None of his pop features are worse than his That Part verse

Did Pharrell write this? This is my first time hearing it lol

so basically all his features on non rap songs....smh idiots

this is not the most embarassing feature but he really didn't need to be on this song, the guitar instrumental during his part is also really annoying to me

I really liked this song when it was dropped for TASM2 and listened to it a bunch but i always skipped Kendrick's part because of how abrasive it was to the rest of the song (wasn't as big into hip-hop back then tho tbf)

Knew it was going to be this song before I even opened the thread

This is from the era where they were shilling that beat pill in every got damn music video

A fun song

Kendrick actually has some terrible songs floating out here

Every year from 2010-2015 feels so surreal lol like what

His verse on the music video version way better tbh, the guitar really annoying here

This was dope though

only kendrick can get a pass for making a song with robin thicke because “he’s just having fun”

The song sucks but Kendrick verse is kinda nice tbh

ITT, KTT users discover that even a talented and celebrated artist like Kendrick can have feet of clay

This s*** is iconic

yep

i don't think i've ever heard this song before

If you was trying to be a house hold name every rapper in the 2010s went through their pop feature phase

as a genuine fan of robin thicke, he was the nastiest of the bunch in this era lmao

bro doing a prince impression over EDM is sad to see

his talent level is ridiculous and it always made me sad that the masses will only know him for stuff where he’s barely even singing. hope he comes back strong one day

Dude called this feature an anomaly, Kendrick Lamar dropping a verse period is an anomaly

S*** wasn't even an anomaly for Kendrick back then, dude was on an Imagine Dragons remix lol

kendrick flow is actually crazy on this, makes me wish we got to hear him on more dance and electronic music. he left earth on “yeah right”

and i’m not mad at him for having his era of doing pop features for a bag lol i know with 2023 eyes you may not get it but in 2013 it was very normal and almost a rite of passage. shows versatility and i think within the label structure it shows you’re willing to play ball to an extent. they were both interscope artists.

also in those days it felt like at least doing some pop/r&b features if not making your own will allow you even more freedom for your album because you’re already on the charts no matter what. kendrick doing songs with maroon 5, taylor swift, etc isn’t really a knock against him when he’s making GKMC and TPAB.

it’s like how actors do “one for them, one for me” volleying between the major studios and indie flicks, it’s apart of the job fr

It really is remarkable that basically every rapper signed to any kind of label pretty much had to play the "do the most poppiest s*** imaginable" game in the early 2010s. I think Wayne, Em and BoB set a really bad precedent that the industry just thought every one could emulate

Kendrick doing Imagine Dragons, entire Lupe albums pop-ridden bullshit, I think TI threw himself into this lane but there wasn't a mf that could stop him from tryna do more radio hits but via this route

It really is remarkable how that stuff just disappeared by the end of the decade. Idk if it's because labels had less control over curating the sound of music or what, but you went from entire Grammy rotations of notable rap/pop collabs to...idk if I can think of one this entire year

Fire song tbh

i think it’s probably a mix of rap having more subgenres and splintering off in segmented ways, the soundcloud era, streaming replacing the radio and the democratization of music

it all led to the fans finding new artists in different ways than being on a big pop song, and big pop songs not needing to force a rap verse on it to be able to reach a wider audience. the dua lipa + dababy joint is the last one i can think of.

to me, i think features are used as less of an artist discovery and marketing tool. nowadays the cross-genre features really tend to make more sense and be a true creative decision than a label decision

That beat is crazy tbh