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K-Dot’s Kingdom: The “Control” from Compton to NYC
Article By: Francesco Torricelli
In August of 2013, Hip Hop and the
Rap world were turned upside down by the heated lyrics of TDE rapper, Kendrick
Lamar, in Big Sean's "Control" track. Kendrick took the feature as an opportunity to express his opinions on the genre and
lifestyles of his peers while simultaneously calling them out to do better. These lyrics solidified his title as the "King of Hip Hop".
Now, Kendrick's movement didn't start with the whole uprising of the "Control Controversy" so to speak. In 2013, K-Dot solidified himself as a solo artist with the release of the his album, "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City". The album, getting the validation it deserved, was named the Best Rap album of 2013 at the BET awards. According to aceshowbiz.com, Kendrick also won:
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- Lyricist of the Year
- Best New Artist
- Best Male Artist
- Best Collaboration: "F---in Problems"
This resume of awards and heightened publicity put Kendrick at the top. The very top. He was now the true King of Hip Hip, not just the West Coast but all over the U.S. Later on in the year Kendrick put out his royal decree and boy, did we listen.
Kendrick is the "Top Dawg" in TDE as well as Hip Hop and with his title and lyrics in "Control," it doesn't matter if you call out friends and rappers like: Jermaine Cole, Wale, Pusha T, Meek
Mill, ASAP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electron, Tyler the Creator, etc to do better in their lifestyles, music. You will get a response.
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The Big NYC MC's like Jay-Z and Diddy took special offense to Kendrick giving himself the title of "King of New York". But they too fell into the King's trap of giving him what he wanted, a response. Diddy responded with this:
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According to pastemagazine.com,
Kendrick responded to the “King of New York” title on Los
Angeles ’ Power 106 and New
York ’s Hot 97 radio stations. He said, “The people that actually understood it and got it was the
actual kings of New York Pac ” (para. 3). The intent
behind the title was to challenge current rappers of both the East and West
coast to be the best in the game.
The "Control Controversy", the New King of Hip Hop, the message he wanted to get across: they are all exciting for the game. King Kendrick has "Control" of the right now. He is the biggest, newest, and most exciting thing in the game right now and no Kingdom should be ruled by someone boring and not afraid to be unique and push the boundaries of what is accepted. A King needs to put something out to the public and get a response and that's what Kendrick does plain and simple.
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Works Cited:
Gosset, Eric. “Kendrick Lamar
Speaks Out On Controversial “Control” Verse. PasteMagazine.
August
29, 2013. Web. April 16, 2014.
"Kendrick Lamar Awards" aceshowbiz.com. n.d. Web. April 18, 2014.
I really like what the author did with this piece. This is something he clearly knows a lot about which he establishes in his opening. The background information establishes his credibility as an author. Also his use of nicknames such as K-Dot, further establishes credibility as somebody like me had no idea that Kendrick had such a nickname. Overall, I just found this piece to be extremely interesting as I do not keep up with things like this going on in the music industry as much as I would like to. The writing was effectively broken up into shorter paragraphs that kept me as a reader engaged from beginning to end, and the use of images was very effective. I am not really sure if I even have any suggestions for improving this piece, I think it is well constructed and executed from top to bottom.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this piece. The way he brought me, as the reader, into the writing with a deep background of Kendrick is what really drew me into this piece. With how detailed the background information is that makes me feel that he knows what he is talking about and has a very good understanding of his topic. The use of nicknames that are not widely known to many, at least not to my knowledge, really solidifies the writers credibility because that shows the reader knows more personally of the topic than the wide spectrum of people. The pictures are very well laid out and give the text a broken up, easier to read flow that works well with the piece and keeps the readers attention. This piece was very interesting and made me have more respect than what I already had for Kendrick. I did not know that Kendrick had won so many awards and was getting the amount of recognition that he has been getting. This piece flows very well and keeps my attention throughout the entire thing and it was very enjoyable to read. I agree with Christopher with saying I do not have any suggestions, very well written piece.
ReplyDeleteI think the author is very successful in arguing that Kendrick Lamar is the king of hip-hop. Something that stood out to me was the author’s use of ethos. There are plenty of quotes and hyperlinks that show that the author is knowledgeable about the topic. As a result, I feel more persuaded to trust his argument. The author also establishes logos by providing a background of who Kendrick is and awards he has won. This is effective, as whilst the title captured my attention as someone familiar with the song "Control", the article also provides background to those outside of the hip-hop industry.
ReplyDeleteSomething else that helps the author accomplish his persuasive purpose is the use of images. Not only does the placement of images help the article flow appear aesthetically pleasing, but also the images complement the text nicely.
Overall, I think the article is very compelling and effective. As a suggestion for further improvement, I think that a discussion question at the end could be useful for starting further conversations.