Kendrick M.A.A.dness: The Play-In Games
Welcome back, fanboys and fangirls. Thanks for being interested enough to start going through this with us.
Micah: ALL HAIL THE KING. Kendrick is the greatest of our generation. Flat out. The end. Full stop. While not as versatile as other giants in the industry (Kanye, Drake, etc.), Kung Fu Kenny’s perfected his craft to the point where everything he puts out is gold (platinum, actually). That makes this tournament a whole lot harder than the aforementioned Kanye Madness bracket. Every song is similar (at least in composition and quality, if not content) enough that they will lead to a lot more tough decisions. Thinner hairs to split.
Daniel: If it wasn’t already well-documented here, it’s long been known by anyone who knows me, has spoken to me, or, really, lives within 1000 miles of me, that K-Dot is my favorite rapper of all time. This bracket is going to, I think, be a fun testament to the insane amount of quality that the Pulitzer Prize winner has in his still-young discography, and it is also going to contain some of the most agonizing life decisions I’ve ever had to make.
Tonight we take it relatively easy on ourselves, and just pick the first four matchups of the bracket: the 8 songs competing for 4 spots in the field of 32. Here were our selections:
MICAH
(6) ‘untitled 02’ over (6) ‘PRIDE.’
I’m gonna be honest, ‘PRIDE.’ is one of my least-favorite songs on DAMN. (though every song on DAMN. is great). I just never get fully pulled into the song past Anna Wise’s anguished chorus. To be fair, it’s less the fault of ‘PRIDE.’, and more that I had forgotten how dope untitled unmastered was until I re-listened through Kendrick’s discography again. ‘untitled 02’ is a standout. When he yells “Get God on the phone!” and the bassline stretches out a step, I get goosebumps. Every time. And just when you start to zone out again, he drops 45 bars to close out the song.
(7) ‘Cartoons & Cereal’ over (7) ‘These Walls’
Kendrick calls ‘These Walls’ one of his favorite tracks. I can see what he’s saying. It’s a lyrically jaw-dropping product that cleverly gathers different topics under one umbrella. However, I’m going to disagree with Mr. Lamar and go with ‘Cartoons’. I love it because it’s the lost gem of Kendrick Lamar (I, too, forgot about it before discovering it again writing this). For some reason, this single isn’t on Spotify (the only song from this tournament unable to be compiled into the Kendrick Madness playlist). The continual references to cartoons and cereals in his verses is a testament to Kendrick’s genius in wordplay, while Gunplay’s feature is a beautiful addition. Also, the initial “I run it!” hook is one of the more jarring in recent memory.
DANIEL
(8) ‘Good Kid’ over (8) ‘The Art Of Peer Pressure’
It’s an all-GKMC matchup for the final 8-seed, and it’s two hidden gems among that album’s absurdly loaded tracklist. I thought long and hard about picking ‘Peer Pressure’; for starters, it has my favorite song opener ever, probably: “everybodysityourbitchassdownandlistentothistruemotherf***instorytoldbyKendrickLamarRosecraaaaaanzyabitch” has become an everyday recitation for me. It also, though, marks the tonal shift in the concept album, where young K-dot progresses from wild kid up to no good to becoming more aware of the consequences of his actions and the fright of being who he is, where he is. All that being said, I think ‘Good Kid’ is one of Lamar’s most criminally underrated tracks. Produced and vocally-assisted by the great Pharrell, a furious Kendrick spits about the aftermath of getting persecuted by gang members for being gang-free, only to get harassed by police who leapt to assuming he was a gang member. It’s an emotional ride, and I’ve found it’s one of a few songs that leap into my brain any time I hear yet another awful, tragic story of racial profiling.
(4) ‘XXX.’ over (4) ‘King’s Dead’
Two ‘New Kendrick’ songs come head-to-head here, one a stadium-ready gut-punch with an assist from the World’s biggest band, and another a guest feature-fueled joy ride. ‘King’s Dead’ was one of the 3 released singles from Black Panther: The Album and it’s a great cinema song, no doubt. Jay Rock’s verse is hot, Future’s invitation to 'slob on me knob' is, er, entertaining, and Kendrick’s conclusion is frenetic and impactful. But for me, ‘XXX.’ is the easy winner. For one, I’m a massive U2 fan, so that hooked me in right from the start. But more importantly, it’s a song about moral ambiguity, about social fury, and about the jarring realization of American hypocrisy. That’s the language I speak.