The Greatness Problem In Hip-Hop

Kendrick Lamar set the internet on fire last week when he, a California native, released a song proclaiming himself the king of New York. In the song he name dropped J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale, Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean (whose song “Control” he rapped over), Jay Electronica (who was on the track with Kendrick), Tyler The Creator, and Mac Miller, saying he was trying to murder them (lyrically, of course).

Having never been enamored with Kendrick Lamar, or the vast majority of the artists he named, my basic feeling was this was a mediocre rapper calling out a bunch of other mediocre rappers. When I said this on Facebook, however, on a day when Kendrick Lamar was the main topic of conversation (which isn’t that often being that the day after he released the song his highest charting effort on the iTunes singles chart was at #80), it resulted in a number of confrontations. Those confrontations made me realize something about hip-hop – we’re too quick to bestow the tag of greatness on artists.

Read the full commentary on RapReviews.com.