An Insanely In Depth Breakdown of Big Sean x Kendrick x Jay Elec’s “Control” Posted by Nathan S. on 08/13/13 | Filed under Top Stories, Opinion, Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Jay Electronica

Last night, when the rap atomic bomb that is "Control" dropped, it was one of those moments that made you remember why you fell in love hip-hop in the first place. It gave you that "oh shit!!!" feeling, that "I need to talk to everyone else who cares way too much about this shit right the fuck now" feeling, that happens so rarely.

So while we've already posted the song, I felt like such an epic moment demanded an epic post - and who better to write an insanely complex breakdown of that time Kendrick Lamar murdered every rapper ever than Nathan S.? Rhetorical question, there's no one better.

For those who haven't already memorized every word and note of "Control", I put the song both at the bottom and top of the page because, fair warning, I wasn't joking about the insanely complex breakdown thing. Illiterate people are about to hate looking at all this word count.

Enjoy...



Big Sean

Click here for the start of Big Sean's verse.

I think we can all agree that Big Sean was reading RefinedHype and thought. "I'l show those motherfuckers and drop 'Control' so everyone can see I can rap just as well as Kendrick." Then that shit backfired like a broken down Chevy. Yep, that's exactly what happened.

Regardless, it does beg the question, how conscious was Big Sean that everyone would be talking about Kendrick's verse? Did he think his verse was just as good? Did he know he got murdered but figured it'd be such amazing promo for his album (which it is) that it'd be worth it? Did he just want to be a piece of hip-hop history, even if that history focused on another rapper's verse? Some combination of all of the above?

N it might have Kendrick n Jay Electronics on it too... 3 different type vibes on it!

— Big Sean (@BigSean) August 13, 2013

The only way we'll ever know is if someone asks him. I'd love to ask him, but publicists don't let me interview famous rappers because that's exactly the kind of shit I'd ask. Worth marinating on for a minute. Anyway, the dope thing, or terrible thing depending on your perspective, is that this really is one of his best verses. This is a verse fans can point to and say, "Sean can really rap"...

...but he still got disintegrated; five minutes after this shit dropped the world thought of it as Kendrick's "Control" featuring Big Sean, not Big Sean featuring Kendrick Lamar.

If Barkley hadn't played during the Jordan era he would have won a championship, if Big Sean had dropped this verse on a track with Meek Mill he would have been the murdered, not the victim. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Now onto the actual verse:

"I had women on women / Yeah that's bunk bed bitches."

I'll admit he had me laughing out loud at his one. I guarantee Vivid's working on a "Bunk Bed Bitches" porn right now.

"I got paid to reverse debts / Then I finally found a girl that reverse stress / So now I'm talkin' to the reaper to reverse death."

I can't say I've listened to enough Big Sean to say that's literally the best shit he's ever written, but it's got to be up there. In three lines he manages to go from money to women to mortality, all while maintaining the "reverse" theme. I have to say, I'm impressed.

"In my mind, but fuck tryin' and not doin' / Cause not doin' is somethin' a nigga not doin' / I said fuck tryin' and not doin' / Cause not doin' is somethin' a nigga not doin'."

My only real knock about Sean's verse, just a classic example of unnecessary repetition (copyright, Lil Wayne). Yeah, you're actually doing things, not just trying to do them. We got it the first time. I said we got it the first time. Get it?

And I'm over niggas sayin' they're the hottest / Then run to the hottest niggas just to stay hot / I'm one of the hottest because I flame drop / Drop fire, and not because I'm name droppin"

The very first time I heard Sean's verse this was just another line, but after hearing Kendrick's verse, in retrospect this has to be a considered commentary on all of Kendrick's name dropping, right? Even if Big Sean wrote his verse before Kendrick, he obviously heard Kendrick's shit before he put out the song, he could have redone his verse. (And for all we know he did redo his shit after hearing Kendrick's.) So I can't know if he wrote, or chose to keep, those lines as a direct response to Kendrick, but he didn't not write them/choose to keep them in as a response. Either way, accidental or on purpose, it sets up Kendrick's verse nicely.

Speaking of which....

Kendrick Lamar

Click here for the start of Kendrick's verse.

"Kendrick's verse wasn't THAT dope though." - People determined to suck all the joy out of life.

— Refined Hype (@refinedhype) August 13, 2013

Think that pretty much says it all right there. 100% of anyone with a functioning brain stem agrees that Kendrick had the best verse, but a lot. If "Control" was originally Sean's house, he broke into the house, put his feet up on the couch, then made Sean go mow the lawn. I will say though that I'm hearing a lot of "this proves Kendrick is the best alive", and it's certainly some powerful ammunition in that argument, but if you didn't think Kendrick was the best after "GKMC", but this is what swayed you, I don't think you actually listened to that album.

Moving onto the lyrics:

"Tell Flex to drop a bomb on this shit"

No!!!! Don't do it!!! Telling Flex to drop a bomb on something is like telling Lindsay Lohan to snort some blow. It can only end poorly.

"I'm Makaveli's offspring, I'm the king of New York / King of the Coast, one hand, I juggle them both"

More than the name dropping, that line right there is going to start some shit. This is really what Joey Badass was so mad about, what all the NYC emcees are going to take to heart and feel like they have to respond with. Even with the New York renaissance happening right now though, there's no one even in his ballpark.

"If Phil Jackson came back, still no coachin' me"

Damn, looks like someone read "An Insanely In Depth Breakdown of the Kendrick vs. Jay-Z / Kobe vs. Jordan Comparison", because Kendrick definitely just called himself the Rap Game Kobe Bryant. Or the rap game Smush Parker. Either or.

"Mollies prolly turn these niggas to fuckin' Lindsay Lohan / A bunch of rich ass white girls lookin' for parties."

Your move Trinidad James, your move. On a related note, I'll now be referring to her as "Lindsay Lo-hawn" until the day I die.

I heard the barbershops spittin' great debates all the time / Bout who's the best MC? Kendrick, Jigga and Nas / Eminem, Andre 3000, the rest of y'all...

At the very least it's good to know that Kendrick has good taste in his "Greatest Rapper Alive" list. I mean, that's pretty much it, right? You can make a case he left out Kanye, but otherwise if we're being as objective as possible, and using the same dopeness x influence/success formula we always use on RefinedHype, those are the five rappers we're talking about. Now the only real question is, where does Kendrick rank there? Right now, it's gotta be either Kendrick or Jay, depending on how heavily you weight dopeness vs. influence/success.

"Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas / They dont wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you niggas."

Fuck, that's actually one of the best battle rap lines I've ever. Everyone raps about, "I'm gonna take your girl," but "I'm going to be so dope even your stans won't want to hear single word from you ever again" is on an entirely different level.

"You better off tryna skydive / Out the exit window of 5 G5’s with 5 grand / With your granddad as the pilot he drunk as fuck tryna land / With the hand full of arthritis and popping prosthetic leg / Bumpin Pac in the cockpit so the shit that pops in his head / Is an option of violence, someone heard the stewardess said / That your parachute is a latex condom hooked to a thread."

As long as Kendrick is going to name Eminem, I think it had to be said that's an incredibly Eminem-ish section. That rapid fire, stream of consciousness, start with something fucked up and then it just keeps getting worse style is exactly what Em's best known for (case in point). And relax people, I'm not saying Kendrick's copying or sweating Em, I'm just saying we need to recognize influence when we hear it as a tribute to the greats.

Jay Electronica

Click here for the start of Jay Elec's verse.

Now that I really think about it, the fact that Jay Electonica, one of the most reclusive, rare rapper alive just dropped a long verse and no one seems to particularly care, may be better proof of Kendrick's dominance than stealing this track from Big Sean. And it's not like Elec mailed it in, this is a legitimately dope verse - but it came after Kendrick's shit, and so I think people have been so busy rewinding that classic second verse they haven't really even gotten to his shit.

Which adds something more to think about related to the "how conscious was Big Sean that everyone would be talking about Kendrick's verse?" question. The real confident move would have been for Sean to have his verse close off the song, but by going first he guaranteed people would listen to his verse to get to Kendrick's - you're more likely to stop a song after the dopest verse than go through the trouble of fast-forwarding. So why not put Kendrick last? Hmmm....I love over-thinking this shit.

Anyway, back to Jay ElectroNeverGonnaDropAnAlbumIca:

"I Earth, Wind, and Fire’d the verse, then rained on the hook"

The hook? Did he do a hook that didn't make the track? Or by "the verse" and "the hook" is he talking about just generalized tracks and hooks? Either way, word to Earth, Wind & Fire.

"The legend of Dorothy Flowers proclaimed from the roof / The tale of magnificent king who came from the nooks/ Of the wild magnolia, mother of many soldiers."

All praise due, that's a fucking hell of a line; it's deep, but not in a "look at me, I'm saying something deep" way. It's exactly the kind of shit that makes people so excited for his album that's never going to fucking drop.

"And God is my witness, so you could get it from Hova... / ...That’s why I came with a rock, then signed my name on the Roc."

We get it, you know Jay-Z, you're signed to Roc Nation. All that shit was missing was a Blue Ivy reference. At least he didn't say "get it", or repeat the line some other people I could name. And now that we're here, Sean's "I'm over niggas sayin' they're the hottest / Then run to the hottest niggas just to stay hot" could apply to Jay too.

"The eyelashes like umbrellas when it rains from the heart / And the tissue is like an angel kissin you in the dark"

For the record, as many "Drake is soft" jokes as I've made, even Aubrey's never said anything even half that soft. Until Drizzy just openly starts weeping on the track because a stripper broke his heart, this has the Softest Line of 2013 crown.

"Jay Electricity, PBS mysteries"

"Neuro-plasticity, coefficient of elasticity, biscuits tastin biscuity, Keri Russell as 'Felicity'..." Sorry, I just can't help myself when it comes to making Jay Electronica jokes, but minus some of that super-lyrical-miracle rap that sounds impressive but doesn't actually mean anything, I really do think this is a dope verse. That no one will ever listen to because it came after Kendrick's.

The Beat

Considering the entire reason we're hearing "Control' is because Big Sean and No I.D. couldn't clear the sample, I had to make sure I brought up the sample. First and foremost, as if we need more proof, No I.D.'s dope as fuck, this beat is dope as fuck. Second, WHAT'S THIS UNCLEARABLE SAMPLE? How is no one talking about this? (What's that? Because no one else is a sample nerd? Fine, that's a good answer. But still, what's the sample?)

Alright RefinedHype Nation, I have to say, I feel pretty good about this breakdown. Years from now I'll be able to look back at this write-up and feel like I did an appropriately insane breakdown of an insanely dope track. We're living hip-hop history right now people, enjoy the moment.

RefinedHype has merged with The DJBooth. It's the same articles you loved on RefinedHype, new address. For more info, check out the official announcement.

See Also:  Kendrick Lamar Just Murdered Every Rapper Ever On Big Sean’s “Control”
See Also:  Did Jay Rock Murder Kendrick on “Money Trees”? An Absurdly Detailed Investigation