Kendrick Lamar

#PSBPopCulture: Kendrick Lamar’s Effect on the Rap Industry – February 17, 2016

By: Donte’ Grant @DineroJones and Brandon Clay @psbpopculture

Donte’s Take on Kendrick at the Grammy’s:

Kendrick Lamar walked away last night with five Grammy Awards, one being obvious, best rap album. “To Pimp A Butterfly” is easily one the best albums of the last decade, of any genre. The Grammy’s one slip up last night was not recognizing its greatness and honoring it with Album of the year.

Brandon’s Take on Kendrick’s impact on the industry:

Lamar’s ability to win album of the year on a major stage this week without a “radio-friendly” single is validation that music content is still the most important part of the game. His style of dress, word content is very non-traditional in comparison to the status quo of the industry in 2016. Now Lamar has been on features ranging in genre as far over as Taylor Swift‘s “Bad Blood,” so it’s not as if he hasn’t built a name brand that allowed him to take a chance with his latest album. That said, Lamar represents a noticeable variation musically from some of the other mainstream A-List rap artists in Drake, Future. With samples including Lalah Hathaway on “Momma,” the album was so appealing to me that I completely skipped over “These Walls.” I just got to dive into that track during the Christmas Holidays.

Donte’s Take on To Pimp A Butterfly:

Kendrick Lamar’s critically acclaimed, instant classic plays out like a Spike Lee film in sound. Though it doesn’t explicitly bill itself as a movie like good kid, m.A.A.d city did, but the seamless interlocking dramas contained here feels filmic nonetheless, and a variety of characters appear across the album’s soundscape.

The opener, “Wesley’s Theory”, turns the public downfall of Wesley Snipes into a kind of parable. Snoop Dogg drops by on “Institutionalized”; Dr. Dre himself phones in on “Wesley”. The mood is wry, theatrical, chaotic, ironic, and mournful, often all at once; yet it all blends together effortlessly: On “For Free? (Interlude)” an impatient woman ticks off a laundry list of demands before Kendrick snaps back that “This …. ain’t free!” and roars through a history of black oppression, spoken-word style, definitely a highlight of the album.

The album is dotted with religious moments and analogies, like modern bible passages written by an urban man. God even appears in the guise of a homeless man in “How Much a Dollar Cost”, and closer “Mortal Man” ends on a lengthy, surreal dream interview with the ghost of 2Pac and Kendrick himself.

Donte’ Grant is a contributor to PSBPopCulture.com. He’s been a part of the team since playing pickup basketball with Clay at the Georgia Southern recreation center. Grant, a 10-year music industry veteran, a former A&R at Atlantic Records, Jeezy’s CTE label, and founder of TheOrganizedGrind. Follow him on IG @MuchoDineros and Twitter @dinerojones.

Brandon Clay serves as the publisher of PSBPopCulture.com. A self-professed entertainment, music and sports junkie, Clay has been on his game since picking up his first Nintendo and Sony Walkman in the early 90’s. Adding in a SLAM (Basketball) Magazine subscription in the late-90’s had him setup up for lifelong success. Clay is also a founding member of the “Luxury Boys Club” designed to stay on top of whatever is next in the world of PopCulture. You can follow him on Twitter @psbpopculture.

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#iTunesSounds: “No More Parties in LA” – Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar – January 25, 2016

By: Brandon Clay @PSBPopCulture and Donte’ Grant @DineroJones

After a slight delay, Kanye West was back last week with his “G.O.O.D. Friday” series. Kanye enthusiasts had to wait until Monday morning for the arrival of “No More Parties in L.A.,” featuring none other than lyrical behemoth Kendrick Lamar. Here’s an in-depth look at the output from two of the industry’s A-List stars:

GRANT’S TAKE: The six-minute track was produced by Madlib. West, who is the boss of G.O.O.D. Music, teased his fans with a snippet of this record at the end “Real Friends” when it dropped on January 8th. The Madlib-produced track marks the first time West and K.Dot have appeared together on a song. West uses this record to remind everyone his still has impeccable rap skills. Ye’ mentions “I was uninspired since Lauryn Hill retired” and “I know some fans who thought I wouldn’t rap like this again” in the same way he delivers a hilarious anecdote about an assistant crashing his matted Maybach. Effortless flows with substance, combinations like this one are far and between nowadays in Hip Hop. It’s only fitting Kanye brought it back on a song featuring Lamar. K. Dot dominated hip hop in 2015 garnering 11 Grammy nominations from his critically acclaimed and commercial successful “To Pimp a Butterfly” opus. It’s safe to say with the the February 11 release of West’s highly anticipated album “Swish,” the Louis Vuitton Don is set to have a big year in 2016.

CLAY’S TAKE: I agree with Donte’s outlook on this one. The wordplay and samples give me the feeling that Mr. West is cooking up a similar production to his “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” album released in 2010. That loop of the Ghostface hook off of the G.O.O.D. Music collab “Cruel Summer” was not lost on me. It’s the same song where Kanye first proclaimed “Hold on, I ain’t trying to stuntman but the Yeezy’s jumped over the Jumpman.”

FAVORITE LINE: “Thinkin’ back to how I got here in the first place: second class chicks wouldn’t let me on first base. A backpack brotha with luxury taste buds and the Louis Vuitton store got all of my pay stubs.” — Kanye

Donte’ Grant is a contributor to PSBPopCulture.com. He is a 10-year music industry veteran. Grant is a former A&R at Atlantic Records, Jeezy’s CTE label, and founder of TheOrganizedGrind.com. A former hooper at Augusta State, he is a diehard LA Lakers fan. Grant is also a founding member of the “Luxury Boys Club” designed to stay on top of whatever is next in the world of PopCulture. He has been around the PSBPopCulture.com Team since it’s inception. You can follow him on Twitter @dinerojones.

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#iTunesSounds: “Black Friday” – J. Cole & Kendrick Lamar – December 31, 2015

By: Brandon Clay @PSBPopCulture

As if the rumblings of these two teaming up for a collaboration album weren’t loud enough already, they each dropped separate tracks on the other’s beat. Lamar chose Cole’s “A Tale of 2 Citiez” while Cole jumped on Kendrick’s hit “Alright.” Neither spared the beat going all in with A Game verses to hold us over as we wait. Cole even alluded to a possible release date during the month of February. Stay Tuned. For now, enjoy both of these songs.

J. Cole

Cole lets the smooth beat ride for about 20 seconds before jumping in full throttle. The North Carolina-based rapper has seen his popularity rise since the release of Sideline Story in 2011. I watched him headline a sold-out Atlanta stop on his “2014 Forest Hills Drive Tour” in August. Cole has found a niche as the anti-rapper. His flow on this one was no different as he dropped the following:

FAVORITE LINE: “Flow hot, whip cold. I’m bipolar brotha. I don’t like to talk about a Rover brotha. Keep it 100, I just sold it brotha. Tired of police looking at me like I stole it brotha. Prolly just gonna cop a little Corolla brotha. Don’t need a Rolex on to know I’m gettin’ older brotha.”

Kendrick Lamar

Lamar establishes his voice right away referring to himself as “The People’s Champion.” Right now, he’s established himself as a mainstay of hip hop for the forseeable future. If we needed proof of his current status, the feature on Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” cemented Lamar’s emergence to the A-List of the game.

FAVORITE LINE: “I tell the chick don’t sweat me. I’ll kill this whole beat if Cole’ll let (please Cole). Eve should have never sent the instrumental. Every time I start writing I get sentimental.”

Brandon Clay is a contributor to PSBPopCulture.com through his various genre reviews. A self-professed entertainment & music junkie, Clay has been on his game since picking up his first Nintendo and Sony Walkman in the early 90’s. You can follow him on Twitter @PSBPopCulture.

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#iTunesSounds: Four To Know – December 6, 2015

“Four To Know” is a glimpse inside what’s current in the iTunes Music Libraries of our team members. We’ll provide four songs to grab and a breakdown of what appeals to us in each track.

By: Brandon Clay @PSBPopCulture

1) “Credit” by Ty Dolla $ign feat. Seyvn Streeter

BREAKDOWN: First of all, I owe an assist to our TheOrganizedGrind affiliate owner Donte Grant for his assist on this one. He told me that the new Dolla $ign album was a must listen. As usual, Grant was dead on. Placed in the middle of his “Free TC” CD, Ty delivered a crisp track as he teamed up with emering R&B artist Sevyn Streeter. It remains to be seen if this will make it to the airwaves as a single at some point during the life span of the release but it’s worth a listen ASAP.

2A/B) “Black Friday” by J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar

BREAKDOWN: As if the rumblings of these two teaming up for a collaboration album weren’t loud enough already, they each dropped separate tracks on the other’s beat. Lamar chose Cole’s “A Tale of 2 Citiez” while Cole jumped on Kendrick’s hit “Alright.” Neither spared the beat going all in with A Game verses to hold us over as we wait. Cole even alluded to a possible release date during the month of February. Stay Tuned. For now, enjoy both of these songs.

3) “For The Summer” by Fabolous

BREAKDOWN: Fab’s latest mixtape “Summertime Shootout” ironically dropped on Thanksgiving Day. This track was the opening track off of another quality output from the New York based rapper. In talking with PSBPopCulture.com Team Member, Keil Moore, the progression for Fab as a 38-year-old artist is impressive. Keep an eye out for the “Young OG Project II” album scheduled for a digital release on Christmas Day. If Fabolous keeps up his current pace of releases during the Fourth Quarter, his new nickname will be Mr. Winter Holiday.

FAVORITE LINE: “Girlfriend like really 2 Chainz for the summer? I’ve copped a few things that were dumber…With that said, I might cop two things for the summer. They both gonna be blacker than Lou’s thing for the summer.”

^^^ Fab with the witty reference to Los Angeles Laker Louis Williams (insert Drake – 6th Man reference) and his two girlfriends.

4) “Under the Stars” by John Legend

BREAKDOWN: This song takes me back to his “Once Again” album. “Under The Stars” is exactly the kind of ballad that Legend has perfected since my introduction to his music in 2003 on Slum Village’s “Selfish.” It was released in conjunction with Stella Artois’ “Give Beautifully” holiday campaign. Though Legend dropped the song for the holiday season, it has a year round feel to it.

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