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Maybe the “Kendrick just dropped another diss track” 9/11 memes got to him? Kendrick Lamar offered some counter-program to the VMAs by sharing new music on his Instagram on Wednesday night. “Time to Watch the Party Die” is less an affront to Drake than a general condemnation of our materialistic culture, nepotism, and, yes, a bit of an affront to Drake. It’s up to you whether “Just gone that man down, that’ll do everyone a solid / It’s love but tough love, sometimes you gotta result in violence” is a diss or just an apt summary of the past year.
The song comes days after it was announced that Lamar would headline the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans next year. The announcement sparked a fierce reaction from Lil Wayne fans, who felt the local hero should have gotten the spot.
“Time to Watch the Party Die” takes aim at influencers and a hollowness Lamar sees in the culture. “If you’re strutting around in gluttony without telling the youth the truth, you’re company in the graveyard,” he says. “The radio personality spreading propaganda for pay / Let me know when they come up as victims.” But he doesn’t spare himself. In the song, Lamar blames himself for being too belligerent in his raps. “I wanna be sensitive, my heart like Dee-1,” he says, referring to the Christian rapper. Can Kendrick perform at the Super Bowl in a God-fearing way?
