WCS 62: The Diddy is in the details

w/: New Seasons strike + The Avengers of weed + Rescheduling Tuesday

Darlene Ortiz, et al

This NFL season has been remarkable in how unremarkable it’s been. The success of small-market ne’er-do-well Detroit Lions might be the league’s biggest story—unless the top narrative is Saquon Barkley’s Philadelphia success. That one is freighted with meaning, as its subtext is the futility of football in New York.

There being nothing special poppin’ in big-boy football, we’re allowed to skip ahead to February’s Super Bowl in New Orleans and halftime performer Kendrick Lamar. The Compton MC released a surprise album last Friday, dropped a music video on Monday, and could be in the midst of a two-front rap war by the time The Big Game rolls around: K-Dot continues to destroy the career of Drake—last spring music’s biggest name shy of Taylor Swift until last spring—and now has beef cooking with former idol, N’awlins native Lil Wayne.

Yet, the fighting ain’t what’s most interesting about Kendrick’s art right now. You have to look closer.

The Legend of Black Mexico is my most ambitious storytelling effort since publishing that memoir in my early 30s. You can keep track of how the work is going through periodic updates.

For the benefit of y’all who only follow this unprecedented rap battle through TMZ and social media takes, it’s critical to know that Kendrick Lamar works on a level so high that even his cover art is freighted with real-world meaning. The new promotional video for “Squabble Up” contains so many West Coast-specific Easter eggs that YouTube’s professional hip hop reactors don’t know how to, well… react.

But here’s some decent analysis—

Mexicans in California gets representation in the Calmatic-directed clip, from gangsta culture to mariachi; in this Sojourn’s top image, you see a recreation of Darlene Ortiz’s iconic pose from the cover of Ice-T’s 1988 Power tape. The room depicted is the same space used in The Roots’ “The Next Movement” and can be read as a hostile gesture toward that band’s leader Questlove, who opined that K-Dot’s beef with Drake is bad for the culture of hip hop.

For some reason, I’m especially taken by David Hammons’ “African American Flag” from the section that celebrates The Bay. Probably, the detail appeals because the flag’s presence confers a fine art legitimacy upon hip hop that fans like me find long overdue.

My personal belief is that Lil Wayne will walk out onstage with Kendrick in New Orleans and receive some version of his flowers. (Wayne’s grimy reputation was always going to be an impediment to his landing the [unpaid] NFL gig.) Meanwhile, Drake—still Spotify’s all-time spins leader—has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that Spotify conspired with Team Kendrick to inflate Kung Fu Kenny’s numbers.

It’s a fascinating time for hip hop. My deep belief remains that The Artist Formerly Known as Mos Def’s January critique of as Drake as empty, capitalist calories critique as blood in the water. The douching that’s occurred has been long-awaited by adult fans like me.

Watch closely, to see what’s next.