Kendrick Lamar Declares War — And Five More Excerpts From 'We Don't Trust You'

Future and Metro Boomin's We Don't Trust You is here (the first half anyway) and listeners are excited for the 17-song project. In about an hour, the project has generated many talking points in less than 24 hours. Kendrick Lamar pulled another “Control”-like move and got the rap world talking about his shots at Drake and J. Cole on “Like That — which coincidentally overshadowed yesterday's “Whole Time” freestyle from Big Sean, who originally put Kendrick on “Control.”

But beyond the chaos, Future and Metro -Boomin's work is a potent dose of a winning formula. While the project would be at its strongest at about 12 tracks, the highs make it an overall enjoyable listen.

Kendrick still doesn't like Drake (or J. Cole?)

Recently, the cold war between Drake and Kendrick Lamar has simmered to the point of dormancy following a 2010 subliminal war and an unaired ESPN segment where one allegedly got into the other. But after Kendrick's fiery verse on “Like That,” where Kendrick clearly took aim at Drake and J. Cole, declaring, “Motherfuck the big three, nigga, it's just big me,” the beef may be back — and their mutual friend Cole might be in on it now too.

Even without the diss element, “Like That” is a great song. Metro sampled Rodney O and Joe Cooley's “Everlasting Bass” with expert style, and Future dropped in on his opening verse. If it was just those two, it would still be the highlight of the album. But little did we know that Kendrick would be jumping on the dance floor declaring his lyrical supremacy and proving it in a verse where he referenced Drake For all dogs album, noting, “'before all your dogs are' buried.”

That's a K with all those nines, gonna see Pet Sematary.” He also said, “Fuck sneak dissin', first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches” about “First Person” collaborators Drake and Cole Shooter” who are currently on tour together and love to publicly praise each other. Apparently, Kendrick is tired of the kumba. Cole has worked with Kendrick in the past and is probably game for some lyrical boxing match – but the tension runs deeper with Drake.

Kendrick Lamar's big lyrics are few and far between, and if it's not an R&B diva song, he's prone to go all out and make the rap world pay attention. He doesn't waste appearances resting on his laurels of being a marquee name. In “Like That”, he uploaded a show. Will Drake and Cole respond with one of their own? Let's stay tuned.

Future and Metro's chemistry is seamless

As rapper-producer pairings go, Future and Metro claimed to top the list of We Don't Trust You. Future getting back into the rap game with his good producer might have been the best approach and they showed why they work so well together. Metro is an ambitious producer who likes to try different moods and Future is a talented singer. Future goes with an awful, awful beat on “Magic Don Juan” and an epic synth build on “Claustrophobic.” On “Like That” by Kendrick Lamar — I mean Future, the guys come in over a classic sample and amplified drums.

“Cinderella” shows them right in their wheelhouse in a composition that radiates their signature mesh of dark and edgy, while “Everyday Hustle” sounds like a 2024 Dipset track and then transitions to Metro having more fun with Future-pushing chop samples to pick up his pace. The highs of their work seem to cover a lot of ground and collectively prove that there's no such thing as a Future and Metro-Boomin sound — it's just good music.

Features have a purpose, whether big or small

The artists who hide the features of the songs are the subject of the theatrical 12 am. Everything gets spoiled within an hour on social media, but hiding it is a subtle decision that makes a few first listens that much more exciting. That was the case We Don't Trust Youwhich had some pretty impressive guest features.

We're talking about Kendrick elsewhere, so we don't need to delve too much into “Like That,” but Rick Ross also had a fiery verse on “Everyday Hustle,” where he's as revved up as he's sounded in years while taking shots at his ex. and yelled, “How do you sell drugs when it smells wrong?”

Travis Scott and Playboi Carti feature on “Type Shit,” an energetic track that has all the right specs needed to turn a Rolling Loud crowd on its head. Scott also appeared on “Cinderella,” another standout album. The Weeknd delivers smoky vocals on “Young Metro,” while the currently incarcerated Young Thug has a cameo at the start of the eerie “Slimed In.”

The presence of the late Prodigy looms large We Don't Trust You

The trailer for We Don't Trust You featured vocals by a Clip from 2008 of the late Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy revealing her rap peers. “A lot of fucking trash rappers running around,” he laments while sitting in the seat of a car. “These niggas ain't supposed to rap, man.” In his later years, Prodigy expressed his regret on the hip-hop music video Worldstar, which aired the frustration of his then-impending three-year prison sentence. But the video is still part of the rap tradition that Metro and Future decided to use as the thematic framework for their project. It speaks to Future and Metro's love and knowledge of hip-hop that they infused a trap project with quotes from a New York gold digger calling to preserve real hip-hop. As Prodigy noted in the video, trash is trash — and good hip-hop is good hip-hop.

The two also celebrate the Prodigy legacy by sampling Mobb Deep's “Quiet Storm” on “Seen It All.” Prodigy recalled in his autobiography that Havoc was about to erase the “Quiet Storm” beat from his beat machine before Prodigy asked him not to start writing for him. These creative instincts brought him a timeless hit that resonates years after his death in 2016.

The energy of the “Toxic King” is at a minimum

Two years ago, I noted that “it's not fun to hear Drake and Future downplay their considerable talent for pandering to misogynists.” It wasn't a condemnation of Future, just a plea for the rap icon to not delve so deeply into feeding the rap manosphere that he doesn't show off his other skills. I doubt he personally read the piece, but still, this is what we got We Don't Trust Youan album that thematically doesn't stray too far from Future's fake friends and tracks, but at least you can blast it without wondering what your girlfriends would think of you doing it.

Except for “Runnin Outta Time,” with its gem, “You can't get a reaction from me, that's what you want / It's not sexy to show your vulnerability, keep it cool,” the energy of “Toxic King” is at a minimum. . Maybe he's saving it all for the second album, which will be all R&B.

Two Future tracks made it onto the album — together

of the future “Too Obsessed” excerpt. first released in 2022. It quickly became one of Future's most anticipated songs. One YouTuber notes, “This song alone would carry the entire album,” while another posted, “Snippet Hall of Fame.” Today, there are many commentators excited that the track made it onto the album as “Ice Attack” and was paired with another Future cut. Snippet's culture is as much promotion as it is focus group, and Future heard the rave reviews for the songs that became “Ice Attack.”