S. Samuel
Slaughterhouse's Joell Ortiz is not issuing any apologies for being the first rapper to respond to Kendrick Lamar's "Control" bars but also said fans should realize he is not trying to spark a beef.
According to Mr. Yaowa, he still has ample respect for K. Dot but felt an urge to let his voice out after hearing the rapper’s name-dropping lines.
“I like Kendrick Lamar, man. I really love what he’s doing for the culture. I love what he’s doing for hip hop and being such an honest person, and when I heard the record I loved it. This is what I’m talking about, bringing it back to that competitive nature that we all grew up on…I appreciate his bravery. I’m so not a hater. That takes big cajones. I gotta respect it. Although, I obviously, immediately disagreed.” (VLAD TV)
Much like Joell, Philadelphia rapper Cassidy said he could only applaud the West Coast rapper for speaking out with hard-hitting bars.
“I knew the game was turning around anyways,” he said. “You see a lot of these artists that…see people get it confused. They might hear a certain artists on the radio or see a video and they might think they winning but when you look at record sales, the artist that’s not really being lyrical, they not winning, like, right at this present moment. And the artists that are trying to be more lyrical and come up with original ideas and go in their own lane, they selling more. And they winning more. So I seen that the climate was changing and that people was ready to hear lyrics and bars. But with Kendrick doing what he did, he gave them a bridge to walk over to feel comfortable with saying that they ready to hear bars, and Hip Hop is back, and they ready to take it back to people being more competitive ’cause that’s how the game started.” (HHDX)
With the song still catching a widespread buzz, guest collaborator Jay Electronica acknowledged the attention “Control” has received.
“”I like the song and the stir it’s causing,” Jay Elect exclusively tells REVOLT about the highly-publicized record. “It’s good for rap music.” The aftermath of “Control” found rappers like Joe Budden, Fabolous, Big Daddy Kane, Meek Mill, Wale, Pusha T all speaking their thoughts on Twitter, while rappers like Joell Ortiz, Fred the Godson, B.o.B, Los and most recently, Lupe Fiasco ran to the booth to fire back on the mic. Jay says that he was asked by Sean to hop on the record a few months ago and had no idea that K. Dot was also going to be part of the mix. “A month or two ago, Big Sean asked me to be on this record with him for his album. He had a demo hook on it at the time. I did my verse and sent it back,” the Roc Nation lyricist explained. “I found out a couple days before it was released that Kendrick had put a verse on it.” (REVOLT TV)
G.O.O.D Music’s Big Sean has also addressed the track and noted the competitive nature of hip-hop being on full display this week.
“When I heard [Kendrick’s] verse I wasn’t about to go back and change my verse–that’s cheating,” Big Sean tells VIBE. “That ain’t the way of an O.G. That ain’t how G’s move. I wanted to [release the song] for the culture of hip-hop as opposed to myself. “It’s hip-hop. It’s a sport. It should get back to being competitive if that’s what people want to do. I ain’t no h*e a** n*gga like that to hear a verse like that and be like ‘I gotta go back and [rewrite] my sh*t, I gotta go protect myself.’ Nah, it is what it is. I’m a good a** rapper. I just want people to remember I had the song. I knew what it was. No, I didn’t change my verse because I’m not a h*e a** n*gga. I’m a real a** n*gga from Detroit. I rep for everything that I do. I knew what it was going to do for hip-hop. I knew what it was going to do for the culture. This is the most exciting rap song to drop this year this year. Period.” (VIBE)
Check out “Outta Control”:
