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Kendrick Lamar · S9 E6
Verses
The greatest guest verses of his career. 'Control,' 'Nosetalgia,' 'family ties,' and the ones that changed everything
August 2013. Kendrick names eleven rappers on Big Sean's "Control" and dares every one of them to come for him. Nobody wins.
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar, Bad Blood (official music video, 2015). The biggest pop star on the planet calls Kendrick for a feature, and he doesn't just show up. He owns the screen. This is what a guest verse looks like when the guest is the most dangerous rapper alive.
Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift (2015)
Taylor Swift remixed her own single specifically to add Kendrick. His verse transforms a pop revenge anthem into something harder and more unpredictable. Listen for how Kendrick adjusts his delivery to match a pop production without losing any of his edge. He doesn't bend to the song; the song bends to him.
Sources
Taylor Swift. "1989 (Deluxe)." Big Machine Records, 2015.
“Every time I get on someone else's song, I'm trying to take it. That's not disrespect. That's just competition.”
— Kendrick Lamar, interview, 2015
The Verse Thief
Kendrick's reputation as a feature artist is simple: he steals every song he touches. The Control verse in 2013 generated more than twenty response tracks. The family ties verse in 2021 overshadowed Baby Keem on his own single. The Like That verse in 2024 started the biggest rap beef in decades.
Sources
Complex, Billboard, various, 2013-2024
TAP TO REVEAL: Which Kendrick guest verse won a Grammy without being on a Kendrick album?
How many rappers did Kendrick name in his infamous 2013 "Control" verse?
Nosetalgia, Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar (2013)
From Pusha T's My Name Is My Name. Two of the sharpest writers in rap telling parallel drug stories over a Nottz and Kanye West beat. Pusha tells his dealer narrative, Kendrick tells his Compton witness narrative, and neither one blinks. This is the guest verse as art form: two voices that make each other better.
Nosetalgia, Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar (2013)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Pusha and Kendrick each tell their version of the crack epidemic from opposite coasts. The parallels are deliberate: same drug, same destruction, different zip codes. Two of the best verses either rapper recorded that year.
The Greatest Guest Verses
The verses, the albums, the producers, the crew. It all points to one question that hip-hop has been arguing about for years, and that this deepdive ends by answering. Next: Legacy.
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