For the first time since the song’s release, Kendrick Lamar has discussed his verse on Big Sean’s “Control”.
Lamar is set to appear on both New York’s Hot 97 and Los Angeles’ Power 106 tomorrow morning; however, a snippet from the latter of the two interviews was released this afternoon.
Kendrick said he was surprised by the immense reaction to his verse: “Honestly I didn’t know it would be so much speculation—I just wanted to rap. If anybody knows me doing music, I wanna just rap.”
In regards to his “King of New York” lyric, Kendrick said: “I think that’s a case where I maybe had to dumb down my lyrics just a little bit. The irony of that line is that the people that actually understood it and got it was the actual kings of New York. We’ve been down with them this past week, and them understanding that it’s not about actually being the King of whatever coast, it’s about leaving the mark as great as Biggie as great as Pac.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with Complex, producer No I.D. revealed that “Control” was originally intended to be for Jay Z, and that the song came together after he encouraged Big Sean to record “some straight, hardcore hip-hop records.”
No I.D. added that while Big Sean did not rewrite his own verse after hearing’s Kendrick, he did end up re-rapping it.
Listen to “Control” below.