We returned this week to a post-“Control” hip-hop world, where response records were still coming from the unlikeliest of sources. In all the chaos and name-dropping, though, rappers still found time to make some incredible music. Below, the lines of the week:
5. “I'd like to send a shout to the fathers that didn't raise us/To every ho who hated, now unable to say much/To critics doing dirty with comments and nigga paid for an apartment/Yesterday off some songs I haven't yet made up” — Earl Sweatshirt, 'Knight' lyrics
Earl's long-awaited album came out this week, and more than lived up to the hype. Here, he deals with one of OFWGKTA's favorite themes, the missing father, and puts more hurt and power into that subtle first line than are in a hundred shock-raps from his group-mates.
4. “You scared straight; I ride out, no airbrakes/Fuck you — when I cut you, you'll bleed like a rare steak” — Cassidy, 'Picasso Baby' lyrics
After his “Control” response last week, Cass kept it moving with another long, punchline-ridden freestyle. The food imagery in this line easily put it in the list for us.
3. “That's why godfather tied the cape on my shoulders/Said save em from false prophets and wolves in sheeps' clothing” — Chance the Rapper, 'Lonely Though' lyrics
Rapsody released her new mixtape She Got Game this week, which was full of lyrical gems. This one comes from one of the guest artists, Chi-town favorite Chance. The “godfather” here, as the rapper's own annotation makes clear, is the Godfather of Soul. Thus, the “cape” has a dual meaning as a superhero's cloak and as the one JB used to wear and discard (and wear, and discard, and…) at the end of his shows.
2. “I'm the difference between a rapper and an artist/The rapper's a follower, the artist is doing what he wants regardless” — AG Da Coroner, 'Welcome To My World (Intro)' lyrics
For all the talk about New York rap over the past few weeks, few people embody the notion as completely as AG Da Coroner. His words of wisdom about artistry here will hopefully be heard by all sides of the King of N.Y. debate.
1. “My my what he told me reciting Obi Kenobi/'You'll be the death of me,' solely/I told him surely, I agree I'm Ali, cross 'em like Doji/Sting like wasps, I serve 'em losses — they lowly/Call me young Achilles cuz I snap on these like Kobe” — Rapsody, 'Lonely Though' lyrics
While we hated the Star Wars prequels and kind of still refuse to admit they exist, even we can appreciate a clever Attack of the Clones reference. Also, the pun on Kobe's injury is top-notch. The fact that this occurs on the very same song as Chance's mastery is an embarrassment of riches.
Groaner of the Week:
“Bitch, I'm bad — 'lizabeth/Bitch, I'm mad — hissy fit” — Nicki Minaj, 'Entertainment (Remix)' lyrics
Queen Elizabeth was a bad bitch? Hissy fits are still a thing? Hashtag rap isn't dead yet? We at RG have been Nicki supporters since she was misquoting Harry Potter, but this line is too much.
