Kendrick Lamar: “Crush Up” Track Review

A good nine years ago in the “Alright” music videoKendrick Lamar and his Black Hippy compatriots hopped in a broken-down lowrider as Kendrick spit a freestyle over a groovy Sounwave beat that lasted just 30 seconds. The snippet stands as the most played section of a video with over 180 million YouTube views and does not otherwise exist in public form: not on To pimp a butterflyor tucked away on the glorified mixtape of B-sides, untitled unmastered. Lost in the pantheon of viral teasers, it’s forever a “what could have been” moment.

There were fears of a repeat of the phenomenon when Kendrick dropped “Not Like Us” video in the midst of his summer of vitriol against Drake. It opened with another snippet, a black-and-white shot of Kendrick rapping in a hallway, dropping Kamasi Washington references while sounding eerily reminiscent of the late Drakeo the Ruler. “squabble up”, the second track on his new surprise album GNXrepresents the full version of last summer’s prelude. It’s a satisfying entry to a record where Kendrick drapes himself in elements of his California rap heritage, swinging fluidly between G-funk, hyphy and even mariachi. Gone are the grooved bars and deeply meditative production from the diss tracks; instead, he skips over a funky bass line that mutates Debbie Deb’s “When I hear music” into a 90s club hit powered by a mountain of Tony Montana. It feels like he’s channeling the ghosts of West Coast rap royalty to spit with even more freedom and recklessness—he even references 2Pac’s infamous loogie hawk at the paparazzi.

Kendrick’s lyrical hatred on this track is far-reaching, which makes it all the more fun. “Tell me why the hell you niggas rap if it fictitious/Tell me why the hell you niggas fed if you criminal,” he growls, after dealing out threats of violence like he’s dealing cards. No longer committed to the beef attack response pattern, Kendrick sounds like he’s strolled out to the town square and declared that he’s taking on all challengers. His myriad voices, octave shifts and screams sometimes seem like he’s losing control. But as long as you’re not the one caught in his crosshairs, you’re thankful that “crack” is free to dominate car speakers in Compton instead of rotting in a vault.