Voxels

Hi, I'm Sadiq. And I'm out here naming and shaming for the Game Awards. I didn't watch it.

I didn't watch the Game Awards, but I was looking at some of the trailers, and I don't understand.

I mean, I understand why, because companies pay Keeley for money to showcase their ads.

But why do we have this as a... Who made Jeff Keeley the arbiter of Video Game Awards?

I think Jeff Keeley is loved by companies because he's a kiss-ass. He's a corporate bootlegger.

It's not...

Wait, no, no. We got to speak their language. I think I can phrase that,

what you're saying, in a little bit more positive way. Keeley is brand safe.

Yeah, no, you're correct. I mean, that's basically what I... Yeah, that's exactly what I was saying,

basically, in a different way. Keeley is extremely brand safe. You can pay him, or rather,

even if you don't pay him, he's never going to say something that

upsets the PR department of any of these companies, which is why he's the successor to E3,

which was also a very corporate-friendly show. I feel like people get nostalgic about E3 and all

that, and I'm like, at the end of the day, it's a trade show. It's a corporate trade show.

Sure, you allow fans into it, but at the end of the day, it's a place where these massive

multi-billion dollar corporations to showcase their upcoming products. It's not some for-the-gamers

thing. I think that's the narrative that gets brought about, but Jeff Keeley is just a natural

successor to that. It makes sense, and I hate it. I don't like Jeff Keeley.

Speaking of things I don't like...

With that...

Speaking of things I don't like...

No, wait. Wait a minute. Wait, wait. We got to give him some gaming content,

all right? Before we switch it up, before we hit our tour, here's a new segment sponsored by

Schiff Shaving, or whatever it's called, from that one episode. No, The Schick Hydro Man. There

you go. It's sponsored by The Schick Hydro Man. Yeah, whatever. Yes, that. It's sponsored by that.

So here's a new segment where I'm just going to explain to you an announcement at the Game Awards,

and I want your immediate thoughts on it, all right? Final Fantasy VII Rebirth coming to PC

on January 23rd. Good or bad? Are you going to play it?

I'm going to play it, but the PC port is going to suck ass.

Because it's Square Enix. Their PC port is always going to suck garbage.

Borderlands 4.

I don't give a shit about Borderlands. It's 2024. Nobody gives a shit about Borderlands.

The Witcher 4, where you play as Ciri.

Absolutely. I love The Witcher. So, yeah.

Okay. Naughty Dog's new game is intergalactic, The Heretic Project, where you go into space.

I will reserve judgment on that until later, because I don't...

Directed by Neil Druckmann. So for somehow, it'll somehow relate to Palestine.

Ah, so I'll not play it. Okay.

Elden Ring co-op multiplayer spin-off.

I don't want to play more Elden Ring.

Okami is having a sequel.

I don't know how to feel about that.

I've never played Okami. I've never played the original Okamis.

It's directed by Hideki Kamiya.

I know. I know that much, but I don't know anything else about Okami other than there's

a wolf in it. There's a...

Outer Worlds 2.

Yes, hell yes. I loved Outer Worlds. Not Outer Wilds, which I didn't like. Outer Worlds.

Wait, we can't do Outer Worlds discourse anymore.

Last of Us Part II Remastered coming to PC.

I did not play the one on the... I don't know. I don't particularly care about the last one.

Slay the Spire 2.

No, I don't... I've tried Slay the Spire a lot and I don't particularly get on with it.

The last one that I think is important here is going to be a new Turok game.

Have you ever played any of the original Turok games?

I... no. I've heard of the name, but I've not played it.

They were first-person dinosaur shooters on the N64, which actually...

Okay, so does it hold up today? No.

But did eight-year-old, seven-year-old me have a good time playing it? Yes.

You know what I mean? I don't know if it would hold up today, but it was good back in the day.

It'll work if they make it silly and not too serious,

because that sounds like a game that's... well, it's better if you make it not serious.

So I think we can now transition into another thing that's not serious, which is Drake.

I mean, the whole existence of Drake is not serious, but also Drake...

Oh, man, this headline.

Drake alleges UMG, which is Universal Music Group, a massive record label,

probably one of the biggest record labels, falsely inflated Kendrick Lamar's track

"Not Like Us," and by "falsely inflated," he means streaming numbers,

that the numbers were falsely inflated by the use of, I don't know, bots.

He can't put up with the fact that people actually like Kendrick Lamar and actually

like his music and like "Not Like Us," which is like a club banger and is very catchy.

So I don't know what else to say to that other than Drake is an extremely disorist of losers.

The man needs to learn how to take an L for the sake of all of us.

That's my thoughts.

What are your thoughts on Drake being a sore loser?

I'm furiously Googling for an article I sent you about how Spotify is kind of all a payola.

Do you have that link?

It's in our Signal chat.

It's in our Signal.

I can find it, given enough time.

Okay, while I talk about this, we can find it.

That's what I want to go on about for a minute because I want to add to the show notes.

I cannot find it in our chat.

So if you could, I would very much appreciate you.

But okay.

So my thoughts on it, as I was just saying, is all of streaming is kind of a payola, right?

So I recently switched to Android.

I switched to Spotify.

I'm so sorry, Google.

YouTube Music is...

YouTube Music is as good as groove music was before Microsoft killed it.

And I think the only reason most people put up with it is it's included with YouTube Premium.

And I understand, listen, if you are broke, right, and you can only pay for one streaming service,

the YouTube Premium/YouTube Music combo is actually great, right?

Like, it's $12 a month for ad for YouTube plus a streaming service.

I can't hate on it.

I can't hate on it.

But...

I cannot find this link in our...

It might be in the group chat.

It might be in the thirst chat.

It might be in the group chat.

For context, for anyone who listens, me and my boys, we have a chat we call the thirst chat

because there's a name we made in 2015 when I was like 19.

I can't...

You know, that group chat name is not held up today.

But still, so basically, there's the idea that, you know, "Oh, you pay for streams."

What is not modern music if not paying for placement, right?

There are some songs that naturally will blow up through the algorithm.

But if you look at TikTok, you look at Spotify, you look at YouTube, right,

how the ad marketplaces work for those platforms is when you are having a song,

you can sponsor it to boost it, right?

You can boost either YouTube by ad placement or in TikTok, however that

their ad system works there.

And you could also do natural...

Well, not quote unquote natural influencing where you pay a creator, right,

to have that song be in the background of their video.

So even though it's disclosed, right, there are ways to boost a song.

I mean, yeah.

Is that necessarily payola?

Like, I'm not saying Kendrick did this.

But the idea that this is a problem in modern music, well, I mean, yeah, but it's not...

Kendrick's not out here botting it.

Record labels have been doing this for artists for years.

Kendrick doesn't need to bot, not like, because there's absolutely like

no need to promo it because it's like promos itself.

It's like a viral phenomenon.

It's like a cultural phenomenon.

It kind of propagates by itself.

But as you said, I think the biggest thing right now is how TikTok influences music, right?

Or rather how TikTok influences musical trends.

So artists are making tracks that are TikTok-friendly in the sense that

you can put a snippet of it in a TikTok video, and that snippet is going to be really catchy

and really recognizable.

And what that causes is it causes the viral...

Well, it kind of forces it.

It's like a kind of group.

Sabrina Carpenter's "Expresso" was basically boosted to be the most popular song of the year.

Because here's what happens.

Can artists pay to be in Spotify playlists?

Let me actually search that.

I'm going to...

Because I know with TikTok, you can.

Probably, but not directly.

I would imagine it's probably through contracts that...

If you're assigned to a major record label, they probably have contacts

at people at Spotify who make these playlists.

I feel like...

So it's like these songs...

And the example of Sabrina Carpenter's "Expresso," yes, it is a really...

But to be fair, to give it credit, that song is extremely catchy.

I feel like it didn't really need a lot of boosting to have it be the single of the year

or whatever.

It is really a very catchy track.

I just found a website called SpotifyPanel.com.

I'll put this in the show notes here.

Yep.

So, okay.

Thank you.

It's hard...

Yes, from HeadphoneSD.

Talking about Payolas Live and then the streaming era.

Sort of goes into...

It's a really great read.

But here's a site called SpotifyPanel.

This might be a scam site, right?

But this effectively seems like a service where you just pay for botting.

Oh, this kind of stuff exists for literally every kind of media platform.

YouTube, likes, YouTube...

This stuff exists for games.

If you want to get ranked in Overwatch, you can just pay someone to smurf for you.

You can just pay for someone to do that.

No, you just buy an account.

You just buy a high-level account, which is kind of stupid because you're just going to

start DRag.

You can buy a high-level account.

Yeah, you can pay.

You can smurf.

You can pay somebody to use your account to get higher rank.

You can pay for YouTube views.

You can pay for Instagram likes and follows.

You can pay for YouTube views.

You can pay for...

There's a whole "underground" industry that is built around basically having...

And oftentimes, these are real people, real accounts paid, people in lower-income countries.

In Southeast Asia, paid pennies to click a link and leave a comment or click like or

whatever.

Follow, use their legitimate Instagram account to hit follow on somebody's account or hit like.

I don't know if this was Steve on YouTube.

It was one of the PC Gamer YouTube channels that was talking about how ad campaigns work.

And basically, as a part...

If I find a video, I will add it.

I have to go search for it.

But if I find the video, I will add it to the show notes, which you always find at

voxels.fm.

But did we even say...

I'm Christian.

I didn't even introduce myself.

This is Voxels, a show sensibly about culture and video games.

But basically, what that YouTuber was talking about is as a part of the ad contract,

bought views, guaranteed views are a part of that contract.

We're like, "The advertiser comes and say it's like NZXT advertising Fortnite competitions.

What the fuck do they do?"

They would say as a part of their contract, "Okay, we are going to pay for you to hit

these talking points.

And we're going to include 400,000 base views.

And we expect 600,000 organic."

So that 400,000 is purchased.

It's bought.

It's somehow bought placement.

And that's a part of the deal because they're expecting...

Because they also include that purchase views, that organic views will come through because

the algorithm will start serving it to more people.

And I think views...

YouTube algorithm is a black box.

But it's not just views that make a YouTube video...

Watch time plus views, I think, really.

Watch time, views, and engagement, which means people click like or people comment.

So this is why people are...

What YouTubers say that it doesn't matter if you like our comment.

If you comment on the video, it'll increase some metric somewhere.

And a little black box algorithm where it's like, "This video is a lot of people interested

in this video because they're in the comments."

And that will boost it up in the algo.

So yeah, there's a lot of this stuff that we can talk about this for hour and hour plus.

It's like there is a certain amount of...

What is happening here is just that the industry...

Back in the day when music used to be...

The source for music promotion used to be radio.

I mean, record labels paid for that.

That's how back in the day you had to be on a record label to get your music anywhere.

Because it was really hard to distribute music now.

Now it's more like you pay a bot farm to bot a video or a stream.

Right.

It's all marketing.

So I think there are some songs that naturally grow organically.

I don't deny the artistry of it.

But to say that this is a Kendrick-specific problem, even if he is or is not engaging

with it, rather it's a music industry problem, is weird.

Because even if there's not payola for radio stations...

Yeah, I mean, Drake does not give a shit about a problem with inflated numbers,

streaming numbers or engagement numbers in the music industry.

Because he would benefit from that.

Obviously, Drake would benefit his own music.

He makes his money on streaming.

That's how Drake makes money.

Drake is not...

Drake is quite possibly one of the biggest streaming artists still.

Right.

It's Drake, it's Taylor Swift, it's Bad Bunny.

Right.

These artists stream billions of streams.

So Drake doesn't actually care about the industry like that.

I think a succinct way maybe to tie this up before we move on to the grand national is

you cannot file a lawsuit saying that a song was artificially inflated when you have Beats

Headphone sponsoring all your fucking music videos.

Because that's the same shit.

Right.

That paid placement is conceptually the same thing as juicing the numbers.

So no, I mean, we can have a wild discussion about engagement numbers and inflated streams

and whatnot.

But at the end of the day, this is about Drake being a sore loser.

He just can't get over the fact that he just got bodied so fucking hard.

Right.

It's like being a sore loser on the world's biggest stage.

Everybody is watching you being the biggest loser ever.

So it's...

He was...

I got a segue for this.

You can say he was running through the sticks with his woes.

Anyways, let's move on to this new Kendrick album.

We're super late to it.

So I want to start.

Let me set the game plan down for this.

Where were you when the GNX video dropped?

It was a Friday, right?

Like it dropped on a late Friday.

Right.

But we got to talk about the rollout first.

So a one minute short clip dropped, right?

Me and you were all hype in the group chat.

And then I'm like, "I got to go grocery shopping."

40 minutes later, I get a push notification saying Kendrick album dropped.

And I'm like, "Fuck, I had shit to do that day."

But I guess not now.

Okay.

So I was working, right?

I started working that day.

That was a work day.

And I get a message from you saying that the album's out.

And I'm like, "What?"

It's just like that entire day, I was just like on Genius, listening to the album on repeat,

trying to figure out what he's saying.

And I was just losing my mind because it was just like this.

I didn't expect him to drop the album that day.

We got that teaser, little teaser trailer thing.

And I was like, "All right, cool.

So we're doing some sort of rollout in January.

You're going to get a new album or something."

But no, like 30, 40 minutes later, we get the drop.

And there's a video by RDC World.

I put it in the show notes.

How Kendrick was in the studio making this new album.

He records it and it's just like dropping the album right after.

It's just very funny.

I should go watch that.

It's very good.

It's so good.

It's also too because you could tell that he was uploading the album in real time after

that video dropped because it was Apple Music first.

No, it was Tidal.

Tidal got it first.

I paid for a month of Tidal to listen to it as soon as possible.

Don't judge me.

So I did Tidal first and then Apple Music and then Spotify and then YouTube Music last,

which means that his label was just uploading it as soon as they could.

Yeah.

So his label did not know that it was going to come out.

Like his label was not prepared.

He still signed through to...

I mean, he's doing his own thing.

He's on...

Like PG Lang is the record label, right?

And published through Interscope.

If we could like parlay this for video game people, right?

You have your distributors, publishers, and developers, right?

And so for the music industry, sometimes you could have the artist who makes the music,

right?

But then the label can do the distribution, publishing, and also the mastering of it.

Yeah.

So in Kendrick's case, Interscope Records is the distributor.

Distributor publisher.

Yep.

Right.

And so his label was just like, "Okay, what are we doing?

All right, all right, all right."

So one thing at a time, they uploaded to Tidal first, I guess.

I guess Tidal maybe has the fastest procedure for uploading music to it, I guess.

Maybe that's why.

I don't know.

Maybe it's just like a little weird.

I mean, Kendrick probably just called Jay and was like, "Push that shit out."

Yeah.

Just sent him a zip file with the lossless audio on it.

Upload this shit right now.

And then I listened to it on Apple Music.

You could tell it was a staged rollout or a very hurried rollout because the Dolby Atmos

version wasn't uploaded initially on Apple Music.

Dolby Atmos version wasn't uploaded until the next week.

I felt like the Dolby Atmos version wasn't there when it was uploaded to Apple Music.

It wasn't even mastered in Atmos, right?

Kendrick was like, "Yes, sir."

Does Kendrick use AirPods?

Because I know Charli XCX actually uses Samsung Galaxy Buds too.

Don't ask me how I know this.

No, no, no.

It's because apparently she had a Samsung partnership.

And in an interview, she was like, "All my fans say I secretly have an iPhone."

And she's like, "No, AirPods don't fit me."

So I'm like, "Charli XCX, solidarity."

Oh, wow.

Okay.

That's good.

But yeah, it just dropped out of...

Everybody was surprised.

Everybody on Genius was like, "What?"

Nobody was ready to transcribe the lyrics of the album because nobody was expecting it to come out

on some random Friday in late November.

So what are the first thoughts you have?

The first track, "Whacked Out Murals," it's a 12-track album.

It's what, 50 minutes?

It's not even an hour long.

It's a short album.

First track is just...

I love the compressed horns it starts with, right?

It's this dramatic stuff, but they are purposely compressed so you can hear the compression

artifacts.

And then it's just the random mariachi singer in the back.

It's like, "Oh, this is..."

You'd think it's going to be some drama, but it's like...

And he's just low-key just talking shit the whole track.

I love it.

Yeah.

One of the things I love about this track is...

He talks about Lil Wayne in this track, right?

He says that, "You used to bump the card of three.

I held my rollie chain proud.

Irony, I think my hard work leveled and weighed down."

And this is a reference to how Kendrick got the performance slot for the Super Bowl, right?

Is this the thing?

Yeah, it's the Super Bowl thing, right?

He's referencing how Lil Wayne wanted a Super Bowl show, but obviously Kendrick got it.

And then he's talking about how Lil Wayne maybe got let down.

And then he's like, "Everybody's questionable."

And how when he won the Super Bowl, that Nas was the only one that congratulated him,

which is a wild...

I feel like that's a wild statement.

Okay, but you were skipping the best line.

"When Stu Post to Taylor made, I thought it was the edibles."

I don't know.

No, no, no.

The Stu Post to Taylor made, which was the LLM-generated track, right?

And Kendrick's like, "I prayed it was the edibles."

Because, I mean, it's Snoop Dogg, so that makes sense.

I think that man is always high.

I don't think there's...

In that moment, man has not stopped being high since the Doggy Style came out.

So I think that man is always high.

So him being on edibles is the surprising thing.

This track, he's just coming in hot.

What else about this track is good?

The flow.

Can we please talk about the flow outside of the lyrics for a minute?

What is this inflection he's doing?

"My Ernie, I let Lil Wayne down."

Like, what the fuck is that for?

No, that's Kendrick's thing.

He's always doing these little inflection, vocal inflections,

and it's what makes his music so good, I think.

I feel like Kendrick is like a one-man theater production with his music, right?

He's doing voices.

He's always doing voices.

I promise I don't mean this in a problematic way.

I was watching a stream and someone was reacting to it,

and they were like, "This is Kendrick's most neuro-spicy album yet,

with all the vocal tics he has in all of his songs."

We'll talk about it later, but TV Off, right?

He'll randomly be like, "Hoo, hoo," just in the middle of a fucking line.

Yeah, yeah, he just does that.

And I think the overall theme of this album is just Kendrick just like...

I just feel this album, coming out of the dark years of Damn and Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers,

which was quite possibly one of the darkest albums I've literally ever heard,

is this album, which feels very exuberant.

Kendrick feels like he's unchained, and he feels free to just do whatever the fuck he wants.

It feels a very happy album to me, in many ways.

It feels like Kendrick is very comfortable with his art and with himself, more importantly.

And I feel with all the weird vocal inflections he keeps doing,

I feel like that's just him having fun.

He loves doing that shit.

The one Kendrick line that lives free in my mind, rent-free,

is whenever he's on a track with Baby Keem, and he'll randomly go like,

"He's Baby Keem," for no fucking reason.

[laughs]

It's so dumb, but it's so funny.

Yeah, Kendrick. Kendrick, why are you so funny?

Kendrick is legitimately one of the funniest rappers out right now.

The biggest funny rapper.

We gotta talk about "Squabble Up" and "TV Off."

Those are the tracks I feel like...

I mean, every track on this is good, but "Squabble Up" is just like...

It had that little snippet that we got from the...

The "Not Like Us" video, the first minute of it, yeah.

The "Not Like Us" music video, at the end of the "Not Like Us" music video,

there was a little...

No, the beginning of it.

Oh, the beginning of it, there was a little snippet.

"Woke up looking for the broccoli, high-key, keep a horn on me, that Kamasi."

That's a reference to Kamasi Washington, fantastic jazz artist.

I think everybody should...

If you're into jazz, even a little bit, I think you should listen to Kamasi Washington,

if you haven't.

Or his 2015 album, "The Epic," is truly one of the best albums I've heard.

And do you think where he says, "IP ownership, the blueprint is by me,"

is that a Jay-Z reference?

That's a Jay-Z reference, because Jay-Z bought his masters back, right?

That's the whole thing.

So I think Kendrick and PG Lenk, he owns his masters now.

Wait, when did that happen?

Didn't Jay-Z buy his masters?

I can't remember.

That feels like something I should know, but I don't.

The blueprint is the Jay-Z album, so it's a reference to Jay-Z, I think.

Yeah, he won in 2014.

Oh, okay.

That's like 10 years ago.

He got the publishing and master rights in 2014, yeah.

Oh, okay.

I just love Squabble Up so much.

The whole vibe on this is just him just going, "I feel good, get the fuck out of my face,"

which is a mood.

Yeah, I just love it.

Sorry, real time, this is misinformation.

In 2031, he'll have his masters, according to Black Wealth Enterprise.

I don't trust this website.

He may or may not.

He may own some of his masters, but maybe he may not own all of them.

I feel like, yeah, not all of them, maybe.

Maybe some of his older stuff.

Voxels.fm is not your trusted source of masters information.

I also don't like that term a lot.

No, that kind of information is hard to get anyway.

I think one of my low-key favorite tracks on this album is "Reincarnated."

Before we get the TV off, I want to talk about "Reincarnated," because I feel like "Reincarnated"

is one of those tracks where he's just like, it's a story.

He's telling a story about him being reincarnation of multiple different artists from the past.

He's like, "Another life had placed me as a Black woman in the Chitlin circuit."

I think that's a reference to Billie Holiday.

The first verse is a reference to...

Who's it a reference to?

I don't think the first verse has a specific reference.

Is it not a reference?

I thought it was Jimi Hendrix.

He's talking about the guitar, right?

Yeah, I thought he was talking about Jimi Hendrix.

Yeah, he's talking about, "Let's take it back to Michigan in 1947."

This is multiple reincarnations.

The third verse is the one where he's talking about himself.

Maybe John Lee Hooker, according to Genius, is a blues guitarist in the '40s.

That one's a little less clear.

This is probably the track on this album that is the most reflective and introspective.

Also, this uses a sample, right?

This is a sample of Tupac's...

Yeah, it's a Tupac sample here.

It also intros with that mariachi singer whose name is Dara.

Speak on her name.

Dara Barrera.

That's the name.

I don't know who that is.

Do you think that's...

Does that mean anything?

Oh, it's just the continuation of the...

It's LA as fuck.

That's what it means.

This whole album is West Coast as fuck.

You got hip-hop, and then you got all the Mexicans out in LA.

So I get it.

I get what he's going for with it.

So that track, though, that track, I think, is really...

It's a really great example of how well he is at telling a story.

And you can really unpack the idea of him taking this blues guitarist,

Billie Holiday, and then being reincarnated as Tupac as the third verse.

And in the fourth verse, talking about his life, flipping it into a retcon of the Bible

story of how the devil is a fallen angel.

And actually, the devil is a fallen angel, but whose task on Earth is to save humanity

from themselves instead of leading them to hell.

To flip that entire thing, there is so much to unpack there.

Yeah.

Also, it's a reference to how he's always talking about Lucifer.

Obviously, this is from To Pimp a Butterfly, the evils of Lucy all around me.

He's always talking about...

Kendrick and Bible verses is always a thing.

So Kendrick's always talking about the devil, about God, about the Bible, Deuteronomy on

damn.

I've been listening to a lot of Kendrick recently.

I've been going back in the discography.

And I think this is the first time he's actually...

The story is he's having a conversation with the devil.

Is that the thing?

I feel like...

In Reincarnated?

It's not in Reincarnated.

Is that in...

Which track is that?

Because the whole story of To Pimp a Butterfly, he's telling it to Tupac, right?

And then damn, he's just talking about his own existence, right?

And sort of...

Yeah, damn is about himself.

Yeah, damn is a more introspective album.

I mean, not in Good Kid, Bad City, not in any of the recent albums.

Not even Mr. Marlowe, The Big Steppers is him.

It's more like a stage play.

Yeah.

I was trying to remember if there was a similar conversation with some sort of supernatural

entity being played out.

I don't think there is.

Going back to Section 80, I don't remember it.

No, no.

Okay, you're thinking the first track of Untitled Unmastered.

The track about...

It's not the Get Top on the Phone track, because the track before it...

Because in that track, he's basically talking about a rapture happening, right?

He's telling the story of a rapture and him pleading with God, saying that, "Hey, he made

Good Kid, Mad City.

He made this so his soul should be saved."

That's what that track is about.

So you might be referencing that one.

But yeah, no, Reincarnated though, it is...

I don't know, Kendrick and Mr. Morales was like, "I can't be your savior."

And then here he's pit-pitting himself as literally Lucifer, but flipping it to be a

positive spin on that.

I mean, that's not surprising though, right?

And that's not surprising because Kendrick has always had this weird-ass savior complex,

right?

That weird-ass Jesus complex, I'd say, right?

He's the savior of, I don't know, multiple things, like hip-hop, culture, and everybody

else.

It just goes against the face of everything The End of Mr. Morales was about.

Yeah, I mean, to be fair to Mr. Morales, I don't think Kendrick...

Yeah, Mr. Morales was a very heavy album, and it was a very introspective album.

And he was just fighting a lot of things at the time.

I feel like it was like he said that, "I'm not your savior," more out of frustration

than I think anything else, I feel like.

I think he still has this weird...

A lot of weird.

He still has this savior complex, this God complex.

And I don't think that's ever going to really go away.

I feel like it's just Kendrick.

It just feels like he's the one that made it, the one that survived, and the one that

made it all this way.

And now it's his responsibility to save everybody else.

I feel like that's the vibe.

I do want to say, on that same train, you skipped over Man in the Garden.

And Man in the Garden is another one of those lyrically heavy tracks that we should not

skip over.

What about Man in the Garden are you talking about?

I mean, the entire song is him basically justifying the claim that he deserves it all,

and his claim that he's the greatest of all time.

Yeah.

So this is, again, another seeking...

He's talking about other people also.

He's talking about how, "I see you as a human first, even when you don't deserve,

I didn't understand your worth, but I try to deserve it all."

He's just saying that he's the one that's got to save everybody, which is, yeah, as

you said, kind of...

I don't think it's that.

I think it's more of...

I'm going to fight that he's going to save everybody.

I think this track is more of, "I embrace my humanity, and I see other people's humanity,

because I can make the claim that I deserve it all."

I think it's more of a general...

I mean, it's a statement for him about why he's the best, but I think the general audience

can take away the morals he's trying to push.

Because there's an interview him and SZA did a while back.

And she basically asked him, "Is Not Like Us just a masculine bullshit?

Or what does it actually mean?"

And his answer basically equated to him telling her that Not Like Us is referring to people

who are decent men, who actually give a shit about their communities and are fallible and

make mistakes.

Sort of the anti of everything that Drake was saying he is, right?

Because Drake is just like...

So just a decent person.

And I think this track goes back to that, where maybe the takeaway is not more so that

he's the greatest, because he's saying that for himself, but that you or a listener could

say they're the greatest as long as they embrace their humanity and recognize they make mistakes,

and as long as they're trying to reconcile that and do good.

- Yeah.

I mean, he kind of is saying that he's the greatest.

He says, "Tell me why you think you deserve the greatest of all time, motherfucker."

That's obviously a reference...

That's the last line before the outro.

And it's like, he's saying that he's the greatest of all time, and why do we, all of us, deserve

Kendrick Lamar?

I think that's the...

- But that verse begins with, "Put a smile on my mama, it's good health and good karma."

Yeah, she deserves it all.

While he's saying, "I deserve it all."

- Yeah, I mean, yeah, it feels a little weird.

I mean, it's hard.

I mean, I don't think your analysis is wrong.

I don't think mine is wrong.

I think it's just like, it's the interpretation of this.

I feel like it's kind of like flip-flopping.

Like, it's like, he's talking about...

- I am going to say that Western society has poisoned your mind to think that only a singular

person could deserve it all, when I, on my praxis bullshit, believe we can all deserve it all.

- I didn't expect to get schooled on, I don't know, communist theory on this fucking podcast,

of all places.

But sure, I'm not saying...

Like, I would prefer it to be a case where Kendrick is saying that all of us are deserving

of good things, and et cetera, et cetera.

So, you know, yeah, the good...

This is the thing about Kendrick's music.

I feel like interpretation is everything with his music.

- Right.

Also, we're going to keep working it backwards, because you're skipping over the best track.

So firstly, fuck you for that.

Yes, Luther, can we please just talk about how, one, good the singing is on this track,

two, the fucking background instrumentation, and the fact that it's the same melody,

but Kendrick insists it keep going to different vocal melodies on top of the strings.

It just gets better and more angelic as the song goes on.

It is so good.

- Yeah, yeah.

There are two tracks.

There's Luther and the last track, Gloria, which SZA is on.

These are not features, these are duets.

They're marked as with SZA, not featuring SZA, right?

Which means that these are duets, like Kendrick and SZA are singing together, and I think

they're going to go on tour together as well for this album.

I think that's the thing last I heard about the tour for this.

It's going to be Kendrick and SZA.

And I just love SZA's voice, man.

This track comes on, and I feel like this album has a good balance of these hype beats

and these more slowed down, more R&B style kind of vibes, more chill.

Well, not chill, more low-key vibes.

- Also, promise me something.

I got to ask you this question.

I'm going to put it on wax for the podcast.

Are you going to one of the two Toronto shows?

- I don't do concerts for personal reasons.

- I mean, but you could be seeing Not Like Us in Toronto for the first time, bro?

- Oh, that's...

Yeah, I mean, at this point, I don't know if I can get tickets for that.

I'm sure it's sold out.

- Look, look, I respect people who got anxiety on concerts because there's so many people

there.

I'm not talking shit on it.

I will buy you an edible.

- Yeah, no, that's the reason I don't go, yeah.

- Allegedly.

- Okay.

- Allegedly.

- You can't just...

Yeah, I mean, yeah.

I mean, that shit's legal here, but...

- This Discord calls end an encrypted bono about the podcast delivery, so Ian's hard.

- I mean, it's legal here, so I don't care, but, you know.

But yeah, I don't do concerts, especially a concert as big as Skitter Club.

I'm sure it'd be good, but I just don't want to...

I feel like I would not have as much fun as you think it would be.

Like, I would just be...

Yeah.

- All right, for all the furries out in the audience, and I say all for a reason, because

I respect y'all and I love y'all, but I know you all have this.

360 camera setup, sneaking into the Kendrick show so we can watch it in VR, to be like

we're there, but be physically at home.

- Okay.

I don't think that's possible, but we can...

- Anything is possible with ingenuity.

So, can we please talk about TV Off now?

- Yes, absolutely.

I was waiting for us to get the TV Off, because this is a track where it starts off with this

one beat, right?

We got mustard on the track, we got soundwave on the track.

Part one, I don't even know what else to say about it.

It's just such a good...

It's just such a hype track.

And obviously, the most important thing about this whole album, that Kendrick has created

yet another meme, right?

- Yet another.

- Before we go there, we gotta...

Okay, I need to start with the first line.

All everyone is a black or a national, fuck being rational, give them what they ask for.

And that sets the tone for this entire track, because this entire track is like, all right,

no one wants this heady, no one wants this deep shit.

Okay, here's just some raw track, because all y'all want is emotion and memes and shit,

so we're just going to scream about it.

And if you don't get it at that point, that's on fucking you.

- Yeah, there are a lot of funny lines in this song.

And there's a beat switch in here.

And yeah, it's just...

- What's the funniest line here?

Let me see.

"I hate a bitch that's hating on a bitch when they both broke.

I hate a man that's hating on a man when they both..."

Oh, no.

"I hate a bitch that's hating on a bitch when they both hose."

- "I hate a bitch that's hating on a man when they both hose."

- "I hate a man that's hating on a man when they both broke."

- It's so funny.

It's just...

- Because we've all been there.

We've all...

And I'm not talking about other people.

But I think every single person here has been like,

"Fuck that person."

And in the back of your head, you're like,

"I do the same shit they do, but I'm not going to say that out loud."

- Yeah.

And also the part where he says, "Bitch, I cut my granny off."

If she doesn't see it, how will I see it?

- You know what?

For everyone on the timeline that's posting about

how they have to go to holidays with their problematic family members,

no, cut your granny off.

Kendrick did it.

Why can't you?

(laughs)

Stop being around homophobes.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, that's the message.

That's the message.

And we got to talk about the transition between

the first part and the second part, right?

Where the beef switches,

and then you hear the mustard on the bee-ho,

and then you know you're going to get some nasty shit.

Like, it's just like...

- Because Kendrick, after that, he's like, "Hoo, hoo."

(laughs)

- Like, he's getting ready to just...

It's so good.

And like, the whole "mustard" is just...

He not only has the "Didi do not like us,"

in the same fucking year,

we get another fucking viral meme coming out of Kendrick's music.

Like, this man is unstoppable.

Like, it's just the facts.

And everybody...

(laughs)

- So, DJ Mustard on every track now.

I...

Mustard on the bee-ho is a classic DJ tag.

You know, some are annoying.

It's actually a really good one.

But, Mustard for the next five years,

every single...

It needs to be a cut-up.

It needs to be a cut-up version of that scream, right?

Like, he needs to do something with that scream

to make it his new DJ tag.

- Yeah, like, I feel like, you know...

Yeah, that's...

Like, Mustard...

I feel like one of the real winners of this album is Mustard.

Like, everybody's screaming this man's name right now.

Like, I feel like nobody has screamed a producer's name

like this in long-ass time.

Like, which other producer is getting their name screamed out

in the clubs everywhere?

Because, like, everybody's gonna sing along to that bit.

Like, it's just gonna be like...

So...

- And the chorus, though...

So, we gotta break down the lyrical at the chorus.

"If Tim's screaming Mustard, then people acting bad,

but somebody gotta do it.

Got my foot up on the gas, somebody gotta do it.

Turn his TV off, turn his TV off."

Like, it's just like...

This has to be a response to Drake.

I feel like it has to be a response to Drake.

'Cause it's just like, someone had to do it.

If you don't wanna hear this shit, turn it off.

- Turn the TV off, yeah.

- Just turn it fucking off.

If you don't wanna deal with this,

who's telling you to deal with it?

Like, you're doing this to yourself, so shut up.

It's so good.

- And there's a line here that I just appreciate

for the craft here.

You know, "The city just made it sweet.

You could die, I bet it."

And the way he says that last three words,

"You could die-bet it."

Like, sweet, diabetic, right?

That's like one of those, like...

You think about it for a second, it's like, just...

Like, as a writer, it's just like, chef's kiss.

Just beautiful wordplay, right?

Like, that's just gorgeous.

Yeah.

- I love the ending of it, too.

"Walk into Orleans with the etiquette of L.A. Yellin'

just to bust in."

- "Just to bust in."

I like, "Just to bust in."

(laughing)

- Oh, it's so good.

- I was tempted to open the podcast with, like, "Bust in."

But I thought that would be a little tacky.

- You get people knock on your door asking

why you're screaming that at the top of your lungs.

'Cause you can't, you gotta actually,

if you're gonna do it, you'd have to actually,

you would commit.

I would cut it from the podcast if we didn't commit to it.

- Yeah, I don't wanna do it.

I know it's Saturday morning, and I don't wanna wake up.

- Plus the outro, too.

Shit gets crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious.

It's just, like, so good.

It's so catchy.

- What else is there?

Like, I want, like, you wanna talk about "Heart Part 6"?

I think "Heart Part 6" is what we're talking about.

- Wait, can we talk about "Peek-A-Boo" first?

- Okay, we can talk about "Peek-A-Boo."

- Just for the fact of, like...

- Oh, yeah.

- This is him making fun, this is like,

"What they talking about?

They ain't talking about nothing.

What they talk about?

They talk about nothing."

It is just them just talking shit on, like,

people who make music that is ignorant.

Which is fine, ignorant music is fine.

But I love how much they're just talking shit about it.

"What they talking about?

They talk about nothing."

(laughs)

- And this track, and also, like, "Dodger Blue,"

and also "GNX," like, has a lot of artist features

that I don't know who they are.

Like, they're, like, LA artists, right?

Like, these dames, like, CD7x, Wally Da Sensei,

AZ Chai, Hidda J3, Peso, Young Threat.

Like, I don't know who these people are.

- It's, Kendrick got a Call of Duty lobby up in his house.

- Yeah, that's true!

It's true, it sounds like a bunch of, like,

usernames, like, from Call of Duty.

- Like, "Hey, Hidda J3, finally, we can prestige again.

It's the Double FB weekend."

(laughs)

- Young Threat absolutely sounds like a Call of Duty name.

"Hard Part 6," I think, is, like,

talking about how, back in the day,

before, like, he became famous,

like, Dave Free, Dave, Dave is a reference to Dave Free.

Dave Free had a champagne Acura, which, like, I love that.

It's a great way to put, like, the color of the Acura.

Like, and how he was, like, a producer, a manager,

and a director, and a DJ.

I don't know, mixed by Ali, and reference to Schoolboy Q,

about how Schoolboy Q didn't rap,

but he learned from their inspiration.

And, like, you know, splitting Louisiana chicken

riverboat specials, which sounds delicious.

I don't know what that is.

It sounds--

- Popeyes, bro.

They're talking about Louisiana chicken.

They're talking about Popeyes, bro.

- Oh, they're talking about Popeyes.

I was like, I don't know if this is some, like, LA thing.

I don't, I don't--

- I mean, let me check.

I'm assuming that's a Popeyes combo.

- I have Popeyes here.

I know what Popeyes is.

Like, I just didn't know it was--

- Where is it?

Riverboat, Riverboat.

Yeah, yeah, that's the Riverboat special from,

oh no, Louisiana chicken is, okay,

that's a Compton-specific restaurant.

Okay, it ain't Popeyes.

- Oh, yeah, that's, I was like, it's, it's like,

I don't think it's Popeyes.

Like, it's like sub-fried chicken thing,

but, like, I don't think it's Popeyes.

Okay, let's see.

And it's like, you know, Q said, "Dot, you won't be slept on."

I mean, that's, yeah, that's, now that's a,

Schoolboy Q was right.

And, like, he's also talking about how he was a Black Hippie.

If I don't know if people remember what Black Hippie was.

Do you remember who was in Black Hippie?

I know it was Kendrick and J, Absol J-Rock.

J-Rock, right?

- Absol, Schoolboy Q, J-Rock.

I think it was them four, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The four rappers and--

- Yeah, and he says that Black Hippie didn't work

'cause of Kendrick, 'cause of me.

Creatively, I moved on with new concepts and reach.

And he's talking about how he was just trying to get J-Rock signed

and that was gonna be the thing that, you know.

And I gotta respect Kendrick or all the Apple nerds out there.

Put my heart on display like it was an iMac.

That's a good reference.

That's just a good, the old iMac G reference, I think.

- See, that, I, okay, let's actually talk.

Is it a G3?

I know Genius has a G3.

I thought it was the iMac, it's a G4.

The one with the swivel arm one.

The one that had the computer as the base

when you could swivel around.

I thought it was that one.

I feel like I disagree.

- No, no, no, no, no.

It is the, it's the one that has a translucent case,

which is what it, what it's like.

He's talking about that one from, that came out in 1998,

would have a translucent color case,

which meant you could see a little bit

like the inside, the heart of the computer, right?

Which is what he's saying.

Put my heart on display like it was an iMac, right?

And I just heard that line.

I was like, that's a good line.

And also, before I forget, put a square on his back,

like it's Jack Dorsey.

I forgot which track that is.

I forgot which fucking track that is.

It's one of these tracks.

I don't, I don't remember which one it is.

Put a, put a square on his back.

Like it's Jack Dorsey.

It's just an extremely funny line.

Like it's just really, really funny.

Like for people who don't understand, square.

- Hey now, hey now, is it?

So the line is, I'm looking at it here.

- Put, I, we got the same 24, what you mad for?

I put a square on his back like I'm Jack Dorsey.

Square is reference to the payment processing company Square.

Jack Dorsey, he's the co-founder of Square.

So, you know, put square on his back.

- I feel like if I was in the studio,

I would have let Kendrick cook a little bit more

and had some blue sky lines up on here.

- I, I don't know.

No, no.

It, it would be, it would be weird.

I think just, just.

- Kendrick Lamar, what are your thoughts on Federation?

- The evils of Lucy all around me is what he's gonna say.

Um, anyways, um, GNX is just like a feature track, right?

Like it's, it's a track made for Peso and,

and Hitta, J3 and Young Threat.

And I gotta, I gotta say, no, like,

I don't really mean this in a mean way,

but the Young Threat versus band,

like it's the worst verse on this album.

Like it's the worst bit of the album.

Like I have to roll with you.

Get on my Bob the Builder shit.

Get down with the pliers.

Like what?

What is that like?

- Listen, he put people on his block on this album.

You know what?

I, he can have that.

I'm not, I'm not against it being on the album.

- I'm not saying, no, I'm not dis, like I don't dis,

but I, like I'm not disrespecting, uh, anybody here.

I don't really mean this in any mean kind of way.

Like obviously he wants to represent,

like the people in his community.

Uh, that's fine.

I just find the end of that, end of this track,

GNX with Young Threat, third verse, final verse,

it's kind of mid.

It's unfortunately just kind of a mid verse.

Like I'm with some rock star bitches.

They want Lizzie McGuire.

Like what, what are these lines, bro?

I don't, anyways, uh.

- Gloria though, as the last track is so good.

So well-written.

- It's, you know what this track reminds me of?

It reminds me of a Kanye West track.

Do you remember a track called Homecoming featuring Chris Martin?

- The intro to Graduation, right?

- Is that the?

- Or no, is it late registration at the first track?

What track? Homecoming was like, it was the first track.

- I think it's, I think, I think it's late registration,

not, uh, Graduation.

- Homecoming was off of, no, Graduation.

Yeah, it was track 12, track 12 on, on Graduation.

- I'm going to connect this here.

It's like the Homecoming, the entire track,

he's talking about a girl, and it's a metaphor for the city of Chicago, right?

And this track, Gloria, is talking about a woman, right?

As a metaphor for his pen, which is named Gloria for some reason,

but that's what it is.

So I just, this track just reminded me of that elaborate metaphor.

And I think this track is actually in some ways better than that track by Kanye West.

I just love this track.

Like, you know, these references to preoccupied playing John Madden and bullshitting,

you know, reminiscing about younger days, you know.

And then he's like, and how, and the track, and the woman here is SZA.

SZA is the one who plays the woman here.

And, you know, how he's talking about a fabrication,

I disgust you, then you blocked me, I said, fuck you.

And then it's like, man, what?

I gave you life.

I breathed the motherfucking charisma in this bitch.

I love that.

That bit is so funny.

Down bitch, I know your favorite movie.

Is it Notebook?

Is also like.

It's really good for shattering because you don't know until the end of the track

that he's talking about his pen.

Yep.

You don't know about like, it's like Notebook.

And then you get to like, my woman in my right hand, my saint and my sin.

Ain't no bitch like my bitch cause that bitch been my pen.

And it's just like, you know.

And then the outro with the SZA, the last bit of the album, SZA closes it out.

You know, Gloria, I want to take you to euphoria.

Greenlight.

And I think this album doesn't have like any filler tracks.

I don't think that it has any filler tracks.

It doesn't have any mid really kind of bad tracks that I would skip.

Like when I listen to this album, I don't skip any tracks.

Like I listen to it every, like I listen to the whole thing all the way through.

No skips.

And that's rare with even with Kendrick albums that we even with Kendrick albums in the past.

I've had to skip tracks, you know, like with Damn.

Like there's only so many times I can listen to some of the tracks on Damn before I get

annoyed because all the tracks on Damn are kind of annoying.

It's like there is no tracks I skip on.

This is like a perfect album.

It goes on my album of the year list, which I'm going to be making soon.

What are your concluding thoughts before we wrap this up?

I don't know if I like this or Chromocopia better because both are fantastic albums.

Really, LA doing well right now.

Toronto's in shambles.

Really?

Why you gotta?

Okay.

I didn't want to.

Look who represents you.

Look who represents you.

All right.

Y'all made that choice.

Yeah, it's fair.

Fair.

We got some good music coming out of Toronto, but shout out.

Like what?

Hey, Gwanda Lila.

I was talking about Sad Boy, bro.

I've never heard of Sad Boy, but you know, I.

I sent you a link to Sad Boy's music.

She's good.

Great music.

How often do you open the links I send you and how often do I?

Not fair enough.

You know, we can have a conversation about that.

I'm not judging you.

We don't need to have that intervention right now about us sending links no one opens.

I'm saying Toronto will recover from whatever the fuck just happened over the past decade of

Drake being a bitch ass.

But no, I love this album.

It was worth paying that one.

I put the headphones in LDAC, you know, like I made sure that if I'm going to hear this,

I'm going to hear this in the best possible fidelity that is not plugging it in directly

because I don't do that shit in 2024.

But I'm very happy this album came out.

I'm very excited for it.

I might actually watch a Super Bowl for once in my life.

I'm so excited to see what this halftime show is going to be.

Yeah, I'm curious about the performance.

Like I don't I'm not one for Super Bowl performances, but you know, if Kendrick's

doing one like I got up, I got to see it.

I don't know how I'll see it, but we'll figure it out.

I'm sure I could pirate it somehow or whatever.

And if I don't listen to this podcast anyways, allegedly I'll I'll obtain it.

Allegedly, I'll obtain it through the official NFL channels.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah, that's like YouTube TV.

It's like it's like $70 a month.

You really want to do that?

I don't think YouTube TV is available in Canada.

Canada is weird.

Anyways, that's not we don't need to get into that right now.

Let's wrap this up.

As always, you can find the show notes on Voxels.fm.

We're back on transistor, baby.

Yeah, I got OK before people ask, P is the transcripts kind of went away.

I'm going to rerun all the transcripts for the prior episodes today and I'll reattach

them to the show.

I guess in the migration, the transcripts got lost.

So that will be reattached to the episodes because we're big on transcriptions up in

this house.

I'll be as Voxels.fm feedback at Voxels.fm and where can people find you online?

People can find me on the Fediverse at Packetcat at 10 forward on social on my website

Sonic Save dot com and my blog.

No, I'll write it out space and the last but not least, I'm relaunching my music blog.

It is syndicator dot com set up on the ghost platform.

We're doing ghosts.

So go hit the free subscribe button.

I'm working on a big piece which is about going to be about Kendrick Lamar.

Unsurprisingly, it's going to be a whole thing.

Anyways, look forward to that.

And Christian, where do people find you on the internet?

Yeah, I'll be out here.

Lo-fi carrots on basically everything but on Mastodon, Lo-fi carrots 10 forward dot

social where I've yet to be banned.

I've been posting a lot of incendiary shit recently.

We're poisoning the ER, ECN.

L4S boys up in this.

I don't know networking stuff.

Please don't explain it to me.

It's more funnier if I don't know what that means.

But yeah, you can find me online there.

I apparently have a domain but I forgot to renew it.

So I need to go to renew that.

If you want to redo my domain, you can send me money.

Please DM me and I will take all of your money.

But yeah, until next time, this has been Voxels.

I think we're gonna be back on this weekly cadence.

I'm making space for podcasting because it's sidebar here on content creation.

I don't understand people who just work and then go home and play games.

I mean, I do because it's like labor is tiring.

But I tried that for the past few months and it sucks on having a creative outlet.

You know what I mean?

Like it's just...

Yeah, no, it sucks.

That's why I'm doing a bunch of shit.

I'm trying to do book reviews and long form pieces about music because I just get bored.

Like I need to do...

Yeah, I got to do something.

I got to be doing something.

Even if it's not frequent or even if it's not on a regular basis,

like having projects work for having things to edit, I don't know, it just keeps the mind busy.

I just can't.

I can't be playing cyberpunk all day or Destiny.

But yeah, until next time, free range radio up in this L4S, IPv6.

Bye.

Good bye.