Saturday, August 20, 2011

"The Best the West Has Ever Seen, No Disrespect to Calvin"

Ever since I first got wind of this new up and coming rapper outta Compton named @kendrick_lamar, I've been patiently waiting for his raw talent to shine through. Just like anything with the mythical D word attached to it, the Look Out For Detox freestyle got everyone's attention, but I wasn't sold yet. Fast forward to his first album, Section 80, which was an indication of great things to come with Hi Power being the clear stand out track and highlight of the album. Still, it was like seeing a seismograph rapidly jump up and down before the earthquake, but when was the ground finally going to open up?

Well, it finally happened when he got together with fellow Compton rapper @thegame on This City, which will appear on Game's upcoming R.E.D. Album. The whole track is just awesome, starting with the hymn laden, angelic beat by @COOLANDDRE that lays the groundwork for Game to stake claim as one of the top 5 rappers of all time ("Game, Biggie, Hov, prolly Pac, Nas, No particular order"). Debatable lyrical hubris aside, the hook is interesting in that it's damn near a whole verse and the only reason you can tell it isn't a verse is because it's repeated word for word more than once. Keeping it 100, the whole track is just one big intro leading up to Kendrick's acapella take off at the 4:27 mark. Ferocious, tenacious, raw, vicious...all applicable adjectives for the fury unleashed by Compton's prince. Press play and follow along kids...
"And I wear pendant on my shoulder
Soldier, like a lieutenant, and the coupe tinted
Got pulled over, Johnny always lock a ni**a down
Knowing damn well we don't wanna see the box like Manny Pacquiao
Little ni**a Mayweather size, ride like Pac
In his prime, thug life is now on radar
Til the federal come through and raid ours
Reminiscing when the LA Raiders
Was in my home, snapback fitted on my uncle's dome
And I don't condone d*ckriding, I'm addicted to
Westsiding, living in a city where the skinny ni**as die
And the semi bullets fly, but it turn me to a lion
Trying, and I mean that sh*t
Game came through, put the city on his back
I was in the city with a nigga, had seen that sh*t
"Compton!", a ni**a gotta scream that shit
Never went commercial, Never T.V. screened that sh*t
Can't block or screen that sh*t, now everybody sing that sh*t"
- Kendrick Lamar
Add this one to the growing list of collabs from the consistently dynamic duos of The Game + Cool & Dre. Oh and if you don't have enough incentive to go out and cop The R.E.D. Album, you're haven't been listening. I'm sticking to my album of the year prediction until something better comes out...#TakeItToTheBank

The Game feat Kendrick Lamar - This City (prod by Cool & Dre)
|iTunes

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