Joe Budden’s scheduled Black Friday mixtape A Loose Quarter is here a few days early for your enjoyment. Even though the Mood Muzik tag is missing, a good number of songs here have the emotional introspection that has been the Jersey native’s trademark. The download link and tracklist can be found below.
Say what you will about Joe Budden, but one of the topics he excels heavily is detailing the struggles of love. It makes perfect sense considering his well-documented (and many times dysfunctional) forays with women over the years. The emotional nakedness of the ending verse is vintage Joe. His mixtape A Loose Quarter is set to drop on Black Friday (November 23).
“Kim is the queen…Nicki is a queen in her own right.”
Hip-Hop is a cruel industry. Like nature, its survival of the fittest. Mothers eat their young, young devour their parents, and those who were on top of the food chain eventually become the prey. To be more frank, in Hip-Hop many relish in the downfalls and failures of our legends. This is where Lil Kim finds herself in 2011, as seen by artists and fans alike who jumped at the opportunity to ridicule her over an attempt to sell her latest mixtape project (and her claim it sold 100k in one day). Nonetheless, she’s doing the only thing she can, and that’s see this Nicki Minaj issue to its conclusion with the promised video for “Black Friday.”
As reviewed here a few months back, the actual diss is solid. The video is a memory lane trip, giving clips of Kim in her prime juxtaposed against a scheming, Single White Female type Nicki Minaj and a child inspecting a Minaj barbie. In a nice touch, Kim includes her own barbie theme that she used for her 2000 sophomore album to reinforce the biting accusations.
Diss videos are not common, so it’s interesting even in 2011 to see an emcee take it there. The big problem for Kim is that this came out way too late. Instead of waiting to have the video coincide with her mixtape, the Queen Bee should have dropped this right when the song came out. Much has changed in the three months since the track hit the streets. Minaj has gone platinum off the strength of an SNL appearance and cosigns from other industry stars like Taylor Swift. In other words, Nicki Minaj is for all intents and purposes at the peak of her popularity.
At this point, the veracity of Lil Kim’s claims have become irrelevant. Public sentiment is firmly behind Nicki Minaj no matter what. In some ways, it’s admirable to see Kim not backing down despite most of her peers and even the media standing against her. With that said, it also takes more courage to know when to walk away from drama. I hope Kim recognizes when that time comes.
“You and Diddy?/ Sorry bunch of swagger jackas/ I mothered you hoes/ I should claim you on my income taxes…”
As promised, Lil Kim has dropped the full version of her Nicki Minaj diss “Black Friday.”
What we heard yesterday was indeed the first verse, and the Queen Bee goes in on Nicki Minaj “copying her style” and being on the 14th portion of her “15 minutes of fame.” Nicki is of course the main target, but Kim doesn’t have any problem throwing her rival’s Young Money team in a few lines (“You either high or sippin’ that shit Wayne on…”). Kim blasts Minaj as being completely unoriginal, and not possessing the track record in music or in the streets to compete with her. And since Nicki made ample use of Big Sean’s “pause flow” on “Roman’s Revenge,” Kim makes a point to throw a few barbs under that style (“Go stick your head in a tornado…brainstorm/ I drop bombs, Flex, naplam…”).
Memorable diss records always have a significant amount of personal information. Those type of insults are missing here. Whether that’s due to Nicki not having dirt, or simply a Kim oversight, is anyone’s guess. You can feel Kim reaching for more lines towards the end as her insults start to repeat. No one will confuse this with a “Hit “Em Up,” Ether,” or “No Vaseline,” but it’s solid enough to warrant a response. What she lacks in the energy Minaj brought on “Roman Revenge,” Kim makes up for with truthful lines that illuminate Minaj’s self-admitted Queen Bee influence. It helps drive home the main point of the song, which is that Lil Kim essentially sees Nicki Minaj as a Bizarro version of herself. Extra points too for the “Simon Says” beat, which by the title alone ties in with Kim’s biting/copying claim.
There’s already an unsubstantiated rumor that Nicki Minaj plans to not respond. That would be unfortunate, considering Minaj’s entire image and creative worth is being attacked by a woman that played a huge inspirational role in her artistic development. Even Nelly, who no one would confuse as a battle emcee, refused to back down when KRS-One attacked him. Considering Minaj threw the first obvious shot with “Roman’s Revenge,” and her warning issued at the Hot 97 listening session (“I’ll revert back if I have to…don’t play with me…”), it’s hard to believe she’d bow out now.
What do you think? Is “Roman’s Revenge” enough, or should Nicki Minaj drop a full-fledged response?
LIL KIM “BLACK FRIDAY (NICKI MINAJ DISS)”
In a week where Nicki Minaj should be celebrating the positive sale signs for her debut, she’ll instead be fending of attention to rival Lil Kim, who just dropped a snippet of her diss record “Black Friday.” Hot 97′s DJ Absolut got a hold of an advance copy, and treated fans to a one minute, looped snippet. Kim rhymes over Pharoahe Monch’s ”Simon Says,” and chastises Minja for biting her style and having no substance. The full diss song will debut sometime tomorrow to coincide with Black Friday.
Lil Kim’s response comes less than a week after Minaj called her “insecure” during a Hot 97 listening session for Pink Friday. Earlier this month, Kim vowed to figuratively end Minaj’s existence after hearing her rival’s subliminal diss record “Roman’s Revenge.”
Although she repeats the clone argument a few times in just one verse, what you can hear sounds OK. If that’s just a first verse and not the best part, Kim may have a decent diss on her hands. On her last Hot 97 appearance, Nicki Minaj said she’s willing to take it back to her “Queen roots” if necessary. Can Minaj drops the voices for a minute and deliver a serious and venomous response? Or will she and her multiple personalities be content with the estimated 400,000 plus first week sales for Pink Friday? After tomorrow, the ball’s in her court.
LIL KIM “BLACK FRIDAY” (NICKI MINAJ DISS, SNIPPET)
