Kendrick Lamar Bigs Himself Up, By Calling Out Other Rappers

No one has ever called out as many people in one verse as Kendrick Lamar did in his contribution to Big Sean's new track, 'Control.' The song isn't even destined for an album but that hasn't made Lamar's fellow rappers, especially the ones name-dropped in his verse, zero in on the L.A rapmeister.

Rap doesn't really strike us as the genre where you want to be dissing your fellow words-men, especially due to all the tough characters with tattoes, grillz and heavy jewellery that could probably be swung like a flail if riled. Lamar doesn't seem to care though, spitting lyrics laden with big names in the industry in what feels like a taunt.

Kendrick Lamar Called Out The Big Names In Rap.

Lamar asserts himself as the big dog of the pack by calling out as many of his peers he can think of in his 3 minute verse on the song produced by NO I.D. including Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Pusha T, Drake, A$AP Rocky, Mac Miller, NaS, Eminem, Andre 3000 and Meek Millz. However, he doesn't just stick to the realm of rap; Lamar, born Duckworth, also throws in a few Hollywood movie stars for good measure just in case anyone could accuse him of being modest. Lindsay Lohan and Sean Connery have the honour of being namechecked in what eventually sounds like a teacher's roll call with no students present.

Would Fellow Rappers Stand For Such Verbal Onslaught?

In a classic display of chest-beating, Lamar can't talk himself up enough, comparing his Compton self to the likes of the Pope, a King and Machiavelli: "I'm important like the pope, I'm a muslim on pork/I'm Machiavelli's offspring, I'm the king of New York." We've no idea where the "muslim on pork" bit comes from but it's probably safe to say he threw it in to irritate another societal group.

Lamar Should Prepare Himself For A Storm Of Rap Responses.

"I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you n--s/Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you n--sThey dont wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you n--s/What is competition? I'm tryna raise the bar high Who tryna jump and get it?" raps Lamar. You might assume this would be the lyrical equivalent to throwing a stinkbomb into a room full of angry hiphop artists and seeing who would be first to beat him up but actually the namechecked stars haven't hit the roof.

Pusha T Was One Of The First To React.

Big KRIT tweeted his reaction after hearing the diss-track: "This is Gladiator Shit"...Gotta give the people what they want," indicating he was planning to pen a retaliatory rap. Pusha T simply tweeted, "I hear u loud and clear my nigga... @kendricklamar" and left fans wondering if he too was preparing to launch an attack. Finally, and wonderfully, Mac Millar picked up on aspects of Lamar's verse and turned it around: "If I can't do no more nouns or verbs ima start comin with the wildest adjective bars that anyone has ever heard."

They're not angry: they're challenged, as Diddy retweets: "Hip Hop was born out of competition and raised by battles. This is what Music needs." Now this should make for some good rap battles!