Thoughts on the Drake/Kendrick Lamar Beef

I think we all know who the real winner is in this whole Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef. It has to be, unequivocally, Kendrick. Let’s discuss

I have only listened to Kendrick's three songs. I only want to listen to Kendrick's songs. I am a big fan of his work, so when he puts new music out there, I'll be very quick to listen to it. On the other hand, I have always been a Drake hater. I don't like his music at all. I think he is a phony. I think he is a try hard. I think he thinks he is way cooler than he actually is. And as a rapper, he is subpar at the very best. I know he has a ton of fans, but so does the band Nickelback, and they are pretty tough to listen to sing a single note. I was speaking with my father earlier today and I told him that Drake, to me, is similar to Bruno Mars. He said that is giving Drake too much respect. So, even my father, who is not a hip hop person, has listened to the songs enough to know that Drake is nowhere near Kendrick's level.

The reason I compare Drake to Bruno Mars you ask? They are both phonies. They are taking on personas that don't fit their real life. By all accounts, Drake grew up wealthy. He was a child actor. He had everything given to him. He had to work for nothing. He is, for all intents and purposes, a silver spoon kid and grown up. He raps about what he has read and seen on tv. He never had to live through some of the stuff that real rappers, like Kendrick Lamar, have rapped about before. Kendrick Lamar has seen some things. He has been through some stuff. His wasn't the easiest life to live growing up. He wasn't on television. He didn't have things handed to him. He had to go out and earn a record deal. He had to freestyle rap. He had to prove himself. And he is standing here today as one of the best to ever do it.

It isn't just me saying this as a fan. You go and look at the discourse, what others are saying, the clear and away winner of this whole ordeal is Kendrick. Almost everyone agrees to this. Fans and non fans. Supporters of music and people just here to listen to what each of them have to say. Kids and grown ups alike. We all agree that Kendrick Lamar is the winner.

I went back this morning and listened to his three tracks this morning, just to refresh my memory. If you want me to rank the three songs, "Euphoria" is the clear number 1, then "Not Like Us" is 2 and "Meet the Grahams" is third, for me. But all three of the songs are biting. They cut and they cut deep. Kendrick tells a story and he is going hard after Drake. There was a moment when I was listening to "Euphoria" and Kendrick was going in hard, I actually felt bad for Drake for a second. Kendrick Lamar is so good at saying all the right things in a rap battle, and he lays it all on the line. He is burning every bridge. He doesn't seem to care what Drake's fans think of him. Kendrick has clearly decided to go scorched Earth, and I'm here for it all. I want more of this. I love it that a true rap icon is going after this punkass wannabe. I want him to hit even harder. I want Kendrick to expose everything. Kendrick doesn't need ghostwriters or yes people around him telling him how great he is all the time, and that is why he is winning this going away.

I'm excited to hear what he has to say next, if he decides to say more. Get him, Kendrick. I'm on your side all the way. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Worst Things of 2018

Next week I will spend the 5 days of the week doing my best of 2018 in movies, music, tv, podcasts and sports. I will do a top 5 of each category. Today though I want to do a similar list, but I want to do the one thing I consider the worst of 2018. I'll pick the worst tv show, movie, album/musician, podcast moment and sports moment. Before I get into it, I do have to say that this is just my opinion. I know that I will have a few things on here that will be odd and make people mad, but that is what year end lists are for, are they not? This will also be much quicker since I am just picking one thing from each category. My best of lists next week will be a bit longer. Okay enough preamble, lets get to it.

I'm going to start with sports because this was quite possibly the worst thing for me, as a sports fan, that has not only happened this year, but has happened in a long time. I am of course talking about Michigan getting absolutely crushed by the University of Ohio State in football. I have written about this game already, so I won't go as deep into detail as I did the Monday after the game. But this was awful. Michigan's vaunted defense got torched and refused to adjust all game long. This was their best chance in a long time, they were the better team on paper, and they laid a total egg. I mean, their offense scored 39 points, but it was all garbage time, and it was all for naught. They gave up 62 points, over 500 yards of offense, and it could have been much, much worse. Michigan blew it on the biggest stage for them in quite some time, and it was painful to watch. They had their best chance to beat their hated rival for the first time in 7 years, and a possible playoff berth at stake if they won the Big Ten title. They got none of that. They choked. They got crushed and it was, by far, my worst sports moment of 2018. Nothing else was even close.

When it comes to podcast/podcast moments, I have to go with "Comedy Bang! Bang!" not doing their usual Halloween episode. I look forward to this every year, and Halloween came and went with no visit to Boogie Woogie Avenue. I didn't get to hear Bret Gelman and Jon Daly do their thing. There was no Comedy Fang Fang this year. No weirdo ghosts for me to cackle with laughter at. It was a real bummer. The biggest disappointment with no "CBB" Halloween episode was the absence of Leo Carpatzi and his daughter Scaroline to sing their version of "The Monster Mash", which is always my favorite part. Although, as you will see next week, they do make up for it a bit in their Christmas episode. But, no 1122 Boogie Woogie Avenue, no Scaroline, no Mesmor, it all bummed me out. This episode is one of the few things I look forward to for a "holiday" that I am not the biggest fan of. Hopefully they remedy this next year because their Halloween episodes are some of their best.

My worst music of 2018 is kind of weird, but it struck me as odd, and kind of stupid to be completely honest. So, you all know how I feel about Drake. He is a wannabe, a front runner, a HORRIBLE rapper, he is just trash all around. So, for him to think he could even touch Pusha T was a joke and made that my most disliked music moment of the year. There is no beef, Pusha T is a far superior rapper, and always will be, when compared to Drake. He has lived that life. He has earned and grinded hard for everything he has accomplished. He isn't a fake, a phony or a frontrunner. Pusha goes about his business and makes incredible rap music. He literally started from the bottom. Drake was on a teenage high school drama in Canada when he was a kid. He is from the suburbs. He's never had a hard day in his life. He is a fake, a phony and a wannabe like I said before. He's a poseur. Pusha T will always, always be a much, much better rapper. So will thousands upon thousands of other rappers that a lot of people may not know about just yet. Drake is a rapper for white tweens. Pusha T is for a true hip hop fan. This whole beef was pointless and dull. Find something better to do with your time Drake because you are not even a top 500 rapper of all time. You are trash.

With TV I was very conflicted because the 2 shows that I think are the worst were 2 I LOVED last year. With that being said, what in the hell happened to "Westworld" and "Legion"? Am I not smart enough? Do I not get it? Am I not hip enough anymore? I don't know, and that was my biggest problem with both these shows. I feel like they decided to really just make some weird stuff and see if major critics would bite, and boy did they ever. I have read a lot of best of lists, and most have both shows on their lists. I totally disagree. Now, it needs to be said that I didn't finish either season. But I didn't finish because I was too tired of sitting there in utter confusion for hours after watching an episode. I made it through 3 of "Legion" and 2 of "Westworld" and just gave up. These shows are already confusing enough, but like I said, I felt like the writers were just messing with me now. They were intentionally trying to confuse me. I like my intelligence to be tested time to time when watching a show, but in watch these 2 shows this year, I felt like I was being made to look like a fool. Like I was stupid because I didn't get it. That is not how I should feel when watching a show. TV shows and movies should let you escape and have fun. I got none of that from "Westworld" or "Legion" this year. That was a bummer for me.

Finally, my worst movie of 2018. I have to admit that I don't get to the movies as much as I would like, but I still watch a fair amount On Demand and on streaming services. With all that being said, the worst movie I saw in 2018 has to be "Avengers: Infinity War". Now, I kind of liked the movie, but compared to everything else, it just doesn't stand up. I found parts of it dull and dragging. I don't like that Thanos wipes out half the population, but we just have to accept that most of those people are still alive because it's a "comic book movie". It would have been so much cooler if they really did kill off all the characters that Thanos killed. I found Thanos kind of dull and, while an okay bad guy, he was no Heath Ledger Joker or Tom Hardy Bane or Alfred Molina's Dr. Octopus or Ultron or even a marginal bad guy like The Mandarin. I think my biggest problem lied within my expectations for the movie. They were through the roof, and that is unfair. But still, my wife and I saw this movie on opening weekend, with a packed theater that had a 10 month old there, and we both left kind of shrugging our shoulders. It wasn't like when we saw "Black Panther" or the first "Ironman" or the "X-Men" movies. We left those exhilarated. With "Infinity War". we left unfulfilled. That is why I have it as my worst movie of the year.

Okay, I got the bad stuff out of the way. Come back next week where I will dedicate one day with a top 5 of 2018 for each category. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ty is lucky to have survived the Thanos snap so he can dump on the movie. Others in the SeedSing virtual cube farm were not so lucky. We forward to seeing Tina S when the next movie “fixes” all the important deaths.

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Ty Listens to Kendrick Lamar's "Damn"

What should be to no one's surprise, Kendrick Lamar has done it yet again.

I heard rumblings about a week or so ago that he was putting out another new record so shortly after "To Pimp A Butterfly" and "Untitled, Unmastered". It was proven to be true when his new record, "Damn" was officially released today. I bought it as soon as I woke up, as I have done with all of his records, and I have already listened to it all the way through twice.

I have to say, I really enjoy this album. This is the first album that feels like you can just sit and vibe out to. All his other records are tremendous and wonderful and very, very insightful. Lamar has proven himself the best writer in hip hop since Jay Z, and now, I think he has surpassed him.

After I bought "Damn" this morning, I found an hour to myself, my wife is off work for the day, to listen to it from start to finish while doing some chores here and there, so the kids didn't have to hear it. They cannot listen to this record, just like every other Kendrick Lamar album. Then, when my kids retired to their room for naps, I went to work out, and that was when I really dug into the record. It was just me, my headphones, the pavement and Kendrick Lamar. I got to really focus.

What I really enjoy about "Damn" though, while it is still incredibly introspective, it is easily his most "fun" record. Now, it is not fun in the way that Puff Daddy or any other "party" rappers from the early to mid nineties. It is fun more so in the way that Jay Z was having fun on "The Black Album", or how Run the Jewels have fun on all three of their records.

This record has it all. Like I said, it is deep. The intro is sad and terrifying. Then, the album slips into an almost R&B/funk type record with Kendrick rapping over the beats. It was so different from what I have come to expect from him, but I found myself really enjoying it. I like when artists take a shot at something different, and when they hit, it is even better. Then, the record reverts into a straight up rap record with some big time bass thumping beats. These songs were perfect running songs. Being able to pound the pavement to every bass beat is exactly what I look for when listening to an album that I use for working out. The song "Loyalty" is so prefect for that. "Humble" is another track that made me feel like I could an extra mile or two. "XXX" is kind of a blend of bass and R&B, and it is tremendous.

Look, what it comes down to for me, I am a fan of Kendrick Lamar's just like I'm a fan of Run the Jewels. He would have to do something truly awful, Macklemore awful, for me to not like whatever it was/is. "Damn" just proves tenfold that Lamar is so gifted as a rapper and a writer. The fact that he can put out 3 records in less than 2 years is incredibly impressive. The fact that all 3 records are totally different from each other and successful proves that he may be the best solo rapper in the game right now. Scratch that, he is the best solo rapper right now. He has taken over that throne from Jay Z.

Looking at just the current hip[ hop scene, Kendrick Lamar is so much better than anyone right now, especially Drake. The fact that each of them have a newer record out now, and that Lamar's is so much better is proof enough. Add on "To Pimp A Butterfly" and "Untitled, Unmastered", and he is so much further ahead and so much more prolific than Drake could ever imagine being. While Drake is out there being a front runner for whoever is the best team in college football, basketball and the NBA at the current moment, Kendrick Lamar just keeps getting better and better at rapping and writing. Kendrick Lamar cares more about his craft than most musicians in any genre of music, and "Damn" further hammers home this point. If you ask me, there is no debate about who is a better emcee. It is Kendrick Lamar by a million miles. Lamar is so god damn good and can do any style of rap better than anyone.

I will be listening to "Damn" for a long time now. It will be spliced between listens of "RTJ 3" and "Awaken! My Love" for the next couple of months. There is another rumor floating now that he may release even more music on Sunday, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate Easter, which is a hilarious farcical holiday anyway, than more Kendrick Lamar. Until then, I will be listening to "Damn" over and over again, and you should too. This record is phenomenal.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ha has yet to pick up the new Drake record. Ty is just not in the mood to hear sub-par rymes where Drake bashes the mentally ill.

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Relive, and Debate, Great Music with "The Rap Yearbook"

Time to download the book about all of our favorite downloaded songs

I just finished another book by another former Grantland writer, and, once again, I really enjoyed it. I just recently finished and reviewed the very excellent "Boys Among Men: The Preps to Pro Generation that Changed the NBA" by Jonathan Abrams. So, naturally I figured another Grantland writer would have an equally as good book. The book I chose was "The Rap Yearbook" by Shea Serrano.

"The Rap Yearbook" was given to me as a gift, and I was putting off reading it until I caught up on some other reading, but boy am I glad that I read this book. It is widely known that I'm a big hip hop fan. I've written about a lot of hip hop groups and have been listening to hip hop for many, many years. This book is a great read about the most important, not best, rap songs from the years 1979 to 2014. It was absolutely fascinating. Serrano is just around my age, so we have very similar taste in older hip hop, but very different taste in more recent hip hop.

Serrano picked the most important song for each year, so it wasn't necessarily the best. It was the most important/influential song during it's particular year. The early years are easy to agree with. In 1979 he has Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". Obvious choice. Some other obvious choices that are very hard to disagree with, 1980 Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks", 1982 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message", 1987 Eric B and Rakim's "Paid in Full", 1988 N.W.A's "Straight Outta Compton", basically all the late 80's, early 90's stuff is easily and correctly chosen. He also writes a few paragraphs as to why the song is the most important. He points out what the song is about, why it's important, the influence it had, the message it sends, Serrano pretty much breaks down every legit reason why the particular song is the song of the year.

The author and I definitely differ when it comes to 21st century hip hop, and that makes this book great. Serrano seems to think that more popular artist put out more significant songs. I understand why he thinks this. The more popular the artist, the more people it reaches, thus making it more important. I just prefer more underground, lesser known hip hop artists. That's my particular taste. I'd rather listen to Murs or Mr. Lif or Dilated Peoples than Kanye or Drake or, god help me, Macklemore. But, as I said above, I totally understand why he picks those people. Serrano may like more lesser known artists too, but that would not make for a good book for more than half the hip hop listening community. So, in the 21st century, he picks some songs that I disagree with. In 2005, he picks Kanye West's "Gold digger". Yeah, it's a popular song, with a very good beat, but I don't think any song featuring an actor, Jamie Foxx, should be considered. Also, the song is very misogynistic. But, I don't know what I would put in it's place. That's where Serrano has me beat. Serrano also picks other stuff I don't agree with in the 2000's. Stuff like 2008 Lil Wayne's "A Milli". It's a fine song, but Lil Wayne had peaked already by that time and he was definitely on a down swing. It felt more like a lifetime achievement to put him in this book. For 2009 he picked Drake's "Best I Ever Had". Drake is a terrible rapper and an even worse bandwagon sports fan. Drake stinks, his music stinks and he will be irrelevant in about 5 years. Drake does not belong in this book. For 2012, he picks Macklemore's "Same Love". Sure, the song has a very good message, but it is not a good rap song. Macklemore is the biggest poser in the history of music. He is worse than Elvis. He calls himself independent, but he does nation wide commercials and carries himself like a jackass. "Same Love" is important, but not because of Macklemore and I'm sure there is much better, much more important songs from 2012. Macklemore, in my opinion, is as bad as Drake. They are corporate rappers that make corporate, shitty rap music. For 2013 and 2014 Serrano picked two songs I didn't recognize. For 2013 he picked Big Sean's "Control" and it wasn't until I read why he picked it that it was the coming out party for Kendrick Lamar. Personally, he could've picked any song from Lamar's debut album, "good kid, m.A.A.d city" as the most important song of 2013 and it would have been a better choice. In 2014 he picked a song I never heard of by Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug called "Lifestyle". His reasoning was more about the emergence and weirdness of Young Thug than the music. Ok by me.

Another thing that makes "The Rap Yearbook" a great book is the collaborations. In each chapter, Serrano brings a fellow writer or friend in and they give their rebuttal to what should be the song of the year. So, we get at least two different perspectives in each chapter. Serrano isn't married to his choice and that makes him a wonderfully gifted writer. He wants outsiders points of view and ideas. He's open to hearing why he is wrong and why someone else is right. I love that.

"The Rap Yearbook" is a must read for all fans of rap music and music in general. It's fascinating and it brings you back to that time in your life. I knew exactly where I was when I first heard his 1999 choice, Eminem's "My Name Is". I can picture 16 year old me bobbing my head to his 1998 pick, DMX's "Ruff Ryder's Anthem". I vividly remember arguing with friends and family that Jay Z was the clear winner in his beef with Nas, and Serrano picked "Takeover" vs. "Ether" for his 2001 songs. This book is wonderful. Go out, buy it and read it. You won't be disappointed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sorry to tell the head editor that 3rd Bass did not make the book. The head editor gave Ty the gas face. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.