UHHHH DUHHHH ALERT: Kendrick Lamar Named MTV's "Hottest MC"

So this is supposed to be a picture of Kendrick Lamar being surprised as MTV personality and hip-hop aficionado Sway tricked the 25-year-old Compton, California rapper into thinking that he was getting interviewed.  In reality, Sway revealed that Kendrick had been named MTV's "Hottest MC in the Game" for 2012.  Now before we go any further, I must set this up with Mrs. Scribbler's reaction to the list...when I merely mentioned that Future was No. 9 on this list a spot ahead of Meek Mill, she scoffed, "I'm no longer interested.  I mean, you can continue, but I'm no longer interested.  Is he even a rapper???"  However, when she correctly guessed the top gun, she immediately said, "That's no surprise.  He deserves it."

If Kendrick was genuinely surprised, then he may have thought like most of us do when it comes to MTV's annual "Hottest MCs in the Game" list: "they never get it right".  When this past year marks the first year in which Nas appeared on the list at all, it screams "suspect".  (If you let me tell it, this wasn't even his "hottest" year since the list's inception in 2007, but I'm glad to see him get some shine.)  One of the most consistent issues with the list is position.  Several people felt that Drake should've topped the 2012 list, and even he took an alleged shot at the list (among other things and people) on "5 AM in Toronto".  (Dope song, by the way.  Tell 'em why you mad, son.)  Kanye West disagreed with being No. 7 and says that Lil' Wayne should've been numero uno--although his "rants" regarding the general disliking of Cruel Summer, the criticism towards him dating and impregnating Kim Kardashian, and how "ain't no bar of the past 12 months hotter" than his dig at Kris Humphries of the Brooklyn Nets leads me to believe otherwise.  (Kanye's rant alone might be the beginning of a new post, "Scribbler's 'Boo This Man' Moment of the Week".)  I will say this though: the previous winners--Lil' Wayne, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Eminem and Rick Ross--deserved to top the lists when they did.

While many may argue whether some of the people on these lists can even be classified as "MCs"--that's an argument that can go on for days outside of this list--the assertion falls a bit flat because the word "Hottest" comes before "MC" for a reason with this list.  MTV doesn't (and wouldn't) care as much about who's the best MC or who's an MC to begin with as much as they care about who's the hottest MC because they're a brand name media outlet who is more concerned with what their audience considers "hot".  Since the only thing that stays hot forever is hell, the assumed connotation from the word "hottest" is "for the moment".  Certain rappers and MCs are "hotter" than others in different years, although they may not stack up as well when compared to the universally agreed upon G.O.A.T.s.  That's why it's such a pleasant "surprise" to see someone top the list like Kendrick Lamar--one of the rare MCs in today's game that can maintain a high level of lyrical integrity and conceptual superiority over most of his contemporaries while still appealing to a wide spectrum of listeners.  (Mind you, this was his first year on the list.)

Since many folks love to use the "men lie, women lie, numbers don't" argument, I'll make this one concession: Kendrick Lamar didn't have the top selling album by the end of 2012; Nicki Minaj did.  However, that argument quickly gets debunked for two reasons.  First, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded came out in early April and ended up selling 885,000 copies, while good kid, m.A.A.d city was released in late October and sold 506,000 copies by the year's end.  Thus, she had the advantage of two whole sales quarters on him, which brings me to my second and more important point.  If we break it down in average sales per month, Nicki sold approximately 98,333 copies a month, while Kendrick moved a whopping 253,000 units per month.  For those that are mathematically challenged, units of Kendrick's album sold at an average monthly pace of 2 1/2 times more than Nicki's album.  Don't know how the Drakes, Kanyes or respective Stans of the world can argue anyone being "hotter" with those numbers.  Oh, but as a guy who loves numbers, I'm soooooooo far from done...

Let's apply the same theory in the following manner: who has the best and/or most critically acclaimed hip-hop/rap album of 2012?  Metacritic.com--a widely respected site that obtains scores from critic reviews and averages out an overall total from those scores--polled 36 critics to give good kid a score of 91, which equates to "universal acclaim".  Check out what hip-hop/rap albums all-time rank ahead of him: Stankonia by OutKast (95), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West (94), Liquid Swords [The Chess Box] by Genius/GZA (94), Madvilliainy by Madvillain (93), In Search of... by N.E.R.D. (92), Boy In Da Corner by Dizzee Rascal (92), and Speakerboxx/The Love Below by OutKast (91).  Pretty darn good company to be in for a guy whose major-label debut hasn't even been out a full six months.  Back to 2012...not counting GZA's aforementioned reissue of Liquid Swords, no hip-hop/rap album was rated higher than good kid.  The five next most critically acclaimed rap albums were Reservation [Mixtape] by Angel Haze (88), A Dream Deferred by Skyzoo (86), R.A.P. Music by Killer Mike (85), 1991 [EP] by Azealia Banks (84), and Cancer4Cure by El-P (84).  Every major publication gave good kid at least 80 percent approval, including Spin (8/10), the Los Angeles Times (four stars) and Rolling Stone (four stars, and they barely give most rappers 3 1/2 stars).  BBC, Complex, Fact, New York and Pitchfork Media all named it the best album of 2012.  In December, Complex also put good kid on its list of "25 Rap Albums From the Past Decade That Deserve Classic Status"--a list that includes [former and/or present] labelmates Eminem (The Eminem Show), 50 Cent (Get Rich or Die Tryin') and The Game (The Documentary).  No other hip-hop album released in 2012 was included on this list.  Yeah...safe to say the kid had a "hot" year.

On a personal level, it's deeper than Kendrick Lamar having one of the best selling albums or the most critically acclaimed hip-hop album of 2012--albeit extremely impressive and deserving.  One of the artists excluded from MTV's list for 2012 was Jay-Z, and one of the albums left off of Complex's aforementioned list was Jay-Z's American Gangster (2007)--the last album that left the biggest impression on me as a member of the hip-hop culture.  Yeah, I could tell you how only that album and Joe Budden's Mood Muzik 3 mixtape were on repeat in my iPod, but I digress.  Along with the release of "D.O.A." in 2009, the return of Jay-Z's impeccable flow on American Gangster after his missteps on Kingdom Come inspired me to write rhymes and consider getting on the mic again.  Heck, I don't freestyle like the best of 'em, but throw on the "Sweet" or "Success" instrumentals and I might go park ape bananas.  Those beats were only two out of an album full of musical gems that inspired me to produce some of my best beats.  American Gangster made me not only remember why Jay-Z is my favorite MC ever, but why I love hip-hop and rap so much.  People can think a rapper is telling a story that appears to speak to a certain group of people or a particular lifestyle, but when an MC is truly introspective, he or she will tuck layers beneath their lyrics that speak to the universal human struggle.  Also, hip-hop has been rooted and grounded in sticking to your own voice and knowing the right platform sonically from which to speak.  Jay did it to perfection with Reasonable Doubt and simply updated (but not duplicated) it with American Gangster.  However, this isn't about Jay...this is about Kendrick, and good kid, m.A.A.d city is my new American Gangster because it meets all of the aforementioned qualifications by leaps and bounds.  The album has given me a much-needed turbo boost as a listener as well as an artist, and it provides hope that quality hip-hop music can be front and center once again.

As a final point, let's go with the "bar-for-bar" argument that Kanye offered, saying that MTV's list couldn't have been based on that.  The dude's singles are lyrically killing most folks' best album tracks.  If that's not convincing enough, then "Sing About Me" on its own merit may put it all to bed:

 

First and foremost, Kendrick's flow on this song is absolutely flawless...then again, it usually is.  Second, just the way he ends each verse pursuant to the perspective from which he's speaking has more thought involved than the average rapper does with his or her entire album.  Finally, I'd go so far as to say that this is one of the best hip-hop songs that I've not only heard in the past year or past decade, but ever.  So I'm like "eff a bar"...who in the top 10 of MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" has a song of this caliber on an album or mixtape of the past 12 months?

You will never hear me say that MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list is definitive.  As much as I feel like Kanye and Drake are just salty because they're not No. 1 or at least higher, their reactions are a microcosmic representation of how you can only please some of the people all the time.  No matter who tries to do their own list or gripes about the order, the majority always wins.  Thus, how can Kendrick Lamar not be the "Hottest MC in the Game" right now?  I mean, the dude was not only surprised both when his album first went gold in December and at being named the "Hottest MC in the Game", but he also thinks that his own album isn't a classic like everyone claims--though he believes it will be "classic worthy" in time.  That says a few things to me: 1) he is extremely humble, but almost delusional because he may not realize just how great he is; 2) he didn't expect much support from the average listener and wasn't that concerned either way; and 3) despite all the praise, he isn't resting on the laurels of his momentary success.  Only two appropriate words serve as an appropriate response to his approach to this game: good, kid.