Kendrick Lamar's 'Control' Responses: The Good, The Bad And The Super-Ugly
Ever since Kendrick Lamar dropped his fiery bars on Big Sean's "Control," there has been an explosion of rap responses.
None of the MCs that Kendrick namedropped in his verse have released any related music. So while Drake, J. Cole, Meek Mill and A$AP Rocky have been respectively quiet, plenty of other capable lyricists like Joell Ortiz, Lupe Fiasco, Papoose, B.o.B, Fred the Godson, Cassidy and Astro have all released response records with varying degrees of venom.
It's getting hard to keep track, but MTV News breaks it all down for you.
The Good
The Yaowa wasn't mentioned by Kendrick, but that didn't stop him from being the first to hijack the "Control" beat and get busy. "Little homey, you ain't the king of New York/ You the next thing on my fork," the Slaughterhouse MC spits.
After a lengthy Twitter rant, Carrera Lu dropped the sequel to his fan-favorite "Super Lupe Raps" and takes Kendrick to task. He also gets props for using an original beat. "He so crazy, look at the little baby/ N---a you ain't Nas, n---a you ain't Jay Z," he raps.
Earlier this year, Kendrick and Pap were on the same page after Dot helped the Brooklyn verbalist overtake Hot 97's Summer Jam stage, but those days are clearly over. "Kendrick, Kanye and Drake they act feminine/ Wear a lot of clothes you usually see women in," 'Poose raps on what is easily the most scathing K-Dot diss thus far.
Skyzoo took a drastically different approach -- rather than diss Kendrick or make his own run for rap's crown the Brooklyn rap titan used this installment in his weekly Penny Freestyle Series to examine rap's climate and how it led Kendrick to drop his "king of New York" line. Spoiler alert: Sky thinks Jay is to blame. "They opened the door for him to say what he please/ It don't help that the real king went and gave him the keys," he raps over the instrumental to Hov's "Allure."
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The Bad
Most remember Persia as a standout on VH1's "The (White) Rapper Show," but even after the cameras went off in 2007, the Far Rockaway, New York, native has been spitting venom for her online flock. Rather than go directly at Kendrick, she challenges rap's male-driven double-standard. If Dot can go at Drake and be considered a savior, then why can't Persia attack hip-hop's female contenders, right? Lil Kim, Foxy Brown Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks all get checked.
Let's keep it real, a lot of rappers responding to Kendrick aren't even mad, their just seizing an opportunity to insert themselves into the biggest story of the week. That being said, you can never accuse Ransom of being opportunistic. Last week, Ran opted not to lyrically attack Nicki Minaj after their war of words on TMZ, but after Kendrick issued his challenge, Ransom answered the call with multilayered rap bars.
Cassidy took a storied battle career and was primed to be one of rap's promising hit makers -- his first single featured R. Kelly -- but this Philly spitter's most famous days are behind him. Still, he goes on for six minutes doing what he does best, delivering bars. Interestingly enough, he praises Kendrick for the inspiration and takes aim at other rappers like Meek Mill.
The truth is Los has been vying for rap's throne since 2011 with his The Crown Ain't Safe mixtape. With his dizzying display of rhymes on this one it, makes us wonder when Diddy is going to give this Bad Boy a release date.
D. Dot resumed his Mad Rapper role and comically runs down all the Kendrick-related freestyles. Rather than hate on Lamar, he sets his sights on all those other mad rappers. The execution could've been better, but props to the multiplatinum producer for taking a clever approach.
"Kendrick brought competition back," raps the Queens, New York, MC.
Grafh wasn't even mad at Dot, he just used this opportunity to prove what rap fans already knew: he can rap -- very well!
In 2011, Fred appeared on the XXL Freshman cover alongside Kendrick Lamar and while K-Dot's career has since taken off, Fred has yet to make the jump. Here he takes a swipe at our "Hottest MCs" list and its current crown holder and while there are some funny one-liners, this one won't do much to elevate Fred.
Mickey Factz has been flying under the radar since he filmed a commercial with Honda and then signed a deal with Jive Records in 2010. Yes, he's been quietly releasing mixtapes, but his "South Park" marked a return of sorts. The Bronx lyricist takes exception that Kendrick didn't name him in "Control," but Mick's efforts would've been best used making a real comeback to songs that put him on the map like "Incredible" and "Rockin N Rollin."
Mys was being groomed to be New York's next big thing when the late Chris Lighty gave the Bronx spitter some memorable looks on 1999's Violator: The Album. Unfortunately, an ill-timed jail bid postponed his rise. Yes, Mysonne can spit, but this one didn't have enough of a "wow" factor.
Bobby Ray is a beast; remember when he combatted Tyler, the Creator on "No Future?" Sadly, his Kendrick response didn't go over as well. "How 2 Rap" remains super-creative throughout, with B.o.B switching flows and playing the guitar, but in the end it just doesn't connect.
The Super-Ugly
Remember Bangs, the South Sudanese rapper who released that "Take U to da Movies" in 2009 -- of course you do, you gave it 8 million YouTube clicks. Well, he has a Kendrick response too, but we wish he didn't.
Aside from the hook ("Kendrick forgot about me"), this doesn't feel like it was made in response to Kendrick at all. The reality is the Miami rookie may not even be on Kendrick's radar. The bars on here are tight, so it may only be a matter of time, but Bizzy should've kept Lamar's name out of this one.
The former "X-Factor" standout steps into the arena over a well-timed Statik Selektah beat. He takes direct aim at K-Dot, claiming, "I play like D'Antoni and get Lamar up out the game."
The youngster can do better than this.
Not quite sure what Raff's point is on this. He doesn't seem too bothered by Lamar's verse; actually this may be the nicest response out the bunch. "I hope you have a beautiful family and your label is successful financially," he rhymes.
Iman shows some rap promise, but the New York Knicks guard hasn't built enough hip-hop clout to weigh in on this one. Plus, doesn't he have summer league?
The Dipset rapper's response just doesn't connect. Hey Cam, when is Ghetto Heaven dropping?
Was this supposed to be funny?
