Kendrick Lamar Samples Big Sean’s ‘Control’
The haunting sounds of Big Sean’s infamous “Control” track might’ve made a return on Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 4,” proving some subliminals are just too clever.
READ: More K.Dot: Kendrick Lamar Gave Fans A Cryptic Clue
In case you caught amnesia, 2013’s “Control” featured memorable verses from the rappers above with Jay Electronica. The biggest takeaway was Kendrick’s verse which called out a few rappers by name, including Sean himself. While the song proved to be a major conversation in hip-hop, Sean decided not to include it in his album, Hall of Fame. The Detroit rapper told VIBE he heard the verse and knew it was important to the culture.
“I knew what it was,” he said. “I knew what it was for the culture of hip hop. You see how excited people are […] I wanted to do that for music, make that play happen. It gave me the feeling of how hip hop was, how it used to be.”
After initially citing sample issues as to why the song didn’t live on his sophomore effort, Sean told Complex, the song held a lot of negativity. “There’s a lot of negativity on that song, and I don’t f**k with negative s**t,” he said. “People love drama, people love bullsh**t. I knew when Kendrick did that name-dropping that it was just gonna set it off, and I could see why people gravitated towards that verse for that reason. I respected him for thinking of that. I never wanna shade anybody. I would’ve been a ho-a** ni**a if I cut that out of his verse, or if I didn’t put the song out.”
Fast forward to 2017 and it appears that the opening seconds of Kendrick’s latest track holds a similar sound to “¡El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido!”, the Chilean resistance anthem that’s also sampled throughout “Control.” Kendrick’s track is split into three beats produced by SykSense, Alchemist, DJ Dahi and Axl Folie and although “Control” is produced by No ID, you can faintly hear the sample.
Sean is also said to take a jab at Kendrick on his “Me, Myself and I” Freestyle, DJ Khaled’s “Holy Key,” (which both rappers are on) and “No More Interviews,” which he reportedly makes known he held his own on “Control.”
You be the judge and listen to the tracks below.
