Following Kendrick Lamar’s big Grammy wins for a song that musically buried Drake, you’d think no one would be delusional enough to think they can take on the Compton lyricist in a rap battle. Enter: Kanye “Psycho Genius” West.
During a new interview with Justin Laboy for The Download, the conversation inevitably turned toward one of, if not the biggest stories in music in recent memory: the Drake/Kendrick beef.
Kanye West first confessed that Kendrick Lamar is the best at what he does. “If you rap against Kendrick, you will lose,” he said. “This man does this.”
Ye also compared Kendrick to Street Fighter, saying that no can best lyrically, with one exception that, by now, you already see coming. “You know in Street Fighter, you get Chun-Li, you get a certain kick, and no matter what, you can’t beat that thing?” he began.
“If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, like Joe Budden said, ‘Never rap against Kendrick Lamar.’ If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, it’s a difficult task, but perhaps it’s something … I’m a psycho genius, so you know, it could be.”
Laboy responded by making West’s point back to him by urging: “Do not rap against Kendrick Lamar.” West, who only seems to hear the sound of his own voice then added, “Unless you’re a psycho genius like me.”
“So Kendrick killed Drake — he’s dead,” Laboy said, a sentiment with which West agreed, with a caveat. “Yeah, for now,” West replied. “You can’t ever count out Steph Curry. That man might get 200 points in one song.”
West then complimented both artists, saying Drake added “something to the algorithm to our frequency. He advanced us. Future advanced us and now Kendrick advanced the frequency.”
Look, it would be completely disingenuous to say that Ye doesn’t have bars. He does. But Kendrick Lamar, like Eminem before him, is a career-ender. That’s not to say Kendrick would end Kanye’s career. Hell, even Kanye can’t end Kanye’s career, apparently. But a verse or song from Kendrick would definitely wound him, metaphorically speaking.
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