Keep your foot on the neck of the competition

While ladies and germs, its been awhile since I did a post but here we are. A lot has happened in the world in the month of August, and while i could go into detail about each topic, that would be a waste of mine and your time. I will discuss one thing that has the urban world shaken up. Everybody knows about it, but I believe has misinterpreted the meaning behind it.  Everybody thinks it was/is a diss, but I believe it is more than that. If you haven't guessed at what I am talking, then I will tell you. Of course I am talking about Kendrick Lamar's verse on the song "Control".

Now even through this is Big Sean's song, the main reason why this song is on the mind of the hip hop world is due to Kendrick Lamar verse. On his verse, there are two main verse that have him in the mouth of so many hip hop heads. First, he said he was the king of the West Coast and the King of New York. Then he called out a lot of hip hop giants int the game right now. He said ,
"I'm usually homeboys with the same niggas I'm rhymin' wit
But this is hip hop and them niggas should know what time it is
And that goes for Jermaine Cole' Big KRIT, Wale
Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake
Big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller
I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you niggas
Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas
They don't wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you niggas
What is competition? I'm tryna raise the bar high"
Now because of this, a lot of people feel that Kendrick is dissing this said names.At first glace, it does sound like this but if you really listen to the verse, he is actually giving these artist a complement.

Now you maybe he wondering how is he giving this artist a complement by calling people out. Well that is easy. You are supposed to be better than your competition. In his eyes, these people are his competition. Each one of this artist are great in their own right. Their albums/Mixtapes have down major numbers. Their works have received praise from hip hop fans and legends alike. That's why I believed he called out these people names. Aren't you supposed to be the best at what you do? I mean who wants to be the second greatest of all time? If you do, then you are falling in life. I know I am trying to be the best at whatever i do, no matter how big or small it is. And how does one become the best? By going up against the best. If this song is a diss, I believe it is a diss to everybody whose name wasn't mentioned by him.

Another effect that this verse has had is it's lighten a fire under everybody's ass. Not even 24 hours after the song was released did artist take to twitter to react to Kendrick. Then after the wave of tweets came in, the next wake of responses to the verse popped up all other the world. It seems like mostly NY rappers and the rappers who weren't mention make up the bulk of these responses. To me, Kendrick did more than just declare that he is coming for the throne of hip hop. He also started a wave of rappers stepping up their rap game, or at least trying to in some cases.

Whatever you are trying to be the best in, there will always be people who are equal to you, or better than you. The question is what will you do about it. Will you settle for being second best, or will you be the G.O.A.T? That means greatest of all time just in case you didn't know that. Never be afraid to be great. To close out this post, I will leave you with two quotes. As Charlamagne Tha God say, "Keep your foot on the neck of the competition". As Ricky Bobby once said, "If you're not first, then you're last". And yes, I did quote a movie character.