Just over nine years ago, in the “Alright” music video, Kendrick Lamar and his Black Hippy compatriots bounced in a broken-down lowrider while Kendrick spit a freestyle over a groovy Sounwave beat that lasted just 30 seconds. The snippet stands as the most-replayed section of a video with over 180 million YouTube views, and does not otherwise exist in public form: not on To Pimp a Butterfly, nor stowed away on the glorified mixtape of B-sides, Untitled Unmastered. Lost in the pantheon of viral teasers, it’s forever a “what could have been” moment.
There was fear the phenomenon would repeat when Kendrick dropped the “Not Like Us” video in the midst of his summer of vitriol against Drake. It opened with another snippet, a black-and-white shot of Kendrick rapping in a hallway, dropping Kamasi Washington references while sounding eerily reminiscent of the late Drakeo the Ruler. “squabble up,” the second track on his new surprise album, GNX, represents the full version of this past summer’s prelude. It’s a satisfying entry point to a record where Kendrick drapes himself in elements of his California rap heritage, oscillating fluidly between G-funk, hyphy, and even mariachi. Gone are the furrowed bars and deeply meditative production from the diss tracks; instead he bounds over a funky bassline that mutates Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music” into an ’90s club hit powered by a mountain of Tony Montana. It feels as though he’s channeling the ghosts of West Coast rap royalty to spit with still more freedom and carelessness—he even references 2Pac’s infamous loogie hawk at the paparazzi.
Kendrick’s lyrical hatred on this track is far-reaching, which makes it all the more fun. “Tell me why the fuck you niggas rap, if it’s fictional/Tell me why the fuck you niggas fed, if you criminal,” he growls, after doling out threats of violence like he’s dealing cards. No longer obligated to the attack-response pattern of beef, Kendrick sounds as if he’d strolled out to the town square and declared that he’s taking all challengers. His myriad voices, octave changes, and shrieks sometimes seem as though he’s on the precipice of losing control. But so long as you aren’t the one caught in his crosshairs, you’re grateful that “squabble up” is free to dominate car speakers in Compton rather than rotting in a vault.
