Under Control: Ranking All 37 Kendrick Lamar Verses Of 2013

December 20, 2013 - 9:23 pm by John Kennedy

Kendrick Lamar ruled rap in 2013 without even releasing an album. And how? Simple: He borrowed Lil Wayne’s formula of hopping on any and everything (from Lonely Island to Kid Cudi), which resulted in a lot of satisfied listeners (and some embarrassed hosts). It's hard to keep track of all the rhymes Kendrick dropped in this calendar year, so we've done you a favor and compiled them all, ranked from dope to extremely dope. Here's to the year of Kendrick. —John Kennedy and Max Weinstein

37. "Give It To You," Robin Thicke Hot line: "You’re like a needle in a haystack/I wanna sit you where my face at" This is the last place any of us want to see Kendrick Lamar. Just because he’s the nicest young rapper in the world doesn’t mean he belongs on a song by every single artist. This makes that more than manifest. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

36. "GQ Man Of The Year 2013 (Freestyle)" Hot line: "Different toilet, same shit/And I drunk a whole gallon of laxatives/by accident/just to shit on you has beens" This is a short and sweet rhyme that was a bit marred by the GQ cover story controversy. Gotta love how he pays literally no attention to the stylists while spitting. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

35. "How Many Drinks? (Remix)," Miguel Hot line: Aha, and what do we have/Your empty heart and my empty bottle and yellow cab/That you are likely to catch cause your latest ex made you mad/So I figured the perfect catch would be you if I made the pass" The man who made "Swimming Pools" and the author of "How Many Drinks?"—both VIBE co-cover stars—linked up for an intoxicating rap remix on which Kendrick nods to both ATCQ and Nas. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

34. "Paper Birds," Meek DeMeo Hot line: "Then we started vibing and writing melodies to the sirens/Gun smoke in the air, we stared at the horizon" “Paper Birds” is tumultuous enough before Kendrick brings street politics into the picture. He personifies his city in such a shrouded way that you can’t really tell it’s coming until he tells you. He not only pens a great verse, but he tells a story too. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

33. "Ain't Nothin' Ta Fuck Wit" (Freestyle) Kendrick stumbles a bit here, but you can tell he's coming off the top. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

32. "Stay Ready (What A Life)," Jhené Aiko Hot line:: "I find myself reading old text messages when I'm bored/We find ourselves sexting 'til that connection is restored" Kendrick makes eyes with a lover but comes off a little corny with the time metaphors. The way he drifts between hard rapping and feathery sing-song, however, is to be envied by any rapper who can’t do both as well as K. Dot. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

31. "Crime," Mayer Hawthorne Hot line: "Middle fingers in the air, this is truth and double dare/300 drunk mothafuckas in the holding cell" Kendrick waxes poetic with more flare than substance on Mayer Hawthorne’s “Crime” (what happened to his vintage sound?) as he romps and rolls with a newfound lady friend. All the technicality is there, but not the soul that makes him fly. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

30. "A Bay Bay (Freestyle)" Hot line: "Chick I’m gettin’ it how I live, I put that on my left rib / 25 with no kids but this…..you can babysit" It sounds like this might start as a written before he goes off the charts, but freestyling is about being entertaining, and not only does he rhyme every line, but he makes it look easy. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

29. Emeli Sande – Next To Me (Remix) Hot line: "But I can see ya, even when my vision's impaired/Many moons away, but still you're right here" K Dot dedicates this verse to the nonbelievers who “made the kettle blow”—they were by his side when he dreamed of a Benz, and they’ll come flocking in droves as he becomes more popular. Good thing he’s comfortable with them by his side. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

28. "Street Dreamin’," Bridget Kelly Hot line: "Take a trip with the narcoleptic/Suffered insomnia, but this time it was only seconds" Funny that this song centers around “Got My Mind Made Up”, a 2Pac song that was originally meant for Tha Dogg Pound, who famously didn’t like dreaming about getting paid. Kendrick’s all about his night-night here, and the simple fact that he’s rhyming over this sample is enough to make your head spin. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

27. "R.I.P. (Remix)" Young Jeezy Feat. Chris Brown and YG Hot line: "Stomach on belly roll, bitch I'm eatin' and shit/You a vegan and shit, get off my penis and shit" Kendrick shows he can hang on a club track over DJ Mustard's Cali bounce. He keeps the energy up, but still sounds a little out of place. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

26. "1 Train," A$AP Rocky Hot line: "If I'm not the hottest then Hell must've froze over/You thought it was safe then forgot what the code was" Kendrick cruises a bit on this one, a dope posse cut on which—for once—the Compton kid doesn't completely steal the show (that'd be Big K.R.I.T.'s lengthy closing verse). [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

25. "YOLO," The Lonely Island Hot line: "Take no chances, stop freelancin’/Invest in your future, don’t dilute your finances" Alright, this is actually the last place we want to see Kendrick, but his verse is a textbook lesson in self-investment so you can’t even be mad. If you’ve ever doubled down on yourself in any capacity, you’ll connect with this short but potent guest spot. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

24. "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe (Remix)" Kendrick Lamar Feat. Jay Z [Verse 1] Hot line: "I'm lookin' to be the god MC/You look at my hat and see thorns there" The numbers and success aren't getting to Kendrick, and he lets us know here, on this super-anticipated remix of his own good kid, m.A.A.d city cut. May this be the last cultural reference to Trinidad James. Lettuce pray. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

23. "Nas Is Like (Freestyle)" Kendrick Lamar rapping over a classic DJ Premier beat is like heaven for a G. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

22. "I Want It All," B Martin Hot line: "Got about a million, throw it at the ceiling/Layin’ smack dead in the face of civilians" Rarely does the Compton spitter rap about how much money he’s got, but it goes to show that he could rap about a brick wall and bring you to tears. It’s the way he strings words together that makes the topic irrelevant. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

21. "Watts R.I.O.T.," Gee Watts Hot line: "It took me through many moons just to set up this new platoon/Get ambushed or kick-pushed with push brooms" The first half of that bar sounds like either an epic Greek poem or a Shaw Brothers movie. The vivid imagery of crumbling cornbread or pushing brooms is enough to make two lines from Kendrick’s verse more memorable than anything else about this song. He can capture your imagination and then run in three different directions with it. That’s why he’s considered the one of the best. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

20. "100 Favors," Rich Gang Hot line: "So as I reminisce the coupon that we used to split at Baileys/On your mothers couch, your little brother in the alley" That couplet doesn’t even graze how fluid this verse is. It’s hard to measure the bars of the first three quarters of his verse because they constantly spill over into proceeding lines. These are liquid swords compared to the rest of the rapping on the Rich Gang album. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

19. "Fragile," Tech N9ne Hot line: "Tell me that my name is/Big as Venus Jupiter and then Uranus/Tell me that your anus got your head in it/I can smell the articles and know you're heinous" This verse is thrilling because Kendrick euphemistically sprays journalists with bullets (that’s us!). The gist of his verse is that magazines and press all suck the same, but when you hear how intricately precise his cadence is, you’re hard-pressed to find a writer that would disapprove of his wizardry. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

18. "Keep It Thoro (Freestyle)" “Keep It Thoro” is like a New York radio initiation ritual for rappers. Hearing K. Dot over East Coast classics is pretty perfect. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

17. "Looks Good With Trouble," Solange Hot line: Stuck on a tall ass bus, like 14 bunks and I can’t even sleep/And I hate getting drunk so I don’t got a cup, but I’ve got James Mason on repeat" Kendrick’s feature here is like Tom Sawyer’s makeshift craft floating along Solange’s lazy river of a song—a vehicle filled with doubt and wonder and dreams. He searches for the words to communicate his feelings, but in the process illustrates the struggle that we all have with turning our insides out for someone. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

16. "Better Off," Quadron Hot line: "Ask for your forgiveness, if it’s worth it I can serve a purpose / If I’m st…st…stuttering" Bedroom pop duo Quadron hired Kendrick to match the mood, and it feels like they got a bunch of platitudes until Kendrick stutters on the track and suddenly he sounds like a character so head over heels in love that he can’t help but be childishly cliché. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

15. "Sail (Remix)," AWOLNATION Hot line: "We can explore heavy feelings of breathing mother nature’s air/Feelings of knowing that I’m rather rare" Technique wins out over content once more. It’s the way Kendrick drops words into every slot of the beat like quarters into an arcade game that draws the listener into his world. See how flat Ab-Soul’s meter comes off following the good kid for an apt comparison. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

14. "Two Presidents," YG Hootie Hot line: "Kendrick Martin, Hootie Malcolm/I'm screaming out peace, but his chopper piece a bad outcome" The Compton rapper was giving out verses like Turkey on Thanksgiving this year, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t stellar. Over a synth that bends like light on water, Kendrick commands “Two Presidents” on what sounds like a demented version of “U.O.E.N.O.” and lays out why he’s such a vicious rapper. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

13. "Solo Dolo Part II," Kid Cudi Hot line: "You wish me well, I wish you Hell/Eternity, no such thing as time will tell" Kendrick beats his chest on this Indicud favorite, growling at detractors and competitors: "I'm passin' out, ass whoopins," he informs, nonchalantly. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

12. "Winner's Circle," Kanin Hot line: "Pacin’ back and forth, my sleeping pattern is getting badder than insomniacs/I’m a zombie at the studio, can you ponder that?" Kendrick’s build up from a steady, contained growl to an outwards burst of energy makes him sound like he’s powering up. It gives his verses progression—he literally brings his words to life. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

11. "Memories Back Then," T.I. Feat. B.o.B Hot line: "You looking for the nigga with the tallest 'fetti/You overlooking every nigga that ain’t quite ready" This is some brilliant storytelling that eloquently sums up Mike Jones' catchphrase: "Back then they didn't want me/Now I'm hot they all on me." K Dot remembers a certain hottie who gave him no play before he made it big yet these days she's a mother of three to as many fathers. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

uoeno-black-hippy-kendrick-lamar_1

10. "U.O.E.N.O. (Remix)" - Black Hippy Hot line: "Stuck in a rock and a hard place/Eminem, Pac and where God stay/Timberlands pop that jaw bone, now, bitch nigga, tell me how that tar taste" One of the best beats of the year gets the rare Black Hippy treatment, and it’s a full court sprint as soon as Kendrick channels Snoop with a little player primping: “She filed my nails in the Bahamas.” He goes on to dismember Rocko's hit with a tip of the hat to the brand new owner of a flat screen TV: Sway. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

9. "We Up," 50 Cent Hot line:"I’m on Instagram looking at your favorite singer/Debating on should I fuck her or jump on her single" Poor 50. He had a solid record with “We Up” and people still didn’t bite, even with a dazzling Kendrick feature (and probably some help with his own verses, too.) The Comptonite stings most with lines like, “Fuck nigga, you fucked over your father when he gave you a dick/Should have been a bitch in pajamas.” That’s straight out of the schoolyard. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

8. "H.O.P.E.," Compton's Finest Hot line: "I give you my album in replacement of Detox/I drop shit with ease to let y’all eavesdrop" You won’t know until the end of his first verse who Kendrick is rapping as, but if you heard his early stuff you’ll be able to tell. There’s an emphasis to certain words that is very reminiscent of his Kendrick Lamar EP while he was still transitioning from one advanced style to another. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

7. "Collard Greens," Schoolboy Q Hot line: "Ven aqui, mami, ese culo/Tu quieres cojer mis huevos, y papi me desespero/Chuparse puto pendejo, el pinche cabron " Kendrick begins rapping this verse in Spanish—not Spanglish, Spanish—and it is straight fuego. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

6. "Jealous," Fredo Santana Hot line: "I done bust down on a few thots, Fredo hit me on my phone/'Nigga I can't talk right now—yum, yum, yum, yum—got pussy on my tongue'" If Kendrick yelling “GET UP. OFF YO. ASS! MAKE YO. SELF A. HUNNID. RACKS!” doesn’t make you want to stand up or at least want to get taller, you have no blood in your veins. It’s also worth noting that he references coming home to a dead homie, perhaps the same deceased friend whose funeral was mentioned in his GQ interview. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

5. "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe (Remix)" Kendrick Lamar Feat. Jay Z [Verse 2] Hot line: Told niggas when I was 16/that I'd write a 16/To put a nigga right on the big screen/In the paddy wagon with six teens/Should have been in the pen but now my pen write with morphine" This is the verse that really matters. After Hov comes through and bodies the middle rhyme, K Dot goes back into the booth to stand his ground. And from his wordplay is top notch, from the ballerina/Black Swan references to subliminals that some perceive to be about Shyne ("Picture lil' ol' me giving a fuck for what a fuck nigga gotta say/Nigga you never be Jay, never be Nas, never be Snoop nor Dre"). Kendrick shocks with a closing verse that outshines one of his idol. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

4. "Love Game," Eminem Hot line: "I want you bad as the head shatteredAnnotate on George Zimmerman/After the Dillinger hit him diligently and killing him/His mouthpiece for a Cadillac emblem" This track from MMLP2 sounds a bit cartoonish at first, but Kendrick's lyricism is dizzying—and hilarious. Everything from the answering machine message of—who else?—Sherane, to hypotheticals like, "What about if I was as famous as Marshall? Would you give fellatio in the carpool?" [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

3. "Nosetalgia," Pusha T Hot line: " Quantum physics could never show you the world I was in/When I was ten, back when nine ounces had got you ten/And nine times out of ten/niggas don't pay attention/And when there's tension in the air, nines come with extensions" Kendrick tiptoes that line between drug dealer and observer that rappers like Nas have spent whole careers tightroping. Here he does it best, detailing the ugly realities of crack addiction and then, ultimately, joining that same coke family lineage by selling his own brand of dope bars. Pusha holds his own, but Kendrick straight steals the show here. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

2. "Control," Big Sean Feat. Jay Electronica Hot line: "I've seen niggas transform like villain Decepticons/Mollies'll prolly turn these niggas to fucking Lindsay Lohan/A bunch of rich ass white girls looking for parties/Playing with Barbies/Wreck the Porsche before you give them the car key" This ranking is not a troll. Sure, “Control” was a moment unlike any we’ve seen since, maybe, 50 Cent’s “How To Rob.” And judging bar-for-bar, this is a glorious, statement-making three minutes of menace —and that’s before you get to the name calling. Yet still, “Control” was celebrated more for it’s controversy [claiming bicoastal kingship, sonning every (un)worthy peer] than it’s lyricism. It was a sucker punch to the entire rap game and beyond, a verse that plainly knocked us on our asses soon as it dropped, a conversation piece that just might carry over into the New Year. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

1. "BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher," TDE Hot line: "Nothing's been the same since they dropped 'Control'/And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes/Ha-ha, joke's on you, high-five/I'm bulletproof" All eyes were on Kendrick when he closed out Black Hippy’s cypher at the BET Awards. This was the 2013 version of the Summer Jam screen that once embarrassed Prodigy and clowned Ja Rule. And Kendrick Lamar didn’t disappoint. What he did here, in this 122 seconds, was not only identify himself as one of the modern day greats—he asserted himself as king. King Kendrick. And while we’ve heard this declaration before, here, post-”Control,” it sounds a bit more tangible. A bit more believable. He made Papoose STFU (finally) and sent a not-so-friendly dig at his biggest obstacle, Drake. And even amidst the tangle of alliteration and metaphor, there’s that one outstanding jingle that hooked us all and drew cheers from the live audience: “Hold up, wait a minute/Your career ain’t shit if you don’t got some Kendrick in it.” Watch the throne, Drizzy. [videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]

In This Story: