Up until that point his silliness-which is most often articulated through his rapid, snapping vocal inflections-might have been a touch over-intellectualized. Prior to his last hit, DAMN., it seemed as if the 34-year-old superstar only made fun verses when he went in on a track with other rappers. He’s earned it.Īs much as the Grammys, a bleak Pulitzer-Prize winning story arc, and his relatively few public appearances might present the artist as profound and somewhat unknowable, Kendrick Lamar has always been a little silly. The new album will likely feature all of the religious, political, and Black sonic flourishes we’ve grown accustomed to, perhaps even using a new persona a la untitled unmastered’s Cornrow Kenny but until then, it feels like high time for Lamar to be a goof. Building out the spine for the third section of “range brothers,” the chorus feels like a wink to fans who know that Dot likes to get silly on collaborations-his verses on fellow TDE-brother Schoolboy Q’s “Collard Greens,” A$AP Rocky’s “F**kin Problems,” or even Rich the Kid’s “New Freezer” are all prime examples-before using the album format to put together a cohesive message. Every day since its leak, the Twitterverse has opened at dawn with at least one or two tweets of Kendrick’s ridiculous “top of the morning” chant, alongside a GIF’d loop of the artist performing a childlike stationary march, elbows flaring out at his sides. “Range brothers,” on the other hand, seems like Lamar’s rare attempt at meme-play. It’s a rap scheme that allows an artist who’s known for clear-eyed, serious raps to let loose a bit, and also share a message: “New flows comin, be patient, brother.”Ĭryptic Message Suggests Kendrick Lamar Might Be Done With His Label
While Dot does have a little “eat your vitamins, say your prayers'' rap in his bag, the switch-up from his usual high nasal smattering of entendres to the attention-grabbing, camera-winking humor of pro wrasslin’ speech is undoubtedly calculated. There has to be a reason why Kendrick Lamar said “brother” like that on “family ties.” How could this be the same “conscious” rapper who, in his own words, can spit about “money, clothes, hoes, god, and history all in the same sentence,” now sounding like a cross between a boat shoe, a Banana Republican, and a coked-up Hulk Hogan promo? Comedic audacity and timing combined to create a truly cartoonish moment on an otherwise intense verse, in which Dot references two different archangels, commands a certain embattled Chi Town producer-turned-rapper to “burn that hard drive,” and once again stakes claims to rap's throne. Kendrick Lamar is freeing his inner goofball. If these new musical collabs-“family ties” and “range brothers,” both on Baby Keem’s new album The Melodic Blue-are any indication, one of the genre’s most intense rhymers is loosening up. It’s unclear just how Lamar’s role might shift over the next few years, as he evolves from rap’s moral conscience to media mastermind. It’s always news when one of hip-hop’s most virtuosic and enigmatic artists closes a chapter on one era to start another. These two aren’t just linked by blood (Baby Keem is Lamar’s cousin), but also through their multipurpose media boutique pgLang, which they founded last year with former TDE president Dave Free. Since the Compton-bred rapper announced that his next body of work will be the final act in his run with record label TDE, he’s been featured on two tracks alongside Baby Keem.
With a new album cooking for a late 2021 push, rap savant Kendrick Lamar is primed to enter a particularly noisy-if stale-mainstream hip-hop arena.