The thing that I like best about The Blacker the Berry is how it starts. It opens with that sinister, almost siren-like sound, and then those huge drums come in. Those drums hit so hard. I was once driving home from out of state, and I was listening to To Pimp a Butterfly. Just before The Blacker the Berry came on, it started pouring. I mean the kind of pouring that almost drowned out the music, the kind of pouring where the highest speed of your windshield wipers isn't enough for you to see. I was on a somewhat rural highway and slowed way down but could still barely make out where I was going on that narrow two lane road. As those drums came on, I was fairly convinced that I was going to die. It might be the most stressed I've ever been.
I do think this is Kendrick's best song, though I don't necessarily think it's because of Kendrick himself. His rapping is good, particularly on the last verse. But what sells it for me is the production and Assassin's choruses. The whole thing fits together perfectly and never loses that confrontational feel. And yet it's up against what's almost certainly an even crazier song, where the production also takes center stage but is augmented but what's likely a more impressive rap performance. This is also Danny's career highlight, though like in the last match Kendrick's song is the one I listen to more often because for some reason Ain't It Funny works better for me on the album than on a playlist (25 Bucks is my go-to Danny banger for playlist listening). At this moment I have no idea how I'm going to vote. These two are my favorite rappers of the last decade and two of my favorite artists ever. I'd be more than happy with either of these songs winning. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
The thing that I like best about The Blacker the Berry is how it starts. It opens with that sinister, almost siren-like sound, and then those huge drums come in. Those drums hit so hard. I was once driving home from out of state, and I was listening to To Pimp a Butterfly. Just before The Blacker the Berry came on, it started pouring. I mean the kind of pouring that almost drowned out the music, the kind of pouring where the highest speed of your windshield wipers isn't enough for you to see. I was on a somewhat rural highway and slowed way down but could still barely make out where I was going on that narrow two lane road. As those drums came on, I was fairly convinced that I was going to die. It might be the most stressed I've ever been.
I do think this is Kendrick's best song, though I don't necessarily think it's because of Kendrick himself. His rapping is good, particularly on the last verse. But what sells it for me is the production and Assassin's choruses. The whole thing fits together perfectly and never loses that confrontational feel. And yet it's up against what's almost certainly an even crazier song, where the production also takes center stage but is augmented but what's likely a more impressive rap performance. This is also Danny's career highlight, though like in the last match Kendrick's song is the one I listen to more often because for some reason Ain't It Funny works better for me on the album than on a playlist (25 Bucks is my go-to Danny banger for playlist listening). At this moment I have no idea how I'm going to vote. These two are my favorite rappers of the last decade and two of my favorite artists ever. I'd be more than happy with either of these songs winning.
I feel this exact way. Ultimately, though, I'm going with Kendrick because I feel he as an artist as well as the thematic content of The Blacker the Berry are more representative of what was important to American culture this last decade, if that makes sense. On their own they're both equal as songs, in my opinion, with Ain't It Funny getting the slight edge for production and Danny's performance and The Blacker the Berry for lyricism and the amazing feature, but to me The Blacker the Berry represents so well the difficult emotions and racial tension of the past five years. If there's any one song, and album for that matter, that best represents our current time, it's TPAB and The Blacker the Berry as its opus. I'm fine with either song winning because to be honest they are the two best hip hop songs of the decade, but I think Kendrick deserves it. _________________ "Those are you've got some nice shoulders, I'd like to put my hands around them."
Danny Brown is a better pure rapper than Kendrick Lamar, and I think these two (excellent) songs prove why. Kendrick's song uses well-worn imagery and cliché to both disavow racism and his complicity re: upholding or playing up to stereotype, but at times the direct message can feel a little predictable and/or on the nose, as when he compares Crips and Bloods to Zulus and Xhosas or his numerous references to hackneyed, surface level racist epithets that, whilst very effective in helping to underline the insidious, inescapable, everyday nature of racism (or the mundanity of evil, if you will), are nonetheless a little unimaginative and Pavlovian at this point. That isn't to say that I think the writing here is anything less than brilliant, but the message and the means are admirable and perhaps even necessary, rather than particularly fresh or original. Danny, on the other hand, does something completely vivid and vibrant and giddily cliché-free on 'Ain't It Funny', from referring to rehab as "pussy", to referring to himself as an "octopus in a straight-jacket", to the wonderfully ironic decadence (and all other manner of connotations) contained in the image of "nose bleeds on red carpets".
Anyway, it's quite interesting to me how, despite their major thematic and sonic differences, both songs are actually somewhat similar in terms of lyrical structure, particularly in their respective uses of tragic, about-turn endings, with Kendrick chastising himself for his own troubling relationship with black life (and, more pertinently, black death) after seemingly spending the entire song railing against systemic, cultural racism in America, and Danny revealing his upcoming arrivals of cocaine and prostitutes after spending the entire song explaining the self-destructive hazards of his drug-fuelled lifestyle. Whilst one is undoubtedly more ambitious in its scale than the other, they are both extremely powerful narrative choices that point to their authors' own issues with hypocrisy and the inherent futility of trying to run away from themselves. Neither are new narratives, but - to me, anyway - Danny Brown's feels more unexpected in the context of a hip-hop song, and more lived-in (though that isn't to cast any aspersions on the validity or genuine passion of Kendrick's message/story).
Sonically is where the qualitative difference between these two songs is really thrown into sharp contrast. The apocalyptic marching band vibe of 'The Blacker the Berry', with its pounding live drums and ominous horror movie synths, absolutely works in service of the song, especially in tandem with Kendrick's growling delivery and Assassin's deranged street preacher exhortations; however, there's a self-serious, joyless quality to the beat that gives it the feel of late-era Eminem, though obviously much more human. 'Ain't It Funny' is something else entirely - claustrophobia-inducing circus music to soundtrack a rave at the end of the world. The horn sample recalls the scorched earth cut'n'paste stylings of the Bomb Squad, but there's a jutting, angular quality that owes as much to post-punk as it does to hip-hop. It sounds like if Outkast decided to be deliberately ugly, with a bassline that wouldn't sound out of place in a clattering industrial techno DJ set. What's most impressive, however, is the clarity of Brown's rapping, over a beat whose clutter would drown out or overwhelm 99% of other rappers. Here, Danny nimbly raps against the beat, bending it to his will, allowing it to reflect his addled mindstate but never letting it get in the way of his story. It's a genius performance, and it's impossible to overstate the level of imagination and technical skill it must have taken to pull it off.
Overall, this is definitely a worthwhile final between two of the best rap artists of all-time, let alone the past half-decade. That said, my vote goes to Danny Brown, who made a song nobody else in his proximity to the mainstream would've dared to. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Also, put simply, 'Ain't It Funny' would likely make the list if I were to try to figure out my top 100 (or even top 50) rap songs of the time period in question, whereas 'The Blacker the Berry', great as it is, would not. I wasn't being flippant when I mentioned in an earlier round that I nominated two better hip-hop songs from L.A. than this; that said, whilst I'd rather listen to those songs nine times out of ten, I do also appreciate that my picks from YG and particularly Natia were breezy, slight, low-stakes endeavours compared to Kendrick's 'voice of a generation' takedown of racial politics and biases in America. In the same way I might prefer watching, say, Superbad to Citizen Kane whilst still being able to understand why a lot of people would say the latter is superior, I am neither surprised nor disappointed to see Kendrick make it this far, even if it's not one of my absolute favourites from this tournament. It's a great song, but not one I find myself wanting to listen to very often. However, it would make for a worthy winner, despite the fact that I didn't vote for it here. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
So many good writeups that I don't really need to chime in. My vote's with Danny on this one. Anyway here's the sample that Aint It Funny uses because it rips
AIn't It Funny is excellent, but The Blacker The Berry is a more powerful and important song, in addition to being a better one. _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
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