Damn y'all. Aight, I ain't been round in a minute, cause of health issues an' that typa wack shit, but ya boy's back in the buildin', ready to kill it wit' the reviews once again. Word is bond y'all, I gots a helluva lotta unreleased reviews I been sittin' on in my PC, that I jus' ain't got the time to properly spellcheck an' format n shit. A brotha gotta make sure he ain't puttin' out slop, namsayin'? Y'all ain't gonna like it if I jus' started puttin' out McDonald's reheated typa bloggin' mess. That good shit takes time, word!! Aight, nuff of that talk, I'mma jump into it.
So whether y'all like the kid or not, history jus' got made by Kendrick Lamar. We jus' got a solo rapper performance at the Super Bowl, after plus 50 years of hiphop culture bein' round. We were all up in here hyped up cause son finally gettin' his flowers n' shit. Plus, the Trumpster was up there, an' since y'all be knowin' Kenny's dissed him before (lyrics like "Donald Trump's a chump etc.) I mean, brothas was wondering "Ayo, shit 'boutta hit the fan here, b?" Then we got some issues wit' some sucker, snitch-ass fool leakin' the setlist beforehand. But that ain't neither here nor there, point is, son made it to the Super Bowl, fightin; his way through a heckuva lotta mess.
Kenny first off done gone an' hired Samuel L. Jackson as his narrator doin' some Uncle Sam cosplay. He started off on a pretty aight set rappin' an unreleased track fans have been callin' "Tiramasu". I'mma be honest here, I don't know WHY he be doin' that, cause I'mma bet like...give or take...half that audience ain't Kendrick Lamar fans, so they don't be knowin' 'bout all these unreleased tracks n' shit. Shit was mad dope tho', even if only half the room knew 'bout it. "The revolution 'boutta be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy!" gotta be one of the hardest bars son's dropped freestylin'.
"Squabble Up" then started, n' that went well, but Kenny hadta skip around a lot, mostly cause of a lotta pointless censorship rules. Like, I think at some point, Kenny had to censor "murder" y'all. "Humble" dropped then, an' y'all know that be gettin' everyone movin'. My take - Kenny shoulda kicked off wit' "Humble" cause everybody be knowin' that track, even my hiphop hatin' momma. Don't know why they had him censorin' "put Lil Baby in a spiral" tho'. "DNA" started right after, an' yo. Kenny's mic set up was mad wack, n' they was fuckin' him over wit' that, but the transition from "Humble" to "DNA" was smooth as hell y'all.
Then Kendrick gave me a shock - son rapped "Euphoria". I wasn't expecting that y'all, word is bond, that shit right there, that blindsided a brotha, ON ME. They of course had to shorten that 7 minute track, but yo, homie made up for that by bein' hisself, then freestylin' acapella at the end. THAT was real emceein' y'all. We moved to "Man in the Garden" an', this gonna be a hot take wit' y'all, but this live version betta than the album version. I dunno, it jus' got more soul in it here for me.
"Peekaboo" then started after Jackson did summa his commentary, n' that was ill. Choreography excellent, an' Kenny finally got the hang of whateva the hell they done gone and did to his mic. Word is bond y'all, watchin' that live on TV made me feel sorry for the kid. Son's mic was QUIET AS HELL. That's on the NFL, NOT on Kenny y'all. They did this shit to The Weeknd once, n' noboyd barely knew what The Weeknd was sayin'. Y'all betta getcha acts togetha, ON ME!!!
This shit got mad funny when a tiny piece of "Not Like Us" played, an' Kenny said "Awwww, we can't play that, you know they like to sue!" Dayum!! The way the kid kept rewindin' lil' pieces of it was mad funny. Then he went into "Luther" an' SZA did her thing. She was aight, kinda gave the crowd sumthin' to relax from, cause I'm sure a helluva lotta them didn't have a frickin' clue just what the hell was goin' down, nahmean.
The symbolism in Kenny's stage setup gonna be a whole buncha schizo postin', but if I'm readin' his symbolism on the stage right HE'S MAD INTELLIGENT. "All the Stars" started playin' right after - a track I was hopin' against hope for. An' the live was dope as hell y'all.
Then Kenny started freestylin' acapella - an' dropped "Not Like Us". He finally gotten the chance to call that flake, that fake ass suin', ignorant R&B hiphop makin' fool Drake a SUCKA n' a BUSTA n' a SICKO in front of all of America - in front of the frickin' president no less. Y'all...I know y'all can dislike Kendrick as much as you wanna, but on the real tho'. Anybody out here get what's goin' down?! Rappers is dissin' each other IN FRONT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES an' 50,000 other people who jus' plain ol' civilians!! The mixin' on that show's music was mad wack, word, but history ain't gotta come in pretty packages, an' brothas n' sistas - We jus' done witnessed history!!
If y'all ain't peeped that show yet, do it. Son was grinnin' big as day an' sayin' "Hey Drake! I hear ya like em YOUNG!!" He had Serena Williams, who's Drake's ex out there dancin'. This shit crazy y'all, I ain't gonna lie, shit's crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious. DAMN!
Brilliant endin' wit' bringin' out DJ Mustard an' doin' "TV Off". That man been needin' some sort of flowers for years, namsayin'. He ain't gotten nothin' except gettin' pats on the back for bringin' up that cornball YG, an' a buncha otha cats. So it does a brotha good to see Mustard gettin' up there like this, namsayin'.
So I'mma sum all this up - what I liked an' what wasn't so hot to me. Let's get the bad stuff outta the way first - the NFL sound engineer's doin' Kendrick dirty again. The mic n' the backin' beat ain't equalised for jack. I don't know why they be doin' this typa mess, maybe they do it to performers they don't like or sumthin', but word is bond, I'mma say it again - Y'all NFL sound engineers need to fix yaselves!! That sound mess where he be up there soundin' like he drownin' for the first quarter of the show was TERRIBLE. I could tell Kenny was like "Ayo dawg, fuck is up wit' this mic???" He finally realised he gotta shout in the thing at the top of his lungs if he wants anybody to know what the hell he's rappin' 'bout. But YO, it ain't gotta be like that!!
Otherwise...Kendrick's performance? Ten of ten y'all. Son shut the place down, his DJ arranged all them songs flawlessly. I FELT them transitions the DJ picked for him. Kenny FREESTYLED. Rappers don't freestyle anymore off the top of their heads - till this one came n changed that shit up. Word is bond y'all, he was up there freestylin' in front of a whole buncha folks who probably don't be knowin' their free from their style. That was REAL HIPHOP. He looked ALIVE, plus he didn't noticeably forget his lyrics, then, he was dancin' around like he OWNED that joint, an' best of all HE HAD FUN!!
That's what a lotta people forget, if they ain't havin' fun, why even be out there rappin' in the first place. But yo, I can tell Kenny's havin' fun, he almost got choked up laughin' at one point, homeboy was grinnin' like he jus' got everything he wanted for Christmas or somethin. This was history y'all. First rapper solo EVER at the Super Bowl. An' it was actually not a whole buncha corny, pop rock typa mess, like they was tryna do when Dr. Dre an' them came a coupla years back wit' The Weeknd. We gonna see what's gonna happen next. Word is bond y'all, the fallout from this for hiphop in general boutta be crazy. Aight, I'm outta here till next time fam. Peace!!
Phenomenal review! You’re right he did have fun!
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