NEW MUSIC: Kendrick Lamar ft. Gunplay – “Cartoon & Cereal.”

Okay, Kendrick Lamar, you win. As seemingly the last folks on planet rap to fall fully lock step in with the overriding Interwebzian praise lavished upon your prodigious rapping talents (our dissent due not just to chronic curmudgeonliness, but – to our ears, anyways – just a few too many unfortunate creative choices undertaken on Section.80), we’ll now submit. Featuring recurring references to Roadrunner nemesis Wile E. Coyote, some vaguely Sir Nose D’Void o’ Funk type vocal FX, a cool contrast of timbres with Gunplay, and a brutally ominous crawl of a track (courtesy producer THC) that sustains its tension via well-placed stops and starts, “Cartoon & Cereal” makes itself rather easy for us to embrace. Now the rest of youse kids get off our lawn.

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1. • NEW MUSIC: Slick Rick – “Need Some Bad (Dirty Version)” (prod. by DJ Premier).
2. • This Ain’t No White Cartoon
3. • SEE, HEAR: Clipse “The Funeral” Music Video (1997).