Dissect - Section.80 | LAST SONG STANDING (E4)

Episode Date: August 4, 2022

Cole and Charles gather around the campfire to debate Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 and pick its best song. Will Charles continue his streak of normie picks? Will Cole once again choose a deep cut? Cast your vote in the poll below and follow the LSS playlist, updated weekly. LAST SONG STANDING is a new show from Dissect and The Ringer. Each season focuses on one artist in attempt to determine their greatest song of all time by debating through their ENTIRE catalog. New episodes publish Thursdays on the Dissect feed. Hosts: Cole Cuchna & Charles Holmes Producer: Justin Sayles Audio Production: Kevin Pooler Theme Music: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome everyone to Last Song Standing, a show about your favorite artist's greatest song of all time. I'm Cole Kushna. And I'm Charles Holmes. And in this first season of Last Song Standing, we're diving deep into one of the most talented and complicated rappers of a generation. That's right. Kendrick Lamar. Cole and I are debating our way through his entire catalog in an effort to decide what's the greatest Kendrick song of all time. You all already know what the L.S. Boys are about.

One album, two host, three nominees. And at the end of the show, we both pick the best songs of a project to take into the season finale, where we're going to have to whittle down our picks until there is only one last song standing. We're four episodes in. Cole, can I keep it real with you? Yeah, let's hear it. I'm burning through takes. I have no more takes to him. I am burnt out on all the takes.

I'm just like, I have Kendrick ticks for days. I have like locked and loaded ones that are going to get Cole pissed. I sec listeners piss Kendrick fans pissed You're out I'm really scared That I'm running out That's like a little kid

At a like an amusement park Just like expending all energy In the first hour I literally wasted So many of my takes And so much of my energy On the first three episodes I believe in you man

Today's episode I was like I don't know if I have takes Yeah don't feel the pressure It's okay Charles You're only human Just like Kendrick took the crown off On Mr. Morale

You got to take the take crown off every once in a while So beautiful. Guys, I'm not your savior. For all the Kendrick haters out there, I'm not your savior. You know who your savior is? On last song, Standing, Cole. So, Cole, I have to ask you, you need to take us back to the board so we can remind listeners

what are individual nominees for Kendrick's greatest song are so far. Yeah, we're three episodes in, three albums in. First episode, we hit Good Kid, Mad City. Can I just be honest? We agreed on the song Mad City. But ever since then, in the back of my mind, I have a little. little bit of regret that I didn't pick money trees no sing about me oh no i think i have my first regret of of my list is not having having seen about me on there but episode two we diverged we did

mr morrow on the big stepers i chose mother i sober you chose father time yep episode three last week you chose dna off of dam and i chose fear off a damn yeah looking at my list personally i feel like mine's pretty balanced. I got some, I got the banger on there. I got a couple emotional songs. Your list, I don't know, man, you're kind of like bangers, just bang. Can I call you a basic bitch? Is that appropriate? Oh, I'm a normie. I'm literally a normie. I'm not doing any of that like, sing about me. I'm dying of thirst. Don't work shit. Like, I'm like, nah, you can't throw those songs on at a fun shit. Like everybody, if you throw that on at your barbecue, people would be like, shut that shit off. So I am anormy.

I appeal to the basic bitches out there. So yeah, I'm totally happy with my list. Okay, Charles, but let me just say you're back. That was just, you just gave a hot take. You just shit on singing about me, I'm buying your thirst. Based on the comments so far about this show, that's been a very popular choice. So you're back, baby. I'm so back.

But let's get to it, all right? Everybody's wondering, what are y'all going to do on this episode? And today, we're going back to the comment sections. of two dope boys and not right. It's 2011 and people still have hope for a black hippie album that's never coming. That's right. We're about to dive into Kendrick's debut album slash mixtape Section 80. Section 80.

I can like hosts. Everybody heard that a buff with drink. Anyone to tell me I made it. I wrote this record why 30,000 feet in the air. Stewart is complimenting me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Cole, since we're traveling back in time to 2011, we need to set up when we first heard Section 80.

So me, I was a chip off the old block, a youngster with so much vigor, the takes had not curdled yet. I was just positive. My future was looking bright. Right. Very appropriate to this album, yeah. And in 2011, I love Section 80. It was probably the first Kendrick record where I feel like he really started to put things together.

At that time, I was super, super into the blogosphere. And looking back on it, I just love some of the worst mixtapes from every wallet, Kid Cuddy, Wiz Khalifa. Kendrick was in there, Big Sean, everything. If it was a mixtape, I was downloading it. And when Section 80 came out, it was this moment where there was kind of this feeling that Kendrick was coming up on the West Coast. And I remember he was on the double XL freshman list. Can I read to you who was on the list with Kendrick? All right.

Let's hear it. All right. So Meek Mill, Big Crit, Sighy the Prince, Little Twist, Yellow Wolf, Fred the Godson, Mac Miller, Y, G, L'B, Kemp, Klamar. And Diggy Simmons. It's a pretty good list, actually, you know? That's actually a really, really solid list. But it's kind of funny where Kendrick is by far the biggest artist on that list. But when that list came out, I wouldn't say that he was the one that everybody was tapping.

To me, Mac Miller at that point, Meek Mill, L.B., all of them were more famous than Kendrick to me. Is that a wild take? No, I think that's true. I think that's true. Because if I remember correctly, this came out before. for Section 80, right, this list? I believe so, yes. Yeah, so I think Section 80, as we'll talk about,

kind of really solidified his reputation, but, you know, overly dedicated, showed promise, but yeah, it was, I don't think Kendrick was high on very many people's lists. Where were you when you heard Section 80? Because talking to you, as our friendship has blossomed, you didn't listen to Section 80 in 2011. You came back to it.

Yeah, this was, as I've talked about on the show, before I was at this point in college studying classical music and that's to in order to survive in that world, I had to listen to nothing but classical music for four years. And so when I emerged, you know, Good Kid was the album that put me on to Kendrick. I'd heard as a name of course, but Good Kid was what kind of sold me on Kendrick and then I went back to Section 80. So I didn't experience in real time, but it's actually pretty interesting as like I try to, I don't consider myself a music historian at all, but like I think, hip hop-wise, 2011 is a very interesting year when you do look back on it because you have this, it's like very much a bridge between generations, right? You have Watch the Throne coming out in 2011, Jay-Z and Kanye are like on this victory lap, right? They're the kings of hip-hop at this time. Wait, you know why they made that album, though, right? Why? Connie has said that they made Watch the Throne because Drake was like so hot and so popular. Him and Jay are like,

we need to come out with something, which it's Kanye, so like maybe take that with a grand assault, but to your point of like this being a generation where like Drake is coming up and Jay Cole. Yeah. And Kendrick and Meek, it is this kind of passing of the torch

even if it's very reluctantly. Yeah, no, definitely. And, you know, we have, I mean, listen to all these albums that come out in 2011. Take care. Live Love, A, Sass. Blue Slide Park, Mac Miller's debut, Cole World, Jay Cole's debut, Goblin from Tyler, Camp from Gambino. And so you have all these, you know, kind of generation-defining artists all releasing their first major works.

And I think Section 80 falls into that category for Kendrick. And Kendrick even acknowledged this kind of transition in an interview who said, he was asked, what were some of your thoughts after Section 80 came out? and he said, my favorite rappers like JZ, Kanye Knaz, they're in a whole different space now. They're once in the space we were at as kids, but now they're into money, so we can't really relate to the average 18-year-old

getting out of high school. And so getting fucked up, going to parties and just being carefree. And basically he goes on to say, like, Kanye and Jay-Z aren't fulfilling that role anymore, and now it's this new generation's job to fulfill, you know, relatable music about everyday struggle because Kanye and Jay-Z are just not on that level anymore.

So I thought that was pretty interesting that Kendrick himself saw that kind of bridge and that passing of the torch taking place. And we'll talk about this later. But, you know, Kendrick literally gets past the torch after this album from Snoop in the game and Dr. Dre. So that's kind of my big takeaway, like from a historical perspective about, you know, 2011 and Section 80 more broadly. Yeah. Kendrick was calling them old niggas, why? Like for real, but yo, for those of you that have forgotten or are listening for the first time, the rules of L-Dableness are pretty simple.

Each episode, we cover one album and are forced to crown the last song standing. That means we can choose one song off each album, the one we think is better than the rest. Then at the end of the season, we'll have our Royal Rumble finale where we'll bring the best songs we've chosen from each album and do get out until we both can agree on what is the single greatest Kendrick Lamar song of all time. We are about to dive into the album, but first, we got to go to break. Make sure you stay tuned. All right, Cole, we've set up kind of the landscape of where music was in 2011, but let's dive a little bit deeper into Section 80. It was released on July 2nd, 2011. Depending upon who you ask, this is either Kendrick's real debut album,

or it's just another mixtape. It features appearances from School Boy Q, BJ the Chicago Kid, Ab Sol, and GLC. It only spawned one single high power, but honestly, it might as well have been too, because ADHD is by far the biggest song off this project. And for those that are wondering, you're like, how much did this Kendrick album sell? I was in the trenches when this dropped. And I'm so happy that it dropped in 2011, where people really weren't up on Kendrick because, you know, the drink officiant. Arries Angels would use this against him. It sold 5,000 copies in its first week. It debuted at number 113 on the Billboard 200, which... 5,000. That's so weird to hear, right? Like, 5,000, but here's

the thing. To give Kendra credit, this is at a time where, like, streaming is not where it's at. Yeah. Where it's like, even though Kendrick wasn't like that popular, the streaming economy he was still really, really weird. So there were a lot of rappers during that time who would sell like a thousand copies in the first week. Also, Billboard hadn't really changed how they calculated. Exactly, yeah. So, like, Kendrick was way bigger than he, like,

the sales would tell you. There was just no way for, there was a way. Billboard was just kind of lazy and behind the times. But there was no way at that time to be like, okay, this is how big Kendrick is. Right. And it's kind of this weird bridge between, like, 2011 is,

definitely like the death of the mixtape. It was kind of veering towards that for a few years, but once streaming became prominent, the mixtape tag just became just that a tag. It was like, I'm calling this a mixtape to give you different expectations going in. But at this time, it was kind of, they were still doing mixtapes, quote, unquote. And I think that's why Section 80, we can never tell if it's a mixtape or an album, because at this time, it was just becoming so homogenized and weird that it was just, you couldn't tell. But yeah, that's pretty fun.

Just to hear 5,000 copies and Kendrick Amar album is just really weird to hear. But let me, you mind if I set up some of the album themes for Section 80? Let's go to this little old campfire, all right? Us 80s kids, well, I was born in the 80s, but us 80s kids in spirit. Tell us about the concepts behind Section 80. Yeah, that's exactly it. It's like conceptual campfire, right? So the songs are kind of positioned as stories told around a campfire.

Specifically, there's stories about Kendrick-Gamar's generation, the 1980s, or babies that were born in the 1980s. And grew up specifically during this war on drugs, you know, that had all these, the Ronald Reagan era, all these policies that disproportionately targeted black and brown communities. And Kendra's kind of giving us the result of those policies. So we see this reflected in the album title itself, which most people know. It combines Section 8 government housing with the 1980s. And Kendrick actually tells us why he wrote this album directly. If you watch the video for High Power, the first single, there's a little blurb that comes on screen, and it says, I wrote Section 80 because I was ordered to do so.

I got a visit from Lisein Parish Crooks, research his name. I remember being asleep. His image said, don't let me die. I was paranoid. I said, why. He said, because you're the dot, dot, dot. And so when you research who this person, Lezane, Parish Crooks is, it's the real name of Tupac Chakure. And it's alluding to this famous dream that Kendrick had, where essentially Tupac comes to him and says, you're the next generation. I'm passing the torch to you, kind of our generation depends on you. And I think that's kind of the beginning of Kendrick's story as, as we've talked about on this podcast a lot, as savior, as a generational leader. And Section 80 doesn't come to like a resolution or narrative conclusion. They're not really a storyline

that we've come to expect from Kendrick albums, but there is kind of a conceptual philosophical resolution, and that is the song High Power. So throughout, Section 80, we hear all these stories about people trapped in Compton and the cycles that they get caught into. And a high power offers a philosophical kind of framework to escape that cycle, or at least this was what Kendrick was thinking at the time, which is this high power philosophy of heart, honor, and respect. And it's kind of an antidote to the mental prison or the dangerous cycles that the people in his community are caught up in. So, I don't know, how's that, how's that sound to you? It's sitting with me beautifully, but can I ask you a really important question? All right.

And answer, honestly. Okay. All right. We're 40, 50 years in the future. You finally get a Kendrick Lamar interview. After years and years, he sits down with you. Have the greatest interview of your life. And then you guys are like shooting the shit.

And he goes, yo, can I tell you secret Cole? And you're like, of course, Kendrick. You're my favorite artist ever. He's like, that Tupac dream was bullshit. I never had it. No. It was just a good. It was just a good.

dream. It was just like a good idea that I had for like a mixtape and I just ran with it because nobody could prove otherwise. How would you feel? Oh, a little bit disappointed. But then I would think like, yeah, I think what gets lost in Kendrick's kind of legacy is how young he was. Like he was like 22 when he's making Section 80. So I would think, yeah, maybe it's just like an adolescent kind of like embellishing his story to, you know, sound interesting as we do as, you know, 18 to 22 year olds. So I'd probably as my personality often does, give him the benefit of the doubt and, you know, try to see it from his perspective. I would love him more. Like, I would actually, he would be my favorite rapper of all time.

It'd be the funniest thing anyone's ever seen. I think the dream, like, really exhibits, like, Kendrick really does feel like he's chosen. Like, that, you know, as we talked about with Good Kid Mad City, like, that divine intervention that happens in the food for less parking lot, him seeing Dr. Dre and Tupac filming California love video on his father's shoulders when he was eight-year-old boy in Compton, him having this dream about Tupac. I think as we often do when we're young, like all these things, you're like, oh, what does this mean? Like, am I chosen? Am I the one? And I think it just speaks to like, it's just so interesting returning to these albums after Mr. Morrell specifically because he does take off that crown and just going back and really,

realizing all these events in his life that made him feel like the Savior. And then, you know, and maybe this is a good place to talk about him getting formally past the torch. But then, you know, 10 years later, taking it off. I don't know. When I saw, I went back and watched the video for anyone that hasn't seen this, they should definitely go look it up on YouTube. There's a video of Kendrick performing live after Section 80, I think it's about a month after Section 80, was released. And it's a concert with the game and Snoop Dog comes on stage and essentially you like passes Kendrick the West Coast torch and says you're the future of hip hop and Kendrick starts bawling his eyes out on stage

and I went back and watched it before we recorded this and like it was tough to watch because I just kept thinking like Mr. Morrell here he is getting the crown put on his head and 10 years later he takes it off. And all the things that had to happen within that 10 year span for him to realize that he wasn't this savior. I don't know.

I just thought it was kind of interesting. Do you have any thoughts like that returning to this album? Yes. I think Kendrick, weirdly, is probably there, in terms of hip-hop narcissist, there is Kanye on a mountain of his own,

like at number one. And then far down. Number two, I think, is Kendrick, in terms of like probably two of the most critically acclaimed art. ever, especially of our lifetime. And it is funny going back listening to like Mr. Moral with Kendrick probably doing the thing that Kanye never will, which is kind of being like,

wait, I'm not the savior. And that's fine. And like listening in Section 80, you get that, you know? Yeah, to me, it's, I mean, I just think about my mindset when I was 16 to, you know, 25 and how I felt like, I mean, as often youthful people do, they feel like they're going to change the world. Their generation is going to be the one that that fixes everything. And you have all these ambitions and all these, yeah, all these ambitions to do so many great things. And as adulthood often does for a lot of people, it really, I don't know, it breaks you. And that's the house. It grinds you down.

It really does. And that's like one of the things I thought about when I watched that video, you know, is just like, yeah, he, we experienced. adulthood along with Kendrick. And it was kind of ironic because I think about Tipinpa Butterfly and what Tupac said on Tipa Butterfly was like, I'm paraphrasing, but he said like, you know, in this country, you got to essentially you've got to do everything while you're young because

by the time you're 30, they take the heart and soul out of a black person in America. And then Kendrick being 30 or so when he's, you know, riding Mr. Morale and kind of like that playing out, it's just kind of ironic and kind of sad. Oh, it's so sad. Cole, look at us bonding over how existence tends to grind you to a powder that just doesn't want to exist.

But it is time to segue, not the most elegant segue, but it's not a segue to our first bit of the day, which is damn, that's wild, which is our trivia corner. Cole has two questions. I have two questions or I might have one question. And both of us are going to try to stump each other on some unknown facts or little known facts about Section 80. Cole, would you like to go first? Yeah, I got a good one.

It's right up your alley. Okay, so according to Kendrick, who was the first person to hear Section 80 outside his immediate circle? Dr. Dre. No. Well, wait. You want a hint? Jay Cole. close close listen to your heart he's come up a lot on this podcast drake yeah really yeah so drake was

so kendrick was in toronto in 2011 june like a couple months before the album comes out and him and drake hung out for the first time and then that night after they met kendrick emailed him section 80 he was the first person to hear it outside kendrick circle he said this about it quote he was actually the first person to hear section 80 i gave it to him that night he was catching a flight somewhere. I sent it through email and he was just rocking with it for a minute, really bigging me up on the project, telling me to keep doing what I'm doing, that it's amazing. And then probably a week after it dropped, he said he wanted to get me on his album. So his feature on Take Care was because of this. And he said the first time he told me, he said he wanted me to get

on a song with the weekend, which I don't think ever transpired. But kind of interesting, a little tidbit for you there, Charles. Honestly, a Drake and Kendrick song, like where they're actually collaborating would be trash. So I'm glad that never happened. Also, it's just very funny to realize at one point the two of these people were friends. And then as hip hop in America does, they are now enemies for a variety of reasons. That's a great fact. I did not know that. Mine is going to be way just more granular. Can you name the DJ that gave Kendrick the hookup on the risa vocals that appear on Ronald Reagan era? Oh, shit. Yeah, that's a good question because I feel like I knew this.

Because we both know, we both know the story of how it happens. Yeah, yeah. Who was it? It was, all right, just tell me. Just tell me. All right. Quote, my man, DJ friction overseas. He worked with Rizza.

Rizzo like my music. He liked the rawness and the feel of it. I've been talking back with my dude, DJ Friction, and he said Rizzo was sitting on some vocals over there and that I could flip the motherfuckers. That's what Kendrick told Complex. See, I knew you knew the story. but I'm like, I guarantee you he's forgotten the name of the DJ. Guarantee it. Yeah, I don't, yeah, I wouldn't have guessed that.

I thought it was someone more well known, but I guess, yeah, apparently not. So what's your next question, Cole? Okay, so after Section 80 was released, Kendrick was sued for $1 million for an uncleared sample. What song was this sample used in? It was the one with School Boy Q. spiteful chant? Nope.

Wait. Wait, no, I know this one. I know this one. You don't Google it. I can hear your keyboard. You're Googling. Oh, I know it's the, I know it's cheating. Wait, it's not the spiteful chant.

Are you sure? It's not the spiteful chant? I have 100%. Well, maybe he got sued, I think, a couple of times. But I'm specifically the one for $1 million was rigor mortis. Oh, shit. Okay. I feel like he, all right.

I do feel like he got sued for like two or three. I really, yeah, I think he actually did because this was, again, this goes back to the ambiguity of a mixtape. If you release a mixtape, if you release a mixtape, and you never sell it, you can use unclear samples because it's just an internet thing. Because they sold Section 80, he got sued a number of times for uncleared samples. It seems like they treated it like a mixtape and then sold it like an album, so they got in trouble for that. So yeah, Rigger Mortis, he got sued for $1 million by Willie the Jones 3rd, who's a jazz drummer.

They sampled his song. Never cleared it. It sounds like it was settled out of court because what he was asking for was $1 million and all profits from the song from that point on, which is pretty wild, especially for a new artist. But they ended up settling out of court because the charges were dropped. But yeah, kind of an interesting fact. So hit me with your last question. They were trying to run Kendrick's pockets early.

This wasn't even good. They were just like, yo, open the pocket. So, hey, respect. My last question is so easy because I was running out of ones. I was like, this one is just a softball for my friend Cole. What was the first name for high power? I don't know this. You don't know this?

This is so, like, this is like a real easy one. Is it? Okay, just tell me because I'm probably going to be embarrassed. Black high power. Oh, okay. Come on, Cole. Dude. I mean, come on.

That doesn't count. And we're going to be honest, and we'll talk about this later, high power as a concept and as a name title for a song, is kind of clunky. But we're going to get there. We'll get there. And I have just like one, it's not a question, but I thought this was really interesting in my research. So you know what Metacritic is?

Yes, absolutely. But tell I listen to you. Yeah. So it's like, essentially they take album reviews or film reviews and they kind of homogenize all rankings and ratings of that particular album and give an average score. And so you kind of get like a bird's eye view of what this album did critically. And so the Metacritic score for Section 80. is 80. Pitchfork gave it an 8.0.

Hip-O-D-X gave it an 8 out of 10. Anthony Fantano gave it an 8 out of 10. You go through all the scores of this album, and they're all 80, Section 80. Kind of, I don't know. You know what that means, Cole? What? That TDE check cleared.

It was paying off all of the critics. He was just like, you'll just give this an 8 out of 10. Yo, I got like, types of this for you right away. Okay. All right. So, now that we've set up the history, the themes, we've done a little trivia, it's time to move on to the next segment of the show. That's right. It's nominations time.

And the award goes to Kendrick Lamar. Damn, Kendrick Lamar. And the Grammy goes to to Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar. All right. Remember the goal of each episode of Last Song Standing is for Colin. and I to determine the single best song from a Kendrick album. The songs we select over the course of the season will then duke it out in a season finale Royal Rumble where we will be forced to agree on the last song standing,

the single best song by Kendrick Lamar. Right now, we're each nominating what songs from Section 80 should be in the running and why. Cole, who do we want to go first this time? I think I went first last time, so I'm going to give it to you. You know what? Let's get, we're going to agree on this one. I know we're going to agree on this one. So can we just get it out of the way?

Like, let's just talk about boys on this song. You know what time it is. I think that this is a song that we can both agree. If you're a Kendrick fan just touches a part of your soul, I think it is something that we don't get a lot with Kendrick anymore, which is him unfettered by the need to, like, sell you on this kind of, like, big concept or show you just like how great maybe his storytelling is. Rigamortis is classic mixtape era.

I am going to just bowl you over with how good I am at rapping and how bad your favorite artists are at rapping. And I love it. So, like, before we kind of get to the nitty-gritty of what we love, Cole, was this on your board? Was Rigamortis on your board? It is my favorite song on Section 80. It was top of my list.

I don't know if it says best song, but exactly, to your point, it is exactly what I want to hear from Kendrick Kumar in 2011. One of the best things about returning to an artist's early catalog is you can hear the hunger. Yeah. And I feel like more than any other song. you can hear on rigormortist Kendrick's desire to be respected

to prove himself to yeah like you said kill every other rapper this is the competition that Kendrick you know admits to on father time 10 years later on Mr. Moral him just big upping himself putting down everybody else it's just

and then virtuosic if we'll probably I'll break down a little bit of the rhyme schemes and stuff here in a second but yeah to your point It's everything I want to hear from Kendrick Kumar in 2011. It's so fun. I mean, even the chorus, just the, got me breathing with dragons. I'll crack the egg of your basket.

You bastard on Malin Manza with madness. Like, he's using every single tool in his chest as a lyricist, whether it's the alliteration, whether it's the eternal rhyme. It's not just difficult because he's rapping it so fast. It's difficult because the way he has to stretch these words, Like, you have to think about it. Like, bastard and madness don't rhyme at all. But the way that they're hitting and the way he's kind of contorting each word.

And, like, just the fact that when he says, I'm Marilyn Manson with the madness. Now, just imagine the magic. It's that repeated M sound that keeps hitting you back and back. When I first heard it, I was like, oh, no, this is the beauty of Kendrick where I think a lot of rappers a lot of time thinks that they're good at rapping because the rap is. complicated, but very few of them really think about, no, this has to hit the ear and be pleasurable. And I love the fact that the chorus especially is almost at war with that sample. Oh, yeah. It's just, sorry, I've never acted like this about Kendrick, but I really, this is just

glowing. I love when you glow on this podcast, because I know deep down you're just trying to resist. So you're just trying to resist. I can't love anything. And here, yeah, Rigamore, I love that you pointed that out, because. one of the interesting things about the chorus is that yeah he's not actually rhyming the words what he's doing is and so usually when you rhyme you're rhyming the last syllable of every word what he's doing on the the chorus is actually rhyming the first syllable of the last word so that's why he can get away with dragons it's dry and then basket bastard madness like it's the first syllable that he's rhyming but to your point it sounds great you know m&m or lupa fiasco can do this kind of stuff and it's something sometimes sounds just like technical barf. Here it just sounds really good.

And I love that you brought up that it's like at odds with the production because it is. And this is one of the things I love about this song. I've been, I've like long, and I'm not the first one to have this take, but I've long considered hip hop and jazz to be parallel art forms. I think you can make a case that like Kendrick Lamar, if he were to never rap and just picked up a trumpet or a saxophone would have been a, great trumpet or saxophone player. Really? Yeah, because like, if you think about like what rapping is, take out the words

and just listen to the rhythm and the cadence and the flow, it's just like a jazz solo, like quite literally, just like a jazz solo. And so the kind of like the rhythmic inclination of rappers is, I think, the same inclination of like a jazz player. And that's what, I think

this is like a jazz song. Like obviously you have the jazz sample. It's a incubated rhythm the sample is and then we we get kendrick rapping to the same tempo of the beat but like he's doing so many offbeat accents that it just kind of like it all kind of homogenizes into this really complex rhythmic texture that you find a lot in jazz um and i love that the concept is killing your favorite rapper it's about murdering that's why rigormortis is the title rickermortis is a stage in death, which is going to actually bring me to my first. I've actually, I got two harder cold takes today because last, last episode, I felt like I let the listeners down because I didn't really have a strong one. So I got two for you. For the listeners that have me have forgotten if you're tapping in, hotter cold take is where Cole tries to convince me, who is a cynic, of one of his, of one of his musicology takes. Theories, my wildest theories. It's also called, is Cole full of

shit. Here it is. So, do you know what Rigamortis is specifically? Is that what happens when like the body's like slowly the decay? Yeah. So it's the, so it's where like the muscles and joints after you die stiffen for a period of one to four days. So here's my theory. Rigamortis is the third stage after death. And what does Kendrick say in the very beginning of the song before he starts rapping? All right, here we go. Third take. So as Kendrick, not talking about the take of him trying to nail his flow, was he actually subtly alluding to the third stage of death, Rickormortus? My heart wants to say fuck off.

Like my heart literally wants to be like, no. But part of me, I'm on the fence. I'm not going to say, it's not total bullshit. Like, that's what I'll put. I'm on the middle. I'm closer to probably. I'm closer to probably. I'm probably like

40% bullshit, 60% maybe Cole has a point. Is that fair? That's fair. That's definitely fair. I'm kind of on the fence about it too, but if it was anyone other than Kendrick, I'll be like, oh, that's just kind of a cool coincidence.

But you just never know with Kendrick, especially on this album where he's, I got another, you'll hear my other take. It has to do with numbers as well. And he's doing a lot of number shit on this album. So that's what, that's what kind of makes me think like,

oh, maybe he was doing some, some club. All right. So give me your second take. Okay. It's for another song, so I'm going to save it. All right,

you're going to save it. So do we both agree that for round one, we are totally tapped into Rigamortis? 100%. And could I just give my, just under one minute theory about this song? Hell yeah. Go off, cool.

All right. So he's talking about killing your favorite rapper. The song's called Rigormortus about death. And it's, you know, a jazz song. There's a jazz sample. he's doing a lot of jazz-like flows. So my interpretation of the song, and I don't know if it's on purpose or not,

but to me it feels like a New Orleans jazz funeral procession. If you're familiar with New Orleans Jazz Funeral Processions, it's essentially a parade with upbeat jazz music, but it's a funeral. So it's like a funeral but also a celebration. And so in my mind, I'm like, jazz song, upbeat jazz song, talking about death, New Orleans.

jazz funeral procession. I don't know. What do you think? All right. So before I'm like, no, that's not it, Cole. I'm going back to the rigor mortis video. Yeah. And while that, it's not, it does not have that nor a lean's vibe to it in terms of like where they filmed it. But I think this looks like New York. And they have the band in the middle of a street with like horns, there's a drummer, and that's what gives me the Norleans vibes. That's what feels like people busking on the streets. There's this artist in the middle who's kind of like rapping or singing to the crowd, getting people around. So I can wrap my head around this theory. I can wrap my head around that. I love that you brought the video up because I got that theory

after watching the video. It's like, is that what he's doing? I think maybe that's, maybe it doesn't happen to the budget to do a whole, you know, parade. at that point in his career. So I think maybe that's the closest thing he can do. But yeah, I love that we agreed off the bat. So are we going to disagree in round two? What did you? Give me the song that you think we're going to disagree on in round two.

I'm going ADHD. Hey, doby. Fuck died. Twelve bottles in the case. Nickle fuck died. Two pills in the halfway. Damn it. That was my round two pick two.

Oh, really? God damn it. All right? I'm trying to like, man, you fact. some beef on this shit. And we're like slowly, really quick. Something that's happening on this podcast is I feel like we thought that would be so far apart. But maybe it's because we've just been doing so many episodes.

We're like slowly but surely we keep agreeing. Okay, but to our credit, I would say, yeah, when we don't want to manufacture the beef, it comes naturally. But I think Section 80 is very clear about like what the strongest songs are. And I think, I don't know if we'll get to talk about like critiques of the album, but there are some heavy critiques for this album. it was weird returning to Section 80 after doing Damn Mr. Morrell and Good Kid, Mad City, because it's like those are pretty close to flawless albums, or at least you can make the case. Well, not Mr. Moral, but those other two, yes.

Okay, but Section 80 is just like, I think everyone could have some critiques about it. It's very clearly an imperfect album, and it's weird, just weird to hear Kendrick. Obviously, he's young and all that, but like, it's just weird to go back to Kendrick album and hear so many flaws. We'll talk about the clunkers later, but I do to your point think that like the top three to five songs are very apparent. So it's like very weird to be like, oh, we're going to both pick different songs. I'm like, actually not really. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think the listeners will agree with us as well. So yeah, let's get into ADHD. It's on, is on your list. So while it was on your list? I think this song, I'm going to be honest, did not like it as when it came out.

I still don't necessarily like it. It's produced by Soundwave, but I think the reason I picked it is because it's so important to not only Kendrick's career, but who he wanted to be as an artist, because this song is almost like a prototype for swimming pools,

where Kendrick is looking back at a generation, and he's trying to come to grips with, um, what's going on? Why are we addicted to drugs and, prescriptions and alcohol and technology. And it's so clunky, but it's kind of funny that even back then, this was the track that fans went to because it's not the, it's not going to bowl you over with the lyrical

virtuosity, like Rigamortis. It doesn't have like the Jay Colby of high power. But this one does feel like Kendrick sitting down and being like, this is how I'm going to be a savior for my generation. This is how I'm going to deliver us from evil in the wild. What do you think? Yeah, I think it's as closest to a hit. I mean, it kind of became a hit in its own right,

even though it wasn't pushed as a single. I think it's its most complete song on the record in terms of just execution as a great hook. the beat I think works for the song and just all the elements kind of come together and it's very smooth, very palatable. You can see why it became so successful, right? Like it's very easy to listen to. And it does lay a lot of thematic groundwork

for what would become the Kendrick Lamar that we now know. I do think there's some clever lyricism here although it's not yet pounding you in the face with its virtuosity. And it does lead me to the second hot or cold take. So let me just set the stage here, okay?

So the section, or the title of itself, like section 80 is like kind of a pun or like clever wordplay. ADHD is talking about the attention and deficit disorder, but also 80 HD, the number 80. So he's showing us the 80s and HD. So we have that going on. And obviously he's like drawing this parallel between. drugs and alcohol and the abuse of drugs and alcohol and that that drugs and alcohol as a treatment to the 80s so the conditions of 80s babies um the circumstances that they're born into you know

encourage them to drink and numb their pain which is what this song is talking about it's a set out a house party kendrick meets this girl they have a conversation you know she's wanting to get fucked up Kendrick's not wanting to get fucked up sounds like trying to get late and they have this conversation at this house party. And he asked her, how old are you? So age is something that comes up a lot on this song, because in the chorus, he says, got a high tolerance when your age don't exist.

And so my theory is here about the hook. So remember this thing about age. The hook is eight doobies to the face, 12 bottles in the case, two pills, and a half weight. So when you add those numbers up, But if you add 8, 12, 2 and a half, you get the number 22.5, 22 and a half. And so at the end of the song, it kind of culminates into this thing about age.

He says, you know, or she says to Kendrick, you know why we crack babies? Because we were born in the 80s. That's 80 HD. Crazy. It culminates with the revelation that ADHD is also 80 HD. So my theory is, when you add up the numbers in the hook, it equals the age that Kendrick Lamar was when he wrote the song. So that's my hatter-cult day. Sadly, Cole, I think you're correct.

And I don't like it. That is the most head-ass shit that I've ever heard. And if Kendrick was like, because I know Kendrick was like in the studio, he was rock and he's like, man, this one's about to kill him. they don't know if they add these numbers up and I'm like dog come on just like come on just wrap about how we shouldn't drink some cough syrup bro. Stop the fucking stage man. He does it. Okay, so he does it again and hold up.

I had this prepared if you were going to say I was full of shit because he says and hold up. He says as a kid I killed two adults. I'm too advanced. So you get the number two and two. 22. Next line he says, I lived my 20s at two years old. So again, you get 22.

And then truth be told, I'm like 87. 87 is the year he was born. So he's doing the 22. I'm 22 years old. I was born in 1987. Katie's baby, Section 80. Come on, man, this is cool. It's not cool.

It's not cool. It is like, it is what so much is section 80. I think the failings of it, which is like, this is a record that I used to think was better than Good Kid Mad City, which is like one of my worst takes. going back to it it's little stuff like that where I'm just like it's too clever by a half where I'm like sure

you're showing all fine but I actually want to zero it on these lyrics for two specific reasons when he says man not one of our lives is caught up in the daily superstition that the world is about to end who gives a fuck we never do listen unless it comes with an 808

PlayStation and some drink looking around and all I see is a big crowd that's product of me I want to zero in for two reasons. The first is doing damn last episode, it's wild that even at 22, Kendrick was obsessed with this idea that the world was going to end soon,

that we all had to become better versions of ourselves or prepare for this coming, this apocalypse. So seeing him seeding that right now is wild. You know what I mean? Yeah, he's had that. That's in every album like that. I think it's even as like early, early mixtapes, him talking about like, yeah, the day

of reckoning and all of us needing to be saying. Have you ever gone to a black barbershop, Cole? What do you think? I don't know. Maybe you got faded back in the day. Maybe he was trying to look like vanilla ice or, you know, eight mile M&M. So in the barbershop, there's always that one barber who's like, yo man, like, I got to let you know something.

And I'm like, dog, can you just give me a Caesar so I can get the fuck out of here? And he's like, yo, the world is about to end. You need to repent. And I'm like, dude, I'm sure it is, bro. Just take my $20 and cut my fucking hair. And Kendrick, with each album and Mr. Morale has, like, calcified it. No, Kendrick's the dude who's got in my hair who wants to convince me the world is about to end. And he's telling me, I, and he's like giving you a mathematical breakdown of all the numbers in the Bible and how they all add up to, like,

2011 and the world's going to end. That is literal. This is why we're boys. Because that's exactly what he's doing. And I also pointed out those lyrics because it's so funny where so much ADHD is like, Kendrick does have a point when he says like my generation sip and cough syrup like it's water. We're a few years removed from Future's mixtape run in the rise of Atlanta as a streaming

juggernaut. But then when he's just like PlayStation Nansom, drank, I'm like, Kendrick, what do you have against PlayStation's, bro? Like, this is the least of our concerns. You know what I mean? Like, dude. That's funny that he zeroed it on video games. It's like, so like I'm 60 years old and looking down on the young generation wagging his finger. Oh, it's definitely, I'm like, yo, can you attack Jeff Bezos or something, dude? Like, come on. They're like bigger fish to fry that people play too much PlayStation. But we both picked ADHD because I do think, like, listening back to it that you can't tell the story of Kendrick Lamar

and where he was about to go and how big he was about to get without zeroing in on ADHD. Yeah, it's a good song. I mean, for all its flaws, I think it's easy to listen to. You can throw it on a playlist. It's going to work great. It's just, yeah, it's just a nice song. And I think maybe important for his discography, just, you know, the question with Kendrick, as we've talked about is, you know, he's a great rapper, but can he make songs, which is the question for so many talented rappers that never really quite break through. And ADHD, I think, is the first song we can point to that really broke through. I guess how high power is that too, but that's more of a, like, a hip-hop-like single. I mean, like, ADHD is a mainstream type of single,

and him really starting to prove himself as a songwriter, not just a great rapper. So, let's recap for the audience. Round one, we both agreed Rigamortis. Round two, we both agreed ADHD. Cole, should you or I go next and try to see if we can disagree on the next song? Yeah, I got one. I think you're probably not going to like this one,

but we've talked about it before. I'm going to go with no makeup today. No. Cut. No. Pick another song. Pick another song. I'm just fucking with you. Oh my. I thought you were so serious. Goal. No. I thought you were. I was just like dog. Like we are going to have trouble for the rest of these episodes. If no makeup, her vice gets anywhere near our list. Yeah. That's a, if I was forced to make a top five worst Kendrick's Lamar songs, that might be number one on my list. Pick a real song, dude.

All right, I'm going with another obvious one. I'm going high power. Damn it. Wait, you agreed on this one? I thought you were going to hit, I thought you were going to pick Ronald Reagan. I was listening back, and it's obviously high power. Okay.

Frightening, so fucking frightening, enough to drive a man insane. I need a license to kill. I'm standing on the field full of landmines doing the moor walk. Just tell the people why we're both making high power. It's a good song. The beat is great. I think for all its flaws, it's again, it's ADHD quality in terms of just a good song. The verses all kind of tie together. You know, there's multiple kind of lyrical refrains within the verses that call back to each other. There's a great, you know, a great hook, an idealistic message that never really came to fruition in terms of just high power becoming an actual thing was kind of short-lived. But, you know, You know, in terms of like what Kendrick is trying to do on this album, telling these stories of his generation, the problems that he sees, the cycles that he's witnessed growing up in Compton, and him trying to offer some, you know, philosophy to abide by in order to escape, you know, these cycles. It's very much a young kid in his young 20s, you know, coming up with these ideal, you know, life kind of guidance principles. and maybe we look back and find it's kind of cute,

I think, you know, at the time it was genuine and it really does show what Kendrick would try to do for the majority of his artistic career, which is offer solutions to the problems that he's seen and the problems that he grew up around. So I think the message is really heartfelt and genuine. I think there's definitely some flaws we can talk about, but before we get there,

I want to hear about why you picked it. So I think in the same way that you can make a case that ADHD is a prototype for swimming pools, I think high power in a lot of ways is like a prototype for All Right, where All Right to me is not a protest song, but because it encapsulates a certain feeling, it becomes one after the fact. And I think high power is what happens when Kendrick tries to engineer a movement before he's ready to.

And I think that speaks to kind of the savior complex that we've continued to come back to this entire series where high power, he's trying to have a rock a fella to put your diamonds in the sky type moment. Because for the people who weren't there, like it was something where he would want the audience to put up three fingers. Him and Ab Sol would talk about in interviews how

the reason that they changed this song from Black High Power to just high power. power is they didn't want it to be a race thing. They wanted to be something that connected people regardless of, you know, their race. So, but listening to high power now, it's still such a, like, I don't know, it's still such a good song, even if it's rough. When Kendrick says, and she always told me to pray for the week, them demons got me, I prayed in some weeks, dear Lord, come save me, the devil's working hard.

Probably clock and double shift on all of his job. the way he wraps that verse, the way he gets excited and theatrical, I think you're starting to really see on this song, his ability to embody characters to sell emotion that would be the cornerstone of why we talk about Good Kid Mad City. He's working through it on this album and especially on this song, him becoming a narrator that can really, really, really get you to believe in this. the cinematic story. Yeah, and that's a good point about him trying to like figure out a Rockefeller thing. Because it does, there is a part of this song that does feel force. You know, this concept of high power does feel a little bit. It's like what we talked about was swimming pool where he was trying to make a big single. It feels like he was very much trying to do something that would become a thing that people could do live.

And maybe at the time it resonated, just looking back, it just, yeah, you can kind of see the youth in it and the idea. And I think one of the things that's interesting about the song is that it comes last, you know, on the album. And it was the lead single yet it's the last song on the project, which you just never really see. Yeah. One, I think that's, I think that speaks to Kendrick's conceptual priority. Like, he's got to always, he's always going to prioritize album concept, you know, long-term story arcs over hit singles and, like, any other artists. I feel like would put high power or first or second on this project. And so with that in mind,

high power is supposed to function as this kind of culminating resolution of the Section 80's story. And, you know, when we get to High Power after listening through the entire album, it just doesn't have that kind of magic quality that a song like Sing About Me does or a song like Mortal Man does where you get like the narrative resolution of the album, you get that cathartic payoff. And I feel like what I've zeroed in on about Section 80,

and I think why it is not as effective as a good kid or as later albums is because you can't really point to a song on this project where he's vulnerable. Every time he's speaking about Compton and what he sees, it's very much as an observer, as a witness. and he never really goes into his own experience. He does like in like, he'll do it in a bar or two. But most of the time when he's talking about himself on Section 80, he's bragging. He's, he's saying that he's the best rapper.

He's saying he's above everyone and he's, you know, he's kind of putting himself above others. And so when he does talk about Keisha or he does talk about Tammy, it feels almost like condescending. Yeah. Because he's not sharing that vulnerability. And I think so when you get to a song, like high power, you know, whereas we, in later works, we would see Kendrick go from this vulnerable kid or a person who went through this hardship and this tough experience and came out the other side with this high power philosophy. Instead, it comes out, it just comes off as this guy trying

to put himself on a pedestal and be this leader without sharing so much about himself. And so that's why the song just doesn't, in terms of its placement, on the album, you know, not talking about it outside the context of the album as a song, but just its placement within the album. That's why it just feels a little flat when you get to the song. And that's why I feel like the Section 80 concept itself doesn't really resonate as strongly as a good kid or as later concepts. And we should also mention Section 80 was written in six weeks. Yeah, it was six weeks. It was one of his fastest written projects. and it definitely has that feel of being a little rushed, not fully baked.

Yeah, so do you get that feeling, too? Like, just that lack of vulnerability is something that this album lacks? Absolutely. I think the funny thing about this album is that Kendrick is rapping with such a move where it's like ADHD. He's rapping from this standpoint of like, this is what's wrong with this generation. And you take swimming pools, a song that neither of us really liked that much. But he's telling you about how drinking affected his family, which already is way more relatable.

It's not like finger wagging of him. It's literally like, no, I'm going to make this song that's supposed to be a hit. But in the course of it, I'm going to reveal something about you. A song like No Makeup Her Vice, which is very much Kendrick, to your point, talking down, where it's so much about like, girl, you look good with no makeup on. It's just kind of like, well, oh, Kendrick, stop. But on Good Kid, Mad City, it's so much more relatable when he's telling this story of Chorraine and being this horny little gremlin teenager and the lengths that he'll go to

to chase after Chorraine and his parents yelling at him being like, dog, like, chill. That to me is so much more relatable and you feel so much more for Kendrick when things go left versus when there's a song where he's like sitting his little sister. down and being like, this is why you shouldn't be a sex worker. And you're like, oh, like, that's, I think we've been talking around it. But the failings of this album, to your point is the fact that, like, hey, Kendrick, before you judge everyone else, please tell us your story, because I'm going to learn so much more from that. Yeah. And it's all very good intentioned, right? And I think part of what Section 80, why it's so important to his catalog was like he's,

he was getting the necessary reps he needed to make good kids. and to make that project as, you know, streamlined and successful as it was. Because without these kind of clunks that he does address on Good Kid Mad City, like Keisha comes up on Sing About Me and forcing Kendrick to be like, did I take the right approach with Keisha song? I was trying to do something good, but I kind of failed in the execution of it. And I think that's section 80 as a whole, you know, shows the seeds of something great. It shows the potential of Kendrick.

He's starting to get, you know, these concepts worked out, these ideas, what he wants to say. It just hadn't found the correct way or the most successful way to say it. And so, you know, when I always think about Section 80 as a whole, the analogy I always use is like, it's the year in which the up-and-coming NBA team makes the playoffs for the first time. You know, they're the eighth seed going at the number one seed, the former champs. and they end up losing the series, but you know that next year, the year after, watch out for this team.

I feel like that's what Section 80 is. It's flawed, but it shows so much promise. And obviously, we know the conclusion, he delivers on the promise and then some. So I couldn't agree more, Cole. That is so beautiful.

Before, honestly, we get to nominations, can I go to Charles's troll corner, trolling for soon? I didn't know if you had one because you said you're a little tapped out of the No, I have one and it's related to high power.

Okay. The people might get on me for this one. I think high power was famously produced by Jay Cole. Kendrick gets this beat after the XXL freshman shoot. Gonna be real with you, Cole. I think it's a blessing in disguise that we never got the Jay Cole. I never got the Jay Cole, Kendrick, collab album. I actually think that it is like a blessing in disguise.

It is something that, like, Jay Cole fans and Kendrick fans have been annoying both artists about. To this day, yeah. To this day. And it's funny, I don't know about you. As much as, like, Kendrick and Jay Cole were lumped together as, like, similar artist. Oh, yeah, like message boards and Twitter and all this shit. We're like, oh, man, they're so deep. Oh, my gosh.

They're so. rap, I feel like artistically, Kendrick and Jay Cole could not be farther apart in terms of what they're trying to accomplish in their music. So I never actually got why people thought that the two of them together on an album

wouldn't make artistic sense. Am I being a hater? I don't know if I agree with that far apart. I mean, I get what you're saying. They're not as close as people make it out to be. I think it's clear now 10 years later how different they have in

and are at the time though i can see why people would make the correlation just because they were both leaning towards kind of quote unquote conscious rap that also had you know mainstream appeal um but it's kind of i get your point i don't know if it would ever live up to the hype and plus like kendrick would just kill j cole every single song so i mean that is i didn't want to say you said it guys do not attack me cole said it where i'm just like the i'll be honest Do, does anybody really want to hear Kendrick A over nothing but Jay Cole beats? And this is not me attacking Jay Cole at all. I just think he's a better rapper than he is producer.

One. Two, what would this be about? Like, Kendrick wraps about literally what it means to be a black man in America, the world ending, trying to be a savior for a generation, all of these weighty topics. And Jay Cole just kind of wraps about. wanted to be the best rapper and like how great it is to return back to Fayetteville, uh, North Carolina and just kind of very nostalgic, um,

shit. It's not, it doesn't seem like Jay Cole necessarily ever wants to be overtly political. Hence why him in no name went at it a year or so ago. So it's just like, that's my hot take where I'm just like, I just never really got why a Kendrick J. Cole project. would be enticing.

Not your hottest take, but I get it. I get it. I mean, it's one where I guarantee you people are probably going to be like, fuck this dude. But yo, we're going to recap our picks, and then we're going to get into nomination. So round one, both of us agreed, rigumortis, round two, ADHD, and round three, we agreed again with high power. We are about to get into the time where we pick what song. is going to be the last song standing from Section 80. But before we get to that, we're going to go to a little bit of a break.

Make sure you stick around. All right. We're back. And it's time for final song nominations for Section 80. And Cole, I think that I just got a note from the commissioner. Do you want to know what the commissioner has said? All right. The commissioner has said that due to us agreeing for three rounds, we are about to be penalized.

Okay. Because we agreed for three rounds, the last song standing that we both pick cannot be the same song. Okay, that's fair. That's fair. And to make this fair, Commissioner,

Kevin Pooler, audio production extraordinaire, needs to pick a number between one and ten, and the person who gets closest gets to have the first pick. Are we all in agreeance? Yeah, that sounds good. Kevin, what do you got?

I got a number in mind. All right. all right, Cole, you can go first since the commissioner gave me the letter. Is it one through, what's the number? Like, one through ten. One through ten. Okay. You got it, Kevin?

I got it. I'm going eight, section 80. Eight is, eight is my lucky number. All right. I will go five. I chose seven. Yes. God damn.

It rhymes with my name. Hell yeah. Yeah. All right. Cole, you get the first pick. All right. So I'm going to just go with my gut. I'm going to go with my favorite.

I'm going to go rigormortis. I love this song. It's virtuosic. Rapping, for my list, I've been looking at my list. I've got Mad City, which is a banger. Also virtuosic in delivery in a different way. But then I have two kind of more subdued, conceptual songs, emotional songs with fear and Mother I Sober.

I need. Kendrick's one of the greatest rappers ever, arguably the greatest. No, he's not. And I need a song that represents that rigamortis, virtuosic, and it's rhyming, and it's rhyme flows, cadence, it's got everything, I'm going rigormortus. So I wanted rigamortis, but honestly, this is fine, because looking at my list, I already have Mad City, I already have Father Time, I already have DNA. I think Mad City and DNA do something very similar to Rigamortis, and I think Rigamortis is a

lesser song when compared to those two. So my picks are either going to be ADHD or high power. And I think I'm just going to go ADHD. I don't like this song that much, but we talked about what it means for Kendrick. And I think this is still, if you were a Kendrick fan early on and you were seeing him in concert, I think this song has a really, really special place in your heart. So I'm going to go with ADHD, even though. it's such a normie pick, dude. Come on.

Dog, I can't, I can't pick the one with the big, Kobe, bro. Like, come on, man. Oh, like,

all right, and to be fair, Cole, you're picking the ones where it's like, this is for the real heads. You're like, mother-eye sober,

fear, this for the real ones. And I'm like, nah. Actually, our list perfectly kind of encapsulate who we are as people.

No, for sure. It really does. And that's why I kind of regret not picking sing about me. But then, then if I, if I,

to look at my list if I had pigs think about me, fear and mother eyes sober. Oh, it would have been a rap. It would have been. That's intense. That's intense. So here, let's recap one more time.

Going into the next episode, Cole has Mad City, mother eye sober, fear and rigamortis. Going to the next episode, I have Mad City, father time, DNA, and ADHD,

aka what Cole likes to call the Normie picks. Yo, Cole, I'm feeling, I'm feeling pretty good about these lists. I'm actually feeling pretty good as we start to really get to the end game. How about you? Yeah, we are closing in on the final.

So we have one Kendrick album left to Pimp a Butterfly. That episode is coming last. So our next episode I'm really excited about because we're going to do a lot. We're going to do all the Luceys. We're going to do all the singles. All the mixtapes are going to be in contention. Anything not major Kendrick project

is going to be in contention for next week's episode. All the cartoons and serial heads are going crazy. They're going wild. There's a lot. I mean, there's a lot. There's obviously like overly dedicated and in his early mixtapes, but there's also like Black Panther. There's also, oh, there's nothing off Black Panther. There's also Untitled Unmastered, which has some great songs on it. So there's, there's going to be a lot, a lot. Yeah. So if y'all want to argue with us, make sure you go to social media at Dysect Podcast or Charles X. Hull.

and yell at us. Tell us why we're dumb and why this is one of the best Kendra Lamar projects of all time. I want to send a special, special thanks to the people that make this podcast possible. I'm talking about our producer, Justin Sales, our audio production wizard, Kevin Pooler, and the beautiful theme music that is provided by Devin Ronaldo. We will see y'all next week. Cole, we're back for our stingers and, uh, Cole, I have, I have finished Bo Burnham's inside. Oh shit. Okay. Yes. What do you think? Um, I'll start off with the positives, which I rarely do. Um, I think Bo Burnham. I actually really enjoy his singing voice. I think he, his singing voice is just very, very, very, uh, enjoyable to listen to. Um, I think his songcraft is amazing. He's

obviously someone that is super, super talented. I think I said this last episode. He's someone who knows not only how to craft a song, but he knows what makes a pop song tick. He knows what makes a Broadway S song tick. He's very good in that. And lastly, I think that his idea, I love him as a director.

That's what I'll say, because I watched, Rothaniel, the Gerard Carmichael special that he did, that he directed. Beautiful. One of the most beautifully shot specials I've ever seen. I think he's a very talented individual. With all of that being said,

do you want to guess what score I gave this on my letterbox? Of God. Out of five stars. It should be five stars, but it's probably going to be two, maybe three. Let me check just for posterity because I can't tell if I gave it a one and a half

or I gave it to. Oh, fuck you, dude. Fuck you. I gave it a one. Oh, my God. What? Why? Here's a thing.

I left it. with a migraine. And it combined two things. Like it was too close to home. Because it's two, the Venn diagram was like theater kid energy on one side and way too online. And I am both of those things.

And as I told my significant other today, I'm just like, I am both of those things and I hide them with shame. No one needs to know. I'm just like, this is a little nugget for me and no one will ever know I was a theater kid. no one will ever know that I'm way too online and need to log off.

So, like, just seeing it back to me, I was just like, I don't need this. I also, I've talked to Sean, our boss, great podcast hosts on The Big Pick, about I tend to not like art about the internet. It's not that I don't think that it's bad. I just tend to, as someone who's so online, it's almost like I'm getting like a PowerPoint presentation of something that like all of the like my friends who are. are 20s, 30-year-olds who are just like, we grew up on this shit and it's curled our brains. It feels like I'm getting a PowerPoint on my life and I'm just like, yeah, don't need this.

What I'm getting from you is that this is all your personal problems, all right? This has nothing to do with the inside. It's just triggering you and then you're just taking it out on this beautiful piece of art. If we're going to be real, I don't think it's funny either. I didn't laugh once. What? Oh my God. I didn't laugh once.

And this isn't be saying, like a lot of this is, I think, what makes. it hard is that so much of comedy is whether you find this funny or not. Like there are still like people who to this day are like, did you watch the Dave Chappelle specials? And I'm like, no, he hasn't been funny since the Chappelle show. Fuck off. Like so like a lot of comedy.

Yeah, I get it. Comedy is a very specific. You have a certain type of thing you think is funny. And if a comedian doesn't hit that no matter how good they are in that lane, you're just not going to find it funny. I get that. I get that Bob Burnham's humor is probably not for everyone. I'm just surprised that you didn't like, you know, the second half of the film where it gets pretty dark and like, because you say it's like a bullet point presentation on the internet, but it is that in some ways.

But what I think he does really, really well is capture the emotional feeling of being on the, the emotional result of being on the internet, living online or living through the dynamics of what usually happens online and the discourse that happens there. the way that he captured that emotionally, I thought was no one that has done to date and as specifically as he has... It's called everything everywhere all at once. That's not about the internet so much, though. Like this is, I mean, he's in a room, he's inside alone,

which is exactly how we interact on the internet. It's inside our house alone. Yet we're sharing all these things about ourselves online, which is why he does the whole inside out motif. Like, I'm very disappointed, but I know. I get all of these. these things. I get what, like, I got what it was about, especially that after the intermission of, you know, him revealing that he wanted to go back after having nervous breakdowns, wanted to go

back to stand up. And then the minute he's about ready to do that emotionally, the world shuts down. And you're kind of realizing everything that he's doing is kind of a result of this. Everything he feels about the internet, everything he feels about himself and the performance. Because to me, Inside is about how we perform, not only how we perform online, but how we perform in real life. Like when he's calling his mom, it's like all of the kind of things we do in daily life. So I got that. Like, I, like, structurally, I'm like, oh, this is, this is smart. Like, the thing I will never say is like, Inside is dumb.

Like, this is well thought out. It's well-paced. It's well-made. He's a good director. Just not for me. Is that fair? It's fair. You're loud of your opinion.

Your opinion is just flat out wrong. But let's let's not belabor the point. Let's go to a better work of art. Let's go to genuiline's 100% genuine. 100% genuine. Okay. This is like last week I went into Usher. Kind of closed-minded.

Although I do, I will say like pony as a song. You probably have to put it in like the top 10 songs of the 1990. Did it come out in the 90s? Yeah, late 90s. Like that song's fucking dope. Perfect song. But I didn't. I haven't heard 100% genuine, but I also didn't realize that it was produced by Timberlin.

So you could have just told me that, and I would have been in because I love Timberland, especially this era of Timberlin. When I put on 100% Genuine, I was floored first by the beats. You know, the production is just top notch, as you'd expect from Timberlin. Can I tell you, in all honesty, that I got chills during one of the songs? Oh, what song was it? I think it's the second song. It's one of the bigger songs where he says, oh, it's so anxious when he goes...

So anxious. That part right there. Woo! So anxious is an amazing song. It's like perfect. It's a really good song. And I got chills during that, specifically when he says so anxious.

So again, you kind of won me over with this really good album. I don't know if I'll return to it that often, but there's definitely some songs I want to put on it like a... Maybe I need to make a playlist of all my favorite songs so that the listeners can kind of go through this with me. Yo, I am so, I am so happy. Because here's the thing, everybody's like, oh, 100% genuine. This is Charles joking.

I'm like, no, actually what Templin's doing on that, production-wise? Like, there's like fucking dinosaur fucking noises and shit. It's just the craziest thing ever, but it works. Come on. Yeah, it's a good pick. So what do you got for me this week? All right, what do I got for you? All right.

So we're not going to do an hour. We're just going to do we're going to go down some of my favorite songs. Okay. There's some of my favorite songs from the, from my cooking playlist, which I listen to every single day. So I'm going to give you three songs to listen to. Okay. Number one, one of my favorite R&B songs of all time. I need a girl part two.

Not part one. I need a girl part two. I need a girl part two. All right. All right. Second, give this one a chance. It is one of my favorite songs of all time. Daft Punk absolutely love this song.

It's one of their favorite songs of all time. Tony Braxton's You're Making Me High. Okay. And then last four-page letter by Aaliyah. I love Aaliyah. So I'm going to go and I don't know that song off the top of my head. So I'm excited to get back to it. But I love Aaliyah.

All right. And what give me get we at work. We're trading culture on this podcast. So give me your cultural project. All right. So we're going to go. We're going to go back. I've talked about my.

my education with classical music on this podcast. So how familiar, are you familiar with classical music at all? Not that. Okay, yeah. Okay, so I'm going to, this is going to be a couple weeks I'm going to do this, because I want to get, I want to get you to the really good stuff, but it's kind of out there. So I don't want to, I want to scare you. No, don't give me the normie shit.

Give me the real shit. Well, I want to give you, okay, you want to start, you want to start real. I want to start. I put you in the deep end, okay? Okay. All right. I gave you 100% genuine. Give me the real uncut shit.

All right. Okay, you're asking for it. I'm going to, you're going to listen to Bella Bartok. He's a Hungarian. All right. You're going to drop this, drop this.

I'll set it to you later, but you're going to listen to Bella Bartok's string quartet. Number four. This is, so when I went to school for classical music, I came in like pretty much everyone. You think you know classical music. You think it's Mozart.

It's Pleasant. It's pleasant. It's, you know, it's just safe and warm, whatever. When you hear Bella Bartok, this is the string quartet that like, oh, this is classical music too, this is what I can write, this is what I can do, you're going to be, I don't know, it's going to be really interesting your reaction because it's kind of, it's kind of out there, I'm so excited for this. If anything is going to change your mind about what classical music can be, this is what it did for me,

and it's really opened my mind to this other world of classical music that I didn't know. So Bella Bartok, String Quartet, I'll send you a link. But just sit down, give it a nice listen, give it your attention, write down your emotions, and I'm really looking forward to it. I love this assignment. I love this assignment. That's all? That's it.

Yep, it's enough. All right, yo, all right, guys, thank you so much for listening to our stingers. And Cole and I becoming better friends than I ever thought was possible with another human. Yo, we'll see y'all next week. Peace.