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

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dissect - "Best Bars of 2024. Plus: Drake vs. Kendrick Retrospective"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Dissect
• Host/Author: The Ringer
• Description: Analyzing the music and meaning of one album per season, one song per episode. Join host Cole Cuchna as he dives deep into albums by Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Radiohead, Beyonce, Tyler The Creator, Frank Ocean, and more.
• Episode: Best Bars of 2024. Plus: Drake vs. Kendrick Retrospective
• Release Date: December 10, 2024

Introduction The episode kicks off with host Kul Kushna introducing the special two-part year-end series focusing on the prominent music releases of 2024. This particular installment centers on hip hop, reflecting on a pivotal event—the colossal battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Joining Kul are Torre King Green, a legendary journalist and rapper, and James Francis, a rapper and producer renowned for his hip hop analysis and lyric breakdowns.

Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar Battle Overview Kul sets the stage by highlighting the unprecedented scale and depth of the Drake vs. Kendrick battle in 2024. Previously, there were concerns about hip hop's prominence dwindling in 2023, but 2024 saw a resurgence fueled by stellar releases and this intense rivalry.

• Torre King Green's Perspective: Torre praises the battle as "unquestionably the greatest battle we ever had in hip hop" ([03:19]). He emphasizes Kendrick's technical prowess and swift response, noting tracks like "Euphoria" ([04:29], [05:14]) and "Not Like Us" ([06:00]). Torre contrasts this battle's immediacy and lyrical depth with past feuds like Tupac vs. Biggie or Jay-Z vs. Nas, stating that the Drake-Kendrick showdown "won’t be forgotten by everybody who is living in this culture" ([03:59], [05:52]).

• King Green's Insights: King Green underscores the community-building aspect of the battle, mentioning how it revitalized discussions around lyrics and authenticity in hip hop ([07:42]). He highlights how platforms like TikTok played a significant role in amplifying the battle's reach, even drawing in creators unfamiliar with hip hop ([10:41], [11:18]).

• James Francis' Take: As the youngest participant, James observes a unique shift in 2024 where listeners showed heightened interest in lyrical content, coinciding with his own content's growth ([09:29], [10:40]). He notes that unlike earlier battles, this feud's rapid exchange of songs and discussions dominated social media, making hip hop more mainstream ([09:29]).

Analyzing the Battle's Best Moments The conversation transitions into dissecting the best songs, lines, and quotable moments from the Drake-Kendrick feud.

• Best Song: The trio debates between "Not Like Us" and "Euphoria." James and Torre lean towards "Euphoria" as the best song ([12:25], [16:22]), citing its lyrical complexity and strategic placement as Kendrick's first response. However, King Green champions "Not Like Us" as the best diss track ever made ([13:20], [16:00]).

• Favorite Line: Kul Kushna shares his admiration for Drake's line in "Heart Part Six": “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” ([20:59]). He appreciates the technical wordplay and subtle digs at Drake’s lyricism.

• Most Quotable Line: Torre highlights Kendrick’s line, “Tell them run to America. They imitate heritage. They can't imitate this violence,” appreciating its profound commentary on cultural authenticity and the intrinsic violence within American society ([30:10]). James emphasizes the impact of lines like “Have you ever?” from Kendrick, noting its role in setting the battle's tone ([26:52]).

Impact on Hip Hop in 2024 The Drake-Kendrick battle not only reignited interest in hip hop but also fostered a deeper appreciation for lyrical craftsmanship.

• Community Engagement: The battle encouraged fans to delve into lyricism, analyze verses, and engage in discussions, revitalizing a sense of community reminiscent of earlier hip hop eras ([07:42], [08:25]).

• Mainstream Appeal: The widespread dissemination of battle-related content on platforms like TikTok brought hip hop to a broader, more diverse audience, including listeners who had previously been indifferent ([10:41], [11:18]).

Favorite Lyrics of 2024 Post-break, the conversation shifts to favorite lyrics from various artists, showcasing the year’s lyrical highlights.

• Kul Kushna’s Picks:

  • Absol's "Crazier" ft. Jid: He admires the intricate wordplay in lines like, “bag full of blue strips like dirty diapers, you ain't the shit.”
  • Lupe Fiasco's "Cake": Applauds the density and extended metaphors, particularly the line, “authoring in August, wordplay is December.”

• Torre King’s Picks:

  • Dochi's "Nissan Ultima": Highlights the rapid-fire flow and clever references, including, “I'm the new hip hop Madonna.”
  • Kendrick Lamar’s "Meet the Grams": Praises the direct and impactful verses, especially lines addressing heritage and authenticity.

• King Green’s Picks:

  • J. Cole's "Pie with Daylight": Appreciates the complexity and extended metaphors.
  • Kendrick Lamar’s "Reincarnated": Values the introspective and story-driven lyrics that blend personal narrative with broader cultural commentary.

• James Francis’ Picks:

  • Rhapsody’s "Marlena" from "Please Don't Cry": Enjoys the clever bar “My soul attached to me like a Siamese.”
  • Dochi's "Balloon": Finds the line “I'm everything” emotionally resonant and a powerful moment of self-affirmation.

Favorite Songs and Albums of 2024 As the episode nears its conclusion, each guest shares their top song and album of the year.

• Torre King:

  • Favorite Song: "Peekaboo" by Glorilla, lauding its infectious hooks and cultural impact.
  • Favorite Album: "Chroma Copia" by Tyler The Creator, commending its innovative sound and personal narratives.

• King Green:

  • Favorite Song: "What They Talking About" by Kendrick Lamar, appreciating its technical brilliance and memorable hooks.
  • Favorite Album: "Album Thief" by Kaz, celebrating its soulful depth and profound lyrical content.

• James Francis:

  • Favorite Song: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar, recognizing its lyrical potency and strategic placement in the battle.
  • Favorite Album: "Chroma Copia" by Tyler The Creator, highlighting its flawless sequencing and conceptual depth.

• Kul Kushna:

  • Favorite Song: "Boom Bap" by Dochi, particularly the impactful line “I'm everything,” which encapsulates her personal and artistic epiphany.
  • Favorite Album: While still deliberating on Kendrick’s "Reincarnated," he acknowledges its complexity and thematic richness, positioning it as a standout project deserving further contemplation.

Conclusion The episode wraps up with Kul Kushna expressing gratitude to his guests and promoting their collaborative podcast, Rap Latte. He encourages listeners to follow Torre, King Green, and James on various platforms to stay engaged with their insightful hip hop analyses.

Kul hints at future discussions, particularly teasing an in-depth exploration of favorite albums and songs in the upcoming second part of the year-end series. The conversation underscores the transformative impact of the Drake vs. Kendrick battle on hip hop in 2024, highlighting a renewed appreciation for lyrical depth, community engagement, and the genre's evolving mainstream appeal.

Notable Quotes:

• Torre King Green ([03:19]): "This was unquestionably the greatest battle we ever had in hip hop."
• Kul Kushna ([20:59]): "You mentioned an A minor, but you guys got a B sharp and tell fans who was it you thought you left."
• King Green ([33:16]): "Patriarchal conversation. I'm kidding."
• James Francis ([39:31]): "Reincarnated is probably taking that pick."
• Torre King ([65:53]): "I'm sorry that that man is your father... That's an extraordinary direct to the frontal cortex."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of the "Dissect" episode, providing listeners with an overview of the engaging discussions on the Drake vs. Kendrick battle and the standout lyrical achievements in hip hop for 2024. Through insightful analyses and notable quotes, the summary offers a deep dive into the episode's pivotal moments and key takeaways.

Transcript

[Kul Kushna]

Welcome everyone to dissect. I'm your host, Kul Kushna. Today's episode is part one of our special two part year end series discussing the music releases of 2024. 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. All right, 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 end 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, you know, chart topping in 2023 with hip hop. And we're kind of trying to speculate on whether that was a. In a slump or is this, is this a sign indicator of, 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. And I think we can thank 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 wanted to start with you, Torre, 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, Nas. 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.

[Torre King]

I mean, this was unquestionably the greatest battle we ever had in hip hop. It went faster, 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.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah.

[Torre King]

You know, and. And the. The speed with which that Friday to the end of Saturday happened will never be forgotten by everybody who is living in this culture. How it was. It was 6:16 Friday morning, right? Then it was Euphoria, late Friday, then that Dre, then Family Matters right on Saturday, and then Not Like Us right after.

[Kul Kushna]

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 Heart Part six on Sunday. So that stretch, that was like, we.

[Torre King]

Were already, like, heaving tired, and that was like. You should never have said anything. But, I mean, I remember the texts and the excitement and the energy of like, Kendrick dropped like. You've gotta be kidding. He just dropped like this morning. He just dropped yesterday, like, again. Oh, my God. Drake had a whole video. Kendrick stepped on his whole video. You know, the text, the excitement, the calling around. I'm calling people who I normally call during the day, but now they're midnight friends.

[King Green]

Like this.

[Torre King]

There's a breaking news event going on. I could call and be like, midnight, yo, did you. Oh, my God. This live. This first. I. 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.

[King Green]

Super Ugly is the Original Heart, Part 6. It was Part of the battle. We just said.

[Torre King]

Super Ugly is a hot record. We can talk about that later. But no, it was. 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. This is. It's so deep.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, Green, what about you?

[King Green]

I'm just gonna say. I mean, he's saying everyone's sentiments of how we felt about that week. Like, that was hip hop, Christmas and Kwanzaa. Like, it was. It was. It's like we got a gift. We got a gift every day. And we're all. It built community. And that's the difference between 23 and 24. Our community got raised up. All of us were able to talk to each other and. 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 lunchroom, but we're doing it on platforms. People. People making money off of it. You know, 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 are 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.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah.

[King Green]

And people. And then I made one about, like, Lil Wayne's lyrics and that blew up to like a million views. And I was like, y'all care about listening? Because in my brain, I. I just geek out about lyrics. I'm a rapper, so it's like I'm just going to geek out about this. 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 that, 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 that's great for me. It's just been. I haven't felt like this since probably like 2015, 16, 17, about like rap, you know?

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, yeah. James, I'm interested. You're the youngest among us. I think I'd be here. Interested to hear your perspective on experiencing the battle. And specifically, I think you guys both touched on it. Social media and YouTube and the reactions and this community that felt very new. You know, I think back to, 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, in the magnitude of the battle. Not only are these, you know, Drake, Meek Mill, Drake, Pusha T, you know, that's, that's somewhat of a heavyweight, but this, this was different. And the amount of songs, the, the, the, 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, I'm definitely interested again as the young, youngest one here. Your. Your experience with it.

[James Francis]

Yeah, I feel like it's been super, super unique for me this year because I, 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, 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 circled around like a couple of months ago back to all of the Meek stuff, all of the Pusha stuff, and I was just like, this was not the same conversation like it was. If you were already in the hip hop space, then it was big to you. But even that beef with pushing Drake, it was still very much a hip hop beef. It wasn't as global. So, yeah, I just feel feeling people's sentiments shift and also like the discussion around stuff like Chroma Copia where like, people are talking about bars in a way they wouldn't have asked.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.

[Torre King]

Notice Cole on Social, especially on TikTok. TikTok is such a great temperature check for what's going on through the weekend. There were tons of, of, of TikToks of videos from black creators talking about Kendrick and Drake. And then on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, you 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.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, I was going to say, like, this was. My mom asked me about this battle. She was, like, so, so far removed. You know, she had some. Some curiosity about it. That's the level that. That it got to, which, you know, that's. That's a 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? And end of conversation.

[Torre King]

No, no, no, no.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. There's a difference. In my mind, there's a difference between trying to attribute best and favorite.

[James Francis]

Yeah. Like, do we. Or favorite.

[Kul Kushna]

If we were to. If we were to highlight. Nominate just one song historically as the best song that came from this battle.

[James Francis]

Then it's not like us. Yeah, I agree.

[Torre King]

No, no, wait.

[James Francis]

Oh, my favorite is my. My favorite is Euphoria. Definitely.

[Torre King]

See, if you said favorite, we were dancing to Not Like Us as a nation and all that, but the best song. Oh, my God. Euphoria.

[King Green]

Song is not like us.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah.

[King Green]

Make your case.

[Torre King]

We talked about this yesterday, and you said all the rappers will say Euphoria, so I don't know why you're switched up now in front of.

[King Green]

Oh, no, no, I never said. I said the best. All the rappers and, 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 one of them. I don't think that way. I think about song as songwriting. 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 prophet and And. And you now 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?

[James Francis]

Yeah.

[King Green]

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 diss song ever made.

[James Francis]

Yeah. It's hard to argue. It's hard to.

[Torre King]

It is the best, this song in this battle, and you know that.

[King Green]

It's the best song. It's the best diss song ever made, and I'm standing on that till.

[Torre King]

It's not the best song in this battle. Look, give me your point. 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 listened to that song a million times this year. But, my 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 into that later.

[King Green]

But that.

[Torre King]

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 that you 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.

[King Green]

I think. I think that there's. It's. It's simpler and it's the same concepts in. In Not Like Us, where the density that exists in Euphoria, I think is a. It's taste level. I think there's this different taste 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 defining lines. Because let me say this in the next question that Cole's going to ask us about the best line, I think my best. The best lines are from Euphoria.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah.

[James Francis]

Yeah.

[King Green]

The best lyrical lines are from Euphoria. The most quotable lines are from Not Like Us.

[James Francis]

Not Like Us.

[Torre King]

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 when you can make a song like that, like a bop. Not like us. But, my God, the. The best diss song is Meet the Grams that aids to your soul. We all started listening to it and had to turn it off in the first verse. Like, oh, my God, this is too much. This is too hard. Like, this is. I'm going to 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 want to talk to. About your mom. I want to talk to your dad. Oh, my God.

[King Green]

I 100% agree with heart surgery. I 100% agree with you because look at what you said. And I'm. I'm so much about dissecting. This is the Dissect podcast. You said this is the best diss song. And I would agree with you that Meet the Grams is the best. This song. This question says the best song from the Beef. The best song from the Beef is Not Like Us. The best dis song is Meet the Grams and the. And my favorite lyrics come from Euphoria. Hey, man, that's how I dissect it.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Yeah. The best favorite thing is just semantics at this point, obviously. I think so. We're all in it. Do we all agree that? Okay, everyone with Tori thinks Not Like Us is the best song, but is all of our favorite song Euphoria? Because that's my. That's.

[James Francis]

Yeah, my favorite is definitely Euphoria. How can I. I said that on Toria's podcast.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay. For what reason specifically?

[James Francis]

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 Grimms. He tears him apart, and it's a bit brutal, but I feel like Euphoria is like. It strikes the balance between Not Like Us and Meet the Grimes.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Yeah. What I love about it, particularly where it came in the beef, was that, you know, it was first. Kendrick's first response. It was 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 Torre 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 is just Crazy. But what I love about Euphoria is there's no hook. It is six, seven minutes of just straight rapping.

[James Francis]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

And this is a rap battle. And this is Kendrick in his opening gesture saying, let's rap like the dirt. If you're going to take it to the. If you want to get dirty, I'll get dirty. I'm prepared for that. He says that directly. But if you want to keep it above the belt and just rap, here I am. Here's 6, 7 minutes of. Of just rapping. 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 going to go dirty, I'm. I'm prepared for that too. But I just love that he. His opening statement was one about rap.

[Torre King]

I mean, maybe we're all sort of using the word favorite and best differently, or maybe they land on us differently, because to me, favorite is heart and best is in your head. Right. And if not like cus 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 pontificate and, like, refine. Listen to these lyrics come through me. So, I mean, to me, not 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 things, but maybe we're just defining best and favorite in different ways, because I think beside that, we're saying a lot of the same things.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, I think so. Does anyone want to give any shine to any of the Drake songs? As to be fair, Torre is making a face right now.

[James Francis]

Yeah, I feel Push Ups 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 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.

[King Green]

I think Push Ups is the most solid track out that Drake 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 on outside the ring. It's weird.

[Kul Kushna]

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. This is my Most enjoyable line out of the whole beef. And it comes from the heart, part six. It's when 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.

[James Francis]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

And he says you gotta be 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 someone, I love Drake haters.

[King Green]

Drake haters are like my favorite people on the planet. Like, T are amazing.

[Kul Kushna]

I. Okay, I. I'm 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. Oh yeah, Nothing Was the Same was the last album that I listened to in 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 okay, so my favorite line, and it's obviously so hard to choose, but I think it has to be, you're not a colleague, you're a fucking colonizer. And just from. In terms of singling out like one line, and obviously this has a lot to do with everything that comes before this line in that third verse of Not 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 is in direct conversation or response with Drake saying, you're rapping like you're always trying to get the slaves free. And that's the setup of this entire third verse of Not Like Us. And he goes through, obviously all these Atlanta artists, and he's just jabbing, jab, jab, jab, all setting up this final punchline of, you not a colleague, you fucking colonizer. You get the alliteration with colleague colonizer. Just every technical merit you want to give it, it's 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 I kind of landed on at this moment. But Green, let's go to you and your favorite line from the Beef.

[King Green]

That verse. And that line is. 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 Euphoria 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 in 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 did some 10 things I hate about you and said, I even hate when you say the word. I guess, like, his ability to play with his voice is just next level. There's no. I said that to Torah the other day. Like, he is the best ever at being able to create character in rap ever. So I'm go with that. But your pick is in that entire verse, actually, to me, is a pick.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. That moment, though, is like, to your point, the way that he just switches cadence, all of it. Because he's like, vicious up until then. And then on a dime, he's just like, that's just me. I guess some shit's just cringe worthy. It didn't even have to be deep like that. Yeah. Brilliant moment. Tori, what about you?

[Torre King]

There's a line that, I mean, there's a million lines in euphoria 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. It's an extraordinarily violent place in the country. What we do in terms of foreign policy, school shootings, all these sorts of things. So the violence of America, you know, and what somebody in Compton would deal with from police, from other 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. This critical part of America. I find that really deep.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Very well stated. Yeah. And not. That is not a line I've heard anyone talk about in detail. So very nice. James, what you got?

[James Francis]

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 pong between two. I was gonna do the Hellcat line from Euphoria, just because there's just so much there of like, everybody want to be demon so they get chipped by a throwaway. And the other I was thinking of was the have you ever? Which he's still playing out on GNX even, Right.

[King Green]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

Which one did you ultimately land on?

[James Francis]

I feel like the have you ever Just because it's the ultimate, like, here's my calling card. And it's such a. Is such like hip hop cultural cachet. And I feel like that's. He set the precedent of the battle being that. On Euphoria. Because after that, then for Drake it's like, okay, I've gotta. Because now on Family Matters, Drake's being like, oh, what do you mean? I do this, this and this. It's like, okay. But you just allowed him to set the precedent for the way that. The battle. Yeah, right.

[King Green]

I agree with that. And that's the. The what you. Have you ever Goes into exactly what Toure said too, which it sets the entire precedence of the whole. 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.

[Kul Kushna]

I like Drake with the melodies.

[King Green]

Yeah, exactly. Why did you go this way? And I love when people give credit in where credit's due in 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 isn't a classic album. So giving that credit makes everything else seem valid. And I think that's the most beautiful thing about those bars that Kendrick had Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

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 wanted to look very closely at lyrics more than probably your average listener. But these quotable lines that came from it ended up permeating culture or social media. You know, you have 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 the. 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 too. Most. 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. 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 onto to center 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?

[Torre King]

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 pick up on that, but that is one that I noticed a high volume of women on TikTok. Yes. Made 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 in women's experience that, like, resonate, but they were clear. Like, that is the lie that jumps out for us.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Okay. Tori, do you want to start with your. Your quotable.

[Torre King]

I don't. I don't think greed stepped on it. 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 middle of the keyboard. It is the most important space bar. Have to be Space bar.

[James Francis]

Space bar's crazy.

[Torre King]

Nigga is a special 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. 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 not about biracialism. 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 get into 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's. He didn't tell him to not say it because then Drake could defy him and he wins. But, like, we. I'm just telling you, we don't want to hear you say that. And the way he's. He kind of sings it kind of like a advertising jingle. Like, really gets it. We don't want to hear it. Makes it into, like, a lullaby. And, like, I mean, I definitely heard people saying that, like, that absentminded when you're just walking around the house or whatever.

[King Green]

We don't want it.

[Kul Kushna]

Do you guys think he. I was always wondering, do you think he was intentionally interpolating that Kanye line from Ginham High where we don't want to hear that weak no more, or is that just me that heard that connection?

[King Green]

I didn't catch it.

[Kul Kushna]

All right, Green, you had one that was similar, or was that your same one or your free quote?

[King Green]

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 sings a minor. Like, that's what. That's, like, what it is. But then when I think about so many quotables, like, is it the braids just. No reason. No reason that just comes to mind. Someone says the word braids, I'm like, is it the braids? 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. 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 battle. And it was just. It was beautiful that people actually questioned it.

[Kul Kushna]

Right, James, what do you got?

[James Francis]

Yeah, it's got to be A minor. It's got to be A minor. But I've. The. The other thing I was thinking about was the. Let me see you push a T. Just because.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, the vocal inflection on it.

[James Francis]

Yeah, it's so funny. And also just the thought it's so. It's such a meta bar in terms of like, just thinking of people who aren't in hip hop, who have no context of that. That sticking to them, and then being like, wait a minute, what would pusha T. And then them being like, oh, yeah. To me, I think it's just emblematic of the whole thing of just like. Or the point of euphoria that, like, you should be out of here and it's already self evident. And all these references I'm tying in are, like, functioning in the same way. Like, it's just a great writing.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, I think so. For me. I think out of all, it has to be the A minor. It has to be.

[James Francis]

Just gotta be A minor.

[Kul Kushna]

If I'm trying to be objective. Like, they had. You had kids screaming that you had. And then the visual layer now that we now associate it with him skip walking across the hopscotch and the way the camera zooms out all 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.

[James Francis]

Cool.

[Kul Kushna]

Let me give Drake some credit because he had a few. How the. You big step in with a. With a size 7. He had a few. I mean, arguably, Metro. Shut your whole ass up and make some drums. Like one of the One. One of the bigger ones was.

[Torre King]

But of course it ricochets back and hits him in the eye.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. But for him, it had him. It had a moment. And also this one, which is legitimately funny. Kendrick just opened his mouth. Someone go hand him 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 beat your ass. Hide the Bible of God Watching Baka got a weird case. Why is he around? Certified lover boy. Certified pedophile. Like, that whole end of the first verse is.

[Torre King]

Yeah, that wap wap wap is huge. The onomatopoeias 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. City is back up. We a must. We outside to 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 always envisioned somebody like standing in front of project building. Somebody's out to get him. I'm like, I'm not hiding. Like, I am right here outside. If you want to get me, you can come get me. I'm not scared of anything. And like, that's a really powerful moment for Kendrick.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. I think also to state the obvious, they not like us itself is a huge quotable. Yeah.

[King Green]

Yeah. So I didn't even think about that.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Right.

[James Francis]

The whole song is quite a bull's realistic.

[King Green]

Yeah, that's the. That's the whole best song thing with me. It's like, yeah, some. Something that's gonna live in our brains probably for the eternity of our lives. Of all lives.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah.

[Torre King]

Here's the thing with that, right? You listen to Meet the Grahams like once and you can still hear it. You listen to Not Like Us a thousand times. Meet the Grams is seared on your sonic soul, but after one listen, it's so painful and powerful.

[King Green]

I agree with that.

[Kul Kushna]

You know, the funny thing about that, my personal story of hearing that song was that I was putting my kids to bed. Cause it was like late, you know. When that came out at the west coast, it was like, I think like 9, 9pm 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 listened to that song with my daughter laying right there next to me.

[King Green]

Just.

[Kul Kushna]

Twisted, twisted experience.

[King Green]

We were 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 kidnapped. The song's crazy. Like, it's really psychopathic and it's so beautifully written.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. I was seeing everyone's rapped and I saw a few people with Meet the Grams on their top five songs. I was like, oh my God, Psychos.

[Torre King]

I Mean, like, look, we have always held that the best first line in a battle, right? Fuck your bitch in the click you claim, right? It's such a great direct right in the face. This motherfucker said dear Adonis. And we all freaked out because we knew, like, oh my God, like, where is this gonna go? You're talking directly. That is the most powerful start to a battle song ever. Like just those two words said in that way, not yelling, but like calm and, and evil and menacing and like, oh God.

[Kul Kushna]

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 on, on like that, knowing he would have this juggernaut of a hit song waiting like in his ammunition, like essentially a kill car, you know what 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 10 songs up to 10 songs. I don't know. Have you guys thought about that at all?

[King Green]

Yeah, he had it. He had Meet the Grams already because he had an entire angle, an entire plan and he laid it out in euphoria. So he had these beats and, and already within that time period though, you know, because there was like a two week time period where, where Drake's like telling him to hey, drop, drop, drop. He's like, I am going to drop like 10 because I'm thinking about what you're going to do after I drop this. So obviously he had Meet the Grahams ready already and he, he augmented things and changed 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.

[Torre King]

I mean, as far as we know from the few folks who have spoken from the sessions, there was the session where Kendrick did 10 songs in one session. I assume that's one day, but it could be over two days.

[Kul Kushna]

Crazy.

[Torre King]

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 an addition, a punch in later. And I think you can hear it sounds a little bit different, right? Green, like some of the late, late lines and some of the songs that were like. Is that a reference? Yeah.

[James Francis]

They sound different sonically. Like, you can tell they're recorded after. Yeah.

[King Green]

Difference. And some of the punchings, too. Like, you could tell he's punching in certain things and certain things happen.

[James Francis]

Yeah. The Family Matters ball was definitely punched in. You can.

[King Green]

Right.

[James Francis]

You can hear it's punched in.

[King Green]

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.

[Kul Kushna]

All right, well, let's close the chapter on. On Drake and Kendrick. For now. We're going to move on to our more kind of holistic conversation about the year in hip hop and specifically highlight some of our favorite lyrics and dissect our favorite lyrics. We're going to 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. 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.

[King Green]

No. I wrote this sitting outside the psych ward cashing out. I'd be blacking out because I keep the lights on. I'm the illness it's in the air. You should get the lights off. Lots of trauma from.

[Kul Kushna]

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 MCs 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. And I did a video on one of my other favorite lines from this song, 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, am I the only one?

[Torre King]

Tori, you have kids 17 and 15.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay. So I have two daughters. 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. So he's talking about a bag full of high dollar bills. Bag full of money. Blue strips being the anti counterfeit 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 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. 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 and dissected it, but that was one that I thought was just really clever. So that's my first nomination. Torre, you want to start with. With your first?

[King Green]

Sure. I'll.

[Torre King]

So I'll give you my first. Let me call up so I can read it. And since you guys are only Talking about male MCs for now, I got.

[Kul Kushna]

For now.

[Torre King]

Bring some diversity into this conversation. Patriarchal conversation. I'm kidding. Dochi's first verse on Nissan Ultima is fucking ridiculous.

[King Green]

Trip out of Japan and tsunami Hava Jana Wanadana Benihana I'm the new hip.

[Torre King]

Hop Madonna I'm the new hip hop.

[King Green]

Madonna I'm the trap Grace Jones she.

[Torre King]

Freaky cunningus Dalai Lama Dochi Cooler than a fan but she hotter than a sauna Take a trip out of Japan and I tsunami her vagina might have died Her Benihana Fine, whatever. And then she goes, I'm the new hip hop Madonna. She says that twice. I'm the trap Grace Jones and I love. And then she's going to Follow us with a third. I'm like Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the 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. This is funny. The vagina tsunami is hysterical. 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, I mean, this is the year that we all were like, okay, so here's another person who's one of the top MCs in the game. I'm told there'll be a new album, first quarter, second quarter. So, like, super excited about that.

[Kul Kushna]

Beautiful. I'm glad Dochi got highlighted. I might be coming back to her shortly. Green, you want to go next?

[King Green]

Yeah. I'm going with. There's lines from Pie and there's just two couplets that are extended metaphors. J. Cole's Pie with Daylight. So it's like, I like where bricks get karate chopped to maximize the dojo Comprende? I wonder will my friends make it past the pearly gates so we could kick it but based on what their sins say probably not blood spilling monthly Rather weekly as a myriad of bodies drop when bricks get karate chopped to maximize the dojo Comprende? I wonder will my friends. I can't. Extended metaphors force for me since, like, as a writer, they're hard. They're hard. They're just hard to do. And that's what the Absol one is, too. So it's like when you're taking that and then having double or triple meetings with this extended metaphor, it's like, what are you doing, J. Cole? What are you doing? Absolutely. Like, that Absol line was crazy. And I. Yeah, there's. In that verse, there's another one where he talks about, since birth the kid knew his worth Never wallowed in sorrow the game is dispersed in these verses Bring a gilly potential a Millie from pencils but before that, he says to test my ability with this thrilling 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 with. Why are you doing this on this verse? It's, like, crazy, but, yeah. So I just. I'm going with Pie. I love that verse. Except for Save for a few Lines. There's a few lines are questionable. And that's the thing with J. Cole.

[Kul Kushna]

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 do you got?

[James Francis]

Yeah, I'm looking at my list now. One of my picks was a Rhapsody song. It's Marlena from Please Don't Cry.

[King Green]

Been two piece in a two piece. I found peace on the island in the southeast. Single solo, but I ain't ringless. I drive the Audi like Tyrese, My soul attached to me.

[James Francis]

But yeah, she's got a bar on. There was two bars on this project. But yeah, one of her bars is single solo. But I ain't ringless. I drive the Audi like Tyrese, My soul attached to me like a Siamese. So, like, she's a Tyrese bar from. What's the film from? Fast and Furious. So she's saying, like, I'm single but I'm not ringless because I've got an Audi. There was another bar. What was the other bar? She had a bar from Asteroids, which was like industry plants. I eat them by like, Dr. Sebi. Yeah, just a load of clever bars on that whole project.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, I'm glad that got highlighted. That's a great album that came out early in the year. So I feel like all the early releases kind of fall victim to people forgetting about them a little bit. And especially at this last quarter, we've had the tsunami of releases, 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. This all rhymes. I'm not saying it in the way the inflection that he makes all these worms 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 what have you. And then delivery shivers Like Siberian areas, of course, Siberia being cold. But then 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.

[James Francis]

This whole Lupe album is.

[Kul Kushna]

It's insane. So that line plays off both the cold and this. Now emphasizing this delivery motif saying, shippers slip on the slickest icicles. And I just love tip of my scriptures. It's 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, essentially murder. I'm going to be killing you. And then I finish my pictures referencing the end of Titanic with the. The ship sinking, obviously tying back to the swim of the fish, but also paying off on ship. Don't hit my glacier. From the line before. Classic Lupe stuff. But again, I could have plucked any line from this. This album, essentially, but specifically this song. And the whole fucking verses are exactly this. Like literally just density, super dense in meaning, pivoting from motif to motif, somehow stitching them all together at the end. Just masterful stuff. What we expect from Lupe, obviously one of the best. I would probably call him the best lyricist in my lifetime for sure. Just lyricist. But Torre, what's your second nomination?

[Torre King]

I searched far and wide and kissed a lot of frogs to get to this one. And it's a piece of Eminem from Fuel. And a lot of people really zoned in on the whole R A, P E, R Diddy thing. And that was clever. This later in that verse, he kind of goes nuts, which is kind of a cousin of what you're talking about with the Lupe verse, where he goes, you know. And in a way it's like. It's just Eminem doing Eminem things. And this is who he has been training to be since he was a teenager. 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 you couldn't just rap the last word. You had to rap, 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, to see the language of this way.

[King Green]

The most content on the continent and.

[Torre King]

Constant compliments give me confidence across the.

[Kul Kushna]

Common sense and incompetence of cognizance.

[King Green]

The conflicts of consequence of accomplishments accomplished through competition.

[Torre King]

He says 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 Eminem. Common sense times incompetence. I'm cognizant that conflicts 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. He's a winner. I've conquered and conked him into unconsciousness. No conscience. I conjure this King Kong or just. That's where he kills me. King Kong or just rhyming with unconsciousness. Call me Kazakaz, call me Kamikaze 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 make sense to tell a 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 it.

[Kul Kushna]

That's beautiful. Green. What you got?

[King Green]

Yeah, I love that. I love that part. I I so I'm. Most of the time, I'm thinking about things from a technical aspect. So I thought about the Eminem, I thought about the Lupe album. But then I thought about difficulty for rapper, too, in complex writing in the sense of the third verse on Not Like Us. To make a hit song and give out a history lesson is. Is the most incredible task. Once upon a time, all of us are send chains Homie still double down calling us some slaves. Atlanta was the Mecca building railroads and trains. Bear with me for a second. Let me put y'all on 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 Atlanta. And he talked about settlers coming to Atlanta and talked about with the history of Atlanta in a snapshot that was insane for me as far as what the. That whole, you know, once upon a time, all of us was in change Homie still doubled down calling us some slaves Atlanta was the Mecca building railroads and trains like, what are we talking? 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 to want to do this after doing two verses of just quotables. It's. I'm gonna give you a history lesson.

[Kul Kushna]

With quotables in there.

[King Green]

Yeah, with quotables in it.

[Torre King]

And.

[King Green]

And for me, it was like the content was more amazing than the technician's abilities because there were so many technical feats. Like this year, as per usual. I mean, everybody dropped. Everybody dropped. So it's like there was amazing raps all year.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. The way that he holds the audience' 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 weaved 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 mad, like in toss up. Just like authorship of. Of penmanship, of. Of someone's mind being able to do that. It's one of the. Yeah.

[King Green]

It's the focus on being. Or the. And the skill set of not being able to have a throwaway 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 a rhyme about like. And it'll be like educational, but it's like. It's like it's going over someone's head. People read at a fifth grade reading level. It's like, why are you 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 could get that. Or once upon a time, just that statement. We all know that a story is going to be told by somebody who is a storyteller creed.

[Torre King]

The whole analogy there of white people went into Atlanta, took black stuff and made money out of it. And now you're doing that. Like, that blew me away. I mean, you know. Yeah, it was a history lesson. And I'm like, okay, now I'm a history class. But I'm like, I love this history class.

[King Green]

Love it.

[Torre King]

It's hysterical.

[King Green]

Oh, it was. Oh. And I think that's harder to do than. Than a lot of technician stuff.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Equally. Yeah. And in a hit song, to your point.

[King Green]

Yeah.

[James Francis]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

Crazy. All right, James, what do you got for Your second.

[James Francis]

For my second. I was. Well, I was gonna do the. I was gonna do crazier as well, but the Justin Herbert part. But also you've already covered it, so I'm gonna switch it out.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay. For.

[James Francis]

I'm gonna switch it out for. For Plate of Collard Greens and that last chunk of Cole's verse on Plate of collard Greens. The deep down I hated Halloween with all that I have seen who needs another way to cause a scream? Dangerous as the king of Pop how well they spin your block no moves, minimal smooth criminals. The whole gang doing an insane amount of lean the saint prescribed for. Because there's no doc for pain in the heart. But there's just so much, so much there. Halloween, Michael Jackson. The whole thing is a Michael Jackson flip.

[King Green]

Deep down I hated Halloween with all that I have seen who needs another way to cause a scream? Dangerous as the king of Pop how well they spin your block. No moves, minimal smooth criminals.

[James Francis]

But yeah, Halloween is the thriller music video. There's no way to cause a scream. King of pop, spin your block. It's like, from the. Like, things lighting up in the. I can't remember which music. I think it's the Thriller music.

[Kul Kushna]

Thriller, yeah. Thriller villain.

[James Francis]

And then no moves, minimal smooth criminals. The whole gang doing the same amounts of lean. Like the Michael Jackson lean.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah.

[James Francis]

And then prescribe for. Because there's no. There's no doc for pain they're harboring is such a. It's like a triple. Because also doc and harbor as well. Just there's so. There's so much there. But yeah. Insane rhyme from J. Colbert.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Yeah. Can't argue with that. That was one that definitely caught my attention on first listen. I definitely. The lean part was really clever, I thought because that's such an iconic visual to literally lean into that. It's pretty clever.

[King Green]

Beautiful verse. Beautiful verse.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay, so go. Yeah, go ahead.

[King Green]

You say you don't like bars, and I usually don't like mj like bar.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay. Right. Yeah.

[King Green]

But when someone. And that's what's beautiful about rap. It's like someone will 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 would be corny for me. But that lean bar, just like you.

[James Francis]

Said, it's so clever. Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

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 Dochi's Boom Bap, where she says, it's everything. I'm everything.

[King Green]

In this house, in this rap. It's everything.

[Kul Kushna]

I'm everything.

[King Green]

Just.

[Kul Kushna]

The way. I mean, it's just two words. I'm everything. And I talked about this with her on. 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 out outside opinions, trying to. To. To embrace who she is as an artist. Someone that raps, 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 blurt 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. It's 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 offbeat, 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. And just how succinct it is, the way that I described it to her as, I felt like it was like kind of 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 entendres 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 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 go with boom bap, I'm everything. As maybe my lyric of the year. Torre, what you got?

[Torre King]

Same as you. As far as the last one is just more direct. I mean, the first verse of Meet the Grams is just this direct pickaxe to the brain.

[King Green]

Dear Adonis, I'm sorry that that man is your father. Let me be honest. It takes a man to be a man. Your dad is not responsive. I look at him and wish your grandpa were the world.

[Torre King]

I'm sorry that that man is your 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 and wish your grandpa would have wore a condom. Now we're playing the dozens. I'm sorry, you got to grow up and stand 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 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 leg, son. That's not the first piece of advice I'm giving a kid. But as Drake's son, you do need that, because you need to learn to stand up 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 even know. None of us got through that without stopping and putting our face in our hands and going, what happened? Where are we? What's going on this Saturday Night in my life.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, I was, like, legitimately disturbed after that night for, like, the Family Matters video kind of disturbed me. 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, like, gimmick thing. But in the moment, I was like, oh, shit, that kind of sucks. And, like, then, oh, fuck, it's like Kendrick really, like, did he really beat Whitney? And you know what I mean? So it's 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. I was like. 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 once again, the way that he was able to just flip the. The mood, the. And the color of the battle, just, like, snap of the finger, like, okay, it got dark, but let's have fun again. And just the, the temperature switch of that was just so brilliantly strategic to highlight that. But, yeah, Torre, great, great pick. I think I, I My picks, I, I tried not to do ones from the battle, but obviously I think all the most memorable lines historically are going to be from the battle, so. Great pick. Green, what you got?

[King Green]

Yeah, I try to do three different picks to. The one was, like, Technician, one was content, and this one is delivery, and it's Dochi. Well, they all obviously have lyrical capabilities also, but Dochi on Tyler's verse, I think that's my favorite verse of the year.

[Kul Kushna]

Hell, yeah.

[King Green]

So I don't even want to say a line because the entire verse is amazing.

[Torre King]

All right.

[King Green]

What a swamp up in the room I need a cockpit I need some peter but it's because they want the crop scene I lay she's floating on this track I Where the swamp is flies bitch up in the room I need a cockpit right there. You got a entendre right there. I need some PETA for this. 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 finna air these DL out the closet I let it in, let it out I'm a buy but I need that now. If he Is gay, then I am gay and we are nouns. I was.

[James Francis]

It's well written.

[King Green]

What are we doing? This is like she's floating too. On this entire. Floating on a song called Balloon. And it says it was. That's my favorite doi verse outside of Spook Spooky coochie. And she's. She's probably one of the few female rappers Women rappers that when they talk about their. I'm all ears. I'm just like, this is. The bars are always fresh. When she talking about her. I'm like, this is.

[James Francis]

Was.

[King Green]

That was hard.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah.

[King Green]

She thinks outside the box. That's why she's as far as upcoming rapper. I even like the reference on I'm. I know it's supposed to be lines, but I said it's the whole verse. I even like the reference from she where she's calls back to the. Her Alligator Bites album on the. On the. On this verse where she's like, I'm out in New York, walk around bear toed. I don't need a passport. I'm a swamp. 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 baritone. And I'm being me. I'm gonna put my whole self out there. And I'm being me at all times. And she started off from the beginning to the end.

[James Francis]

And also the airing the DL guys out the closet being denial as a river from Alligator Bites.

[Kul Kushna]

Right, Right. Yeah. And you didn't even mention the most iconic line. Which. Okay, the. It's the queef line. Right. So which. Okay, it's just 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 because 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 leflore.

[King Green]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

Which is like a nod to his perf. Or is 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. DOI's got three nominations.

[King Green]

Spray your whole block.

[Kul Kushna]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry.

[James Francis]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

Playing off of. Yeah. Playing off the airing out, like, beautiful.

[King Green]

It's great. I consider that a bridge kinda. But yeah, it is probably like the second end part of the verse, when I think about it.

[Kul Kushna]

Is that the. Technically, the chorus, because she's. He'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?

[King Green]

It doesn't. It doesn't even matter. But the. But it's that it's just so iconic and catchy. Like that whole part.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. And then to see her performing at Flogna was another moment.

[King Green]

You saw her live too, in San Francisco, right? Was it?

[Kul Kushna]

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.

[King Green]

Did she do that or was that before she did.

[Kul Kushna]

So that came out, like, right before her performance. So she closed. Her encore was 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 was super fresh. I think it was her first performance of it. So. And that's just another. Since we're here, like, that's another part of. Not that many people got to go to see her tour because she was playing venue. 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 setup. 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, what was your. Is this gonna be your lyric of the year?

[James Francis]

Yeah, it was. I've been debating because I've been stuck between two GNX verses. So either, like, the last verse on TV off, because there's so many super bowl 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.

[King Green]

Father, I'm not perfect I got urges but I hold them down but your pride has to die okay. Father, show me how Tell me every deed that you've done and what you do it for I kept 100 institutions.

[James Francis]

Just the whole rewriting of Isaiah 14, the whole conversation With God on that song. And also it's the first time really on that album we saw Kendrick be introspective in a way. Like in a tangible way. That was about the beef. Because Wax Out Murals was still really for everyone else, like reincarnated. It was very much like, okay, where am I being hypocritical? Where do I actually stand in terms of my ethos? Because even Watch the Party Die was still. That was still for the culture. It wasn't really like, where do I stand?

[Kul Kushna]

Right. Yeah, I had moments like the chorus when he's talking to God, you can tell he's shown kind of those moments of introspection throughout the BV. I'm thinking of like that portion on 616 where he's talking to God again. But yeah, I think I agree. Where Reincarnated God reoccurring 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 Drake kind of 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 lived literally as past lives. And then using that to reflect on how do I use my 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 that is 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 Kendrick. I feel like he's battling with the imperfections and the errors that he's make, but at least he's trying. I think is kind of like the big point.

[James Francis]

That, yeah, it's the whole work in progress thing. And I feel like. I feel that difference is part of what lost Drake the battle. 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. But the thing I'VE always, well, we can have that conversation. Because I feel at some degree on gnx, he's also picked it back up again. But I also think reincarnated is 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 there's this side of me that wants to pick up the culture and that they're at odds at some level. And I think instead of Kendrick being like, oh, I'm a savior who's 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.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. Is that something green? I was going to ask you because I think this is something that maybe you, if I'm recalling this wrong, let me know. But like the, the, the superiority or like that, that holier than thou. You could have that perception about Kendrick specifically with this 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 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, it doesn't have to be either or. Right.

[Torre King]

Maybe, maybe I'm, maybe I'm too into the. Maybe I'm too Kendrick pilled. But 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 fakeness, anti blackness, anti African American ness. You know, a fake person is in our midst. We go let that slide. But also I want to go back to James said something effective. 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 won.

[James Francis]

Yeah, no, I don't mean that. I don't mean that you could have won.

[Torre King]

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 me 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 African American. Stop saying like, God damn like that. There's no way to win when 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 Nas. Those are two equally talented MCs. They were a totally different place in their lives at that moment of the battle. This is. This is, you know, varsity against the jv. So, like, it would be great to see, like, God forbid Wayne versus Kendrick were actually able to happen. Then you'd see two serious MCs going at each other. You know, really haven't seen that in a real way in a minute.

[Kul Kushna]

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.

[Torre King]

Why not?

[Kul Kushna]

Because I think, like, I. I think it pushes like.

[King Green]

I thought you were on my side, Cole.

[Kul Kushna]

I thought, well, I'm just, you know, I'm trying to be a good host here.

[King Green]

Y.

[Kul Kushna]

But, you know, like, you know, push ups showed some promise and it's like 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 his lack of strategy. And 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?

[King 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 shooters. Last week or the day before that song dropped. Now I'm like, oh, it's happening. And me and my friends, all my rapper friends were like, why ain't Kendrick and Drake ain't battle yet. This. For 10 years. For 10 years we're having this. This discussion. And then it finally happens. It's like Super Bowl. It's okay, but one. Push ups dropped. And we know Kendrick. We all feel like Kendrick's a better writer. Push ups, drops. We're kind of worried. We're like, is there an angle here? Like, what are you. What are you saying? Euphoria 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. This didn't kill Drake. Euphoria did not kill Drake. Family matters comes. I'm like, whoa, they might. There's a video. It's just such a spectacle. Like, they might. This might crumble. Like the house that hip hop built, which is Kendrick Lamar and what he represents, which. And I'm going to go into the whole reincarnated thing, too, Cole. But when he represents this, 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. 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.

[James Francis]

Yeah.

[King Green]

Has produced great music. So it's possible, however you've produced this music, you could have with the 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.

[Torre King]

Yeah. Well, yeah. Yes.

[Kul Kushna]

No, no.

[Torre King]

How can I be Kobe Bryant in one on one if I became a different human being?

[King Green]

No, Kobe Bryant. Listen to what I'm saying is that you have.

[Torre King]

You.

[King Green]

You're. We'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 behind. I don't know. But when it comes to Drake now. So we know that he has the ability to write a song. It's now, it's the perspective and the cultural cachet that's.

[Kul Kushna]

That was missing, which is, by the way, Kendrick's point. Right. So it's like it. The. His point played out within the scope of the battle. And that's where I'm saying like the long term of it. 1v1. One song versus one that's in a vacuum.

[King Green]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

Drake's right there.

[James Francis]

So. But do you know, I was thinking about the other day is that the whole angle of Push ups is about Kendrick's label split.

[King Green]

Yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

Now Push ups, when you scrutinize it, especially in retrospect, it fought 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 light hearted, but it didn't. The, the dirt of it didn't stick in the way, I think Drake thought.

[King Green]

Because of the context. As you receive more context as the battle goes, it changes. But when we're just talking about like one, two.

[James Francis]

Yeah, technical skill.

[King Green]

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 this duality of I'm a good kid in a mad city. To pimp a butterfly, we're. We're 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 art is. And he's just going to have that consistency. And reincarnated is. Is like to me the end of To Pimp a Butterfly. 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, fallen angel. We have this duality in all of us. So before you point a finger, you point a finger at me. There's three pointing back at you. That's what that reincarnated is saying in. In the simplest.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, that's I mean, that was one of the points I was going to bring up because one of the lines that I was going to 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. The scope of the song beyond Kendrick, beyond Drake, beyond black musician with an influence. It. Because the story of a fallen angel is a story of all people. Right. Especially from a biblical perspective of original sin and of us working through. So that was the beautiful part of Reincarnated that I think is actually kind of getting overlooked, is that it's a little heady, but it's just like, yeah, we are all reflections of each other. We're all on this extended kind of evolutional, 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's 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 Pac, but never says anything about Pac. It's like all these things, layers on layers on layers. And at the big. The biggest scale, when you zoom out the furthest, it's the story of humanity, which is wild.

[Torre King]

Yeah.

[King Green]

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 had. They have, like, a voice, this album. Have you guys figured out where it sets within his catalog, or are you guys still thinking.

[Torre King]

Hold on, before you answer that question, can I get Green to refine the question? Because you. You have shaped my thing on this by. And 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 concede it's not an album, it's a mixtape.

[Kul Kushna]

Well, I think that. Isn't that part of the question that we have about it at this moment? Right?

[James Francis]

Yeah, I think that's what you're too much up in the Air at the moment. Because, yeah, I even. Because my. My. My thesis statement for my review was like, this mixtape is weird but excellent. Which I got a lot of flack of people being like, oh, this is a mixtape. 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, exactly. It's like, you just don't understand how mixtapes work. It's like, you know, Alligator Bites, it's a mixtape, right? It got nominated for a Grammy for an album, so. But yeah, I'm finding it so difficult to place it because it's also. It's also non conceptual. Like, as in, it is conceptual, but it's non conceptual in the way that Kendrick usually frames his albums. So I've found it so difficult because it's still beautifully sequenced. I would argue it's one of Kendrick's best sequenced albums. Dnx.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay.

[James Francis]

But it's still the least conceptual.

[King Green]

Better than anything else, though, to you.

[James Francis]

I think this is 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. There's nothing that feels out of place. There's five songs that are the west coast sound. There's seven songs that are more of, like, Surfaces 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 crunch cereal with water instead of. Have you ever. Like, conceptually and time wise, it's. I think it succeeds more on its merit than Mr. Morale did. And even for Kendrick, I mean, the.

[Torre King]

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 an album. Right? Like, the contextuality is what makes the difference meaningful. And the lack of that. That element that James is talking about, 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 12 bank, I go back to thriller versus off the wall. Thriller is a collection. It's a greatest hits collection. There's not a meaningful thread that pulls it together off the Wall as an album because it is sonically 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 song, than a great collection where the songs don't have any relationship to each other.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah, that's kind of where I am with it, too. I would say, generally speaking, it's hard 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 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. 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 our 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. What this project is and where I place it. But I would say, personally, if I'm talking about just like my. Like, my favorite or my most enjoyed the, like, 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.

[James Francis]

With a Kendrick album, yeah.

[Kul Kushna]

Because usually if I'm putting on a Kendrick album, I'm listening from start to finish, and I am not skipping songs for me. And that's why I respect Kendrick so much, is because he creates albums like that. So with that said, it's it. I don't put it above any of his past work, Good Kid Butterfly, Damn Morale all or 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 is kind of studying him as an academic. I guess so. But it's a great album. I love playing it in my car. I would say that it's. That some of the songs are just, like, so fun, and it's really. It is fun. It is nice to have a Kendrick. It's not a. I wouldn't say it's a fun album, but it's nice to have an album that I can skip around. I can 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 gonna actually sit this. This cat these categories 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. Your favorite song of 2024. And if you want to do best song, favorite song, I don't really care. Just whatever you want there and then your favorite album of 2024. So Torre, you want to start with your favorite song and then favorite album.

[Torre King]

Wait, I had best song, and I'm. Now you're saying when you said favorite, now that's a little bit different.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay, best song. It's fine.

[Torre King]

Well, I mean, you know, best song. I mean, I returned to. I return to Meet 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. We don't. This. This is for special as I cannot listen to meet the grams 99% of the time, but every once in a while it's like, oh, my God. That was a. That is a special achievement. And hate, right? And. And. And even just yesterday green, we had a great conversation on rap latte because there was 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. Some special props to people who can really, really hate on, like, a high level, like, that is an extraordinary thing. If you want favorite. Oh, my God. You know, Glorilla, 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 beat. And I would be all into it, right tgif. You know what else she had? What was the joy she had with. With Meg and Cardi? That shit was hot. She had like four fire joints this year that just Blew me away it's 7pm Friday. It's 95 degrees.

[King Green]

I ain't got no n and no ain't got me let's go. I'm about to show my ass.

[Torre King]

So, I mean, just glow had an incredible year. Even though, as we've been talking about, Kendrick had maybe may one one of the very best years in hip hop history. And God forbid he releases an actual album between December 12th and 15th. Forget about it.

[Kul Kushna]

All right. What about you, Green?

[King Green]

Favorite song. So I'm going with what they talking about? They talking about nothing. What they talking about? They talking about none. Huh? They talking about none. Hey, that's my. Hey, that's. Hey, hey, hey, hey with all that fake hey, hey, hey, hey Ain't the one to play with, yo. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. That's my. That's. That probably is triple platinum in my house. My girl matters at me because I just be singing that for no reason. That is my hands down favorite song of the year. And. And surprise. Chuck E. Cheese, he's like, facetime my ops. I'm 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 isn't talked 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 the triple time. It's melody driven. He's creating hooks that are memes. He understands the Internet. Never on the Internet, it. But is using meme tactics for all of these. What they talking about? They talking about, man. What they talk is that even on the beat, like, where we at? It's the most beautiful 2024 chorus ever. And we're going to yell it in these stadiums. When he's playing with sza, it's. I can't. I just can't deal with how good he is at rapping at right now in 2024. And the things that we take for granted, like his ability to change tone, voice. Just Meme records that. That have substance behind them. 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. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. That's my peekaboo.

[Torre King]

Peekaboo.

[King Green]

80 pointers. Like a Kobe game. Peekaboo. Like, I don't know. I'm just popping my collar all day to that song and I can't you.

[James Francis]

Know, the funniest thing about is it's the last. It's the last one where he's doing the back and forth, and I'm just like. You're trying to make me believe that this isn't a meme chorus. Yeah, they're just like, this is so. This song's hilarious.

[King Green]

It's a. It's amazing.

[Kul Kushna]

All right, James, what's your favorite song of the year?

[James Francis]

Favorite song? If we're talking best song, it's not like us. Yeah, Favorite for me is take your mask off on Kremucopia.

[Kul Kushna]

Okay, great.

[King Green]

You ain't gotta hide from the truth Tell your family why you such a recluse Tell your spirit why you feeling It's a rap in the booth, dog. How dare you try to ruin her marriage Claim you never wore a mask.

[James Francis]

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 emblematic 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 last verse 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.

[Kul Kushna]

Yeah. I think that might be my favorite song off of that album that I'm going to talk a lot about Chroma Copia in my next episode, so I'm going to save my thoughts for that, but Beautiful pick. You guys want to share your favorite album of the year?

[King Green]

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 Kaz. Album Thief next to Jesus. Can't afford to have one way to fall through because if one make it, we all do can't afford to have one waste of four. It is the most beautifully, like, I just feel beautifully soulful album that I've heard in a long time. And coming from this neo boom bap sound that has resurged within, like, the 2000s. This is a great culmination 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, black 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 the most 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 Chromocopia, and there's so many great albums this year. It's actually stupid.

[Kul Kushna]

It's crazy. It's actually crazy. Tori, what was your album of the year?

[Torre King]

So again, I gotta 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 look at it like that. GNX is not an album. Chromacopia 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 is that going to look like? What is my life at this point?

[King Green]

Chroma copia.

[Torre King]

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 wanted 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 that's a really deep moment. And the way it's rolled out and presented is a really deep moment. And there's so much on this that's ear candy with killed you and sticky and thought I was dead. But there's so much here that's beautiful. On rap latte. Last week, we 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. Was that the whole list? Greed, just. There's more than that than that, right?

[King Green]

Yeah, there's more than that. If you. If you want to include Pharrell in there, for sure.

[Torre King]

Pharrell. But Pharrell is a producer, not really a writer, not really rapper. But, like, there's these people that we're 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 that other genres do more often. As opposed to hip hop, like I said, which is quite often, you get a beat and you rap 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 Copia is an extraordinary moment for Tyler and for hip hop.

[Kul Kushna]

Beautiful. I will be sharing my thoughts, which are very similar to you next episode. But, James, you want to end this category with your favorite album of the year?

[James Francis]

Yeah, I. This. I mean, I said this before, but I struggled with this album pick because too many great albums this year, but I landed on Chromacopia as well.

[King Green]

Popping that shit get you here quick fast niggas popping off and n stepping on the gas.

[James Francis]

Yeah, I think it's just. Yeah, it was just such a moment where I was like, the rollout was perfect. It was so well thought out. And then, yeah, just seeing Tyler invest in every song. The sequencing was beautiful. The only other album that I almost picked in front of this was Blue Lips because, yeah, just. Just a great hip hop album. There's. There's been other great hip hop albums, but, yeah, it's Karma Copia for me.

[Kul Kushna]

Beautiful. Okay, great picks all around. I think that's going to wrap today's episode. Thanks all three of you guys for joining. That was really fun. I'm going to be joining the Rap Latte podcast after this, so if you want to hear that episode, I'm sure it'll 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 going to have all your guys links to social media in the episode description, so make sure you follow all three of these guys. They're doing great work. And if you like Dissect's content, you'll 100% like their content as well. But thanks, guys. This is just really great. I'm gonna have to have you guys on maybe next year do the same thing.

[Torre King]

Thanks, man. It was fun.

[James Francis]

Thanks for having us.