Whatever you think of Kendrick Lamar overall, there's no denying he has a way with words.
In a new interview with i-D, Kung Fu Kenny singles out his DAMN. track 'Fear' as having his best bars yet.
Asked if he's written the perfect rhyme yet, Kendrick decides the album's 12th song, Fear, contains the best verses he's ever written. "It's completely honest," he says. "The first verse is everything that I feared from the time that I was seven years old. The second verse I was 17, in the third it's everything I feared when I was 27. These verses are completely honest."He then explained that one of the keys to having strong bars is having people around you willing to call you out when your bars aren't strong.
"Even if you're a great writer, a bunch of the stuff you write is wack. But most people don't have somebody around to be like, 'That's wack.'"In the discussion with i-D, Kendrick also details his dual approaches to his craft.
"Hip-hop plays two ways in my head. It plays as a contact sport, and also as something that you connect to – songwriting. Growing up and listening to battles between Nas and Jay-Z, that's the sport for me. That's where it can get funky, that's where I can say whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want. Then there's the other side, which is showing something that people can actually relate to, and connect with. I have that competitive nature, and I also have the compassion to talk about something that's real."Here are the lyrics to 'Fear':
Do you agree that those are Kendrick's best verses?
[Related: Kendrick Lamar confirms he recorded DAMN. to be played backward.]