give credit and where credit's doing a battle like when Jay Z Says for them. It says like you got a one-hot album every 10 year average There's no way you can say illmatic is in a classic album.

So giving that credit makes everything else seem valid I think that's the thing about those bars that Kendrick. Yeah, okay very well said Let's move on to the most quotable line from the beef This is one of the I think the aspects of the battle that was just so enjoyable and made it so culturally rich in terms of like People like you and me or everyone here being one to look very closely at lyrics more than probably your average listener But these quotable lines that came from it ended up permeating culture social media, you know You got little kids screaming a minor like it's like it's just insane the amount of them that we got I have like I actually wrote down all I don't know if we want me to read these I wrote down It looks like 15 legitimately quotable lyrics From the beef on either side mostly Kendrick But Drake has some some good ones to most of them come from push-ups Yeah, but that was I think one of the reasons why this I don't think without as many quotables that we got It doesn't become the type of conversation that we got in terms of just the magnitude of it because we had these quotable lines Everyone understood to latch on to the center of the conversation around so I'm interested in terms of just the memorability of a line Which one sticks out for all you guys the most in your 15? Do you include the line where he says you don't want to work with me no more? Okay, I don't actually because that one I didn't think about that But that is one that I noticed a high volume of women on tiktok Yes, baby videos around and almost no men did but so many women did that I was like something in that is speaking to women And I'm not sure what it women's experience that like resident But they were clearly like that is the line that jumps out Yeah, okay, Tori do you want to start with your your quotable?

I don't think read stuff on it Uh, we don't want to hear you say nigga no more I mean like look the English language is like a keyboard for MCs and nigga is a central key It's probably in the bill of the keyboard is the most important way in an interesting way in an authentic way in a real way and it's not one way but like You know, it's got a flow It's got a hit and you've got like you have to be able to do that just like a basketball player if you can't dribble You can't never get you can never get on the floor and for Kendrick to be taking that note away from him is so real And insidious and so many people misunderstood Kendrick's assault as a biological racial assault They're like well, he does have a black father and his uncle was in this soul music group. It's it's not about Di-racialism. It's not about him being mixed. It's about you clearly are cosplaying You don't really understand our culture and maybe that's because you grew up in another country in a white Jewish neighborhood But like I'm not even getting to that I'm just saying what I can see and what I can feel when you talk we again I'm what the culture feeling we don't want to hear you say it He didn't tell him to not say it because then Drake could defy him and he went but like we did I'm just telling you we don't want to say it there and the way he's he kind of sings it kind of like a Advertising jingle What he makes it into like a lullaby and like I mean I definitely heard people saying that like the absent-minded when you're just walking around the house Whatever You guys think you I was wondering do you think he was intentionally?

Interpolating that Kanye line from Kim high where we don't want to hear that week shit no more Or is that just me that heard that connection? I guess it green. You had one that was similar or was that yours? Same one or you're free.

Well, I think about the word best, you know the semantics of all of it and to me It's the a minor thing because we all know we're like waiting for the Super Bowl to see if the entire crowd Like that's what what's like what it is but then I think about so many quoteables like is it the brains? No reason that just comes to my Why did you say it like that and then? There's just there's just too many and like the the nigga line sticks to me the most because it's just funny and I love how people Took it. He said it's not that deep and people took it that deep and started analyzing his racial background Like any of that makes any sense in the battle and it was just it was beautiful that people actually questioned it right James What do you got?

Yeah, it's gonna be a minor. It's gonna be a minor, but I've the other thing I'll sing about was the let me see you push a T Just because yeah It's so funny and also just the thought it's such a medebar in terms of like Just thinking of like people who aren't in here pop you have no context of that like that sticking to them and then being like What I mean with push a T and then then being like oh, yeah to me I think it's just an automatic of the whole thing of just like all the point of view for it like you should be out of here And it's already self-evident and all these references I'm tying in odd odd like functioning in the same way like it's just great Ryan Yeah, I think so for me I think out of all it has to be the a minor it has to be just be a minor I'm trying to be objective like yeah Yeah, you had kids screaming that you had and then the visual layer now that we now associated with him skip walking across the Topscotch and the way that the camera zooms out every like to me, you know That's such that was already such an iconic line from the song to then have the pressure of like what are you gonna visually do to accentuate this line and then them nailing it in a way that we would never expect but we all kind of understand the Adolescent theme of the hot you know, it's just like brilliant brilliant like everything about that video Absolutely brilliant, but let me just like shout out a couple more that we didn't mention go Let me give Drake some credit because he had a few How the fuck you big step in with that with a size 7 why? He had a few I mean arguably Metro shut your ho ass up and make some drums like Was one of the one of the bigger ones was but of course it ricochets back it hits him in the eye Yeah, but for him it had a moment Also, this one which is legitimately funny Kendrick just opened his mouth someone go hand-on-a-grammy right now That's hilarious the way he sung it was really funny, but we didn't even talk about Fuck the big three. It's just big me We be trashed how the Bible God watching But I got a weird case wise he around sort of I love my sort of like that whole end of the first versus Now that wah wah wah is huge the onomat appear there is so awesome right around there I believe it's the end of the second verse of not like us the city is a must It was city is back up.

We a must we outside the end on we outside I mean we could do a whole episode on the deep beating of we outside or I'm outside in hip-hop And you know I was a vision somebody like standing in front of the project building somebody's out to get him I'm like I'm not hiding like I have right here outside if you want to get me and you can come get me I'm not scared of anything and like that's a really powerful moment for Kendrick Yeah, I think also to state the obvious they not like us itself is a huge quote. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, right Yeah, that's the that's the whole best song thing with me It's like yeah something that's gonna live in our brains while before the eternity of our lives of all lives Yeah, here's the thing with that right you listen to be the grams like once and you can still hear it You listen to not like us a thousand times beat the grams is seared on your sonic soul After what listen it's so painful and powerful. I agree I agree with it You know that funny thing about that my personal story of hearing that song was that I was putting my kids to bed because it was like Late, you know when it that came out the west coast It was like I think like 9 p.m.

But I couldn't wait to hear the song So I was laying in bed with my youngest daughter waiting for her to go to sleep So I put my headphones on and listen to that song with my daughter laying right there Twist experience we're talking about that on the show we're talking about how it's basically jigsaw from saw kidnapping a family And talking to them while they're all getting that the song's crazy I get really like a pathing and it's so beautiful read. Yeah, I was seeing everyone's wrapped And I saw a few people with me the grams on their top five songs I was like oh my god cycles I mean like we have always held that the best first line in a battle, right? Fuck your bitch in the click you clean right it's such a great direct right in the face This mother fucker said Dear Adonis and we all freaked out because we knew like oh my god like where's this gonna go you're talking directly That is the most powerful start to a battle song ever and just those two words said you that way Not yelling but like calm and and evil and menacing and like oh god One thing I've been wondering about to go back to not like us So clearly like some of that was written Post family matters specifically the third verse, but how much do you guys think he had that in the clip kind of ready? I was almost thinking like did he have this even before he called out Drake?

I'm like that knowing he would have this juggernaut of a hit song waiting like in his ammunition Like essentially a kill cart You know I mean like a kill shot ready to go or do you think he he wrote it in that time frame between push-ups and euphoria where it seemed Like he was stockpiling like ten songs up to ten songs I know but you guys thought about that at all yeah He had it he had meet the grams already because he had an entire angle an entire planet he laid it out in euphoria So he had these beats and already within that time period though You know cuz there was like a two-week time period where Drake's like telling him to Drop he's like I am gonna drop like ten cuz I'm thinking about what you're going to do after I drop this So me obviously he had meet the grams ready already and he augmented things and change things and same thing with not like us That's last verse he's replying to what what he what he said and he probably had it earlier in the week I think there was it was just completely laid out I mean as far as we know from the few folks who have spoken from the sessions There was the session where Kendrick did ten songs in one session I assume that's one day but it could be over two days anything and then he he added a little bit to later parts of the songs Like later in the battle so where it appears that he's replying in some way That is a an addition a punch in later and I think you can hear it sounds a little bit different Right green like like some of the late late lines of the songs that were like is that a reference? Yeah, they sounded different sonically like yeah Yeah The family matters while was definitely punched in you can hear it's punch Yeah, but it's so crisp the way he does it and he's we're so used to him changing voices So when he creates this character and it's a punch in it feels so natural because of how it's delivered But you could tell it's different. Yeah, all right. Well, let's close the chapter on on Drake and Kendrick for now We're gonna move on to our more kind of holistic conversation about the year and hip hop and specifically highlight some of our favorite lyrics and dissect our favorite lyrics We're gonna take a quick ad break and we'll come back with that All right, we are back it is time to dissect our favorite lyrics of 2024 I asked all of you guys to prep three of your favorite lyrics and be ready to dissect them Um, I can start first with my first kind of nomination.

I'm going in reverse order I love all these lyrics. I'm about to nominate, but I do I think I have a favorite and I'll leave that for last But my first shout out is going to be from absol's crazier with jid No shit. I wrote this in outside the sideboard catching out. I'll be blacking out because it keep the lights on I'm the elocites in the air.

You should get the lights off So this this song is just absolutely incredible. It's one of my favorite rap songs of the year It is the classic case of two emcees kind of competing on the same track Just kind of elevating each other knowing and respecting each other as lyricists and and so that inspires them to kind of bring their best work as well Because both of these verses are crazy Um And I did a video on one of my other favorite lines from this song the the justin herbert flip Which I thought was really clever, but maybe my favorite lines from this song are these from from absol's verse So he says bag full of blue strips like dirty diapers. You ain't the shit If I had a genie my only wish would be you and a genie so I don't know. I'm only one toy you have kids 17 and 15 okay, so I have two I have two daughters This is this is like I think I like these lines because it speaks to me as a parent So let's break it down a little bit bag full of blue strips like dirty diapers Uh, so we're talking about a bag full of high dollar bills bag full of money blue strips being the anti-counterfit blue stripe That's inserted into high monetary bills But also dirty diapers if you have changed diapers before there is a yellow thin yellow line that runs down the center of the diaper And it turns blue when it's dirty or wet so he's making that correlation which then sets up You ain't the shit obviously dirty diapers shitty diapers clever there I usually actually don't like shit like toilet bars But this is a rare case where it's like really really clever and thought out because then he says if I had a genie My only wish would be you and a genie so it's got kind of a weird confusing bar Obviously he's talking about like genie in a bottle and wishes But if you're a parent you know, there's a thing called a diaper genie which is specifically a trash can meant for diapers so he's saying my only wish would be you and a genie meaning you the piece of shit in a literal diaper Trash can which is all that the consistency the conciseness of just those three bars clever wordplay I could have plucked out essentially any any line from this song in dissected it, but that was one that I thought was just really clever So that's my first nomination Tori you want to start with with your first First that we call up so I can read it and um Since you guys are only talking about male emcees for now.

I got for now rig some diversity. It's this conversation patriarchal conversation Jochi's first verse on nissan altaba is fucking ridiculous She freaky kind of lingus dali llama doji cooler than a fan, but she hotter than asana take a trip out of japan and I sud nami her vagina Bina died or Benny hana fine whatever and then she goes on the new hip hop Madonna She says that twice on the trap race jones and I love and then she's gonna follow with the third um I'm like karae bradshaw sexy city with a back brace on I've been carrying you bitches now for way too long So three times she relates herself to a dominant alpha woman who was shaping and directing culture who is highly influential Um, this is funny the the vagina tsunami is hysterical like it and and the way that she spits this is so Quick and rapid and the flow and the breath control and the mouth control. This is an extraordinary verse And you know, I mean this is the year that we all were like, okay So here's another person who's one of the top emcees in the game. Um, I'm told there'll be a new album first quarter second quarter So like super excited about that beautiful.

I'm glad don't you got highlighted. I might be coming back to her shortly Uh green. You want to go next? Uh, yeah, I'm going with there's lines from pie and there's just two couplets that are extended metaphors jacos pie with uh, they like so it's like I like where bricks get karate chopped to maximize the dojo comprende I wonder where my friends make it pass the pearly gate so we could kick it but based on what their since they probably not Everybody's trapped when bricks get karate chopped to maximize the dojo comprende.

I wonder where my friends I can't uh extended metaphors for me since like as a writer they're hard they're hard They're hard. They're just hard to do and that's what uh the absole one is too So it's like when you're taking that and then having double or triple meetings with an extended metaphor It's like what are you doing take hold? What are you doing? I'm so it's like that absole line was crazy and um I yeah, there's in that burst.

There's another one where he talks about since birth The kid knew his wife never wallowed in sorrow the game is dispersed and these verses bring a gilly potential with millie from pencils But before that he says to test my ability with the stirling agenda But it's hard to meet my match or my rap saying really that tender. It's like the money versus the writing Bars throughout the whole thing. It's just crazy and it just puts my brain in a paradox loop And I'm like I can't deal. Why are you doing this on the first?

But yeah, so I just I'm going with pie. I love that verse. I've separate say for a few lines There's a few lines are questionable and that's the thing we take off. I was gonna say that's yeah That's not an isolated incident for him.

Yeah, yeah That was that was my favorite song on that project for sure and daylight killed his verse as well James what you got? Yeah I'm looking at my list now. Um one of my picks was A rap city song. Um, it's Marlena from Please Don't Cry This project but um yeah one of our bars is single solo, but I ain't ringless I drive the Audi like Tyrese my soul attached to me like a Siamese Um, so like she's as a Tyrese bathroom.

What's the film from? Fosn Furious? So she's saying like I'm single, but I'm not ringless because I've got an Audi Okay, another bar. What was the other bar?

She had a bar from Um from Asteroids, which was like interesting plants. I even like Dr. Sabey Yeah, just a load of clever bars and the whole project Yeah, I've got that got highlighted. That's a great album that came out early in the year So I feel like it all the early releases kind of fall victim to people Forgiving about a little bit and especially at the this last quarter.

We've had the tsunami of releases Um, so I'm glad that you gave that some love. Okay, so I'll go with my second nomination which comes from Lupe Fiasco's Cake off of samurai one of my favorite hip hop albums of the year So talk about extended metaphors strap up because this one is very very extended He says authoring in august wordplay is December that mean my pen is in cinders and my delivery shivers like Siberian areas Keep this all rhymes. I'm not saying it in the way that inflection that he makes all these words rhyme because what I love about cake is Both verses are just masterful in their alliteration and density of rhyming So I'm going to read a couple more lines, but here's he's setting up this hot cold dichotomy saying authoring in august So august hot weather wordplay is December obviously cold Then he says my pen is in cinders cinders being the remnants of ashes or flames or or what have you and then delivery shivers like Siberian areas Of course, Siberia being cold, but then he's that delivery is setting up the next extended metaphor Which is going to be based on both a literal ship and a shipping like a UPS like shipping mail So he says shippers slip on the slickest icicles drip from the tip of my scriptures like fucking holy shit If you ship this whole loop album is it's insane so that so that line plays off Both the cold and this now emphasizing this delivery motif saying shippers slip on the sick slickest icicles That and I just love tip of my scriptures is just beautiful And then he says if you a ship on a trip, don't hit the tip of my glacier So again literal ship, but now he's setting up a titanic reference Which he pays off on the next line he says swim with the fish and flippers. I finish my pictures So swim with the fishes.

He's referencing, you know, which is actually murder I'm going to be killing you and then I finish my pictures referencing the end of titanic with the ship sinking obviously tying back to this swim with the fish But also paying off on ship don't hit my glacier from the line before classic loop based stuff But again, I could have plucked any line from this this album essentially but specifically this song and it the whole fucking verses are Exactly this like literally just density super dense in meaning pivoting from motif to motif And court like somehow stitching them all together at the end just masterful stuff what we expect from loop a obviously One of the best I would probably call it the best lyricist in my lifetime for sure Just lyricist but torrey what's your second nomination? I searched far and wide and Kiss a lot of frogs to get to this one and it's a piece of m&m from fuel and a lot of people Really zoned in on the whole rap And that was clever This later in that verse he kind of goes nuts which is kind of kind of a cousin of what you're talking about with the loop averse Um, we go, you know, and in a way, it's like it's just m&m doing m&m things And this is who he has been training to be since he was a teenager We I once talked to him about how proof they would have a game He would proof would call him in the middle of the night and they would start to immediately talk in rap But they but you couldn't just wrap the last word you had to wrap like the whole sentence wrapped with whatever the other person said So they've been doing drills to build up these pathways in their mind to see the world Let's see the language of this way He's got the most content on the continent and constant compliments give me confidence to cross of common sense I'm a cross of common sense and incompetence that is m&m common sense times incompetent I'm cognizant that complex a consequence of accomplishments and comp is no competition So there he's making reference to him being a battle rapper right the conflict is a consequence of accomplishments I've con he's a winner. I've conquered and conked him into unconsciousness No conscience. I conjure this king con or just that's where he kills me king con or just rhyming with unconsciousness Tommy cause, call me kamikaze um concocted this and just you know just to zone in on that sound over and over But this is not meaningless this these these lines actually makes sense to tell little story about him and who he is It's an extraordinary bit and the way he spits it is far superior to the way that I said That's beautiful green what you got.

Yeah, I love the part So i'm most of the time i'm thinking about things from a technical aspect so I thought about the m&m I thought about um the lupé album but then I've thought about Difficulty for rapper 2 in complex writing in the sense of the third verse i'm not like us To make a hit song and give out a history lesson This is the most incredible task What's upon a time all of us are sent chains home We still double down call it nuts and slaves and then what the map I build a rose and trains barrel We need for a second. Let me preach all of the game like it didn't fall flat It didn't feel like you were preachy everyone understood it or if they don't understand it They still were able to ride with the song and feel like yeah Yeah, yeah, you know you ran to it lana and he talked about settlers coming to it lana and talked about with a history of elana in a snapshot That was insane for me as far as with uh That hole, you know once upon a time all of us was in change home Still double down calling us and slaves and lana was the maker building railroads and trains like what do we talk like? I just couldn't deal with how great once that verse came on I'm like listening to him like the audacity of you did want to do this after doing Two verses of just quoteables. It's I'm gonna give you a history lesson With quoteables in there with quoteables in it and and for me It was like the content was more amazing than the technicians abilities because there's so many technical feats like this year as per usual I mean everybody dropped Everybody dropped it was like there was amazing wraps all year Yeah, the way that he holds the audience's hand throughout that verse because that that concept easily falls flat with a line that misses or doesn't Carry the narrative that he's building like any momentum shift or loss of momentum I think it all falls apart So the intricacy with which he weave that all together to again to go back my similar point of having this punchline in your back pocket and trying to work towards it to where that punchline is going to hit in the way that it does It's just so matte like in talking about just like authorship of penmanship of of of someone's mind being able to do that It's one of the yeah It's the focus on being or the in the skill set of not being able to have a throw away and not for it to go over somebody's head Because what you're educating and this happens so many times when I try to write rhymes because I I'll write around about like and it'll be like educational But it's like it's like it's going over some his head people read at a fifth grade reading level It's like why using those big words anybody could understand the seller was using town folk to make them richer fast forward 2024 you got the same agenda we can get that or what's upon a time just that We all know that a story is gonna be told by somebody who is a story to it The whole analogy there of white people went into Atlanta took black stuff and bade money out of it And now you're doing that like that blew me away I mean, you know, yeah, it's a history lesson and I'm like, okay now the history class, but I'm like I love this this week last Oh, it was oh I think it's harder to do than Then a lot of technician stuff.

Yeah equally. Yeah, and hit song to your point. Yeah. Yeah crazy Alright, James, what do you got for your second?

For my second, um, I was well I was gonna do the I was gonna do crazy as well, but for Justin Herbert part, but also you ready covered it So I'm gonna switch it out. Okay for I'm gonna switch it out for plate of collard greens and that last chunk of calls versus on plate collard greens the Deep down I hated Halloween with all that I've seen who needs another way to call the scream Dinkers as the king of pop how well they spin your block. No moves minimal smooth criminals Well, Hank or the whole gang doing it insane amount of lean the same prescribed for because there's no doc for pain No, but there's just so much so much there. Um Halloween Michael Jackson the whole thing is a Michael Jackson flip deep down.

I hate it. Halloween with all that I have seen who needs another way to cause a Scream dangerous as the king of pop. I will expand your black no moves minimal smooth criminals But yeah, Halloween is the through music video. No way to cause a scream King of pop spin your block is like from the the light things lighting up in the Which means I think it's the thrill of the other yeah thriller and then no moves minimal smooth criminals The whole gang doing the same amounts of lean like the Michael Jackson lean.

Yeah, and then Prescribed for because there's no there's no doc for pain a harboring is such a it's like a triple Cuz also doc and harbor as well. Just so there's so much there. Um, yeah insane same ring from Jacob. Yeah Yeah, I can't argue with that that was one that definitely caught my attention on first listen I definitely but lean part was really clever at that because that's such an iconic visual to literally lean into that It's pretty clever beautiful.

Okay, so go. Yeah. Go ahead. You say you don't like shit bars And I usually don't like MJ like But when someone and that's what's beautiful about rap It's like some of we'll find a new way to talk about it and make you interested in because I think that MJ that whole sequence was amazing I was like this usually be corny for me, but that lean bar just like you said like it's so it's so clever.

Yeah All right, so my final nomination which might I guess would be technically be my number one This was really hard and I gave you guys two nominations of lyrical miracle stuff But I think the most memorable line and the most cathartic line for me of the year is off of doji's boom-bap where she says it's everything I'm everything The way I mean it's just two words. I'm everything and I talked about this with her on the interview that we did together But where it's placed in the album where it's placed in the song the album is so much about her kind of convincing herself of her own greatness and Shutting outside opinions trying to embrace who she is as an artist someone that wraps someone that sings someone that dances that That has this whole bouquet of talent that she's not trying to box in and she feels like there's pressures from the outside Kind of trying to influence her artistic output and The way that she bottles all that up and it's on the album, but it's also on the song Where she's kind of mimicking rap but also like paying homage to rap at the same time and it kind of represents this relationship that she has with The expectations of rap and then to just blur it out Kind of like it feels like we're discovering it with her in real time the way that she performs It's everything. I'm everything is like this was the epiphany and we got to witness her just expressing that epiphany in real time Because the way she screams I'm everything It just totally goes off the rails in terms of like it's like doesn't really rhyme with anything It's off beat and she's just kind of yelling it But it's also that in itself is expressing exactly who she is because she is everything and she's not in a box And she's not on beat and that's fine. That's like that's why she's great is because she's not she's an anomaly She's she's doing something different and so everything about that line and just how succinct it is the way that I described it to her I felt like it was like her thesis statement yet It's only two words, you know and so for someone to like we could talk about extended metaphors We could talk about on tondres and everything like that But I think the important part about lyricism about everything is just how it hits you emotionally And there's different ways to go about evoking different emotions in the listener and this one this year I felt like more than probably any moment in any album was kind of like the one that every time I hear it I feel it I feel it for her I feel it inside myself somewhere and then seeing her perform it live and seeing the whole audience scream it It was just kind of encapsulates everything about what I love about her the year that she's had the way that she I mean We're coming off the heels we're recording this the day of the day after her performance on Colbert show Which was absolutely incredible and again showed you why she's like the artist of the future I had to I had to go with boom-bap.

I'm everything as my maybe my lyric of the year Torrey what you got same as you as far as the last one is just more direct I mean the first verse of of me the grams is just this direct take acts to the brain I'm sorry that that that manager father. Let me be honest It takes a man to be a man. Your dad is not responsive honest and responsive don't really rhyme But it does I look at him wish your grandpa would have wore a condom I would play the dozens. I'm sorry you gotta grow up and stay up behind him life is hard The challenge is always gonna beat us home like wow you cannot escape the problem at home I'm gonna jump ahead a little bit because this makes me laugh It's it's so serious on the record, but when you read it on paper Let me be your mentor since your daddy don't teach you shit, right?

Because he's a good kid who needs good leadership What's the first piece of advice that he gives the kid never let a man piss on your legs? Stop the first piece of advice of giving you but as drink son You need that because you need to learn this data for yourself and be a man You know because either you die right there or you shoot him in the head But like there's no other option, but like just this is just an extraordinary Direct to the frontal cortex like just I'm killing you I don't know none of us got through that without stopping and putting our face in our hands and going what happened? Night of my life Yeah, I was like legitimately disturbed after that night for like the family matters video kind of disturbing just seemed like I thought it was at first. I did think it was like the real real good kid mad city van getting crushed So I was like oh man that kind of sucks like that's like iconic But then I found out it's fake which I mean what a symbol for Drake's whole fucking position in this battle that you got a fake minivan to do this WWF fucking like gimmick thing, but in the moment I was like oh shit That's not kind of sucks and like then oh fuck is like Kendrick really like did he really beat Whitney and you know I mean sounds like the truth of it wasn't quite clear yet and then meet the grams comes and like after meet the grams I was like genuinely disturbed that night like it was like a it was dark And I woke up like feeling kind of gross about the whole thing And then just to get back to not like us like one once again The way that he was able to just flip the the mood and the color of the battle just like snap of the finger like okay I got dark, but let's have fun again and just the temperature switch of that was just so brilliantly strategic I'd highlight that but yeah, Tori great great pick.

I think My picks I tried not to do for once from the battle, but obviously I think all the most memorable lines historically are gonna be from the battle So great pick green what you got Yeah, I try to do three different picks to one was like technician one was content and this one is delivery and it's doji Well, they all obviously have lyrical capabilities also, but doji on Tyler's verse Think that's my favorite verse of the year. Oh, yeah, I don't you want to say a line because the entire verses of me She's floating on this track I wear a swamp is fly's bitch up in the room I need a cockpit right there You got a on tanger right there. I need some pita for this pussy like they want the crock print It just keeps going from all the way there and and the whole gay bar from where she says I'm gonna air these deal niggas out the closet I let it in let it out. I'm a bi bitch But I need that pussy now if he's gay than I am gay and we are nouns It's so well written what are we doing?

This is like she's floating to on this entire floating on a song called balloon and it says is that's my favorite doji verse outside of Spooky spooky kuchi and she's she's probably one of the few female rappers women rappers that when they talk about their pussy I'm all ears. I'm just like the bars are always She thinks outside the box. That's why she's as far as upcoming rapper I even like the reference on I know it's supposed to be lines, but that says the whole verse I even like the reference from she she calls back to the her alligator bites Album on the on this first. She's like I'm out in New York walk around bear tote.

I don't need a pair passport I'm a swamp bitch because she's just going back to like this is where I'm from and I'm like I'm in New York walking around your code and I'm being me I'm gonna I'm gonna put my whole self out there and I'm being at all times and she started off in the beginning to the End and the also the airing the deal guys are the closet being denials are over from Right, right. Yeah, and you didn't even mention the most iconic line, which okay, but it's the queef line, right? So which okay is this iconic on its own, but I love the way that she gives you the entire verse stops, right? There's that pause between her verse and then when she comes back with the queef line So just that pause to me is like cuz she could have just done the verse that you talked about and like that's it And we'd still be floored but then to come back with the most iconic memorable line After that just insane that whole the whole like I think it's four lines It's so cool.

Like one of my favorite lines from that is where she said air your whole block out with the floor Yeah, just like a nod to his prefer his fragrance, which I thought was just so cool like so clever such a clever flip on airing it out So beautiful pick. I love that. Don't you's got three nominations, right? Oh, yeah, sorry.

Yeah, playing off of it playing off the airing out like beautiful. It's great I could say that a bridge kind of but yeah It is probably like the second end part of the verse when I think about it Is that the technically the chorus because she's playing she's playing off of Tyler's air this air that out like a balloon It's a flip of that which I think might be the chorus does it have a chorus doesn't it isn't right matter? But it's that it's just so iconic and catchy like that whole part. Yeah, and it's your reform at Flogna was Oh another moment you saw her live too in San Francisco, right?

Yeah, I saw her in Oakland. I don't know if you guys got to go to her show, but it was absolutely phenomenal I mean she's doing that. Oh was that before she did so that came out like right before her performance So she closed her encore was come back. She came back out and performed her verse on balloon was so cool Because it was so in the moment.

I think I think it was that it was the Friday after the Monday release So it's super fresh. I think it was the first performance of it So and that's just a net since we're here like that's another part of it Not that many people got to go to see her tour because she was playing like the venue I saw her in was like maybe 200 people at the max it was super small and The level of performance and effort that she gave was absolutely incredible She had a great like stage set up aesthetically her outfits were great Like it was like a theater level show in a intimate venue and you can just tell like the connection She has with the audience is really special like she's gonna. Yeah, we've talked about it She's gonna be one of those ones. So James, how what was your this gonna be your your lyric of the year?

Yeah, it was I've been debating because I've been stuck between Two GNX versus so either like the last verse on TV off Because there's so many like super ball flips on that or the last verse on reincarnated because that's just insane writing For me, I think reincarnated is probably taking that pick The whole rewriting of Isaiah 14 the whole conversation with God on that song and also It's the first time really on the album we saw Kendrick be introspective In a way like an intangible way that was about the beef because like wax on your was still really for everyone else like reincarnated It was very much like okay, where am I being hypocritical? Where where do I actually stand in terms of like my my my ethos? Because even even watch the party die was still that was still for the culture wasn't really where do I stand right right? Yeah, I had moments like the chorus when he's talking to God you can tell he's showing kind of those moments of introspection throughout the beefy I'm thinking of like that portion on 16 Restarting to God again, but yeah, I think I agree where reincarnated God reincarnated such a conceptually brilliant song because to your point It is very introspective But it's also like I think it's a big commentary on like Drake as a symbol which you know obviously Yeah Became this symbol for something larger and the cleverness of reincarnated is not only that is Kendrick I don't know if he really believes it or if it's more theoretical But obviously naming these black musicians that he felt like some kind of spiritual kinship or live literally as past lives And then using that to reflect on how do I use by influence for ultimate good?

and am I doing that correctly but It's like he's that that is also the story of Drake right and Drake is one of those artists that Kendrick feels like is abusing his power and You know the what is it the second the first verse the first example he gives is someone using his influence for his own gluttony and dies in gluttony Which is what from Kendrick's point of view is making the case that there's also Drake's story right now And that he's not taking this microphone that he has seriously and not even really considering those things where it's Kendrick I feel like he's Battling with the imperfections and the errors that he's making but at least he's trying I think it's kind of like the big point Yeah, it's the whole work in progressing and I feel like I feel that difference is part of what lost Drake the battle That just a complete lack of self-awareness because I think Kendrick because Kendrick gets a lot of slack still of the savior angle Even though he's let go of the moniker of it. Um, but the thing I've always Well, we can we can have that conversation because I felt at some degree and she's also picked it back up again But I also think reincarnated as him being honest about it Which I think which is what I think I appreciate about Kendrick because Kendrick Is honest about like for a hip-hop artist There's this side of me that's just ego and just wants to say that I'm the best and this there's this side of me that's like wants to pick up a culture and put their odds at some level and I think instead of Kendrick being like Oh, I'm a savior who's like inaccessible and I can never do any wrong. He's like, no, I'm a hypocrite who's trying to work out their differences I prefer that personally. Yeah, is that something I was gonna ask you because I think this is something that maybe you If I'm recalling this wrong, let me know but like the the superiority or like that that whole other now You could have that perception about Kendrick specifically with his battle with Drake You could just kind of say this was a petty beef and he this is all ego and him wanting to flaunt his ego Uh and be crowned the undisputed champion so to speak or and or it's Drake is a symbol of something larger that Kendrick sees as problematic in this culture that he Beloves and maybe those two things actually can exist maybe they're both at the same time right like those Doesn't have to be either or right?

Maybe I'm maybe I'm too into the maybe I'm too Kendrick killed but uh, I do believe that he is a deeply mission based Righteous based person and some of the some of the stuff we hear on 616 where he's saying I was minding my own business I was living peacefully. I don't want to go to war but then I have to and like this was about a mission to rid Fakeness anti blackness anti-African Americanness, you know a fake person is in our midst. We go let that slide Um, but also what I'm back to james said something typical. That's why Drake lost the battle I don't feel like this is like sometimes two teams or two opponents like get into a sporting contest and like You know if you had done better with that with your run game or whatever you could have one Yeah, no, I don't mean that I don't mean that you could what I don't think there's any way Drake could have won This at all ever there's nothing that he could have done with the exception of Kendrick like falling on his face and failing to release at all There's not a technical ability in Drake to be able to be on the same level as a Kendrick But even there's a line that sticks with the from a man on the street thing that happened actually in england where they asked his brother about the battle And he said Drake is talking to us and Kendrick is talking to Drake and just that perspective difference where Drake is like Can you believe this short guy he keeps dissing me like and Kendrick's like you're a pedophile.

You're a horrible person You're not a fucking American. Stop saying they got like god. Yeah, like that. There's no way to bid But your perspective is completely in the wrong direction, but I don't think there's a technical ability for Drake to be Like you know earlier like jay-z and nah those are two equally talented mc's they were totally different place in their lives at that moment of the battle Um, this is this is you know farsity against the jv So like it would be great to see like god forbid wane versus kendrick were actually able to happen Then you'd see two serious mc's going at each other Um, you know really haven't seen that in a real way in a minute What do you think what do you think about that green because I I get what you're saying, but part of me doesn't want to disrespect Drake's artistry because it why not Because I think like I think I think I push it like I thought you were on my side cold.

I thought well I'm just you know, I'm trying to be a good host here, but you know like You know pushups showed some promise and it's like maybe a one one one song versus one song I don't think it's like clearly going to be kendrick game over I think I think the long the extended kind of length of the battle is what really showed Drake's weakness and it's like a strategy and like maybe Kendrick being superior intellectually Because I don't I mean obviously I prefer kendrick and I think he's the better artist but in terms of like making songs I don't know. What do you what do you think about that green? Yeah, I think there's a lot of When it comes to the battle. I want to talk about like my perspective going through it It's like you were living in a world of just abundance of music and then this bomb comes like that And it's like this guy came out and said something and said he's there is no big three I'm enjoying first person shooter last week or the day before that song drops now I'm like oh, it's happening and me and my friends all about our friends.

We're like why ain't kendrick and drinking battle yet This one for 10 years for 10 years. We're having this discussion and then it finally happens It's like super bowl. It's okay, but when pushups dropped and we know Kendrick We all feel like an extra better writer pushups drops. We're kind of worried We're like is there an angle here?

Like what are you what are you saying? You you for your drops? We love it, but it was not what we thought Kendrick would do. I'm not I'm like you didn't kill Drake Drake you probably did not kill Drake family matters comes.

I'm like whoa They might there's a video. It's just such a spectacle. They're like they might this might crumble like the house that hip-hop built Which is Kendrick Lamar and what he represents which I'm gonna go into the whole reincarnated thing to go But what he represents this this mission statement of we want hip-hop to be To survive. It's like crumbling and then meet the grams meet the grams is what I was asking for and he gave me too much I said, yo, I want I want a burger.

Someone gives me 17 burgers with bacon and cheese It was too much. I was like I and that's the writer I knew right and I think about Um when I think about Drake, I don't know he collaborates. He writes the guy has hits It's undeniable. This guy makes great songs and has great.

Yeah, um has produced great music So it's possible. However you've produced this music You could have with a right angle if you were a different human being he could have won that battle if you were a different human being and that's the problem Yeah Which is what's the type of Kobe Bryant and what on what if I became a different human being? No, Kobe Bryant. Listen to what I'm saying is that you have you're talking about being a good person or different human being versus this technical skill of creating and writing songs And the team you might have I don't know what it comes to check it out.

So we know that he has the ability to write a song It's now it's the perspective and the cultural cache that that was missing Which is by the way Kendrick's point, right? So it's like the his point played out within the scope of the battle and that's where I'm saying like the long term of it One v one one song versus one that's in a vacuum. Yeah, Drake's right there. I do But do you know I was thinking about the other day is the whole angle of push-ups is about Kendrick's label split Now push-ups when you scrutinize it, especially in retrospect it it felt like the angle he tried to take was just Really just objectively bad in the moment it kind of worked and it was funny and it was like harded but it didn't the The dirt of it didn't stick in the way.

I think Drake Because of the context as you were seeing more context as the battle goes it changes When we were just talking about like when yeah Yeah, technical skill things being fun. You having a good time He provided good times for us every single time he drops until somebody until a grown-up came until a grown-up came in a room and said, excuse me kids You are a bds But let's talk about the reincarnated thing in my perspective of what mr. Morale is saying and I think from the beginning of good kid mad City, this is just his ethos of like there's there's this duality of I'm a good kid in a mad city to pimp a butterfly Work work being damned. I am always I battle with myself and these ideas and the environment in the world that I'm in and I think it's just what a beautiful What what art is and it's he's just gonna have that consistency and reincarnated is is like to me the end of to pimp a butterfly It's just it's just him saying because you know, I remember I was conflicted misusing your influence It's like okay.

So he's talking to Tupac wait a minute I am Tupac and I am these other artists You are those other artists as well and we have this battle and I rewrote this story of a fallen angel like Lucifer is a fallen angel We have this duality in all of us. So before you point a finger you point finger at me. There's three pointing back at you That's what that reincarnated is saying in in the simplest Yeah, that's I mean that was one of the points I was gonna bring up because one of the lines that I was gonna nominate was every individual Is only a version of you how can they forgive when there's no forgiveness in your heart? And that's God talking to Kendrick slash Lucifer and the way that that extends the right the scope of the song beyond Kendrick beyond Drake beyond black musician with an influence It is the story of a fallen angel is a story of all people right, especially from a biblical perspective of original sin and You know of us working through so that's that was the beautiful part of reincarnated that I think it's actually kind of getting overlooked is that it's It's a little heady, but it's like yeah, we're all reflections of each other.

We're all on this extended kind of evolutionary human You know humanitarian journey together and we're only as good as the person next to us We're only as good as the person we see in the mirror and how all these things connect how Kendrick stories connect with our story You know, it's like the way that he was able to express that subtly, but I think it's all in there And it's also in the title reincarnated It's also in the fact that he is reincarnated as pock but never says anything about pock It's like all these things layers on layers on layers and The biggest scale when you zoom out the furthest it's the story of humanity, which is fucking wild Let me ask two questions and this is for everybody Because of that and like the theme of that being throughout the entire album It's also the theme of him as an artist, right? And that's what makes me him like my favorite artist in hip-hop kind of like ever because they have like a voice this album Have you guys figured out where it's sets within his catalog or you guys still thinking? Uh, hold on before you answer the question. Can I get green to refine the question because you You have shaped my thing on this by both of you have laid out like it's a mixtape and you guys don't even call it an album on your TikToks you just say it's a mixtape.

So should we not? View it differently than mr. Morale, etc. Because we could see it's not an album to mixtape Well, I think that isn't that part of the question that we have about it at this moment, right?

Yeah, I think that's what you're too much up in the air at the moment Um, because yeah, I even because my my thesis statement for my review is like this mixtape is weird, but excellent Um, which I got a lot of flack of people being like, oh, this is the mixtape Um, but yeah, I'm fine Yeah, they disagreed a lot of people because a lot of people are like, oh, you're only calling it a mixtape Because you're like, oh, it's not good enough to be an album Which I was just like you don't understand how yeah, it's like you just don't understand how mixtapes work is like, you know Alligator bites is it's a mixtape, right? It's got it got nominated for a grammar for an album, so Um But yeah, I'm finding it so difficult to place it because it's also It's also non-conceptual like as an it is conceptual, but it's non-conceptual in the way that Kendrick usually frames his his album So I found it so difficult because it's still beautifully sweet sequence. I would argue it's one of Kendrick's best sequenced albums Okay But it's still the least conceptual better than anything else. I'll do um I think Oh, it's so difficult.

I think for different reasons It works on its own merit better than mr. Morale does Which is a bit crazy to say because it's non-conceptual But it's sequenced perfectly like there's nothing that feels out of place There's like five songs third of the west coast sound but there's seven songs that are more of like services fans more He's still keeping the same narrative thread from the beef and still doing flips of like have you ever done? Have you ever had caps and crunches through with water instead of have you ever like Conceptually and time-wise it's I think it succeeds more on its marathon Mr. Morale did and even for for Kendrick I mean the conceptual point is really the point where you Really mark the difference and marked why it is a meaningful difference that it is that it is not conceptual and a snapshot ergo A mixtape rather than a time capsule and album right like the contextuality Is what makes it what makes the difference meaningful and the lack of that?

Element that James is talking about is to me is everything It defines the difference between a great album and a good album And even if I don't love every song if every song is working toward a point and reflects a vision that we're gonna tell a story That to me is more meaningful than you know 12 bank. I go back to thriller versus off the wall Thriller is a collection. It's a greatest hit collection There's not a meaningful thread that pulls it together off the wall as an album because it is sonically and and lyrically in terms of the meaning of the story He's telling about a young man in the clubs trying to find love trying to dance That is a singular memoiristic story right? That's an album and when Kendrick and others create off the walls I am much more excited even if I only actually love half the songs then a great collection where the songs don't have any relationship to each other Yeah, that's kind of where I am with it too.

I would say generally speaking and talk for me to place what it is at this moment I think conceptually Yeah, it's not it's not giving us the classic Kendrick concept and record But you can also view 2024 as as its own kind of concept or conceptual framework That you can't really view this album I mean the album works on its own, but the conceptual stuff we're looking for from Kendrick is actually all implied with what came before this album But I think things could very much easily change and a perception of the album can change Over the next couple months depending on what he does if he does drop something else or if he gives a deluxe version I think once that question Is answered I think I'll have more confident thoughts about what this project is and where I place it But I would say personally if I'm talking about just like my favorite or my most enjoyed I really enjoy the album. I skip a lot of songs a lot of times just depending on what mood I'm in Which is a weird phenomenon for me with a Kendrick album with a Kendrick album Yeah, it's usually I'm putting on a Kendrick album. I'm listening from start to finish and I am not skipping To me and that's why I respect Kendrick so much is because he creates albums like that So with that said it's I don't put it above any of his past work Good kid butterfly dam morale all are above this album for me personally That's not to say it's not a great album and I don't enjoy it But it's just a different experience for me as a Kendrick fan and someone that's kind of studying him as an academic I guess so but it's a great album. I fucking love playing it in my car.

I would say that Some of this songs are just like so fun and it's really it is fun It is nice to have a Kendrick it's not I want to say it's a fun album But it's nice to have an album that I can't skip around I can't add songs to playlists not feel guilty So that's that's my thoughts on it so far. I guess Okay, so let's move on to the last couple categories We don't have to spend like a ton of time on each of these but and I'm actually sit this this category out myself because next week I'm gonna have my second part of this year-end wrap-up episode which is talking about my favorite albums my favorite songs of the year So I'm curious. This is gonna act kind of like a bridge into that episode I'm curious to hear your guys's first year favorite song of 2024 Um, and if you want to do best song favorite song, I don't really care just whatever you want there And then uh your favorite album of 2024 so toray you want to start with your favorite song and then favorite album We I had best song and I'm now you're saying when you said favorite now. It's a little bit different.

Okay best song. It's fine Well, I mean, you know best song. I mean I return to every turn to beat the grams in the sense of like, you know Your dad or your grandpa has like the special whiskey or the special wine. We don't pull this out for just everybody We don't this this is for special as I cannot listen to beat the grams 99 percent of the time, but every once in a while.

It's like oh my god that was it that is a special achievement in hate Right and and even just yesterday green we had a great conversation about rap a lot today because there's like there's no anger in that song It is hate. It is calm surgical hate and in a world where like we kind of like love hate and give some Some special props to people who could really really hate on like a high level like that is an extraordinary thing Um, if you want favorite Oh my god, you know glauvilla just every time she opened her mouth She didn't say nothing and it was incredible. She's a phone book artist. She could read the phone book over a trap B and I would be all into it Right tgif You know what she had what was the joy she had with uh, mith megg and cardi Um, that she was hot.

She had like four fire joints this year that just blew me away Pm frat 95 degrees And the nigga ain't got me. Let's go I mean just glauv had incredible year even though as we've been talking about kendrick had maybe Made one that was one of the very best years in hip-hop history and god forbid he released an actual album between December 12th at 15th Forget about right. What about you green? Um favorite song.

So i'm going with what are they talking about? They talking about? They talking about? They talking about?

Yo That's Probably is triple platinum in my house my girl mad fuck at me because i'll just be singing that for no reason That is my say hands-down favorite song of the year and and surprise bitch He's like space time I up the street like it's it's so ignorant. It's so beautiful It's one thing about this album that I love that is to talk about enough Is the ability like I've said kendrick to create character and create these new moments Everyone's creating hooks that we've heard before they're triple tongue It's melody driven. He's creating hooks that are memes. He understands the internet never on the internet But is using meme tactics for all of these records what are they talking about they talking about what are you talking about?

Is that even on the beat like where we at? It's the most beautiful core 2024 chorus ever and we're going to yell it in these stadiums when he's playing with sisa It's yeah, I can't I just can't deal with how good he is At wrapping at right now in 2024 and the things that we take for granted like his ability to change tone voice Just meme records that have substance behind him. The most substance filled guy is making meme records Do we not like can we can we sit in that for a second like the most the guy that we sit here and think about One line for five hours Did this My bitch Pickable A pointers like a kobe game pickable like I don't know I'm just popping my collar all day to that song I can't You know the funniest thing about is is the last is the last one where he's doing the back and forth I'm just like you're trying to make me believe that this isn't a meme chorus Just like this is so this one hilarious It's amazing. All right, James.

What's your favorite song of the year favorite song if we're talking best song It's not like us. Yeah favorite for me is take your mask off on crema copia. Okay, right? Got a half of the truth to the family while you're such a Clues When you feel it's a rap in a booth dog They try to ruin her marriage and you never wore a mask and how you don't because yeah, I think Watching Tyler grow up in his albums Has been I mean, it's been kind of it's kind of the magic of the story of 2024 in terms of your original point at the Top of this conversation of like the difference between 2023 that like I The fact that Tyler grew up in his music this year I think it's just emblematic of the whole conversation especially that loss of us of him critiquing himself I was just like yeah, hip hop is so far removed from how like down hip hop heads were about it last year Yeah, I think that might be my favorite song after that album But I'm gonna talk a lot about chroma copia in my next episode So I'm gonna save my thoughts for that, but beautiful pick Uh, you guys want to share your favorite album of the year?

Let me do one first. Let me go first just because I don't know I don't think these two are gonna say it my favorite album is cause album thief next to Jesus The most beautifully Like I just feel it's beautifully so full album that I've heard in a long time and coming from this neo boomba Sound that says research within like the 2020s. This is a great combination of everything that was happening This is a guy that I found out about years ago, but didn't dive into his record till Probably this year like I started listening to all his albums and then before he passes away He drops a masterpiece like this is a masterpiece thinking about Like black people's space in religious space back people's spirituality his own spirituality It feels like he's thinking about and contemplating his own death And before he passes away and coming terms into peace with so many things in life his own religious perspective his own perspective on family and community and culture and The first the second song beautiful is exactly what it is. It's one of those beautiful things I've heard in rap music and just like I love that album.

I've listened to it. That was over and over before chroma copia and There's so many great albums this year. It's actually it's crazy. It's actually crazy Tori, what was your album the year?

So Again, I got to come back to the definition of an album It is a cohesive statement that says something about what the artist thinks about sound or what the artist thinks about themselves and what they're going through in their lives So in you really get like that uh gnex is not an album Chroma copia is an album that has something to say about the way hip hop could sound That has something to say about what tyler is going through as a person who is 30 and trying to figure out Do I have children? What does that mean? What does that kind of look like? What is my life at this point chroma copia?

And perhaps one of the most dramatic moments in 2024 hip hop outside of the battle Tyler's mother telling him actually your father totally wants to be part of your life I blocked him. Sorry about that after years of tyler's father being the central villain in his music Come to find out we had it wrong you had it wrong the whole time and like that's a really deep moment Um and the way it's rolled out and presented. It's a really deep moment and there's so much on this that's ear candy with Hildew and uh sticky and you know thought I was dead and but there's so much here that's that's beautiful We on on rap latte last week talked about There's very few musical creators at hip hop who aren't just give me a beat Let me rock over it, but people like Kanye Travis Tyler is that the whole list green just there's more than that than that right? Yeah, there's more than that if you want to clue for rel in there for sure Frel is a producer not really a really a really rapper But like there's these people that were talking about create Dynamics within their music the music will have movements it will flow upward downward the song will stop different things will happen And you're really interacting with the music in a way that other genres do more often as opposed to hip hop Like I said, it's quite often you get a beat and you wrap over it and that's the song and that can be great But when you have an artist like tyler who can bring different things out of the mix and make the song have shapes That blows me away.

So yeah chroma copie is an extraordinary moment for tyler and for hip hop Beautiful. I will be sharing my thoughts which are very similar to you Uh next episode but james you want to end this category with your favorite album? Yeah, I This I mean I said this before but I I struggled with this album pick because too many great albums this year But I landed on chroma copie as well Yeah, I think it's just Yeah, it was just such a moment where I was like the the rollout was perfect. It was so well thought out Um And then yeah, just seeing tyler invest in every song the sequencing was beautiful Um the only other album that I almost picked in front of this was blue lips Um because yeah, just And just just a great hip hop album.

There's there's been other great hip hop albums, but yeah, it's chroma copie for me Beautiful. Okay, great picks all around. I think that's gonna wrap today's episode Uh, thanks all three of you guys for joining that was really fun I'm gonna be joining the rap latte podcast after this. So if you want to hear that episode I'm sure it will be out by the time that you're hearing this now So go follow rap latte on youtube spotify wherever you get your podcasts and you'll hear torre and green on that show I'm gonna have all your guys's links to social media Uh in the episode description.

So make sure you follow all three of these guys They're doing great work. Uh, and if you like disex content, you'll 100 percent like their content as well Um, but thanks guys. This is just really great. I'm gonna have to have you guys on, uh, maybe next year do the same thing Yeah, thanks for having us