JAY-Z ONCE RAPPED, It's funny how once verse can f*ck up the game. That bar arrived during the aftermath of Biggie & 2Pac's deaths as he was attempting to assert his claim for the throne. Case closed. Fast forward to the top of this year and another Brooklyn rapper, Joey Bada$$, boldly issued a challenge by way of a brazen line on "Ruler's Back": "too much West Coast d*cklicking." To discuss the shot/aftermath, I spoke with journalist William Ketchum (Vibe, RollingStone). He and I initially had a hearty DM discourse going about Joey and his 2025 releases. However, as more artists entered the fray, our conversation enlarged to include wider themes. I thought it reached a point where it was time to bring the chat to IRL. Cancel that other episode you were gonna listen to, you won't need another one.

FOR HIP-HOP HEADS OF A CERTAIN AGE, Playboi Carti is a complicated talent to figure out. He warbles his rhymes in unpredictable patterns. And what rhymes you do get, can feel incomplete at best or incoherent at worst. Add to that, the EQ levels of his music sit the production on top of his vocals in a way that makes for a noisy listen. But, if you pull in closer, you’ll hear the stylings of an artist that’s culled together a pastiche of Lil Wayne’s drug-fueled messianic boasts from the Da Drought mixtape era combined with the fearlessness of Young Thug’s vision during his Jeffery run. So, why is there so much conversation happening about what Carti isn’t? (A sample: It’s not for me! I’m not outside like that! The beats are cool!) Well, he isn’t a lyrical miracle rapper in the traditional sense of skill evaluation. We’ve long moved past that requisite, however, as we’re fully within the vibe era of hip-hop. But Carti is also a post vibe act in a way—MUSIC, his latest album after a five-year hiatus, is a smattering of his feelings, displaced and randomized in pieces across 30 tracks (34 if you clock the deluxe), leaving younger fans more willing to navigate the pill-induced scavenger hunt to find the emotional core. To discuss what Carti did or didn’t do plus the wider scope of lyricism, I called up Mickey Factz, who I met long ago when he was tapped as XXL Freshman in 2009. He’s the founder of Pendulum Ink, a school for lyricism that’s designed to “make rappers better.” (I think it makes listeners better too.) Mickey surprised me recently when he wrote a series of tweets downplaying lyricism, but it was in an effort to highlight what he feels are more important ingredients, such as songwriting, versatility and sharing your story. We touched on all of these in the scope of the new Carti LP (teaser: we both like the album). Have a listen.