Looks like Kendrick Lamar is determined to finish the rap drama he started. The good kid set off a whirlwind in hip-hop when he dropped his verse on Big Sean’s “Control” in August, calling out folks like J. Cole, Meek Mill and Drake.
Now that a number of his rap counterparts have fired back, Kendrick is turning up the heat with a freestyle in BET’s upcoming 2013 Hip Hop Awards cypher.
The show doesn’t air until October 15, but a snippet video of the pre-tapped cypher was posted on AllHipHop.com on Thursday (October 3) and it appears that Drake’s the intended target.
“Yeah, and nothing’s been the same since they dropped ‘Control’/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes/ Haha, jokes on you, high-five, I’m bulletproof,” K-Dot spits while giving his Black Hippy partner Schoolboy Q a high-five right on cue.
For those who missed the references, Drake, whose been taken to task for tapping into his “emo” side, just dropped his third solo album, Nothing Was the Same.
“Ya sh– will never penetrate/ Pin a tail on the donkey, boy ya been a fake,” Lamar adds, flowing over Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones Pt. II” instrumental.
Drake brushed off K-Dot’s initial “Control” lyric, on which he threatened to figuratively murder Drizzy and other MCs. “It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me. That’s all it was,” Drake told Billboard back in August. “I know good and well that Kendrick’s not murdering me, at all, in any platform. So when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic.”
Earlier this month, during an interview with Hot 97’s Angie Martinez in New York, Drake addressed Kendrick’s rhyme once again, saying, “It just wasn’t real to me. I saw him after that and it was just like love, so it’s like was that real or was that for the people? Those were harsh words, you can’t just say that and see me like, ‘Yeah, man, what’s up,’ pretending like nothing ever happened. That’s not real.”
The OVO spitter rarely addresses his rap beefs outright; most of Drake’s dis records are of the subliminal variety. In 2012, he dismantled Common on Rick Ross’ but never mentioned the rap veteran’s name. Many believe that Drizzy launched a subtle shot at Kendrick on a standout from his new album. “F— any n—a that’s talkin’ that sh– just to get a reaction/ F— going platinum, I looked at my wrist and it’s already platinum,” he rhymes in what could be a reference to Lamar’s platinum-selling debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city.
Whatever the case, Kendrick’s “nothing’s been the same” line from the BET cypher has fans hyped for a rap battle with Drake. When MTV News caught up with Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q on the BET red carpet over the weekend, the TDE boys — who all rhyme in the cypher with Kendrick — teased what fans can expect. “You can expect Kendrick to cheat,” Q joked.
In his cypher rhyme, Jay Rock warns rappers dropping responses to “Control” to mind their business, and told us that he’s ready to take up for Kendrick and his Black Hippy crew. “I’m the enforcer, I’m the big brother, so once my bros go out there and do their thing, I’m the enforcer,” he said.
The BET Hip Hop Awards 2013 air Tuesday, October 15 at 8 p.m. ET.
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