Sideshow: Kendrick Lamar's lyrics trigger a Twitterstorm

Rapper Kendrick Lamar sparked mad drama Monday night when his lyrics on fellow rapper Big Sean's single "Control" were released into cyberspace.

Since then, the hip-hop world has been roaring with tweets - it's been trending since the moment the single dropped - from everybody who is anybody. Even NBA star LeBron James weighed in. How dare Lamar, 26, refer to himself as the second coming of Tupac? And Lamar, of Compton, Calif., has the audacity to crown himself the king of New York! (As in City? Really?)

But the most noise came in response to Lamar's final verse: The gratuitous use of the n-word aside - ugh - Lamar knocks his contemporaries, including South Philly's own Meek Mill, J. Cole, A$AP Rocky, and Drake. Essentially, these rappers may be his friends and all, but at the end of the day, it's all hail K.Dot.

Mill wasn't insulted. Was just a little friendly competition, he said. "It was like me playing . . . one-on-one in basketball." (Yeah, whatever. We know Meek is working on a comeback right now.)

Along with rappers Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B., and even comedian Kevin Hart, North Philly artist Cassidy released his video response Wednesday afternoon: K.Dot "wears tight clothes but his flows ain't tight to me."

Chill Moody, not mentioned in Lamar's diatribe, welcomed the buzz; hip-hop was becoming too fluffy. "I love it," said Moody. "Let's get together and restore the balance in hip-hop that's good lyrics."

- Elizabeth Wellington

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