1. “Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe”—unlike “Poetic Justice” and, unfortunately, “Swimming Pools”—is one of the last jams from Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City to not be played out yet. It always deserved to be a single: It's as close to a needed concerned-about-the-state-of-rap speech as produced by any artist today.
2. Lamar makes a remarkably self-aware statement about his place in rap when he says “I'm trying to keep it alive and not compromise the feeling we love/You're trying to keep it deprived and only co-sign what radio does.” It doesn't hurt that it's also a brilliantly crafted two lines.
3. Onto the video… Anyone else notice that Lamar moves his hands more than any other rapper alive? He looks like a Great Gatsby extra here.
4. I want to see Mike Epps in way more stuff. Mike Epps makes everything better. Mike Epps does a mean liquor baptism. (Nice nod to “Swimming Pools,” by the way.)
5. There's this vicious debate on a few blogs about what this video actually means. To me, it's kind of obvious. Isn't the funeral Kendrick's way of killing what he thinks is shitty hip-hop? Why else would he be celebrating its death? Anyone got anything else?
6. Oh look, it's Mike Epps again.
7. MIKE EPPS FUNERAL PARTY.
8. And here's a screenshot of the finale, an anti-drug message (?) delivered in the same font from There Will Be Blood. I don't know, no commentary from me here. This video—overall—is fucking terrific, though.
[H/T: Smoking Section]
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