Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Well, sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.
As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question is me, Andre Grant and Ural Garrett. Collectively we serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”
“Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2”
Who did it: Jay Z
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Andre:There’s been a tenuous cold war happening between these two for some time. They end up on each other’s records where they throw subtle shots at each other over the course of their 16s. This time, Jigga got the better of Drizzy with lines like “I had Benzes ‘fore you had braces…” and “The homies said, ‘Hov’ it ain’t many of us / I told ‘em less is more niggas, there’s plenty of us.” Was Jay doing that thing where he subliminally disses the emcee he’s on a track with? Of course. We’re talking about Hov’ right?
Ural: Who would have thought that Hov and Drizzy would finally get together again on wax after that catastrophe that was “Off That” from The Blueprint 3? Having Nothing Was The Same end with “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2” was the proverbial icing on the cake with two of Hip Hop’s biggest pop culture icons together. While Drake spit enough bars to keep up with Jigga Man, Roc Nation’s head managed to keep the conversation around him with this line: “I’ve done made more millionaires than the lotto did/Dame made millions, Biggs made millions/Ye made millions/ Just made millions/ Lyor made millions/ Cam made millions/ Beans’ a tell you if he wasn’t in his feelins.” Yikes.
“Champion”
Who did it: Nas
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Andre: This little paid attention to track off Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday:… Roman Reloaded was underwhelming even with the additions of Jeezy, Drake and Nas. Everyone seemed to mail it in except Nasir, though, who proceeded to body the record with lines like “I saw my first two million dollars, I was 23 / I’m barely a man, yet, I had some killers under me.”
Ural: Having Jeezy, Drake and Nas on Pink Friday… Roman Reloaded track “Champion” could have possibly been the next “Monster.” However, Nasir Jones managed to school everyone with relatively ease with Drizzy coming off with the weakest verse. Meanwhile Nicki and Jeezy would probably tie for the second best.
“Hell Yeah Fuckin’ Right”
Who did it: Lil Wayne
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Andre: “HYFR” had the utterly cringe worthy yet ridiculously catchy and meme worthy chorus, “Do you love this shit? Are you high right now? Do you ever get nervous?” But what it mostly had was a particularly salient Lil Wayne delivering some of the best bars he’d delivered in a while, knocking Drizzy back on his heels. These two had been going back and forth on each other’s records for a while now with wins on both side. This one goes to Wayne if not only for the line, “My nuts hang like ain’t no curfew, bitch, if you wave then I will surf you..”
Ural: It’s safe to say the video for “HYFR” will be probably become more iconic in the future than Drake’s actual verse. This was totally Weezy’s party with his catchy as hook and verse like Andre mentioned above.
“Unforgettable”
Who did it: Jeezy
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Andre: “When I say fo’ life you say fo’ever,” croons Jeezy and right there in the opening bars Jeezy shows a newly minted Drake what it’s like to bodied on his own record. There’s an indelible charm to Jeezy that Drake just doesn’t quite know how to capture yet, and while he was relatively green (you can tell because they gave Jeezy some chorus duty, which is something that would never happen now) he just gets lost under the current of Jeezy’s grizzly tenor.
Ural: Thank Me Later was a large disappointment in terms of large major label debuts. “Unforgettable”s sample of Aaliyah’s “At Your Best (You Are Love) should have lit a fire under Drizzy’s back considering his love for the late great singer. But, Jeezy takes the cake without much effort. From the looks of things, Drake was going through the lyrical motions. Thankfully, he fared better for what could be considered his only true classic Take Care.
“Blessings (Extended Version)”
Who did it: Kanye West, Big Sean
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Andre: Look, this one isn’t his fault. The original version just had he and Big Sean so Champagne Papi wasn’t stressed. Then, suddenly, Kanye comes out of nowhere to remind everyone why he’s one of the greatest of all time. HIs stream of consciousness is so mature at this point that he conveys exactly what he means to with no real fuss. Yeah, Drake killed the hook, but Kanye’s verse made the extended version one of the most sought after tracks of the year. This isn’t to say that Big Sean’s verse wasn’t murder, either. This might be one of the best verses of his career, and there’s no doubt they both came correct because of Drizzy’s presence on the track.
Ural: Drake’s hook for “Blessed” was a lot higher profile than his actual verse because Kanye’s verse is arguably his best this year besides the guest verse to Tyler, The Creator’s “Smuckers.”
“Fuckin’ Problems”
Who did it: Kendrick Lamar
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Andre: Kendrick Lamar murdered this song. His “Bitch, you know you want this dick!” line is as aggressive and rappity-rap as he gets most times. No one on that track was ready.
Ural: Ironically, “Fuckin’ Problems” is one of OVO’s few collaborations where he took an active role in production through his Champagne Papi alias. Verse wise, K Dot made everyone else’s verse, even the core artist A$AP Rocky, damn near unnoticeable. Guess Drake was another casualty of Lamar’s lyricism.
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
