S. Samuel
Midwest rap veteran Tech N9ne has publicly stood up for Kendrick Lamar in light of nearly daily disses shot his way as a result of the hard-hitting "Control" record.
Impressed by Lamar’s boldness to actually call artists out by their names, Tech said he is fully behind his movement.
“My reaction was, ‘Yeah n*gga! Wake these motherf*ckers up!’ Everybody’s so lazy, man. I always raise my bar. My bars are always raised, every album. It’s always pushing my peers to go harder when they do a song with me. So for Kendrick to take it a step further, say names and sh*t, it’s really waking n*ggas up. And if anybody got a problem with my lil homie, you know what I’m saying, I got his back. Sorry and sh*t, let’s go.” (Montreality)
This week, New York rapper Maino said the image and state of New York rappers is so weak Kendrick had confidence in proclaiming himself the Big Apple’s king.
“Nah, nah,” Maino said in an interview when asked if he would make a response to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Control’ lyrics. “I look at it different. I look at it kind of like, as a city, right, I look at not what he said but what would make him say that. I feel like dude’s like at the city like it’s sweet. We look weak, somehow, for dudes to take those kinds of shots. I like Kendrick, I like his music. I think it was about some hip-hop sh*t but at the same time, n*ggas over here wouldn’t dare said that about LA. They know better. N*ggas wouldn’t dare say that about Detroit ’cause they know. N*ggas wouldn’t dare have said nothing about Chicago because it’s a certain kind of stigma that comes with these places. I think n*ggas here in my city soft, man. To be honest.” (Sway In The Morning)
Harlem’s A$AP Rocky gave his take on K. Dot’s lyrics this week.
“He named a lot of n*ggas,” A$AP said in an interview. “I feel like, I mean, that ‘King of New York’ sh*t, you smoking crack, you’re crazy, you know what I mean? Honestly though, K. Dot and them n*ggas, that’s fam. I think hip-hop needs this sh*t. It’s n*ggas who’s pissed off just because they wasn’t mentioned. … I’m not justifiying sh*t, rap is rap, my n*gga. N*gga didn’t say nothing about nobody mother — he didn’t say he want problems. He said, ‘These are my n*ggas and I’m letting y’all know it’s competition.’ What’s the problem? That man know I’m where he at. I feel like all the rappers making disses and responses — I’ma keep it a buck, it’s not even about being relevant because hip-hop ain’t about relevance, man. It’s all about the sport, it’s all about the culture.” (Hot 97)
Recently, Wu-Tang Clan‘s Raekwon said the only one who could wear the “King of New York” crown is the late Notorious B.I.G.
“All I’ma say is that n*ggas know he ain’t the ‘King of New York’,” Rae said in an interview. “The King of New York, to me, is in the ground and that’s B.I.G. That’s the n*gga that came from the bottom, for real, and really earned that position in the game to be called that. I think son, dude was rhyming, having fun. He was feeling his d*ck, however he was doing it. He was just expressing himself. I think you’re supposed to feel like that on wax.” (Itz Bizkit)
Check out Tech N9ne’s interview:
