Big Sean probably didn't know what he was doing when he cleared the track. On August 12, 2013, a seven-minute song titled "Control" leaked onto the internet, and hip-hop hasn't really been the same since. It wasn't even Kendrick Lamar's song. It was Sean's. But nobody remembers the Sean verse. Nobody talks about the Jay Electronica verse. The Kendrick verse on Control became a "where were you when" moment that essentially reset the competitive clock of the entire genre.
It felt like a bomb went off.
Hip-hop had grown comfortable. By 2013, the "blog era" was peaking, and rappers were mostly friends. Everyone was collaborating. Everyone was being nice. Then Kendrick—who was still riding the massive wave of good kid, m.A.A.d city—decided to set the house on fire just to see who would run out of the burning building. He didn't just rap well; he declared war on his peers while naming them individually. It was brutal. It was calculated. Honestly, it was exactly what the culture needed, even if it made a lot of people very angry for a very long time.
The Name-Drop Heard 'Round the World
The core of the chaos lives in one specific section of the verse. Kendrick didn't just claim he was the best. He looked his direct competitors in the eye and told them he loved them, then told them he was trying to murder them.
"I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you niggas / Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas / They don't wanna hear nothin' more from you niggas"
He didn't stop at vague threats. He named names: J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale, Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electronica, Tyler, the Creator, and Mac Miller.
Think about that list for a second. In 2013, those were the titans and the rising gods of the new school. By including them, Kendrick wasn't just dissing them; he was establishing a "Premier League" of rap and positioning himself as the commissioner. He wasn't punching down. He was punching across, and he was punching hard. The reaction was immediate. Within 48 hours, dozens of response tracks flooded SoundCloud and YouTube. Everyone from Joell Ortiz to Papoose felt the need to defend their honor, even if they weren't on the original list.
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The "King of New York" Controversy
The most controversial part of the Kendrick verse on Control wasn't even the name-dropping. It was a single line of geographical blasphemy: "I'm the King of New York / King of the Coast, one hand, I juggle them both."
Kendrick is from Compton. He’s a West Coast staple.
Claiming the throne of New York as a Californian is the hip-hop equivalent of a Red Sox player claiming he owns Yankee Stadium. It was a provocation. It wasn't literal—Kendrick knew he didn't live in Brooklyn. He was referencing the legendary status of Biggie and Kurupt, but the New York old guard took it as a personal affront. Legends like Jadakiss and Styles P had to weigh in. It sparked a week-long debate on New York radio stations like Hot 97 about whether the city had lost its grip on the culture if a "West Coast kid" could claim the crown without a fight.
That’s the brilliance of the verse. It wasn't just about rhyme schemes or "spiritual miracle" lyrical ability. It was about psychological warfare. Kendrick used the history of the genre against his peers, forcing them to react to his narrative.
Why the Verse Changed the Industry Standard
Before "Control," the industry was moving toward a very "friendly" business model. Features were traded like baseball cards to maximize streaming numbers and crossover appeal. Kendrick basically said that the "friendship" was a facade that was making the music boring.
The technicality of the verse is actually insane when you break it down. He starts with a relatively slow flow and then accelerates into these dense, multi-syllabic pockets that make the beat feel like it's struggling to keep up with him. He uses a raspier, more aggressive tone than he used on most of good kid, m.A.A.d city.
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It served as a wake-up call.
Suddenly, you couldn't just show up on a track and give a "lazy" verse anymore. If you were on a song with Kendrick, or even if you weren't, you knew the bar had been moved. Rappers started taking their craft more seriously again. The "Control" effect led directly to the more competitive environment we saw in the mid-to-late 2010s. It arguably planted the seeds for the eventual friction between Kendrick and Drake that would boil over a decade later.
Common Misconceptions About the Beef
A lot of people think "Control" was a "diss track." It wasn't.
If you actually listen to the lyrics, Kendrick prefaces the "murder" line by saying he has love for the rappers he mentioned. In his mind, this was competitive sports. It was Michael Jordan telling Magic Johnson he’s going to beat him by 30 points. It’s not hate; it’s excellence.
However, not everyone saw it that way. Drake’s reaction was famously lukewarm. He told Billboard that it felt like an "ambitious thought" but didn't see the staying power in it. He felt like Kendrick was just "checking boxes." Looking back, Drake’s dismissiveness was likely a defense mechanism. He was the only one on that list who truly felt his "spot" was being threatened, and history has shown that the tension started right there in that verse.
Another myth is that Big Sean was "mad" Kendrick outshined him. Sean has gone on record multiple times saying he knew the verse was crazy when he heard it. The reason "Control" never made it onto Sean's album Hall of Fame wasn't because of the verse's quality; it was because of sample clearance issues with the NoIzes track "El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido." It was a legal headache, not a petty one.
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The Technical Breakdown of the Flow
Kendrick’s use of internal rhyme in this verse is a masterclass. Take the lines:
"I'm un-educable, you un-irreplaceable, tied to a dictionary / I might take a break for a second and then replace it with / Every language that's relatable to you..."
The way he stacks the "-able" suffixes while shifting the rhythm mid-sentence is something most rappers can't do without sounding clunky. He makes it sound like a conversation. A very one-sided, aggressive conversation. He also leans heavily into his "King Kunta" persona before that persona even had a name, channeling a sort of prophetic, biblical anger.
The Long-Term Fallout
We are still living in the aftermath of the Kendrick verse on Control.
It established Kendrick as the "boogeyman" of rap. It created a situation where every time he releases a project, the entire industry stops to see if they're about to get called out again. It also separated the pack. Some of the rappers on that list took the challenge and leveled up. Others faded away or stayed in their lane, unwilling to engage in the "blood sport" Kendrick was inviting them to.
What You Should Do Next
To truly understand the impact of this moment, you shouldn't just read about it. You need to hear the context of the era to see why it was so disruptive.
- Listen to the full track: Don't just skip to Kendrick's part. Listen to Big Sean and Jay Electronica first. It gives you a sense of the "normal" (yet high-quality) rap of 2013 before Kendrick flips the table.
- Check the responses: Look up the responses from Joe Budden and Los. They are widely considered the best "technical" rebuttals to the verse.
- Watch the interviews: Find the 2013-2014 interviews with the named rappers. Notice the difference between those who laughed it off and those who seemed genuinely bothered.
- Analyze the "Like That" verse: If you want to see the 2024 sequel to this energy, listen to Kendrick's verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s "Like That." It's the spiritual successor to "Control," proving that Kendrick never actually put the sword down.
The "Control" verse wasn't just a song. It was a cultural audit. Kendrick walked into the office, looked at the books, and told everyone they were overvalued. Whether you think he’s the "King of New York" or just a guy with a loud microphone, you can’t deny that for one week in August, he had the entire world holding its breath. It remains the most important guest verse in the history of the digital era.