Hi, everyone. Skibidi Toilet here, the internet's busiest music nerd. Kendrick Lamar dropped a new song. That's why you're here. That's why you clicked on this. A new song has been dropped on 9/11 by Kendrick friggin' Lamar.
Yep, brand new track, which he put up on Instagram using a picture of some beat-up black Air Force Ones. Many a post about which has been made on the internet, though.
Given the photo, the tone sonically of this new track vocally and instrumentally might surprise you because honestly, it's low key, very soulful, very smooth, nothing nearly as aggressive as what we heard in the midst of Kendrick's Beef with Drake just months ago. Given how recently that happened, many have been talking about this track as if it's like an additional diss toward Drake or another victory lap for him in the midst of this beef that he very much took a big fat W in.
Of course, since, Drake's fans have been very bitterly for months just pretending like he didn't lose when he, in fact did. But with that being said, I feel like Kendrick's beef with Drake at this point is truly over and done with, at least still at this point currently.
Again, I don't agree with some of the framing that this track is like, 'Oh, Kendrick's starting it up again. This is round two' – when no, this is in fact not round two. This is not Kendrick building things back up. If anything, I feel like this track illustrates the fact that Kendrick's beef with Drake was so much bigger than Drake to begin with. And this whole back and forth wasn't really about fighting with a single man. It was more about fighting with what he sees this man as a symptom of. And that is the ideological, the philosophical, the emotional rot within hip hop music.
I'm not positing this or arguing these points myself. I'm merely communicating the man's framing to you because I do feel like there is some debate to be had around the points he's making on this track. I'm not really going to go over this track in terms of production or wordplay or flow or anything like that. By Kendrick's usual standards, of course, all of those things are good and at a certain quality level.
What I really want to focus on here is, again, the messaging and the angle he's trying to take with this track. That's that he sees Drake, and artists that are similar to Drake in some way as being representative of a "party", and the "party" he's talking about is representative of an ethos or a lane within rap music currently that specializes mostly in materialism, in spiritual degradation, in scams, in meaningless attempts at just trying to pile up as much money as possible.
Kendrick makes it very clear what types of rappers he sees as being superior to these artists and what he, I guess, argues are leeches within the genre. Some of these new, young, up and coming women rappers who are making waves right now, Christian rappers who for a long time have been framed as uncool or whack, like Lecrae, artists who tragically passed away and really represented the root of street culture within the genre, like Nipsey Hussle. He would rather all of that than what is, for the most part, currently ruling the genre as far as mainstream success at the moment.
Now, I don't know how literal he's being in terms of wanting the "death of the party" as it were that he mentions in this track. I mean, positive and feel good, and what you could say is party music has always had a really huge place within hip hop music, even at the root of the genre. And I mean, people have certainly been partying to "Not Like Us", that track's a jam. I don't think Kendrick on this track is literally anti-partying or anything like that.
What I feel like he's mostly upset about through his lyrics is just this lack of music that gives listeners and gives people hope, reflects the struggles and problems of average everyday people, gives listeners an opportunity to reflect and think about their lives and themselves, maybe a spiritual connection of some sort, and also provides an opportunity to learn about people in the world around you through either shared or totally different experiences. Which you could argue like, yeah, Drake's music doesn't really provide that at all, along with countless other artists who are doing really massive numbers commercially right now, too.
So without getting any further into the weeds here, that's essentially the abridged version of what Kendrick is trying to get across on this track. Beyond that, though, The question is whether or not he's going to be successful in making this change, or if this change is even possible through the attempts of him or him and a collective of artists, or I don't know, really anything. Because as much as he may be correct on some level to criticize the individuals he feels are responsible for the rot within hip hop, I feel like the trends and incentives that have created the current rap landscape that we see are even bigger than these people who he's not really mentioning so much by name.
Even if Drake and every rapper that Kendrick feels represents what he does on some level disappeared tomorrow, I personally have a hard time seeing things changing radically past that point because ultimately, I feel like the audience demands would still mostly be the same. Unfortunately, in a lot of instances, especially when it comes to art and music, the masses would much rather prefer an opiate than something that actually challenges them or pushes them into a uncomfortable place or causes them to reflect in some way.
I mean, even as somebody who is conscious of this and loves music that is socially or politically active or experimental or strange or challenging in some way, I like music that's essentially junk food, too. Sure, I feel like some people maybe only listen to stuff I would categorize as junk food, but I can't really fault them for liking it, at least on some level.
But for sure, I don't really disagree with the assessment that maybe right now, culturally and artistically, there's a bit too much of an emphasis on that when it comes to music as a whole. It's most definitely not being helped by streaming algorithms, which is also a really major player in terms of the recipe for the times that we're currently in.
Again, much larger than any one artist here, you're talking about audience demand brands, you're talking about market trends, you're talking about multi, multi, million dollar international corporations that control the music industry and have a huge influence on the things that people listen to and consume. You're talking about record labels, you're talking about charts, you're talking about promotion, you're talking about funding. All of these things play a massive role in terms of what is popular and what is not.
Look, as I have said before on this channel, the political and social the hollowing out of underground, left field genres of music and music cultures is something that has repeatedly happened again and again and again and again when a certain scene or a certain flock of artists get popular, hit the mainstream. Be it rock and roll or punk music or metal or various strains of electronica, and yes, obviously hip hop, too. We've seen this time and time and time and time and time again. Anf for sure Kendrick is right to point it out and call it out and want for something different and more substantive. But it still remains that the problem is so much larger than any individual or group of individuals will ever be.
Because of that, you have to wonder if, Kendric lobbying for this change on this track and on others, will it actually create any momentum for things to be different? In a way, this track almost sees him going back to that savior fear complex that he did everything to combat and gain some real perspective on with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. Maybe because of the impact culturally he had with that Drake beef and how much attention it brought him and also brought this conversation, maybe he once again feels like it's important to throw his opinions out there and maybe reframe things a bit and remind people that, 'Hey, my issue here, the problems that I'm having are so much bigger than this one guy.'
But again, you have to wonder and question how effective him saying that as blatantly as he does on this track, how effective that's going to be, considering that even with this track being so blunt, there are some people already that are just missing the point. 'Oh, man, he's starting shit again. Kendrick has another one in him. It's round two.' With this track, I feel like Kendrick is most definitely keeping the conversation going.
But again, coming away from it, even with it being as good of a song as it is, I have to wonder, is this problem so large that one guy can't change it? Is the frame he's placing on the problem large enough because it seems like he's mostly laying it at the feet of individuals as opposed to incentive structures?
And what would a rap landscape where the changes Kendrick desires actually happen even look like? Let me know down in the comments if you feel so inclined. You guys are the best.
Anthony Fantano, Kendrick Lamar, forever.
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