Kendrick Lamar doesn't want to be considered the greatest ever anymore

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Basically this.

But it seems like the consciousness of rap is gone and he will be the last great rapper to do it. TPAB is basically the curtain call for the era.

Was he the greatest to do, not by a along shot but hes been the only one doing it in the last decade.

But I don’t blame him for getting out the game. It’s become a platform for ignorance and the damage seems irreversible at this point. Nothing but short bus rappers who add nothing of value to game.

Their the occasional decent song but these rappers just can’t make the album to back it up. For example lil baby big picture.

This is incorrect.

Late 2014 had Eric Garner, Mike Brown, and Tamir Rice...then top of 2015 he drops this BLM centric album then rides off it for the next half-decade as some voice of the streets.

shyt was a very cynical move that boxed him in creatively.

Yall dont wanna admit this.

Look, I liked TPAB...a little dense, but sonically it helped introduce that new LA Jazz Scene, but kendrick himself? Still overrated.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Cole is more witty and better with metaphors than Kendrick. He's also better at saying more with less. Kendrick is a better storyteller and great at conveying how he’s feeling on a track. Also has a more creative delivery. I’m not goin thru all that but Cole’s verse on Johnny P’s Caddy is one of the best verses of the year.

There's no world where Cole is wittier or has better metaphors than Kendrick Lamar. Cole is a straight forward rapper with some of the most surface level similes and punchlines. He's a dope rapper but when you get into that aspect of lyricism, Kendrick is on another level. Kendrick's similes, metaphors, and generally the way he writes is far more introspective, evocative, and poetic. They don't even try to explain things in similar fashions.

All that being said do I have Cole above Kendrick in the top 3 standings as of right now, rapper wise? Yea. And this is the first time I've felt that way in the last decade.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

nikka really tryna be on his Andre 3K shyt. Lol

Overrated screaming ass nikka

Glad he realized people were simply dikkriding for no good reason

You was never the greatest rapper alive or even top 20, Kendrick has always been a mid artist who makes FANTASTIC albums that transcends Hip-Hop

EDIT: I mean you can't name 7 rappers with a better catalog than Kendrick but you can name 4X that many better rappers

After that last album, trust me you wont be lol. Nah but for real Kendrick just need to focus on doing what he does.

I never got the Kendrick hype anyway.

He was considered the greatest?

Good.

Reality sets in

Good, his fans are unbearable.

Oh he never was

Lmao, as if he was ever considered one of the GOAT rappers...

Kendrick did what 90s rappers have done already. He's just done that in a mediocre era. It's like being a great basketball player on a treadmill team that's 8th seed/can't make the playoffs.

His gimmick getting real corny

There are people who were actually calling him the greatest? LOL!! Come on, now.

Thing is, Kendrick had a really dope run. Dropped some great albums, and the machine was able to get the media to jump on the wave and basically hype the releases up with rave reviews. Mostly, by writers who aren't even Hip Hop heads or even from the community, for that matter. And I honestly think that that level of hype and overrating made Kendrick switch his sh*t up and start trying to fit into this mode that the publications created for him. As time went on, the music got worse. That's not greatness, that's literally what falling off is.

I always f*cked with his early sh*t, but still feel like his career has been way too much hype over substance. There's always been a lot of noise around him, but if you really listen and look at what's been released over the past few years, you see it's all been for nothing.

one of the WOAT voices in Hiphop

borderline unlistenable

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

There's no world where Cole is wittier or has better metaphors than Kendrick Lamar. Cole is a straight forward rapper with some of the most surface level similes and punchlines. He's a dope rapper but when you get into that aspect of lyricism, Kendrick is on another level. They don't even try to explain things in similar fashions.

All that being said do I have Cole above Kendrick in the top 3 standings as of right now, rapper wise? Yea. And this is the first time I've felt that way in the last decade.

Cole in the last ~3-4 years? Yes.

Before then, Cole was a record label tax write off. Plus he was selling to people who who didn't have taste. What were they gonna do? Ignore them?

 

[Piff Perkins]

Cole in the last ~3-4 years? Yes.

Before then, Cole was a record label tax write off. Plus he was selling to people who who didn't have taste. What were they gonna do? Ignore them?

First off Cole was never a record label write off, he was one of the top artists (music wise, not rap wise) at Columbia for years. He was one of the people keeping the lights on there. And he's one of the top artists at Interscope now.

I think Cole has leveled up lyrically over the last 3 albums. He's always gonna have that level of corniness with some of his punchlines and the ways he ties verses together, but overall he has improved. And I think 4YEO was a major reason. For a long time I felt Cole was way too insular as a rapper. He raps about himself so much, from his own perspective, that it hurt his ability to truly be an evocative or introspective rapper. Lots of "I" or me" etc. 4YEO was when I first noticed a shift, and part of that was him rapping from other perspectives on there. He's done that before but to me personally, I thought the earlier attempts were weak. Lights Please was the record that made people think he was the one, but to me it was laughably stereotypical and a man trying to imitate what he thought a woman would think/say. Same with the record on Born Sinner where he raps over the Da Art Of Storytellin beat, trying to do what Andre did but failing because he couldn't bring another person to life in verse. Again a generic caricature, compared to the way Andre brought a woman to life as a fully fledged person. Fast forward to 4YEO and I think he finally "got" it.

He does it well on Off Season too. Especially on Close, one of my favorite Cole tracks. My argument is that these are things Kendrick has been doing at a high level his entire career. From Keisha's Song on Section80 to Sing About Me off GKMC. Nobody in Kendrick's era does that stuff better than him. The way he brings characters to life and creates images is on that Common, Mos, Nas type level.

"Brown skinned but your blue eyes tell me your momma can't run." Come on. Who else is even trying to do shyt like that, lyrically?

 

[Izanami]

There's no world where Cole is wittier or has better metaphors than Kendrick Lamar. Cole is a straight forward rapper with some of the most surface level similes and punchlines. He's a dope rapper but when you get into that aspect of lyricism, Kendrick is on another level. Kendrick's similes, metaphors, and generally the way he writes is far more introspective, evocative, and poetic. They don't even try to explain things in similar fashions.

All that being said do I have Cole above Kendrick in the top 3 standings as of right now, rapper wise? Yea. And this is the first time I've felt that way in the last decade.

Kendrick relies on word play and rhyme structure way more than metaphors and punchlines. He doesn’t have guest spots with qoutables like Cole. When displaying their stream on consciousness Cole is way more thoughtful than Kendrick.

example

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

First off Cole was never a record label write off, he was one of the top artists (music wise, not rap wise) at Columbia for years. He was one of the people keeping the lights on there. And he's one of the top artists at Interscope now.

I think Cole has leveled up lyrically over the last 3 albums. He's always gonna have that level of corniness with some of his punchlines and the ways he ties verses together, but overall he has improved. And I think 4YEO was a major reason. For a long time I felt Cole was way too insular as a rapper. He raps about himself so much, from his own perspective, that it hurt his ability to truly be an evocative or introspective rapper. Lots of "I" or me" etc. 4YEO was when I first noticed a shift, and part of that was him rapping from other perspectives on there. He's done that before but to me personally, I thought the earlier attempts were weak. Lights Please was the record that made people think he was the one, but to me it was laughably stereotypical and a man trying to imitate what he thought a woman would think/say. Same with the record on Born Sinner where he raps over the Da Art Of Storytellin beat, trying to do what Andre did but failing because he couldn't bring another person to life in verse. Again a generic caricature, compared to the way Andre brought a woman to life as a fully fledged person. Fast forward to 4YEO and I think he finally "got" it.

He does it well on Off Season too. Especially on Close, one of my favorite Cole tracks. My argument is that these are things Kendrick has been doing at a high level his entire career. From Keisha's Song on Section80 to Sing About Me off GKMC. Nobody in Kendrick's era does that stuff better than him. The way he brings characters to life and creates images is on that Common, Mos, Nas type level.

"Brown skinned but your blue eyes tell me your momma can't run." Come on. Who else is even trying to do shyt like that, lyrically?

Kendrick raps like he's a spoken word artist first before anything else and I'll never truly be a fan of that.

He's talented in his ability to flow but his content density is shockingly empty compared to someone like Lupe or Black Thought or even Drake or Wale or KRIT. hell, even recent Jada and Fab singles in the last 6 months prove this point. Even Lil Baby.

My prime complaint of his has been that when you chart what he's saying, he just does these extended filler bars of nothing. Even as corny as Cole is, he isn't just wasting space. If you looked at the ratio of "word-to-message", Kendrick isn't as high as people think he is. If you wanna know what I'm referring to, look at Game or Busta. Those two get on the mic and say a lot...but don't end up conveying a lot. Its weird.

Cole and Kendrick were the last CD era artists of their time. Drake was gonna be what he is today. But Cole and Kendrick had to pretend to be these deep ass spitters to appeal to people who sold CDs and filled seats at shows. Thats why their streaming numbers keep putting them in convos they dont deserve to be in. They're coasting on online appeal that doesn't really translate off line like that. This is a whole other convo.

This is why I think had Wale come out a few years later, he'd be ... damn near Tyler the Creator level. Same with KRIT. The south needs a country-southern champion and we haven't had that in a while but his label situation in the CD-era prior to streaming fukked his momentum up.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

This is incorrect.

Late 2014 had Eric Garner, Mike Brown, and Tamir Rice...then top of 2015 he drops this BLM centric album then rides off it for the next half-decade as some voice of the streets.

shyt was a very cynical move that boxed him in creatively.

Yall dont wanna admit this.

Look, I liked TPAB...a little dense, but sonically it helped introduce that new LA Jazz Scene, but kendrick himself? Still overrated.

Bro, no one cares about your opinion of Kendrick. Go back to upping old drake trash calling everything he drops “classic”

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Bro, no one cares about your opinion of Kendrick. Go back to upping old drake trash calling everything he drops “classic”

This isn't an opinion.

His career before BLM was going in a completely different direction. He was closer to becoming Tyler the Creator than Common's west coast brother back then.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

This is a good way to spin the fact you know the sales have peaked.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Kendrick raps like he's a spoken word artist first before anything else and I'll never truly be a fan of that.

He's talented in his ability to flow but his content density is shockingly empty compared to someone like Lupe or Black Thought or even Drake or Wale or KRIT. hell, even recent Jada and Fab singles in the last 6 months prove this point. Even Lil Baby.

My prime complaint of his has been that when you chart what he's saying, he just does these extended filler bars of nothing. Even as corny as Cole is, he isn't just wasting space. If you looked at the ratio of "word-to-message", Kendrick isn't as high as people think he is. If you wanna know what I'm referring to, look at Game or Busta. Those two get on the mic and say a lot...but don't end up conveying a lot. Its weird.

Cole and Kendrick were the last CD era artists of their time. Drake was gonna be what he is today. But Cole and Kendrick had to pretend to be these deep ass spitters to appeal to people who sold CDs and filled seats at shows. Thats why their streaming numbers keep putting them in convos they dont deserve to be in. They're coasting on online appeal that doesn't really translate off line like that. This is a whole other convo.

This is why I think had Wale come out a few years later, he'd be ... damn near Tyler the Creator level. Same with KRIT. The south needs a country-southern champion and we haven't had that in a while but his label situation in the CD-era prior to streaming fukked his momentum up.

It's been a decade and you're still saying demonstratively false bullshyt about this. Both have been on multiple sold out arena tours. Kendrick is selling out an arena tour right now, as we speak. If it doesn't translate to off line real life, how is that possible for either artist. Hell, Cole did an arena tour off his least popular and most divisive album, 4YEO.

The thing that separates those three artists is they came up during the blog era and expertly built their fanbases. Cole and Kendrick significantly out paced their label projections on their first albums because the label didn't understand a loyal fanbase is more important than a first single. They both have done amazing things, have made an insane amount of money and will continue to do so because no matter what they have a core that will follow them.

This Wale obsession is a joke. Wale got a second chance in the blog era and still fumbled despite having multiple hit records. Because he's not the great artist you think he is. You want to sit around hand wringing on what coulda shoulda happened for Wale while dismissing what DID happen for Cole and Kendrick. It's corny as fukk. Tyler also came out during that blog era, Built his fanbase, without the hits Wale has, and is now doing arena tours - something I didn't expect. And his fanbase looks entirely different from Wale's so again the comparison makes no sense.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

This isn't an opinion.

His career before BLM was going in a completely different direction. He was closer to becoming Tyler the Creator than Common's west coast brother back then.

NONE of his albums are the same direction, like what does TPAB have to do with Untitled or DAMN? Section 80 and GKMC are nothing like DAMN or Mr Morale. Kendrick was never a Tyler nor did he become west coast Common

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

NONE of his albums are the same direction, like what does TPAB have to do with Untitled or DAMN? Section 80 and GKMC are nothing like DAMN or Mr Morale. Kendrick was never a Tyler nor did he become west coast Common

Kendrick is a reactionary artist. Thats why the sonics might change, but his topics reflects the zeitgeist.

TPAB was a response to-and motivation for-the growing BLM movement. That changed his career.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Kendrick is a reactionary artist. Thats why the sonics might change, but his topics reflects the zeitgeist.

TPAB was a response to-and motivation for-the growing BLM movement. That changed his career.

You literally have him being inspired by events and making one album about them as him being a reactionary artist. Please go back to the little kids table

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

It's been a decade and you're still saying demonstratively false bullshyt about this. Both have been on multiple sold out arena tours. Kendrick is selling out an arena tour right now, as we speak. If it doesn't translate to off line real life, how is that possible for either artist. Hell, Cole did an arena tour off his least popular and most divisive album, 4YEO.

The thing that separates those three artists is they came up during the blog era and expertly built their fanbases. Cole and Kendrick significantly out paced their label projections on their first albums because the label didn't understand a loyal fanbase is more important than a first single. They both have done amazing things, have made an insane amount of money and will continue to do so because no matter what they have a core that will follow them.

This Wale obsession is a joke. Wale got a second chance in the blog era and still fumbled despite having multiple hit records. Because he's not the great artist you think he is. You want to sit around hand wringing on what coulda shoulda happened for Wale while dismissing what DID happen for Cole and Kendrick. It's corny as fukk. Tyler also came out during that blog era, Built his fanbase, without the hits Wale has, and is now doing arena tours - something I didn't expect. And his fanbase looks entirely different from Wale's so again the comparison makes no sense.

Kendrick has maybe 2 songs off the recent album I've heard either in radio mix-shows or actual clubs/lounges.

I maintain that with the right management, Wale is bigger than Meek and near J Cole status. He's certainly more talented.

Look, I'm measuring talent. You' pocket watching. I already have said multiple times that I don't respect fan opinions or record sales or ticket sales. These people don't have good taste or the correct value of quality. Cole has improved, but the size of his fanbase and the quality of his work has let me know that I can dismiss most of their critical affection towards Cole as an artist.