Cole is the most frustrating rapper. He could be so good, there's a lot there that could be tapped into and he almost always fails to capitalize on any of his skill and his songs just end up bland. It's like drafting Josh Gordon in fantasy football every year. You know there's something there but there's zero actual results. (And yes he's corny beyond belief)
The kids don't seem to care about any of them anymore. They definitely view Kendrick as uncle music outside of "Not Like Us". They mess with Take Care-era Drake and there was some hype for whatever dogshit he put out before the Kendrick stuff, but I have not heard much from kids about this drop yet. J Cole's Forest Hill Drive seems to be viewed by the white kid online hip hop head kids as a classic, but no one was talking about his last 2-3 releases from what I remember.
Yeah my wife is a music teacher and says none of the three really pop off with kids any more, but if any of them do it’s Drake. Kendrick is definitely “old people” music to them, and while he’s my favorite of the three by a wide margin, i get that.
It had some songs but i didn’t like that marbles in the mouth voice he was doing and i think it’s definitely way less interesting than the four that came before it.
I have kids do an album project where they get to pick an artist to present. Here are the hip hop/hip hop adjacent picks from this year: Drake (Take Care) Dominic Fike (adjacent) BabyTron (adjacent) Bryson Tiller (adjacent) Kid Cudi steve lacy (adjacent) Esdeekid Gunna (Two kids presented him) D4vd (Yikes!) Est Gee Lil Durk Joey badass J cole (Forest Hills) Chuckyy Lil Baby Young Thug Lauryn hill
in terms of mainstream quality hip-hop at this point in time, it's Kendrick, Tyler, and Push my answer would be completely different if we were talking less mainstream.
Is that the dude that killed someone and left them in a car trunk? Yikes indeed. Assuming it was before the allegations and subsequent arrest?
Durk and Lil Baby are definitely the most popular rappers amongst my boy students. The girls tend to gravitate towards Drake (old), Bryson Tiller, Brent Faiyaz and Partynextdoor
lol no the kid is a weirdo and played him last week. It lead to a discussion about art vs artist at least
gnx was mid as hell outside of 2-3 songs. Hard for me to believe people actually enjoy songs like squabble up or peakaboo. Bing bop boom boom boom bop bam. I’ve not enjoyed Kendrick’s music that much post-DAMN, he fell off pretty hard for me
Nowhere near as much as he used to. He also hasn't released a record in 4 years. I remember the kids talking about that one though.
It's fine. Kendrick doesn't have a bad album. He also only has 1 album that I will spin semi regularly (Section 80)
I like GNX a lot, he's having a lot of fun with it while still having signature Kendrick moments. There are weak songs on there but it's not like there's a ton
Yeah, Squabble Up and Peakaboo are obviously tracks where Kendrick is not taking himself too seriously after releasing a ludicrously serious album a few years before.
lol I mean I did just check wiki to make sure I wasn’t going crazy, seems like the three from 2024 were categorized as mixtapes, so he hasn’t had a true “studio album“ since 2022, but I have a feeling your students aren’t sticklers about that
I agree that GNX is just okay but you're telling me it doesn't run laps around the last like six-plus Drake albums???