Source: @kendricklamar / Instagram
Kendrick Lamar is crafty. On the night of the MTV VMA’s, the anniversary of 9/11, the day after Kamala Harris dogwalked Donald Trump during a debate and Taylor Swift dropped a political co-sign, Kendrick Lamar decided to release a new song.
As you should have expected, it didn’t get lost in the sauce and immediately started trending. Per 2024 Hip-Hop protocol this means that K-Dot is still the alpha rapper of the moment, as if getting tabbed to headline the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, and all the salty envy it sparked, wasn’t already an indicator.
As for the song, we don’t have a title. As for the artwork, it’s a well-worn pair of black Nike Air Force 1’s, long the indicator of someone who is about that action, a shooter or someone you definitively do not want the smoke with.
“Influencers talk down ’cause I’m not with the basic sh*t/But they don’t hate me, they hate the man that I represent,” spits the Compton rapper. “The type of man that never d*ck ride ’cause I want a favor/The man that resides in patience/So where the soldiers at?/The ones that lost it all and learned to learn from that/A thirst for life/Head inside a book ’cause he concerned with that/Information that’ll change his life because he yearns for that/Dedication, finding out what’s right ’cause he can earn from that.”
Of course, a jab at “influencers” means many are assuming DJ Akademiks is in the crosshairs. Uh oh.
lol dropping on 9/11 . Pop out concert on Juneteenth . Wait lemme guess. New diss song on Halloween/ thanks giving / drake birthday/ Christmas.
Bruh drop a single.. u just got announced as the headliner of superbowl .
No Round 2s. Just drop em hits.
— DJ Akademiks (@Akademiks) September 12, 2024
Also worth note, K-Dot big ups Lecrae on the refrain, and that’s just dope, period.
https://twitter.com/AndresWrites/status/1833545343897886762
The praise, and hate, is already off to a fiery start on the Internets. Peep some of the more volatile reactions that we assembled in the gallery.
We’ll get back to you on the name of the song, too.